We first thought that President Elect Trump would name his Secretary of Ag relatively early- in the first half of December- that didn't happen.

Then we thought- surely before Christmas- that didn't happen.

There was hope between Christmas and New Year's- that didn't happen.

Then- as multiple candidates have been mentioned in recent days just before New Year's and these first few days of 2017- we thought this would be the week. Now, you have got to wonder- will it get pushed off again?

We reported to you yesterday morning that it appeared the former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue III was the likely pick- then CNN claims yesterday that they have a Transition Team source saying the current front runner is former California Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado.

About Maldonado- CNN writes "The owner of a vineyard in California, Maldonado has a farming background. He grew up picking crops with his parents who were agricultural workers themselves.

Over the last eight years, working in tandem with a likeminded administration, environmental activist groups have made significant strides in pushing their agenda forward. That's all about to end though with the Trump administration preparing to take over. The President-elect's nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head up the EPA is a strong indicator of that. I talked yesterday with NCBA's Vice President of Governmental Affairs Colin Woodall who told me that while Pruitt at the helm of EPA is good for those of us in the ag community, the heads of the opposition are spinning at this notion.

"We're actually excited about a lot of the names we have seen including Scott Pruitt as EPA Head," Woodall said. "We know that he is going to bring probably a much different approach than what we have seen for quite some time and that's spanning multiple administrations."

Pruitt has a long track record of fighting the Obama administration on environmental policy and Woodall says he expects Democrats will not make the confirmation process easy on him.

"They've had a pretty good gravy train here in the last eight years, and the fact that they understand that it's coming to an end and that we're going to bring some common sense back to the Environmental Protection Agency, has them worried," Woodall said. "They're absolutely going to throw up every kind of road block out there."

Woodall says Pruitt's hearing will be a hairy one to say the least and that it will fall to us in the ag industry to link arms in support of Pruitt to make sure he is approved and is able to take his place at the EPA.

To read more or to listen to my conversation with Woodall about Pruitt's nomination, click here.

The Missouri Cattlemen's Association, joined by the Missouri Agribusiness Association; Missouri Dairy Association; Missouri Egg Council; Missouri Farm Bureau; Missouri Forest Products Association; Missouri Pork Producers Association; and Missouri Poultry Federation, penned a letter to U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt supporting the confirmation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Collectively, the groups represent tens of thousands of Missouri family farmers, ranchers and business owners.

"Attorney General Pruitt is an ideal nominee to lead the EPA because he has seen, firsthand, the real world consequences of the agency's overreach in his state. As a leader in working to restore the EPA to its original, lawful mission, Pruitt has earned bipartisan respect and recognition during his time as Attorney General," the groups stated in the letter. "An expert of constitutional law and the federal regulatory system, Pruitt would provide the balance desperately needed at the EPA."

The groups encourage the U.S. Senators to vote to confirm Attorney General Pruitt as the next EPA Administrator.

The American Farm Bureau Federation endorsed Pruitt as well in their own letter, this one addressed to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso and Ranking Member Tom Carper, emphasizing the organization's strong support for the nominee to lead the agency.

Zippy Duvall, AFB president, states in the letter that Farm Bureau's support for Pruitt is based on the nominee's "respect for the law" and his understanding of the need for an agency to "live within the statutory programs Congress has authorized."

"Scott Pruitt will restore respect for the law and enforce it fairly," Duvall said. "He understands how and when federal power should be exercised. We support him because he has demonstrated a keen understanding of the devastating economic implications of federal overreach. Scott Pruitt will put the EPA back on track and ensure that federal decisions are based on sound science, not politics. He will produce a fair regulatory environment that respects the rule of law."

Continue reading comments by the Missouri ag groups, by clicking here, or to read Duvall's full remarks, click here.

BY THE WAY- Pruitt meets today with a group of midwest Republican Senators- and with Iowa Senator Grassley organizing the meeting- it is certain the Senators will be probing Scott Pruitt on his willingness to support biofuels.

Senate members joining the meeting include Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, South Dakota Republicans John Thune and Mike Rounds, Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, Kansas Republican Pat Roberts and Nebraska Republican Deb Fisher.

The Public Lands Council, NCBA, the American Sheep Industry, and the Association of National Grasslands urged the incoming administration to reevaluate the flawed policies driven by radical special-interest groups yesterday, by issuing their federal land management priorities for the new administration to bring responsible management and economic viability back to the Western landscape.

