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Wheat Harvest at Full Speed- So Much Better Than at This Point a Year Ago

We have been "gleaning" bits and pieces from a variety of places on the status of the 2016 winter wheat harvest- in checking in with Twitter this morning- wheat harvest is really breaking out all over- from the soft red winter wheat areas of Alabama and Tennessee westward to out part of the world in HRW country.

Wheat is ready and being harvested from the south plains of Texas to Sumner County, Kansas and most points in between.

Here are a few of the observations we have picked up:

Matt Muller in Jackson County calls it still a slow process- but after a lot of rain that stopped him for several days- harvest is happening. Matt writes "thick green straw, fair amount of the wheat is lodged." The good news is the grain is dry and he says after a lot of mud- he is finding dry ground. Matt adds "test weights holding above 60. Good Yields. Sun down, breeze stops and humidity sky rockets."

Roland Pederson emailed us a quick note from his farm near Burlington that wheat harvest is underway. Roland writes on Tuesday midday "We got started yesterday west of Burlington. Fields are mostly dry enough. Yield and quality is above average and much better than the last few years. We are a couple of days from really getting started."

Jon Kuhnemund farms in northwestern Oklahoma and offered a great testimonial for canola in rotation with wheat as he tweets "Doublestop behind canola- came in right at 70 bushels an acre, test weight 63-64 pounds a bushel."  In fact- here is the pic of his Doublestop that he tweeted out yesterday-

Doublestop CL is one of the Clearfield varieties developed by Dr. Brett Carver and his Wheat Improvement team at OSU.

More details on wheat harvest that we have gleaned are available here.  AND- we expect a Oklahoma Wheat Commission Harvest report later today.

April Red Meat Exports Below Last Year; Year-to-Date Volumes Steady

April exports of U.S. pork and beef were below the volumes recorded a year ago, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Through the first four months of 2016, both pork and beef exports were steady with last year's pace in volume, but fell 9 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in value.

Beef exports totaled 88,190 mt in April, down 4 percent from a year ago, while export value fell 13 percent to $481 million. Through the first four months of the year, beef exports were 343,176 mt valued at $1.84 billion.

April exports accounted for 13 percent of total beef production and 10 percent for muscle cuts only, each down about 1 percentage point from last year. For January-April, these ratios were down slightly from a year ago at 12.5 percent and 9.5 percent. Export value averaged $252.42 per head of fed slaughter in April - down 15 percent from a year ago but the highest of 2016. January-April export value averaged $245.56 per head, down 16 percent.

Pork exports totaled 188,324 metric tons (mt) in April, down 6 percent from the large volume reported in April 2015. Export value fell 9 percent to $466.7 million. For January through April, pork exports were 722,645 mt valued at $1.77 billion. 

 
"Although volumes were lower year-over-year, we did see encouraging signs in the April export results," said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. "While the European Union continues to be the dominant pork supplier to China, U.S. pork is achieving growth in the China/Hong Kong market despite significant market access barriers. For U.S. beef, improvement in Mexico and other Western Hemisphere markets was a very positive development. USMEF has worked closely with the retail and foodservice sectors to promote underutilized cuts and overcome our price challenges in these markets, and those efforts are definitely paying dividends." 

Read USMEF's complete report for April exports.

National Wheat Yield Contest Spurs Innovation

FedCattleExchange.com Up and Running - Ed Greiman Says First Sale Was a Success

Superior Livestock's new FedCattleExchange.com has been live for a few weeks now, and Ed Greiman, chairman of NCBA's Cattle Marketing and International Trade Committee, is calling it successful.


Greiman sold cattle on the first auction May 25, and says despite technical issues with the website, the auction achieved its purpose to provide better price discovery in the cattle market.


"The good news of the sale is they sold 1,600 head of cattle. Everybody that I've talked to that sold said they thought that was about where the market was going to be," he says. "The other even better news is a lot of people were watching, and that's what we wanted.


"The fact that the site crashed because there were so many people trying to view it - I know some would say that's bad, but it's good news, it really is," he says. 


The idea to create an electronic auction format to facilitate the trade of fed cattle stems from the industry's lack of cash sales. Greiman says FedCattleExchange.com is not about selling cattle for more money. 


"It's about giving us another avenue to sell cattle rather than just putting them on a formula and handing them over to the packer," he says. 


Greiman says it's important to remember that this idea was formulated by cattlemen in an effort to avoid a government-mandated solution to price discovery.


