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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Story:

Preemptive Strike!  Groups Tell Lawmakers- Leave Ag, Conservation and Nutrition Spending ALONE!  

 

 
In an election year, THE thing that lawmakers do not want to do is to make constituents unhappy- and that makes the thinking behind a letter that went to Capitol Hill yesterday nothing short of brilliant.

You have to go back to the days of Senator Bob Dole being a shaker and mover on the Senate Ag Committee to when we really pulled together farm program policy with nutrition policy.  Nutrition policy back then was about giving butter and cheese and other staples to worthy recipients.  Then came food stamps which have now become SNAP payments- and every farm bill cycle, we have arguments for the need to separate nutrition support from policy involving the farm safety net- and for that matter, conservation.

It was even a done deal for a brief moment in the 2014 Farm Bill process- but in the end, lawmakers backed away and this most recent farm law once again includes all three legs to keep it upright.

Well, the letter we referenced above has serious supporters of ALL THREE LEGS sending a preemptive message to the Chair and Ranking Members of both the Budget and Appropriations Committees in both the House and the Senate. 

The message urges them to reject additional cuts to programs for fiscal year 2017 within the jurisdiction of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees

The letter also calls on leaders to oppose any proposals to re-open the Farm Bill during the consideration of the 2017 Budget Resolution and refrain from including reconciliation instructions for either the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry or for the House Committee on Agriculture.

Who signed the letter?  There are a total of 255 groups- including The Salvation Army, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail and Pheasants Forever, virtually all Commodity Groups, Food Banks galore, Bankers, Health Professionals and on and on and on.

Click here to read the full letter.  Just as important, take a moment and read thru the list of the groups telling the lawmakers, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

WASDE- Move Along, Nothing to See Here (for grains or for meat and livestock) 

 
There were not many changes in the USDA World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates released yesterday morning- compared to the February numbers.

Market Analyst Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities says there was very little from this report to get excited about.

"The wheat and corn were lower than what the trade was looking for. But, the interesting thing was they did not change from where they were in February," Leffler said. "You have to look at it as completely neutral, there was no change what so ever in the corn and wheat. It may have been a bit of a surprise because we were looking for an increase in both those commodities.

Leffler calls the report  a "Yawner."  Click here to read more of his thoughts from yesterday's release.

Tom does not usually offer commentary to us on the Meat and Livestock section of WASDE- but we did want to mention that part of the report as well-

USDA did move the overall meat supply number(total of beef, pork and poultry) compared to a month ago. The report says "The 2016 forecast of total red meat and poultry production is raised from last month as higher forecast first-quarter broiler and turkey production more than offsets small reductions in beef and pork. First-quarter beef production is reduced on the pace of slaughter and lower carcass weights; pork production is reduced on slightly lighter carcass weights."

Click here for more on the Livestock portion of the March 9 report.


 

Cargill Announces Reduction in Use of Shared Class Antibiotics in Their High Plains Feedlots

 

Cargill is eliminating 20 percent of shared-class antibiotics, those deemed important for human medicine and farm animals, from its four feed yards in Texas, Kansas and Colorado, and four additional feed yards operated by Friona Industries, which is a strategic business partner that supplies the company with cattle. The total number of cattle involved annually is approximately 1.2 million. This move comes after Cargill evaluated both existing third party research and research previously conducted by the company regarding reduced antibiotic use, and evaluated customer and consumer input. For the beef cattle covered by this announcement, Cargill does not use any antibiotics for growth promotion that are medically important for human health.


"Our decision to eliminate 20 percent of the antibiotics used in our beef cattle, which are also used for human health, took into consideration customer and consumer desires to help ensure the long-term medical effectiveness of antibiotics for both people and animals," stated John Keating, president of Cargill's Wichita-based beef business. "We need to balance those desires with our commitment to ensure the health of animals raised for food, which contributes to the production of safer food."

More on the move by Cargill is available here.

