Oklahoma's Latest Farm
And Ranch News
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Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
- The Victor Ranch Receives Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award
- Dr. Derrell Peel on the U.S. Beef Export Situation and Update
- Chairwoman Stabenow Helps Secure Food, Agriculture, and Rural Investments in the COVID-19 Assistance Package
- Today's Herd Bull Vastly Different Than 25 Years Ago, Says Jarold Callahan, Express Ranches
- Nevil Speer on Why Cow-Calf Producers Who Manage Costs are Better Off
- Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation Offers over $25,000 in Scholarships - Application Available Now, Deadline March 14
- 12 House Ways & Means Members Call on Treasury to Withdraw Section 199A Rules for Farmer Co-ops
- Oklahoma Wheat Crop Condition Shows Significant Drop After Bout of Intense Cold
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The Victor Ranch Receives Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award
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The Victor Ranch of Afton has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award®.
Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the prestigious award recognizes farmers, ranchers and forestland owners who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and wildlife habitat resources in their care.
In Oklahoma the award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, American Farmland Trust, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Noble Research Institute, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, ITC Great Plains, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Grant and Donna Victor and their three sons own and operate Victor Ranch. They receive $10,000 and a crystal award for being selected. The Ottawa County ranchers were announced as the award recipient at the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts’ Annual Meeting.
“Recipients of this award are real life examples of conservation-minded agriculture,” said Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer. “These hard-working families are essential to our environment, food system and rural economy.”
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Oklahoma AgCredit is a cooperative, owned by the members we serve. This ensures our customers’ needs come first. Our profit can only be used in two ways – retained to build our financial strength or passed on to members through our Patronage Program. Patronage is like an interest rebate and it basically reduces our members cost of borrowing. We have returned more than $53 million to our members since 1997.
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Dr. Derrell Peel on the U.S. Beef Export Situation and Update
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Mondays, Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, offers his economic analysis of the beef cattle industry. This analysis is a part of the weekly series known as the "Cow Calf Corner" published electronically by Dr. Peel and Dr. Glenn Selk. Today, Dr. Peel talks about the U.S. Beef Export Situation.
U.S. beef exports totaled 2,566.7 million pounds in 2020, down 2.3 percent from the previous year but still the third largest annual beef export total. The COVID-19 pandemic caused sharp disruptions in beef exports at times during the year with monthly exports down over 30 percent year over year in May and June. However, exports recovered by year-end with combined November and December beef exports up 12.6 percent year over year. Figure 1 shows the shares of U.S. beef exports in 2020.
Japan is the largest market for U.S. beef, increasing by 3.7 percent in 2020, to the second highest level ever, after declining in 2019 from the 2018 all-time peak. South Korea has been the fastest growing beef market in recent years in terms of total volume and has been the second largest beef export market since 2016. Beef exports to South Korea decreased by 2.1 percent in 2020 from the 2019 peak. Japan and South Korea combined to account for 51 percent of total beef exports in 2020.
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Chairwoman Stabenow Helps Secure Food, Agriculture, and Rural Investments in the COVID-19 Assistance Package
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U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today applauded the passage of the food, agriculture, and rural provisions in the latest COVID-19 assistance package.
“The House bill includes bold provisions to feed children and families, bolster the food supply chain, address discrimination for farmers of color, and strengthen rural healthcare providers,” said Chairwoman Stabenow. “We need to quickly pass the American Rescue Plan Act to address the urgent challenges facing our farmers, families, and rural communities. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”
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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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Today's Herd Bull Vastly Different Than 25 Years Ago, Says Jarold Callahan, Express Ranches
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Today’s modern breeding herd bull is not your father’s bull as the genetics have vastly improved the past 25 years said Jarold Callahan, president of Express Ranches, Yukon, Okla.
Callahan is preparing for the ranches’ 27th annual spring bull this Friday, March 5.
He recently visited with Ron Hays, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director, about how the beef industry has adopted new technology and dramatically improved genetics.
The bull of today versus 25 years ago is we have so much more information, there are so many more genetic tools available, Callahan said.
Our bulls and most of the people who are bull providers are offering everything from actual birthweight to adjusted weaning, Callahan said.
All our bulls are genomic tested and so it is like that bull having sired between 8 and 25 progenies, he said.
Callahan said 25 years ago we were just starting with this information.
Today we can identify those animals that are going to pass on superior marbling so you can have more prime and CAB carcasses, he said.
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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
The vision of the Oklahoma Beef Council is to be a positive difference for Oklahoma's farming and ranching families and the greater beef community and its mission is to enhance beef demand by strengthening consumer trust and exceeding consumer expectations. To learn more, visit www.oklabeef.org. Also, don't forget to like its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oklabeef for stories on Oklahoma's ranching families and great beef recipes.
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Nevil Speer on Why Cow-Calf Producers Who Manage Costs are Better Off
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In the latest issue of Simmental.org, Nevil Speer, Ph.D., MBA wrties about Costs.
Cow-calf producers who manage costs are far better positioned to navigate uncertainty
My previous column ended with the following observation, “…the new year represents an opportune time to assess the how-and-why of decision making within the operation and, if necessary, hit the reset button.” For every operation, the most important place to start in that process is on the cost side of the business.
It’s a critical course-of-action that’s best exemplified with some review of enterprise analyses from the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA). The program is one of the largest and long-running programs in the country with dependable and consistent documentation from year-to-year. It is also especially useful to the beef industry, being comprised of mostly mid-size operations.