"What we need to be clear to Congress is that cattlemen are trying to fix their own problem," he says. "So if we need more price discovery, and the industry needs to see what fat cattle are bringing, this is one of the solutions, and the best part of it is this was a solution that was come up by cattlemen who are selling the cattle."


Listen to Greiman talk more about FedCattleExchange.com during the latest Beef Buzz. 

USDA, Partners to Invest Over $11 Million in 21st Century Conservation Service 

As National Get Outdoors Month begins, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service and partners have invested over $11 million to support work and training opportunities for more than 1,500 youth and veterans on national forests and grasslands in fiscal year 2016. The funds support the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC), a public-private initiative to connect America's youth and veterans with job opportunities that conserve and sustain our natural and cultural resources.


"The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps experience transforms the lives of our veterans and youth, allowing them to connect to the great outdoors and become part of the next generation of natural and cultural resource conservationists," said Vilsack. "This public-private collaboration provides participants with new skills and inspires and connects them to the forests and communities in which they work."


Over the last two years, the Forest Service has engaged 20,000 youth and veterans through partnerships with 21CSC member organizations and other institutions. This year participants will focus on more than 120 priority projects across the country working on a range of issues from restoration, hazardous fuels management and watershed protection to trails and facilities maintenance while helping to develop the next generation of conservation stewards and the agency's workforce.


"The 21CSC program allows our youth and veterans to gain the personal and professional skills they need to build their conservation careers while protecting, restoring and enhancing some of the country's most treasured public lands," said Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "These partnerships and the people who make them work are building a bright future for conservation in America."

Read more about the opportunities for hands-on service here.

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53rd Annual World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Set for Paris, Kentucky 

June 18th

Paris Stockyards, Paris, Ky., will host the 2016 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) on Saturday, June 18. The 53rd annual WLAC will take place in conjunction with the Livestock Marketing Association's (LMA) Annual Convention in Lexington at the Hilton Lexington Downtown hotel.


For the World Livestock Auctioneer Champion title, 31 semi-finalist auctioneers will compete in live interview and auctioneering contests. Because of this important, high-profile role, each WLAC semi-finalist must establish their knowledge of the livestock marketing business, and demonstrate ability to express that knowledge with clarity, in a live interview competition.


The Saturday, June 18, auctioneering competition will be at Paris Stockyards during a live sale where contestants will sell cattle to actual bidders in the seats. It will be streamed live beginning at 7:00 a.m. central time on www.LMAauctions.com


There are two Oklahoma auctioneers that will be competing this month in Kentucky- Justin Dodson of Welch and Mike Godberson of Pawnee. Two Oklahomans are former World Champions- Dustin Focht who won in 2013 and Bailey Bailou who was named world champion in 2012. 

Click here for more about the 2016 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship and a list of contestants.

Names and Places- Brett Carver, OALE in Cuba and Kris Black and His Cream of the Crop

 

Oklahoma Horizon is a weekly TV production of Career Tech here in the state of Oklahoma- at one time- it was a predominantly ag show- but has broadened its scope a great deal in recent years. 

However- this week's show comes back to it's ag roots- and tells the story of one of the real treasures of the Oklahoma farm and ranch scene- the wheat breeding efforts of Dr. Brett Carver at Oklahoma State University. 

It takes a special look at his newest named variety- Stardust and Dr. Carver even shows off his musical skills in explaining this new hard white variety of wheat that will be available in the seasons ahead to southern plains wheat farmers.

Here's the video of the piece on Dr. Carver-

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The current class of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Encounter is in Cuba for their international experience for 2016- and one of the adult leaders for the group is OSU's Dr. Jerry Fitch.  He has been posting several pics from the trip- they have now been on the island for three days- and have seen some of the historical sites of the country- and were checking out a tobacco farm yesterday.

If you are on Facebook- click here for Jerry Fitch's page- the OALE is the collegiate leadership development program that is a part of the Oklahoma Youth Expo.  These OSU students participate in a variety of leaderships seminars over the course of an academic year- and then help staff the operations of the spring OYE each March.

The international travel is the capstone of the OALE experience.

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Coming up this Saturday- the Kris Black Cream of the Crop Bull and Female Sale will be happening at the ranch near Crawford, Oklahoma.

The sale will feature 450 fall bred heifers and 30 bulls.

This is the 15th annual sale for the Black Hereford Ranch- on their website, they now have videos of some of the offering- plus a link to their catalog.  Click here to go to their website and check out this year's Cream of the Crop!

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