Beef Checkoff Funded Research Drives the Beef Business Toward the Future

 

The Beef Checkoff dollars that are collected from cattle producers are used for one of three purposes- promotion, education and research.  Beef Board Chairman Anne Anderson says that of the three, research continues to use more and more of the federal beef checkoff dollars.  Anderson says there are three areas where dollars have been invested on behalf of cattle producers.  Those areas of research are Food Safety, Nutrition and New Product development.  


Anderson tells us that Nutrition Research is one that has become a higher priority in recent years, because if the Beef Checkoff is not willing to undertake key studies that help show the importance of beef in a healthy diet, no one else will. Anderson says "in Nutrition Research, you have to anticipate what we are going to need, do it ahead of time, get it peer reviewed and then repeat." 

In today's Beef Buzz, we also talk with Anne about Food Safety and New Product Research- and a fourth area that really does not fit in one of these three categories- the work done to document Sustainability in the beef business.

Click here to read more and to listen to this edition of the Beef Buzz featuring the personable Chair lady of the CBB, Anne Anderson.

 

Ready, Set, Go! OYE Gates Open Today- Gilts and Does Start Showing Tomorrow

 
Females First!  Of course we mean Gilts, Does and Heifers when we refer to Females and the Oklahoma Youth Expo.  All three species are headed for State Fair Park and are getting checked in, weighed and carded in preparation for tomorrow morning when the OYE competition officially begins.

First comes the Purebred Gilts- they start at 8:00 AM in Barn 6, followed by the Doe Show in the Super Barn at 2:00 PM.  Both of these species continue to show on Saturday- and Heifers will start being worked class by class on Sunday.

Our coverage all the way to next week and the Premium Sale of the top market animals is being sponsored in part by ITC High Plains, Your Energy Superhighway.

Details for Friday can be seen here and click here for the Saturday lineup.

The overall website for the OYE is available here.

Be watching for our Tweets in the days ahead with the hashtag #OYE2016.

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BASF and Wheat, Corn and Soybean Groups Hand Out Scholarship Cash

 
BASF, the American Soybean Association (ASA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and the National Wheat Foundation (NWF) presented scholarships to future leaders who share a passion and motivation for advancing the industry at the 2016 Commodity Classic tradeshow in New Orleans. The scholarships assist promising individuals with their future agriculture academic endeavors.

"Fostering a successful, sustainable future for agriculture is the catalyst behind BASF's Crop Protection business," said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President, Crop Protection, North America, BASF. "The future starts with bright minds, and helping young individuals venture toward a career in agriculture is important to BASF."

A total of ten scholarships were handed out by BASF and the groups- click here for more details and learn who received this collegiate help during Commodity Classic.

Our coverage of this year's Commodity Classic was powered by BASF- thanks to them!

This N That- Heath Sanders Rejoins OSU Extension, Superior Webinar Tonight and Superior Sale Tomorrow

 

Heath Sanders is headed southwest later this month to step into the Area Agronomist position for OSU Extension. "Heath is an extremely well-respected young agronomist; we consider ourselves fortunate to have a professional of his caliber and firsthand experience as a member of our team," said Bob LeValley, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension southwest district director.

Sanders has served Oklahoma as an OSU Cooperative Extension assistant specialist focusing on winter canola (2008-2010), an oilseed agronomist with Producers Cooperative Oil Mill (2010-2013) and a field specialist with the Great Plains Canola Association (2013-2015).

He also served as a senior agriculturist in the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources' small grains weed science project from 2005 to 2008.

Congrats Heath!  We will continue to work with you in this new role!

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Superior Livestock is teaming with IMI Global to present a special Webinar on Thursday evening, March 10 at 6 PM central time.


The program will feature Leann Saunders of IMI Global and Danny Jones of Superior Livestock- they will be covering several topics including: New Market Opportunities, International Trade and What's Next for Value Added Programs.

More details are available here.

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Speaking of Superior Video Livestock, their next regular every other week sale is set for tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM central time.

32,000 head of cattle will be offered this week- details are available on the Superior website by clicking here.

As always, you can call Superior at 1-800-422-2117 for more information as well.

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