We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.
Let's Check the Markets!
Today's First Look:
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Okla Cash Grain:
Futures Wrap:
Feeder Cattle Recap:
Slaughter Cattle Recap:
TCFA Feedlot Recap:
Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
Ron Hays, Senior Farm Director and Editor
Carson Horn, Associate Farm Director and Editor Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager Dave Lanning, Markets and Production Macey Mueller, E-mail and Web Writer
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Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News
Presented by 
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Monday, September 19, 2016
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Howdy Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
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 Featured Story:HSUS Sticking Their Nose Into Beef Checkoff - NCBA Taking a Stand
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association was recently notified that Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) attorneys have filed a lawsuit against USDA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) on behalf of the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM). This lawsuit seeks to divide the beef industry against itself by opening old wounds and weakening the beef checkoff as HSUS drives toward its ultimate goal of ending animal agriculture.
The lawsuit, filed by HSUS lawyers, seeks the release of documents related to two OIG audits of the beef checkoff and its contractors, including NCBA. Both audits found that producer investments in the checkoff are protected by the firewall, which prevents beef checkoff dollars from being used for policy activities. Two OIG full audits and multiple random audits by USDA have found contractors, including NCBA, to be in full compliance with the laws which protect checkoff funds.
"Those findings haven't satisfied the extremist animal rights activists at HSUS or its partners at OCM," said NCBA CEO Kendal Frazier. "Instead of working to better our industry, these two organizations and a small handful of cattlemen have chosen a devil's pact in an effort to weaken the checkoff, which will in turn, weaken beef demand and our entire industry."
Frazier reached out to me about the matter and made no bones about the fact that he and his organization are highly concerned.
Click here to listen to our conversation. |
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Sponsor Spotlight
It's great to have one of the premiere businesses in the cattle business partner with us in helping bring you our daily Farm and Ranch News Email- National Livestock Credit Corporation. National Livestock has been around since 1932- and they have worked with livestock producers to help them secure credit and to buy or sell cattle through the National Livestock Commission Company.
They also own and operate the Southern Oklahoma Livestock Market in Ada, Superior Livestock, which continues to operate independently and have a major stake in OKC West in El Reno. To learn more about how these folks can help you succeed in the cattle business, click here
for their website or call the Oklahoma City office at 1-800-310-0220.
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Pork Industry's DC Fly-In a Success - Time to Celebrate with a Pork Sandwich
The Great State Fair of Oklahoma is officially in full swing for 2016, which means hungry fairgoers again have a limited opportunity to stop by the Oklahoma Pork Council's Pork Chop Shop to enjoy a delicacy of the other white meat, that only a state fair can provide. While you're there, be sure to visit with OPC President Cathy Vaughn, of Smithfield Foods, whom is volunteering at the Pork Chop Shop this year. I recently caught up with Vaughn to discuss what the OPC was able to accomplish at their recent fly-in to Washington, DC where they and other members of the pork industry met with legislators on several priority issues.The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, was top on the list of priorities for the pork industry, according to Vaughn. She says although OPC has been assured they have the full support of Oklahoma's delegation, there are still a lot of unknowns as to whether or not a vote will happen this year.Second on the list - GIPSA (Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration)."There's a new ruling coming out from the USDA," Vaughn said. "Basically long story short - we thought we put this one to bed several years ago, and it looks like its rearing its head again, so we just want to get ahead of that." "Really great meetings, it's always good to get out to Washington, but then it's also nice to be back home in Oklahoma," Vaughn said. "We definitely encourage people to come out to the fair. We've got the Pork Chop Shop set up, the smokers are running and the meat is there!"Listen to my conversation with Oklahoma Pork Council President Cathy Vaughn about her recent trip to DC.
AND- you can watch our visit with Cathy on this past Saturday morning's In The Field With Ron Hays segment by clicking here- it was originally broadcast on Saturday morning on KWTV, News9.
