Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
From: Ron Hays <ronphays@cox.net>
Date: 3/19/2018 6:57 AM
To: ron@ronhays.com



 
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We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.
 

  
 
Let's Check the Markets!  



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.
 
 
   
Today's First Look:
mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
 
 
Each afternoon we are posting a recap of that day's markets as analyzed by Justin Lewis of KIS futures-  click or tap here for the report posted yesterday afternoon around 3:30 PM.
 
 
Okla Cash Grain:  
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture on Friday, March 16, 2018.
 
  
Futures Wrap:  
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network - analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day.
 
Feeder Cattle Recap:  
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
 
Slaughter Cattle Recap: 
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by the USDA.
 
TCFA Feedlot Recap:  
Finally, here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
 


 
Our Oklahoma Farm Report Team!!!!
 
Ron Hays, Senior Farm Director and Editor
 
Carson Horn, Associate Farm Director and Editor

Pam Arterburn, Calendar and Template Manager
 
Dave Lanning, Markets and Production

Oklahoma's Latest Farm and Ranch News

 
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON
    Monday,  March 19, 2018

Howdy Neighbors! 

Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch news update. 
 
OYERecordsFeatured Story:
Records Set at OYE Sale of Champions- Including $115,000 for Grand Steer

Records were set at the 2018 Oklahoma Youth Expo Sale of Champions, as the first of 213 animals to sell- the Grand Champion Market Steer saw bidding cruise through the $100,000 mark- and end up beating the previous record easily with a final bid of $115,000. That eclipsed the previous OYE Steer Record of $101,000 that came in 2015 during the 100th Anniversary celebration of the OYE, known to be the World's Largest Junior Livestock Show. 

The total dollars invested into the 213 4-H and FFA members that had animals in the 2018 Sale of Champions came in at $1.3 million- smashing last year's record $1.15 million. 

The top steer was the Champion Crossbred of the show and was named Grand Champion by judge Paul Clapp. Tenley Mefford of Tillman County 4-H owned and showed the steer.

Pictures and videos of 12 year old Tenley have gone viral as Judge Paul Clapp had her slap her own steer to declare it the 2018 OYE Grand Champion Steer. Judge Paul Clapp told the huge crowd to watch and don't clap right away as they waited for his decision as to which Steer would be named the Grand Champion Steer for the 2018 Oklahoma Youth Expo- the final decision to be made for the 2018 show. 

He went up and down the line one last time- stopped at the very end of the line and talked for a moment with young Tenley for a moment- then he took the halter as she was escorted away- 
the 4-Her made her way back towards "Beast" and approached the rear of the steer carefully and BANG- gently slapped her own steer to declare it the Grand Champion of the 2018 OYE!!!! Here is one angle of that one of a kind selection from Thursday evening:



The record price came with a long list of buyers that made up the consortium that bought the Grand Champion including:

Bank of Western Oklahoma, Livestock Nutrition Center, McAfee & Taft, OKC Chamber, Express Ranches, Frazer Bank (Dennis Vernon ), Loyd and Judy Benson, Pioneer Cellular, AFR, Bill Crawford, Cassidy Grain Company, Wilmes Ford. Stoll Cattle Company, John Hester, Homer Ryan, Tillman Producers Co-op, Southwest Rural Electric Cooperative, Box Inc and E02 Farms, Clarence Zitterkob State Farm Insurance, L&L Farm Supply, Cathy Riggis, Taw and Maddie Clemmer, Tillman County Farm Bureau, Payton Sherman. BancFirst and Valor Bank.

Click or tap here for the rest of our story of the Grand Champions- and how they and the Reserve Grands sold at the 2018 OYE.

Our Coverage of the OKlahoma Youth Expo has been powered by ITC, Your Energy Superhighway.

Sponsor Spotlight
 
 
The Oklahoma Farm Bureau - a grassroots organization that has for its Mission Statement- Improving the Lives of Rural Oklahomans."  Farm Bureau, as the state's largest general farm organization, is active at the State Capitol fighting for the best interests of its members and working with other groups to make certain that the interests of rural Oklahoma are protected.  Click here for their website to learn more about the organization and how it can benefit you to be a part of Farm Bureau.

BoggsKent Boggs Announces Retirement from His 33-Year Career as Oklahoma FFA's Executive Secretary


If you haven't heard by now, let us be the ones to confirm it for you - Executive Secretary for Oklahoma FFA Kent Boggs has announced that this will be his last year to serve in this position, marking an end to a 33-year long career serving the members of the Oklahoma FFA Association. We caught up with Boggs, 61, during the last Thursday's Grand Champion Drive at the Oklahoma Youth Expo to reflect with him on a job well-done.