For all types of farming enterprises, KFMA categorizes operations into thirds (top, middle, and bottom, respectively). That ultimately leads to a useful breakdown of operational performance across each of the groups.
Conventional wisdom generally links revenue to profit. That’s not surprising. Marketing is a big, and easily measurable event for most commercial operations; instinctively we believe a bigger check automatically equates to being more profitable. While marketing is important to business success, it’s not really a profitability difference-maker.
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Oklahoma Cattlemen's Foundation Offers over $25,000 in Scholarships - Application Available Now, Deadline March 14
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The Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Foundation (OCF) is eager to distribute more than $25,000 in scholarships to students in 2021. The scholarships are available for current college students at an Oklahoma college or university with definite plans to continue in the fall or graduating high school seniors who have an interest in the beef cattle industry.
“The Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Foundation is dedicated to preserving the heritage of the West and the viability of Oklahoma’s beef cattle industry through research and education,” said Taylor Shackelford, OCF Coordinator. “I cannot think of a better way to preserve our industry than by investing in young people who display a sincere interest in cattle and Oklahoma ranching.”
Students fill out 1 application to apply for multiple scholarships by the March 10, 2021 deadline. The electronic application can be found at okcattlemen.org. Winners will be notified in late spring to make travel arrangements for their respective award ceremonies. The first half of scholarship presentations will take place during the 69th Annual Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Convention and Trade Show in Norman, Oklahoma with the remainder being recognized during the 37th Annual OCA Ranch Rodeo held in Guthrie, Oklahoma at the Lazy E Arena.
“The OCF Scholarship program has grown each year and that is a direct result of support from industry partners and individuals,” Shackelford said. “The agriculture industry seems to mutually agree that educating and encouraging our agricultural youth it not just important, it’s vital.”
The application is open January 10 - March 14, 2021.
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12 House Ways & Means Members Call on Treasury to Withdraw Section 199A Rules for Farmer Co-ops
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Congressman Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and a bipartisan group of 11 other members of the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen late last week asking her to withdraw or delay regulations that increase taxes on farmers and ranchers.
The regulations would implement Section 199A(g) of the tax code for farmer cooperatives; this was the fix to the so-called grain glitch. The rule, issued by then Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on his last day in office, changes the calculation of the deduction in a way that means that farmer-members of co-ops will end up paying more in taxes. This action was in direct conflict with the express will of Congress when it passed the grain glitch fix.
“The final regulations do not reflect the statutory construction of section 199A(g), the legislative history, the regulatory authority provided to Treasury with respect to this provision, and relevant case law,” the Ways & Means members state. “They reflect a misunderstanding of the operations of a farmer cooperative and its relationship with its farmer-patrons. Most importantly, the final regulations impose unwarranted financial burdens on farmers at a time when farm communities are struggling.
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Oklahoma Wheat Crop Condition Shows Significant Drop After Bout of Intense Cold
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The 2021 Oklahoma Hard Red Winter Wheat Crop was in really incredible shape at the end of January- USDA had it pegged at 61 percent in Good to Excellent condition.
Record cold and snow has sliced 15 percentage points off that condition rating as the first weekly summary of the calendar year has been released by USDA's NASS.
The ratings released on Monday afternoon showed 46% of the crop now rated in good to excellent condition and another 40% has been called fair.
Winter wheat grazed reached 50 percent, 10points below the previous year and 4 points below from the previous year. Rye grazed reached 33 percent, 16 points below the previous year and 26 points below from normal.
Oats grazed reached 40 percent, 1 point from below the previous year and 1 point from normal.
Pasture and range condition was rated at just 20 percent good to excellent, while 48 percent is rated poor to very poor. Livestock condition was rated at 79 percent good to fair
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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 Pricesfell hard on Monday- Choice Beef was down $1.50 and Select Beef was down $2.09..
Click on the Button below for the latest report from USDA Market News
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Oklahoma National Stockyards had 12,800 head on Monday-bouncing back with more seasonal numbers after a very light test last Monday.
Compared to last week's light test: Feeder steers 3.00-4.00 lower. Feeder heifers 1.00-3.00 lower. Stocker steers and steer calves 2.00-4.00 higher Stocker heifers and heifer calves sold 5.00-10.00 higher. Demand moderate for feeder cattle; very good for cattle suitable for grass. Quality average to attractive.
Click below for the complete closing report.
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The Joplin Regional Stockyards reported 10,000 head of cattle on Monday, March first.
Compared to last week, steers and heifers trading steady with good buyer attendance and active bidding
Click on the button below for details of the trade as compiled by the USDA Market News Service.
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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.
The Noble Research Institute, based in Ardmore, Oklahoma, has announced their intention to focus on Regenerative Agriculture- and Steve Rhines, CEO and President, tells host Ron Hays that the intention of NRI is to work on a primary goal to regenerate millions of acres of degraded grazing lands across the United States.
"Land stewardship is a core value held by many farmers and ranchers. Regenerative agriculture is the next step in the land stewardship journey wherein farmers and ranchers reduce their reliance on conventional practices and concentrate on restoring or regenerating the soil. The soil is the cornerstone of a healthy ecosystem and a productive farm or ranch."
Hays and Rhines explore the journey that Noble has taken to get to this point of it's existence- and discuss what their work with farmers, ranchers and landowners will look like in the years ahead.
Today's Road to Rural Prosperity is powered by BancFirst, 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.
We also welcome Express Ranches as our Presenting Sponsor- check out their March 5th Spring Bull Sale- including links to the Sale Book, Sale Video and Sale Data by clicking here for their website.
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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