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USDA Launches New Database on Product Nutrition of More Than 80,000 Brand Names
On Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack officially launched the USDA Branded Food Products, a free online resource for families, the food industry and researchers containing nutrition details on more than 80,000 name brand prepared and packaged foods available at restaurants and grocery stores. The announcement was made at the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) Summit."There is so much data from the public and private sectors that can improve the health and quality of life for millions of people, if it can be made more readily available," said Vilsack. "The partnership that produced the database is more proof that governments, nonprofits, businesses and researchers are capable fostering scientific innovation by making life-changing data open and available to parents, healthcare professionals, scientists, businesses and everyone interested. I look forward to being surprised by innovations we have not even thought of yet as a result of so much information becoming so reliable and accessible."The USDA Agricultural Research Service partnered with the International Life Sciences Institute North America (ILSI North America), GS1 US, 1WorldSync, and Label Insight to develop the new database and user-friendly interface to make it easier for private food companies to add and update data. The database provides a transparent source of information that can assist health professionals identifying foods and portion size for people with food allergies, diabetes, kidney disease and other conditions. Common consumer health and nutrition Apps may also use the data as a resource to bring information to consumers on a phone or watch in real time while shopping or dining out.The Branded Food Products Database greatly expands and enhances the USDA National Nutrient Database, which contained basic information on about 8,800 branded foods and has served as a main source of food composition data for government, researchers and the food industry. As information is added in the coming months, it is expected the new database will include up to 500,000 products with an expanded level of detail including serving size, servings per package and nutrients shown on the Nutrition Facts Panel or the Expanded Nutrition Facts Panel, plus weights and measures, ingredient list and sub-list, and a date stamp associated with current formulation of the product.
Click here to read more about USDA's newest database aimed at helping Americans live healthier lifestyles.
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When Will the Downturn in Cattle Prices Be Behind Us? Jim Robb Takes a Look Down the Road
While most of us worry about the day to day or weekly markets, Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center, has been considering all the facts and taken a longer view of where he believes the cattle market is headed. He says the summer of 2016 has set the stage for what's coming."We really do think the summer of 2016 here was a bit of a turning point. Heifer slaughter has been up dramatically in recent weeks, cow slaughter is increasing," Robb said, adding that this is happening a bit earlier than anticipated; signaling predictions of herd size growth. "So the rate of growth in the cow herd, the initial signs of slowing down as we move through 2017, are kind of already in place. That leads us to believe that we're going to have more meat in the marketplace - in fact in 2018, US beef production will be the largest since 2002."Robb says that is not the whole story though. He says it's also the demand, growing exports and growing domestic population factoring in. He predicts that lower prices across the board, between 4 - 10 percent year-over-year declines, will appear in cattle prices in 2017 and 2018. After that though, he says some cyclical corrections will take place as herd size adjustments are made. At that point, Robb believes the downturn in prices will be behind us."It's down the road, but especially in terms of cow/calf country - looking at 2018 really isn't that far away in terms of breeding decisions, long-term management decision," Robb said. "We want people to recognize the price profile, the price declines, appear not to be over yet, but the rate of decline will moderate dramatically."Listen to Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center share his long-term predictions of the cattle market during the latest Beef Buzz.
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Sponsor Spotlight
For nearly a century, Stillwater Milling has been providing ranchers with the highest quality feeds made from the highest quality ingredients. Their full line of A&M Feeds can be delivered to your farm, found at their agri-center stores in Stillwater, Davis, Claremore and Perry or at more than 100 dealers in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. We appreciate Stillwater Milling's long time support of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and we encourage you to click here to learn more about their products and services.
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Beef Checkoff Cuts More Than $5 Million from Budget During Operating Committee Meeting
After being forced to make cuts of more than $5 million from proposed programs, the Cattlemen's Beef Board will invest about $40.7 million into development and implementation of programs of beef promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications in fiscal 2017, subject to approval by USDA.
In action concluding its Sept. 13-14 meeting in Denver, the Operating Committee - 10 members of the Beef Board and 10 members of the Federation of State Beef Councils - approved checkoff funding for a total of 12 "Authorization Requests," or proposals for checkoff funding, in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2016. The committee also recommended full Beef Board approval of a budget amendment to reflect the split of funding between budget categories affected by their decisions.
