Oklahoma's Latest Farm
And Ranch News
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Thursday, February 17, 2022
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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
- Dr. Tom Coon Says the OSU's Ferguson College of Agriculture is Growing in Every Direction
- New Southern Plains Perspective Blog Post Explores Climate-Smart Agriculture
- Get Ready for Spring Deworming with Dr. DL Step of Boehringer Ingelheim
- Methane Production in Grazing Beef Systems
- Rain/Sleet/Snow Delivers Most Precipitation of 2022 to Date into Oklahoma
- What Opportunities Are You Missing by Not Considering Your Ranch's Context?
- See How You Can Order Dryland Cotton Varieties to Mitigate Drought Risk This Season
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Dr. Tom Coon Says the OSU's Ferguson College of Agriculture is Growing in Every Direction
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2022 is set to be a big year for the Ferguson College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University. It seems the college is growing in every direction, from a new, state-of-the-art building, record freshman class loads and more.
We spoke with Thomas Coon, vice president and dean of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at OSU, about what the Ferguson College of Agriculture is looking forward to.
"We have suffered some losses through budget cuts that have disproportionately affected agriculture because we are so dependent on extension and experiment station funding," Coon said. "So, the university, with President Shrum's leadership, has come on board to support three new positions in the department and we are providing three more positions."
The faculty additions come just after the Ferguson College of Agriculture saw its largest Freshman class ever for the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, in the fall of 2021. Coon said he is excited that OSU has been able to offer the current Department Head of the University of Kentucky Department of Animal and Food Sciences Dr. Richard Coffey the position of Department Head of Animal and Food Sciences at Oklahoma State. Final details are being worked out for Dr. Coffey to return to his home state, having grown up in Jones.
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National Livestock was founded in 1932 in Oklahoma City. National’s Marketing Division offers cattle for sale weekly at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City. The Finance Division lends money to ranchers across several states for cattle production. The Grazing Division works with producers to place cattle for grazing on wheat or grass pastures.
National also owns and operates other livestock marketing subsidiaries including Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction in Ada, Oklahoma, OKC West Livestock Market in El Reno, Oklahoma, and the nation’s premier livestock video sale, Superior Livestock Auction. National offers customers many services custom made for today’s producer. To learn more, click here for the website or call the Oklahoma City office at 1-800-310-0220.
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New Southern Plains Perspective Blog Post Explores Climate-Smart Agriculture
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In this blog post Clay Pope urges folks with ideas on how farmers and ranchers can create or benefit from climate-smart or sustainably produced commodities or ecosystem service programs like carbon credits to come forward. See this blog on the Southern Plains Perspective website by clicking or tapping here.
The buzz words are everywhere - Sustainability; Climate-Smart; Regenerative; Environmentally Friendly - you can't pick up an agriculture magazine or turn on the farm news it seems without being bombarded with the latest news about the desire in the marketplace for commodities that meet one or more of these perceived standards. The trouble is, nobody seems to know (or agree) on what "sustainable" or "climate friendly" is.
USDA is trying to fix that (or at least give more context to the discussion).
On Feb. 2, Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the new $1 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities opportunity designed to help finance pilot projects from farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, capture and store carbon, and/or generate other environmental benefits.
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Get Ready for Spring Deworming with Dr. DL Step of Boehringer Ingelheim
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As spring approaches, cattle producers may be beginning to plan their deworming processes. DL Step, DVM for Boehringer Ingelheim, offers his insight on deworming strategies for us.
"One of the important things is always to work with your local veterinarian," Step said. "Right now, we do not have any new compounds coming for at least five years, therefore we have to utilize the particular products we have available to try to extend the level of efficacy."
One of the four pillars of sustainable deworming is to perform some diagnostic tests to find out where your herd is and to monitor your deworming program, Step said. The second pillar is combination treatment, which is exactly what it sounds like; using two dewormers of different classes at the same time, he added. The third pillar is refugia.
"Indicating to leave a few animals untreated so therefore there will be some susceptible worms out in the environment," Step said. "It is to decrease or dilute the worm population."