"I feel like I'm at a good point in my life; I felt like I'd always know when the time was right to retire," said Boggs, who began his career teaching high school agricultural education for seven years before transitioning to his current position that he has held for 33 years now. "So, I will leave with 40 years of service - not quite 62 years old, so going out feeling good and ready to move on to that next chapter in my life."


As for his intention regarding retirement, Boggs is uncharacteristically without a plan.


"I tell everybody I spent my whole professional career being a meeting planner so why would I want to plan my retirement?" he joked. "I just want to chill out a little bit and I think the good Lord will have a direction for me."
 

Working with the different State FFA Officer teams he remarked has been a highlight of his career, enjoying the opportunity to have watched so many of them grow up through the organization and take office as leaders among their peers. He says his working relationships with the state staff has also been a joy and a fountain of memories he will always look back on fondly.


Listen to my full conversation with Boggs as he talks about the state of the FFA organization as he prepares to depart from it for retirement, by clicking over to our website.


Our Coverage of the 2018 Oklahoma Youth Expo is once again a service of ITC Great Plains, Your Energy Superhighway- learn more about this high voltage, transmission only utility and their commitment to the communities they serve which is the cornerstone of their business-click here for their website.

RainfallAn Itty Bitty Amount of Rain in the Driest Part of Oklahoma

The rainfall maps on the Mesonet are ugly and hard to read- but the rainfall amounts in northwestern Oklahoma- where rain happened are a beautiful thing.



To help you with the rainfall totals in the northwest where we got hit and miss rainfall over the weekend- especially last night- we got the following totals:

Beaver  .41
Putnam  .76
Fairview  .86
Medford  .79
May Ranch  .88
Alva  .49
Freedom  .32
Lahoma  .57

All of these Mesonet sites are in either Exceptional or Extreme Drought locations. 

The rain is done- but it will be windy today- so areas that got little rainfall are right back in the dust and tinder dry grass with ELEVATED fire risk.

In fact- the Fire Risk is elevated much of this week- dips down to lo on Thursday and then is back to NEAR CRITICAL on Friday- click here for a graphic that shows lots of details from the MESONET.


CABLong-Term Growth in Premium Beef Production Starting to Redefine How Beef Demand is Measured
 

The long-term growth in premium beef production, market share and demand are starting to redefine overall beef demand and how it is measured, according to a new article out from Certified Angus Beef.


Economic theory typically suggests that more supply will eventually lower prices, and higher prices tend to lower sales for a commodity -such as beef. But, CattleFax analyst Lance Zimmerman says premium beef has not always borne that out, particularly in the decade since the Great Recession of 2008.


"Demand for high-quality beef remains exceptional, and producers really only need to look at the start of 2018 to recognize that," he says. 


The share of USDA Prime-grade fed cattle made new weekly record highs above 8% recently, even as the fed harvest continues to increase. 


"That combination led to the number of Prime cattle being up more than 26% compared to last year," Zimmerman says. "With 6,500 additional Prime carcasses each week, you'd think Prime cutout must be suffering. Actually, it's higher than last year, up nearly $13/cwt. through February." 


Continue reading the complete version of this article which can be found on our website, here, to learn more about the CAB brand's stunning ability recently to defy the laws of economics. 

Sponsor Spotlight
 
 
KIS FUTURES specializes in Futures and Options for Institutions, Commercials, Hedgers, and Individual Traders and executes trades for its clients in the following markets: Livestock, Grains, Energy, Metals, Softs, Financials, Currencies, and Stock Index Futures. For more information, please give them a call Toll Free at (800) 256-2555. Click here for their website to learn more.


And- their iPhone App, which provides all electronic futures quotes is available at the App Store-
click here for the KIS Futures App for your iPhone.   

USMEFUSMEF Highlights New Concepts for US Beef and Pork Dishes at Asia's Largest Food Expo in Japan


Noting that booming meat demand among Japanese consumers continues to gain momentum, the U.S. Meat Export Federation seized the opportunity by introducing new and unique U.S. beef and pork dishes at Asia's largest food trade show. USMEF's efforts at Foodex Japan, which attracted more than 80,000 visitors over four days between March 6-9, were funded by the USDA Market Access Program, the Beef Checkoff Program, the Pork Checkoff and the Texas Beef Council.


