Oklahoma's Latest Farm
And Ranch News
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Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
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Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update.
- Beef Cow Herd Will be Smaller in 2022
- New Research Offers Big Opportunities for Oklahoma Wheat Producers
- New Southern Plains Perspective Blog Post Explores This Year's Warm Winter
- RFA Ends Landmark 40th Year Growing Even Stronger
- The National Farm Medicine Center Has Kept Folks Safe for 40 Years
- Addition of the Dominican Republic to the List of Regions Affected With African Swine Fever
- Significant Stories of 2021- Medical Marijuana Body Slams Rural Oklahoma
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Beef Cow Herd Will be Smaller in 2022
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Before the global pandemic crippled the U.S. beef supply chain, the U.S. beef cow herd reached its highest number in about 10 years, with nearly 42 million beef cows. No one knew the next two years would see a backlog of fed cattle smothering cattle prices from the top down. On top of that, drought is dominating cattle country. Cattle production is a long game and producers only have a handful of ways to respond to upside-down cattle numbers.
Derrell Peel, extension specialist for livestock marketing at Oklahoma State University, has been monitoring the U.S. beef cow herd.
“Crunching through the numbers, I think the drought added around 300,000 head more beef cows to the beef cow slaughter total than we would have had otherwise,” Peel said. “Of course, we do not know for sure what would have happened in the absence of drought impact.”
“We know that from a slaughter standpoint, beef-cow slaughter has been significantly above previous-year levels,” Peel said. “And we are not quite sure what happened with heifers. We had plenty of replacement heifers at the beginning of 2021, but we also know drought conditions forced a lot of producers to switch those heifers into the feeder supply channel.”
Peel guarantees the U.S. beef cow herd is smaller. In all, folks can count on U.S. cattle numbers continuing to tighten as we move through 2022, he added.
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Midwest Farm Shows is proud to produce the two best Farm Shows in the State of Oklahoma annually- the Tulsa Farm Show each December and the Oklahoma City Farm Show each April.
They would like to thank all of you who participated in their 2021 Tulsa City Farm Show.
Up next will be the Oklahoma City’s prem2er spring agricultural and ranching event with returns to the State Fair Park April 15-16-17, 2022.
Now is the ideal time to contact the Midwest Farm Show Office at 507-437-7969 and book space at the 2021 Oklahoma City Farm Show. To learn more about the Oklahoma City Farm Show, click here.
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New Research Offers Big Opportunities for Oklahoma Wheat Producers
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With just a few days to go before a new calendar year begins, many folks’ hearts and minds are already living in 2022. For the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and their stakeholders, the new year is chalked full of exciting opportunities.
Mike Schulte, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, spoke with us about how Oklahoma wheat producers are set to reap what they sowed in 2021 through checkoff dollars.
“We certainly have had some big findings with the (Oklahoma State University) Wheat Research program,” Schulte said. “Based off some of the work that we have conducted at the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Oregon, there is a Bx7OE trait that we have found that we are utilizing in some of our varieties.”
“We have now found this trait that allows for functionality to exist for up to 60 to 77 minutes,” Schulte said. “While that may not be exactly what millers and bakers are wanting because it has too high of functionality traits, we think we are going to be able to utilize that into the marketplace for wheats that do not have higher functionalities for blending purposes.”
The new trait opens doors for Oklahoma wheat producers.
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New Southern Plains Perspective Blog Post Explores This Year's Warm Winter
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In this blog post Clay Pope talks about this year’s warm winter.
I’ve always dreamed of having a Hawaiian Christmas. Growing up on a dairy farm pretty well killed any love I had for cold, snowy weather. Sick calves, wet hands, cows with frozen teats-you can have it. Give me a green Christmas any day! And while we may not have had “tropical weather” on Christmas day, the high temperature around here was a lot closer to the one they had on Maui than the one they had in Alaska. Still, it’s getting a little weird when more often than not you can get away with wearing shorts to family Holiday gatherings.
And a White Christmas? Forgetaboutit!
Will this weather hold? Who knows? The outlook for the next few weeks seems to indicate that the trend of higher-than-normal temperatures and below normal precipitation that are typical of a La Nina year will continue at least through the first part of January. Of course, we should remember that last year was also a La Nina year (although a weak one) and we saw record cold temperatures in February.
Anything is possible when it comes to the weather and with the changing climate, the only constant is chaos.
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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 daily report 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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RFA Ends Landmark 40th Year Growing Even Stronger
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The Renewable Fuels Association closes out its yearlong 40th anniversary celebration this week with a fitting milestone, welcoming more than 20 new members in 2021.
“For four decades strong, RFA’s member companies have worked together to move the renewable fuels industry forward,” RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper said. “Whether innovating new technologies, shaping policies and regulations, or opening new markets, RFA’s members remain at the forefront of the low-carbon bioeconomy. This record of achievement was underscored in 2021, as RFA saw a record number of new member companies join the association. We welcome them to the team and look forward to working together to chart the industry’s course for the next 40 years and beyond.”
RFA’s 40th anniversary activities included a series of profiles telling the stories of several industry pioneers who were involved in the beginnings of the industry, such as Ron Miller, Bruce Heine, Bob Reynolds, Bob Dinneen, Randy Doyal, and Kelly Davis.
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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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In poor economic times, in times when national insurance companies either stopped writing or completely left the state, Union Mutual has been there for Oklahomans. Today, Union Mutual writes insurance in all 77 counties of Oklahoma through almost 300 agency locations. These agents provide prompt and reliable quotes for most lines of insurance. Just recently, UMIC launched a new product in the preferred market space that has seen unprecedented growth with our rural customer base and falls in line with our Company mantra of “Protection not Politics”, when meeting the needs of our consumers and agents.