The fourth and final pillar of sustainable deworming is managing the pastures, Step said.
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For our farmers who have either- always have had cotton on their farms- or those who have more recently have added the fiber crop to their operations- we have a daily report heard on several of our Radio Stations- It's Called Cotton Talk!
Click on the Button below to listen to our most recent report
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Methane Production in Grazing Beef Systems
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Weekly, Paul Beck, beef cattle nutrition specialist at Oklahoma State University, offers his expertise in the cattle industry. This is a part of the weekly series known as the "Cow-Calf Corner" published electronically. Today, he talks about methane production in grazing beef systems.
The environmental impact of the beef industry has received increased attention from the public because of perceptions of its effects on climate change. The International Panel on Climate Change estimated that 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions were from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and Ag, Forestry and Other land uses produce about 44% of the methane, with 46% of that coming from ruminant animals.
In the United States, agriculture contributes 9% of the total greenhouse gas emissions with transportation, industry, and electrical sectors producing 79% of total greenhouse gasses. Of the 9% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to agriculture, 60% is attributed to animal agriculture (5.4% of total emissions) and 60% of that is methane from all ruminant animal agriculture (3.2% of total US emissions).
Life-cycle assessments of the US Beef Industry indicate that the cow-calf and stocker segments of the industry produce 70 to 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the beef sector. This is because 1) cattle consuming a high forage diet have increased methane emissions and 2) brood cows live on pastures continuously and have a single offspring per year.
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We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network weekdays-
if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click below for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays and KC Sheperd on RON.
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Sponsor Spotlight
The Oklahoma Agriculture Mediation Program knows this is a hard time for farmers and ranchers. We want you to know we are still open, and we are still here for you. The Ag Mediation program is a free service that provides mediation to agriculture producers who may need help with ag-related disputes.
At Oklahoma Ag Mediation, we have been helping people in agriculture resolve conflicts since 1987. We know firsthand about working together to resolve conflicts, so you don’t have to go through the court systems. Let our professional mediators help you. Mediation is allowed for lease issues, farmer/neighbor disputes, family farm transitions, and more. These services are available at no cost for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in all 77 counties. For more information, you can go to ok.gov/mediation, or give us a call at 800 248 5465.
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Rain/Sleet/Snow Delivers Most Precipitation of 2022 to Date into Oklahoma
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We are in the middle of the best precipitation that the great majority of Oklahoma has been blessed with since last fall- definitely here in this calendar year.
Based on current radar as of 5 AM this morning- we are getting snow in the panhandle and the northwestern corner of the state-with rain over the balance of the state.
Temps are from the 20s in the north to the 50s and 60s in southern and southeastern Oklahoma- wind chills are significant from the southwest corner up to the northeast corner of the state- Cheyenne, for example, has a wind chill of 9 above with blowing snow while Vinita has a wind chill of 24 but still just rain.
Our friend Brent Bolen and the folks around Broken Bow are enjoying 63 degrees- no wind and a forecast of thunderstorms for today- that corner of the state is the only area not suffering from any real dryness at this time.
The Mesonet Rain Accumulation map above is a snapshot as of 5 AM this morning- and it is linked to the realtime rainfall map on the Oklahoma Mesonet website. Washington has the most wet stuff of any Mesonet site across the state in this time frame- at 1.45 inches.
The least amount of moisture will be in the northwest- while the closest thing to a blizzard will be happening in Alfalfa and Grant Counties where we could end up with five to ten inches of snow. The north winds are blowing so drifting of that snow may happen- although it could be a wetter snow so we might see a lot of the accumulation staying on the fields and melting in to add to the half inch or so of the liquid stuff they already have.
ONE MORE NOTE- the ten day outlook shows another dose of rain, snow and ice may arrive next Wednesday and Thursday- which could further help the soil moisture profile and help our pastures and ranges as well as that struggling 2022 winter wheat crop.
Yay!
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What Opportunities Are You Missing by Not Considering Your Ranch's Context?
