Howdy Neighbors!

FFA members from across the country are gathering in Indianapolis this week for the 98th National FFA Convention, and among them is Oklahoma’s own Madilyn Norvell, representing the state in the National Creed Contest this morning. Madilyn spoke with senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays about this opportunity. Growing up on a family farm, Madilyn says agriculture has always been a central part of her life. “We are involved in beef production. I have my own herd of Angus and Hereford cattle,” she explained. Her early involvement in FFA came naturally: “My dad always involved me in speeches and livestock judging,” she said, adding that she’s since competed in a variety of events including Quiz Bowl, creed speaking, and livestock shows. “I really have a passion for this industry, and FFA kind of helps bring it out in me.”

Representing Oklahoma on the national stage is no small task, but Madilyn embraces the opportunity. She says her motivation goes beyond competition: “As there continues to be fewer of us involved in agriculture, I have to step up and be a younger advocate.” She believes communication and leadership are key skills for her generation. “If I continue to get my communication skills and learn these leadership ways, I can carry this on throughout my whole life and help promote agriculture,” she explained.

Preparing for the creed contest has given her a deeper appreciation for the words behind it. “A lot of people take for granted the true meaning of the Creed,” she reflected. “They just see it as this thing that needs to be recited… but it truly has so many good statements in it that no matter what industry you’re in, you can carry into your life.” One line in particular stands out to her: “I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others.” Madilyn said that phrase “is so important no matter what industry you’re in, because we must be leaders ourselves and respect others and also respect ourselves.”

Senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays spoke with Corbin Robbins from the Chattanooga FFA Chapter, who is representing Oklahoma today in the national extemporaneous speaking contest at the 98th FFA convention. Corbin shared how his journey into extemp began after competing in prepared and policy speeches. “After I had done prepared for so long… I did extemp for my very first contest last year, my junior year, and I really started to like it,” he said. What appealed to him most was the freedom and spontaneity of the event — “I can go in and just talk about whatever I draw… it just sounds like lots of fun to me.”

When it comes to topics, Corbin explained that he’s drawn a “plethora of different types of topics,” but he prefers to stay within the policy realm. “My key is try and find one that’s more policy focused, because that’s what I’m best at,” he said, adding that his background in agriculture helps him relate to almost any subject. Even challenging topics like urban farming have become enjoyable for him after research and experience — “I used to struggle with [urban farming] a lot… but I enjoy if I get an urban farming topic now — that one’s fun.”

Corbin credits much of his success to both preparation and his agricultural roots. “While there’s a lot of research that goes into it, you have to read a lot,” he explained. “Being a sixth-generation farmer and rancher gives me a pretty good edge… I’ve lived it, and my family has lived it, and then I can just pull it to any of these topics.” His FFA journey began early, long before he could wear the iconic blue jacket. “I’ve been waiting to put on the blue jacket since I understood what it was,” Corbin said. From creed speaking to showing cattle, he’s embraced every opportunity FFA offers.

Hale discussed this week’s lighter numbers at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, noting, “3500 compared to 8100. I think it was the rain, and, just the grass and everything. And I think people are holding off a little bit, maybe a little bit because of that market after yesterday.” He pointed out that the wet weather and uncertain markets both played a role in keeping cattle runs smaller than usual.

Reflecting on the steep market drop, Hale explained, “We had a big run at Woodward Thursday, and the market was probably three or four lower than we were last Monday. But then after that, limit down on Friday, and then had the expanded limits yesterday… the feeders down $13.75, and the fats down $10, something sure changed it.” He said orders reflected sharp losses, with “feeder steers 30 to 40 lower and calves 40 to 50 lower.”

When asked about political influence, Hale didn’t hold back. “ it sure didn’t [help]. And, we don’t know what they’re going to do… just a lot of uncertainty, plus what Trump said, that just doesn’t make good, smooth markets.” He questioned why federal officials would target cattle producers, Hale responded, “Why you would go to the guy that’s raising it? Now that it’s not a lot higher than it was then, it’s just cattle are higher. Kind of seems like it’s not a good plan to me.”

“The U.S. is the number two producer and exporter of soybeans and has fallen out of China’s graces, who once purchased the majority of U.S. soy exports. Today, China is purchasing nearly 90 percent of its soybean demand from Brazil and none to date in 2025 from the U.S.,” said Stephen Nicholson Global Sector Strategist for Grains & Oilseeds, Farm Inputs, Rabobank. “While Brazil and Argentina have logistical challenges, the region is competitive due to a multi-crop season and cheaper labor. The shifting trade policies and tariffs could potentially damage trade flow in the long-term and in the short-term for producers.”

Rabobank’s Fall Harvest Outlook for North America explored the fundamentals, strains, opportunities and policy of the region’s grains, oilseeds, farm inputs and ag innovation sectors. The industry is experiencing tight farm margins, in part due to high input costs driven by high global demand for fertilizer exacerbated by supply shortages.

Sam Taylor, Farm Inputs Analyst, Rabobank stated, “With costs for growers in North America taking a divergent path from market returns, farmers face a quandary heading into 2026. Input pricing and demand are now at the behest and timing of government policy.”

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays continues his conversation with Cattlemen’s Congress Board Chairman Tyler Norvell, who says the 2026 event will once again offer something for everyone in the beef industry — from purebred breeders to commercial cattlemen. “A lot of times commercial cattlemen may hear, ‘Oh, there’s a stock show in Oklahoma City,’ and they may think that’s not for me,” Norvell said. “That couldn’t be further away from the truth. With our pen bull show, with the genetic sales we have, and with this commercial heifer sale, there is something for you here in Oklahoma City in early January.”