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The National Farm Medicine Center Has Kept Folks Safe for 40 Years
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In the 1970s, health professionals at the Marshfield Clinic, were seeing many illnesses specifically related to farming and ranching. In response, the National Farm Medicine Center was established in 1981 to research and educate rural populations, especially in the agricultural sector.
This year, NFMC turned 40 years old and to celebrate NFMC Communications Manager Scott Heiberger about the center.
“50 years ago, there was one way to communicate ag safety and health knowledge,” Heiberger said. “Since then, we started realizing that everyone basically knows how to stay safe. The next step is how to get (information) in a format that people are going to actually use.”
To figure this out, Heiberger said the center listens to farmers, ranchers, workers and their families.
Sometimes, kids can get into trouble when adults fail to match kids to appropriate tasks for their mental and physical abilities, Heiberger said. Parents who are interested can go to the NCCRAHS website for resources.
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Addition of the Dominican Republic to the List of Regions Affected With African Swine Fever
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has added the Dominican Republic to the list of regions that the APHIS considers to be affected with African swine fever (ASF).
ASF is a highly contagious disease of wild and domestic swine that can spread rapidly in swine populations with extremely high rates of morbidity and mortality.
As a result of the detection, pork and pork products from the Dominican Republic, including casings, are subject to APHIS import restrictions designed to mitigate the risk of ASF introduction into the United States.
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Significant Stories of 2021- Reaction to Tuesday's Look at Noble Research Institute
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Over these last days of 2021- I thought we might bring to your attention- in no particular order- a few of what I believe are significant stories. Stories that change the landscape of agriculture in our part of the world- and have potential to continue to do so in 2022. Yesterday in our final Tuesday email of 2021- we spotlighted the "pause" of farmer/rancher consultations and educational outreach of the Noble research Institute.
One former Noble staffer responded to my story and did not mince words. This gentleman said that simply "they are closed." He also concludes that Noble has accomplished one thing- they have cut expenditures in a major way- he claims that from the people he still knows that are in the loop that over 160 employees have either quit or have been terminated. He wonders what the new Noble will look like when they "reopen." He says perhaps they will duplicate what several other privately based holistic soil health groups have done- become a "for pay" consulting group.
As I mentioned yesterday- time will tell.
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Significant Stories of 2021- Medical Marijuana Body Slams Rural Oklahoma
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On this Wednesday- our second of four stories that I would consider Significant in 2021 is perhaps the most unexpected of the four- the explosive growth of Medical Marijuana Grow Houses across rural Oklahoma and how much turmoil they have caused.
The first hint of trouble in paradise came as we began to hear of crazy offers to buy various acreages in rural parts of our state in the latter part of 2020 but especially in early 2021. Outside interests were coming in and offering thousands of dollars per acre for land- and it was hard to say no.
As these new neighbors showed up- they changed the landscape in many cases as they built greenhouses to grow their medical marijuana. The strain on rural infrastructure was obvious in many locations- and local folks started letting their lawmakers know as well as their farm groups as well.
So much so- several key organizations came together to form a Medical Marijuana Taskforce this past May. The groups included Farm Bureau, AFR, Oklahoma Cattlemen, Ag Retailers and the Oklahoma Cooperative Council. Michael Kelsey summarized well what all of these groups were getting from the grassroots- “Many farmers and ranchers have expressed a growing number of issues in their community stemming from the medical marijuana industry. These challenging issues include inflated land values, overwhelming stress to rural water and electric infrastructure, interruptions to critical fertilizer and pesticide applications, and many more.”
“There are so many dollars chasing hard assets that it’s causing appreciation in all kinds of land and housing,” Moesel said. “So, the task force is taking a hard look at what those impacts are and trying to figure out policy changes we need to propose or be involved in to deal with producer’s concerns as we go forward in Oklahoma.”
At their annual convention in July- the Oklahoma Cattlemen spent a lot of time on the topic and worked on policy for really the first time in response to these new neighbors. After their business meeting- we talked about the OCA's work on the cattle markets and on Medical marijuana Michael Kelsey.
We also offered a platform for those who are advocates for this rapid growth- KC talked with Jed Green on our Road to Rural Prosperity podcast series- Jed is with ORCA- Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action and you can hear their conversation by clicking here.
The legislature held multiple special studies on this topic- and that will likely mean lots of debate and possible new laws in the 2022 legislative session.
AND- there will possibly be more things for voters to consider on the marijuana issue as one or more initiative petitions may result in at least two State Questions to vote on this coming November.
Stay tuned- 2022 will have lots that we will be reporting on medical marijuana- that's for certain.
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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 rise - Choice Beef was up 18 cents and Select Beef was up 91 cents on Tuesday, 12/28/2021.
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.
We have also included the final sale of 2021 for Superior Livestock in the buttons below
These markets have wrapped up their sales for 2021- they all return the first full week of January, 2022.
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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
Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
Chelsea Stanfield, Farm News and Email Editor
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Rural Oklahoma is full of some of the greatest success stories throughout the entire state and is a big reason why Oklahoma is on track to become a top 10 state.
The Road to Rural Prosperity dives into these stories, 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.
Our Latest RRP is an end of year conversation between Oklahoma Third District Congressman Frank Lucas and Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Senior Farm/Ranch Director Ron Hays.
They talk about the recently passed extension of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Measure as well as the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021, the continued wait on the US Department of Justice investigation into the major meat packers, Congressman Lucas' work on the Science Committee, his continued intentions to return to the House Ag Committee in time to be a part of writing the next Farm Bill and a comparison of Congress when he first arrived in Washington in the mid 1990s and today.
Search for Road to Rural Prosperity and subscribe on your favorite Podcast platform.
To hear this podcast, you can click here or tap below:
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Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K Equipment, 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, Union Mutual Insurance, 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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