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This is a special feature, courtesy of the Noble Research Institute by Josh Gaskamp, a wildlife and range consultant at the Noble Research Institute.
The first of the six soil health principles is Know Your Context. Context is different for every agricultural producer, and includes a complex mix of geographic, environmental and cultural factors. It includes the dynamics surrounding family, employees, money and quality of life, as well as your business and personal goals.
If you don't take the time to think about the items that make up your context and write them down, along with how they influence your ranching business, you may be missing major opportunities.
Often, producers weigh one component of context over all others, which can drive decisions on the ranch in a direction that may not be the most profitable, ecologically sound or enjoyable.
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See How You Can Order Dryland Cotton Varieties to Mitigate Drought Risk This Season
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As spring draws closer, cotton farmers in the Southern Plains may be starting to create their pre-planting shopping list. Although 2022 is forecast to be a big year for cotton in the U.S., drought conditions and inflation are and will continue to be two issues for farmers.
Recently, KC Sheperd, the farm director for the Oklahoma Farm Report, sat down with Kenny Melton, western region agronomic manager at BASF, to discuss some brand-new products that producers can take advantage of this year.
"Producers have to plan what cotton varieties they are planning around chemicals," Melton said. "A lot of chemicals are in shorter supply because of the supply chain constraints that have come about."
One, in particular, is Stoneville 5707B2XF, Melton said. We specifically gear that towards dry land and limited irrigation production. I would not plant that on irrigated ground, because it does not have the upper-end yield potential that something like 4595 would have.
He said another great variety is Stoneville 4993B3XF, which does well on dry and irrigated land. It is another new early-to-mid maturity variety that is very adaptable, with strong emergence and a good fiber package. Its Liberty herbicide, Engenia herbicide and glyphosate tolerant and contains three-gene lepidopteran resistance, which decreases the likelihood additional worm control measures will be needed.
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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.
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Today's First Look:
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
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Wholesale Boxed Beef Prices continue to go down. Choice Beef was down 75 cents and Select Beef was down $1.74 on Wednesday, 02/16/2022.
Click on the Button below for the latest report from USDA Market News
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OKC West in El Reno had 13,103 on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week- February 15 and 16.
Compared to last week: Feeder steers and heifers traded steady to 2.00 lower. Demand moderate to good. Steer and heifer calves sold 7.00-10.00 higher. Demand very good. A cold snap is expected later in the week bringing heavy snowfall and rain. (Per USDA Market News)
As for the weekly comments from Bill Barnhart with OKC West via Facebook: "It was an active market both days at the auction this week. Stocker weights were sharply higher again on Tuesday with rain in the forecast. The feeder market Wednesday was mostly steady to 2.00 lower with the exception of the larger fleshier cattle which were 3-5 lower. It was a big run and pen space is fairly tight. The March run has already started and shouldn’t last long. It’s no secret that there is an abundance of cattle already in the feedyards. When and in what manner they will come out is debatable. Most believe that fat cattle numbers will remain tight through early Spring with numbers increasing significantly late Spring and early Summer. Cattle traded today at 142 with some cattle feeders passing."
Click below for the complete closing report.
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Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's markets as analyzed by Justin Lewis of KIS futures - click below for the latest update on the Livestock and Grain Futures Trade..
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Okla Cash Grain:
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture- The report available after the close of the Futures Trade for that day.
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Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays, Senior Farm/Ranch Broadcaster and Editor
KC Sheperd, Farm Director and Editor
Dave Lanning, Markets and Production
Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
Chelsea Stanfield, Farm News and Email Editor
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program, Great Plains Kubota, Stillwater Milling Company, National Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma AgCredit, Union Mutual Insurance, the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association, and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update.
For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- at NO Charge!
We invite you to check out our website at the link below too that includes an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.
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God Bless!
Reach Out To Us:
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Tim West
President/General Manager
Rural Oklahoma Networks
405-317-6361
Mike Henderson
Director of Sales
405-615-4922
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KC Sheperd
Farm Director
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
405-443-5717
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Ron Hays
Senior Farm/Ranch Broadcaster
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
405.473.6144
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