Oklahoma's Latest Farm
And Ranch News
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Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Happy New Year!!! We Return
Monday, January 4th to start 2021!
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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
- 2020 Was a Year of Opportunity, says OCA's Michael Kelsey
- Dr. Kim Anderson with analysis on December Grain Prices & a Look into 2021
- NCBA's Ethan Lane Says There Are Positives to Having a Familiar Face Return to The USDA
- Producers Should Examine Options before Making Changes to Safety net Programs
- Nutrition Coalition Claims New Dietary Guidelines Not Applicable for Majority of Americans
- Mailbox Milk Prices Expected to Normalize in 2021 Following Year of Extreme Volatility
- On-the-ranch Herd Health Programs Support Healthy Cattle Markets
- Are You Ready for Cattlemen's Congress? Here Are Several Sales to Check Out!
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2020 Was a Year of Opportunity, says OCA's Michael Kelsey
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Recapping 2020 can be summarized rather optimistically for Michael Kelsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, as he sees the year as an opportunity to learn and advance the beef industry.
Kelsey was recently interviewed by Radio Oklahoma Agriculture Network Associate Farm Director and Editor KC Sheperd.
Hopefully, we’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons during 2020, Kelsey said. That’s something in the beef industry that we’re trying to see what we have learned and apply it as we move forward, he added.
Among the many lessons learned in 2020 was the enhanced opportunities to connect producers with consumers.
In March we started to get a lot of calls from consumers about buying directly from ranchers, Kelsey said.
Consumers were at home and had more time to cook, giving demand a boost, he said.
Since then, the direct sales have really grown as it has been a great opportunity for our members, both large and small, Kelsey said.
That is one thing that covid has given us this opportunity to closely connect with the consumer, he said.
Another highlight of the year was the new dietary guidelines showing beef is a very nutritious product.
My opinion is this is the most important issue we work on, Kelsey said.
This set of dietary guidelines just released was a huge win for cattle producers, he said.
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Dr. Kim Anderson with analysis on December Grain Prices & a Look into 2021
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December 2020 produced a month of higher grain prices with a few days of moderately large price moves. The real market will reveal itself after the first week or two of trading in January. Producers tend to hold grain, and buyers tend to delay some buying until after January 1. The market doesn’t know how much demand or supply has been pent up.
On December 1, the Medford, Oklahoma wheat price was $5.05 and the March basis was minus 34 cents. On December 28, the Medford price was $5.46 and the basis was minus 31 cents. The big price move was from $5.03 on December 8 to $5.47 on December 11 (3 trading days). Wheat prices traded between $5.31 and $5.58 for the remainder of December.
Russian wheat news may have been responsible for most of the price increase. Russian President Putin declared a “war on food prices” resulting in an 82 cent per bushel tax on exported wheat. Analysts indicated that this could result in a 40 plus cent increase in U.S. wheat prices. And they were right: $5.46 is 41 cents higher than $5.05.
The 2021 Russian wheat crop was planted under poor conditions, and reports indicate that the Russian wheat has the highest percentage of poor to very poor ratings since 2014. As with U.S. winter wheat, yields are determined during the spring months. The 2014 Russian wheat crop was the third highest on record.
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NCBA's Ethan Lane Says There Are Positives to Having a Familiar Face Return to USDA
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A familiar face is returning to lead the USDA under the Biden administration and that is good news for agriculture, said Ethan Lane, NCBA vice president of government affairs.
Lane said former USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack knows his way around the agency and the many issues farmers are facing today.
He knows how the agency works and will be ready go on day one, Lane said.
We have a relationship with him and that is good news, Lane said.
We’re excited to have him back at the helm as he knows the issues and we won’t have to spend a lot of time educating him, Lane said.
One of those issues is mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) and Vilsack understood it wouldn’t work.
We have moved on from the COOL issue and focused on product of the USA labeling now, Lane 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 new daily report starting to be heard on several of our Radio Stations- It's Called Cotton Talk- and we appreciate the Oklahoma Cotton Council for their support in making this a reality.
Click on the Button below to listen to our most recent report
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Producers Should examine Options before Making Changes to Safety net Programs
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An Oklahoma State University Extension agricultural policy expert is recommending producers be patient while considering whether to change or maintain Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage elections from 2019 and 2020.
“The current re-election and enrollment period goes until March 15, 2021, so there is plenty of time to survey the markets and think about whether a farm needs price protection or revenue protection,” said Amy Hagerman of the OSU Department of Agricultural Economics. “This may prove particularly beneficial for Oklahoma producers who have wheat base acres enrolled in the safety net programs.”
The national marketing year for wheat ends on May 31, 2021. Producers should have a better idea of how PLC will perform on those acres closer to the March 15 election and enrollment deadline. Key points include:
*Price Loss Coverage makes a payment when the market year average price is below the effective reference price.
*Agricultural Risk Coverage at the county level makes a payment when county revenue is below an ARC-CO guarantee.
*Agricultural Risk Coverage at the individual level makes a payment when a farm’s revenue is below the ARC-IC guarantee.
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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
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2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines Not Applicable for Majority of Americans
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The Nutrition Coalition (TNC) has worked to encourage that the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) be evidence-based and inclusive of all Americans. With the 9th iteration of the DGA released today, TNC remains concerned that this highly influential policy document addresses only a minority of Americans, excluding the 60% of the population, according to the CDC, diagnosed with one or more diet-related chronic disease.
“This narrow scope fails to meet the Congressional statute that the DGA address the ‘general public' The general public is now ill, afflicted with chronic disease-and we have a national nutrition policy that ignores them,” stated Nina Teicholz, Executive Director of TNC.