Entries for the upcoming show are opening soon, and Norvell says it’s time to get ready. “Entries open on November 1 and they close November 25, and the late entries roll into early December,” he explained. “It’s here. It’s time to get rolling.” Looking back, he said the first year’s massive participation was a result of unique circumstances. “I don’t know if there will ever be held again a cattle show as large as the ones in 2021 and 2022 — that was the storm that hopefully will never happen again,” Norvell said. “But we’ve continued to grow again in 2024 and 2025, and have no reason to believe it will be anything less than bigger than last year.”

When asked about feedback from exhibitors, Norvell said participants appreciate how they’re treated and the convenience of Oklahoma City. “They love the way they’re listened to, the loading and unloading process is as good as any, and how fast we are,” he said. “They love the cost of being here in Oklahoma City — they don’t have to pay to park, they don’t have to pay to get in, hotel rooms are very reasonable, and there’s a lot of good restaurants around.” He added that many also value the atmosphere: “A lot of them say what our governor Kevin Stitt said all the way back when we started — they love the conservative values, the family values that Oklahoma brings to the table.”

Most of Oklahoma has received much needed rain over the past several days. This moisture will pay dividends for cool season grass pasture. However, based on the lack of optimum growing days remaining this fall, most of the benefit will likely be seen as we move into late winter and spring of 2026. For fall calving cow herds in Oklahoma, cool season grass pasture can offer nutritional supplementation to cows and high quality creep grazing opportunity for calves. If the cool season grass you were counting on for fall born calves is behind or non-existent as of now, consider creep feeding.

Ample research proves creep feeding will increase weaning weights with conversion efficiency ranging from 3 to 20 pounds of feed per pound of added weight gain. A summary of 31 experiments where calves had unlimited access to creep feed show the average increased calf weaning weight was 58 pounds. However, in commercial cow-calf operations, the value of added weight gain has not (historically), covered the added feed, labor and equipment needed. The exception would be when feed is exceptionally inexpensive and (or) when value of added weight gain is exceptionally high. As of now, feed is relatively inexpensive and the value of added weaning weight of calves (up to 600 pounds) is worth in excess $4/pound (historically high).

When grazing conditions are good, high-quality, abundant forage results in very poor creep feed conversion. Likewise, the greater the plane of maternal nutrition, the poorer the conversion of creep feed to calf gain. In OSU fall-calving experiments (and similar to the situation many of us find ourselves in at present), efficiency of creep feed conversion to calf gain is quite good because native range forage quality is low and cows are in a maintenance to negative energy balance (losing weight).

U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) released the following statement after Senate Democrats blocked the thirteenth bipartisan vote to re-open the federal government and end the government shutdown.

This comes after yesterday, Mullin issued a warning to Oklahomans bracing for the November 1st, 2025, funding cliff which is, “set to put many U.S. households at risk of new hardship.”

“I’ve now voted 13 times to re-open the federal government, restore pay for essential federal workers, and get critical services like SNAP and WIC back online for Oklahoma families in need ahead of the November 1st cliff,” said Senator Mullin. “A bipartisan CR should be a no-brainer, and I hate that Oklahoma families are facing the consequences of a harmful government shutdown. As I’ve said, the Senate requires 60 votes to fund the government, and we have 52 Republicans and 3 Democrats on the board. I urge 5 more Senate Democrats to join our bipartisan effort to end the Schumer Shutdown immediately.”

In response to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) request for information to assist in developing a uniform definition of “ultra-processed foods,” NCC recently submitted detailed comments expressing recommendations and concerns.

NCC expressed general concerns about a classification system and contends that FDA and USDA should bolster existing frameworks and consumer education as science evolves instead of pursuing a classification system at all. However, should the Agencies choose to move forward with a classification system, NCC urges the use of a uniform, science-based approach to characterizing foods – one that prioritizes nutritional composition and ingredient function over the number of processing steps or ingredients.

Further, should the Agencies decide the science merits the development of a classification system for broader regulatory and policy use, they should do so in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, to ensure that all interested parties are provided a meaningful opportunity to understand the Agencies’ thinking and to formally comment on this important topic.

Checking the Markets...

It was another hard down on Feeder Cattle Futures on Tuesday, with the January 2026 contracts down $9.55 to $324.87 and March 2026 off $11.65 at $319.65. Live Cattle futures found some traction- the December contract down 60 cents while the February and April contracts were in the green- up 10 and 42 cents respectively.

Choice Boxed Beef rose again on Tuesday, climbing $1.77 to $379.65 — the fourth straight daily gain and the ninth increase in the past eleven sessions. Over that stretch, the cutout has added $15.74.

OKC West in El Reno had a run on Tuesday, October 28th of 2,012 calves. Compared to last week: Steer calves 30.00-40.00 lower. Heifers calves 40.00-50.00 lower, conservatively. It will be a light yearling market today- Expecting 1,800. 600 Feeder Heifers @ 9:00am and 1,200 Feeder Steers @ 10:30am.

Beaver County Stockyards reports 4,696 head from Tuesday- Compared to last sale: In a light comparison, feeder steers and heifers 30.00-40.00 lower. Steer calves 50.00 lower with limited supplies. Heifer calves 10.00-15.00 lower conservatively

OKC West is our Market Links Sponsor- they sell cattle three days a week- Cows on Mondays, Stockers on Tuesday and Feeders on Wednesday- Call 405-262-8800 to learn more.

Click here for our Markets Page on OklahomaFarmReport.Com- there you will find many of the reports we have linked on the right hand column found on the previous format of our email.

Our daily email is free because of our Sponsors!

© 2025 Oklahoma Farm Report - All rights reserved