The fiscal 2017 budget represents a decrease of more than 9 percent from the $44.8 million fy16 budget. Six contractors brought a total of $43.2 million worth of funding requests to the Operating Committee this week, $5.3 million more than what is available from the CBB budget to fund them.
"This was one of the most challenging years ever, in terms of the gap between the value of proposals before us and the budget we had to invest," said Beef Board and Operating Committee Chairman Anne Anderson, a cattle producer from Texas. "I'm extremely proud of how all committee members worked together through this extremely difficult situation to make the best possible decisions about how to invest our checkoff dollars in the coming year.
Click here to read more about the Cattlemen's Beef Board's funding decisions for FY17.
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Want to Have the Latest Energy News Delivered to Your Inbox Daily?
Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.
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The meat goat industry has become one of the fastest growing agricultural industries in the United States over the last few decades. Between 1987 and 2012, the number of meat goats increased by 395 percent from 415,196 to 2,053,228. Contributing factors to this growth include increased demand from immigrants who consume goat meat, establishment of the American Meat Goat Association and the repeal of 1954 Wool Act. In spite of the significant increase in domestic production, consumer demand continues to outpace production with the shortfall supplied primarily from Australia and New Zealand.
According to the 2012 United States Census of Agriculture, producers in Oklahoma and Texas produced 37 percent of the total U.S. meat goat production. This makes them a major supplier of goat meat in the country. Because of the production size in this region and the overall shortfall in domestic production, we conducted a survey of meat goat producers to gain a better understanding of the makeup of the industry and to help us discover potential benefits and challenges that may exist for those who might be interested in getting in the meat goat business in the region.
Survey responses from 62 meat goat producers operating in the region revealed the average farm size was 369 acres, on which 214 acres were used to produce an average of 75 meat goats per farm. In addition, 74 percent indicated they followed a pasture-based management system. Furthermore, the average age of producers was 54 years, and 81 percent of them have a college degree. Moreover, 37 percent of the respondents reported they consider themselves to be risk-averse, and 54 percent hold an off-farm job. In terms of marketing, producers reported that on average 40 percent of their farm income is derived from selling meat goats. However, only about 15 percent of their total household income is generated from the meat goat sales. In addition, 86 percent of meat goat producers reported selling their goats directly to consumers, while 73 percent market their goats through auctions.
Click here to read more about the growth of the meat goat industry.
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EPA Says- Nothing to See Here- Glyphosate Not a Cancer Risk to Humans
The EPA posted a report online this week stating that glyphosate does NOT cause cancer. This is not the first time they have said this, and it will not be the last- according to an articled posted by the American Council on Science and Health.
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the United States, originally developed by Monsanto and sold under the name "Roundup." Not only has Roundup been used for the last 42 years, but glyphosate has been incorporated into hundreds of additional products for the last 16 years.
Over the years, the EPA has vacillated on their classification of glyphosate's cancer-causing ability. According to them, it seems that glyphosate has become less carcinogenic over time. It was first labeled as a "possible human carcinogen" in the mid-80s. In 1986, glyphosate was downgraded to "not enough data to tell if it's a carcinogen or not." Then, in 1991, it moved to "evidence of non-carcinogenicity in humans," which bring us to April of this year, when the EPA posted a classification of "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans," the safest classification on the scale.
To be clear, the EPA ratings set in 2005, are, in order of decreasing risk: - Carcinogenic to Humans
- Likely to be Carcinogenic to Humans
- Suggestive Evidence of Carcinogenic Potential
- Inadequate Information to Assess Carcinogenic Potential
- Not Likely to be Carcinogenic to Humans
Click here to read more from the ACSH report on the EPA's latest study on this key agricultural chemical.
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, Oklahoma Genetics Inc., American Farmers & Ranchers, Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, Stillwater Milling Company, Oklahoma AgCredit, 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!
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