"Japan is one of the largest importers of food in the world and they also pay some of the highest premiums," explained Greg Hanes, USMEF assistant vice president for international marketing and programs. "That's why Foodex is such an important trade show. Exporters met with hundreds of buyers and representatives of Japan's retail and foodservice industries and the samples we served attracted tremendous traffic. This year we were really focused on new trends and menu concepts, then let them taste the dishes for themselves."


On the beef side, U.S. pound steak was highlighted, along with new gourmet hamburger concepts and a soup made with U.S beef large intestine. Promotion of U.S. beef large intestine at Foodex was also part of an effort to sell more variety meat in this high-value market.


"This is an opportunity to add value to an item that commands little attention at home," noted Hanes, who said the large intestine was offered to Foodex visitors in a tasty soup.


Foodex 2018 clearly demonstrated that Japan remains a hot market for red meat. Special visitors to the USMEF booth were USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney and U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty. Both spent time talking with international visitors and meeting with USMEF staff.
 

Jump to the full version of this story by clicking here to learn more about USMEF's presence at Foodex Japan this year.
AeroVironmentAeroVironment Drone Analytics Has Farmers Looking Towards the Skies for Newest Crop Management System


Founded in the 1970s, AeroVironment has been in the drone business for 25+ years and has since become the largest supplier of drones to the Department of Defense and boasts seven vehicles on display at the Smithsonian. Our Associate Farm Director Carson Horn had the chance recently to speak with AeroVironment's Director of Sales Mark Dufau about the company's new effort to preposition its product for agricultural use - taking their proprietary technology and industry knowledge and parlaying that into a practical tool for farmers. 


Dufau explained that AV hopes farmers will readily adopt this new technology as just another tool that can be thrown in the back of their truck. He says they have modified their hardware to be used exactly in that way - though they don't suggest actually throwing it... And, he remarked that while other drone companies are attempting to branch out into all corners of industry - AV is solely focused right now on the agricultural world and have concentrated their engineering and point of sales centrally on the needs of farmers. 


Designed with a "ready to use out of the box" functionality in mind, Dufau explains that the system comes with three on-board sensors that together, feed data directly to a farmer in the field and generates five initial deliverables to that farmer once the data has been uploaded to the Cloud and processed by AV's analytics. After that process, a grower will have access to true color images of their fields, an NDVI or plant health map, a GNDVI similar to the plant health map but instead identifies the photosynthetic activity of plants, a canopy percentage report and an anomaly percentage report - which can be used in further analysis of your farm, where problem areas are, and what is potentially causing them.


Listen to Carson's interview with Dufau to learn more about how AV's drone technology can be used on your farm to improve the productivity on your operation - click here.
Want to Have the Latest Energy News Delivered to Your Inbox Daily?
 

Award winning broadcast journalist Jerry Bohnen has spent years learning and understanding how to cover the energy business here in the southern plains- Click here to subscribe to his daily update of top Energy News.

 

FacebookFacebook and FLICKR Numbers Are Heading North

We appreciate the great support that we have had in the last few days on Facebook and on FLICKR.

We have had several posts related back to the Oklahoma Youth Expo that have exploded and have literally gone viral.

You can find our Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Facebook page by clicking here- and if you have not already liked and followed us- we invite you to jump on board- we are getting close to 2,000 followers and we are planning to be more regular in placing updates on this social media platform- especially when we are covering events like the upcoming Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Convention this coming weekend! 

Three recent posts are going crazy- at the top of the list is our picture of young Tenley Mefford of Frederick touching her steer on his rump with the slap that proclaimed "Beast" the Grand Champion of the 2018 OYE- that post has now reached 106,454 and continues to climb.

The video of Tenley watching her steer bring a record $115,000 also is getting a huge amount of play- reaching 29,828 thus far with other 16,000 views of the video. 

And our interview with Kent Boggs that we spotlighted in this morning's email is garnering a lot of attention on Facebook- 13,444 have been reached with that update. 

On FLICKR- our 2018 OYE album has now been looked at over 3,200 times- you can go and check out the almost 1,900 photos of the 2018 show by clicking or tapping here. 

 
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, P & K EquipmentAmerican Farmers & Ranchers, Livestock Exchange at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Stillwater Milling Company, National Livestock Credit Corporation, 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 also appreciate our Market Links Sponsor - OKC West Livestock! 
 
 
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.   
 

 
God Bless! You can reach us at the following:  
 
phone: 405-473-6144
 

 




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