Within the first 100 days in office, the associations are calling on the administration to bring an immediate halt to the Sage Grouse Resource Management Plans, repeal the sprawling monument designations made through abuse of the Antiquities Act, address the critical habitat designations imposing stifling restrictions on landowners, and immediately withdraw EPA's "waters of the United States" rule and the Bureau of Land Management's planning 2.0 rule. The associations also call for the administration to pay long-term attention to the National Environmental Policy Act and to the Endangered Species Act, as reform is necessary to streamline and improve the process.

"Ranchers and other multiple-use interests in the West have been subjected to an almost wholesale shift in federal land management policy under the Obama administration," said Dave Eliason, PLC president. "While the Bureau of Land Management has a clear directive to manage BLM lands for multiple use and sustained yield, instead focus has shifted toward 'conservation' without responsible management. The priorities laid out by the associations are necessary to restore balance to federal land management and set an agenda that will ensure that ranchers can continue their tradition of stewardship well into the future."

Click here to get the full story on the priorities of these associations regarding federal land management.

For most prescribed fire practitioners in the Southern Great Plains, burns are conducted during winter and early spring (December to March). This burning season has become commonplace because most of the fuels (grasses and leaf litter) are dead and burn easily, and a large portion of prescribed burns are conducted close to spring green-up to improve forage quality. However, historically, the land was burned during all seasons of the year. A short burn season makes it difficult to successfully accomplish land management goals. We should consider burning during the entire year to create more opportunities for land managers to conduct prescribed burns.

It is common for burns to be postponed to another year because a short burn season and weather limitations make it difficult to conduct burns in a timely manner. Postponement allows more brush encroachment on rangelands that could negatively impact wildlife habitat and grazing quantity. The seasonality of a prescribed burn depends on fuel type and the goals for the land. As for any prescribed burn, extending the burn season requires planning.

Prescribed fire is an important ecological process for the Southern Great Plains. Our plants are adapted to and require fire, regardless of the burn season. We should consider using fire at all times of the year to accomplish our land management goals. The Noble Foundation typically offers a dormant season prescribed burn field day and a growing season prescribed burn field day to help fire practitioners learn how to use fire in different seasons. We shouldn't limit ourselves to just a few months out of the year to burn.

For more information from the Noble Foundation about conducting prescribed burns year-round, click here.

This week in his most recent article composed for the weekly newsletter Cow/Calf Corner, Dr. Glenn Selk of Oklahoma State University, wrote about a call he received from a producer who shared his observations on how well one particular method he was using to revive calves suffering from the cold worked.

With artic weather is forecast for the state this week, Dr. Selk passes on some information regarding the producer's method of immersing calves into a hot bath, that he believes other cattle producers in Oklahoma may find useful in the coming days and weeks.

"Canadian animal scientists compared methods of reviving hypothermic or cold stressed baby calves. Heat production and rectal temperature were measured in 19 newborn calves during hypothermia (cold stress) and recovery when four different means of assistance were provided. Hypothermia of 86 degrees F. rectal temperature was induced by immersion in cold water. Calves were re-warmed in a 68 to 77 degrees F. air environment where thermal assistance was provided by added thermal insulation or by supplemental heat from infrared lamps. Other calves were re-warmed by immersion in warm water (100 degrees F.), with or without a 40cc drench of 20% ethanol in water. Normal rectal temperatures before cold stress were 103 degrees F. 

"The time required to regain normal body temperature from a rectal temperature of 86 degrees F. was longer for calves with added insulation and those exposed to heat lamps than for the calves in the warm water and warm water plus ethanol treatments (90 minutes and 92 minutes vs 59 minutes and 63 minutes, respectively). During recovery, the calves re-warmed with the added insulation and heat lamps produced more heat metabolically than the calves re-warmed in warm water. This represents energy that is lost from the calf's body that cannot be utilized for other important biological processes. Total heat production (energy lost) during recovery was nearly twice as great for the calves with added insulation, or exposed to the heat lamps than for calves in warm water and in warm water plus an oral drench of ethanol, respectively. By immersion of hypothermic calves in warm (100 degrees F) water, normal body temperature was regained most rapidly and with minimal metabolic effort. No advantage was evident from oral administration of ethanol.

Read further about this technique to revive calves from the cold weather, by clicking here.

 
The first sale of the new year for Fed Cattle Exchange saw the trend to higher prices from week to week continue in 2017, with a total of 5,711 total head being offered and 4,826 head sold for a weighted average price of $116.77, up $1.39 per hundred from the $115.38 paid on the last Wednesday in December.


The overall range of sales went from $115.50 to $117.25, with Texas pens of cattle selling from $117 to $117.25.


To see the list of pens of cattle sold and details about them,  click here.


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