She added: “Nutrition recommendations that are taught to all Americans should necessarily reflect all Americans, and these Dietary Guidelines clearly fail to do that. The policy is scoped for disease-prevention only-thereby ignoring the 60% of the population now diagnosed with one or more diet-related disease, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc. The expert committee did not review any of the body of science on how to successfully treat these diseases with nutrition-not even any studies on weight loss. For the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop a policy so narrowly focused on a minority of Americans makes little sense, especially since these Guidelines are applied to sick and well alike. These Guidelines can be of little-to-no use for the millions of Americans diagnosed with chronic, diet-related diseases.”
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Mailbox Milk Prices Expected to Normalize in 2021 Following Year of Extreme Volatility
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The pandemic in 2020 caused unprecedented market volatility in dairy prices, leading to lower milk checks for dairy producers. However, the price spread is expected to realign in the first half of 2021, bringing normalcy to producer price differentials (PPDs) and mailbox milk prices, according to a ’new report from CoBanks Knowledge Exchange division
Extreme volatility in cheese and milk prices resulted from supply chain disruptions, government purchasing, and changes in consumption habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Record-high cheese prices lifted Class III milk prices disproportionately higher than Class IV milk prices, which were held in check by low butter and milk powder prices.
Because of higher Class III milk prices, cheese manufacturers were incentivized to depool milk from Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) marketing regions. The loss of higher-priced Class III milk from the pool resulted in negative PPDs for dairy farmers and lower mailbox milk prices.
“The coronavirus pandemic broke the relationship between monthly mailbox milk prices and monthly Class III milk prices,” said Tanner Ehmke manager of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange. “But the spread between Class III and IV milk prices is expected to realign in the first half of 2021, bringing normalcy back to PPDs and mailbox milk prices.”
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On-the-ranch Herd Health Programs Support Healthy Cattle Markets
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Cow-calf producers have embraced management strategies that make their livestock a better value to the rest of the U.S. beef cattle industry, but Bovine Respiratory Disease continues to be an area where improvement is needed.
“Better BRD control is going to require an industry-wide effort that focuses on animal health, starting with cow-calf producers,” said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist and holder of the university’s Charles A. Breedlove Endowed Professorship in Agribusiness. “Unfortunately, a misalignment of costs and benefits across production sectors is serving as a roadblock. We call that a market failure.”
Simply put, cow-calf producers may not have the proper economic incentives to invest in additional BRD control. Commonly called shipping fever, BRD is caused by the interaction of pathogens that combine in many cattle production sectors. Activities such as weaning and transporting animals, changes in their nutrition and commingling are just a few factors that can increase the likelihood of infection. Even animal stress caused by weather fluctuations can spur on the disease.
Studies have shown BRD generates an estimated $800 million to $900 million annually in economic losses from death, reduced feed efficiency and veterinary treatment costs within the U.S. cattle industry. The disease causes 70% to 80% of health problems in feedlots and 40% to 50% of feedlot animal deaths.
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Are You Ready for Cattlemen's Congress? Here Are Several Sales to Check Out!
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As we greet the New Year- some of the best Beef Cattle in the country will be arriving at OKC Fairgrounds for the Inaugural Cattlemen's Congress.
The detailed schedule is available here- but we do have four of the sales planned for this coming week that we want to draw your attention to- click on the Buttons below for all the details for each of these sales!
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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 higher- Choice Beef was up 23 cents and Select Beef was up $4.38 on Wednesday 12/30/20.
Click on the Button below for the latest report from USDA Market News
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Weekly Cattle Auction Reports
The buttons below allow you to check out the weekly Cattle Auctions in the region that we post on our website and here in our daily email update-
PLEASE NOTE- All of these markets have finished selling cattle in 2020- and will resume their auctions the first full week of 2021.
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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 Director and Editor
KC Sheperd, Associate Farm Director and Editor
Dave Lanning, Markets and Production
Sam Knipp, Farm News Editor
Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
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Rural Oklahoma is full of some of the greatest success stories throughout the entire state and is the main reason Oklahoma is on track to become a top 10 state.
The Road to Rural Prosperity will dive into these stories each week, bringing you insight into the great things happening in and to rural Oklahoma. We will bring you stories covering rural life, agriculture, energy, healthcare, tourism, and politics affecting rural America.
The Road to Rural Prosperity is here to tell stories about rural America, for rural America.
Congress has passed a 5,393-page Relief/Spending Omnibus Package- and Host Ron Hays Talks with Ethan Lane, Vice President for Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association about Pandemic Relief- more money in CFAP, Grants for RAMP UP, the establishment of the SALE Act and more. Lane also talks about the announcement by USDA to start the process of moving Gene Editing for animals away from FDA over to USDA, a look at the Climate Team for President-Elect Biden, a return to USDA by Tom Vilsack, and a look into 2021 from a DC Perspective.
Today's Podcast is powered by Banc First, Loyal to Oklahoma, and Loyal to You.
To find out more about our full series of Podcasts on The Road to Rural Prosperity- click or tap here.
To hear this podcast, you can click here or tap below:
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, AFR/OFU, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Ag Mediation Program, Great Plains Kubota, Stillwater Milling Company, Oklahoma Cotton Council, National Livestock Credit Corporation, Oklahoma Beef Council, 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!
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
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
2401 Exchange Avenue,
Suite F
Oklahoma City, OK 73108
405.317.6361
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Ron Hays
Director of Farm Programming
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network
405.473.6144
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