USDA Reports Weekend Rains and Flooding Slow Corn and Soybean Planting, Wheat Progress Still Slow 

USDA's weekly Crop Progress report shows corn planting reached 86 percent completed by the end of last week and emergence reached 54 percent.

Planting was 71 percent complete just one week ago and compares with a 90-percent figure for the five-year average.  The five-year average for emergence is 67 percent and only 19 percent of the crop had emerged by the end of the previous week.

Analysts say heavy rains in the Midwest last week may have skewed the numbers a bit and the planted acreage may be somewhat higher at this time.

Soybean planting is now 44 percent complete, that's up 20 points from the previous week and compares with a 61-percent five-year average.  Fourteen percent has now emerged, compared to a 30 percent five-year average.

Nationwide, winter wheat is 60 percent headed in the latest report, compared to 43 percent last week and a 72-percent five-year average.  Oklahoma reported 93 percent of its crop was headed, Kansas showed 74 percent, and Texas came in at 79 percent.  All these figures are well below their five-year averages.

You can read the full USDA Crop Progress report by clicking here.

A storm system which brought deadly tornadoes to Oklahoma last week also brought heavy rains and flooding to south central and southeastern Oklahoma.  Rainfall averaged almost four inches in the South Central District, with just over six inches recorded in Centrahoma. The western half of the state received very little moisture this past week, and continues to suffer from the other natural disaster in our state, the prolonged drought.

The latest Crop Progress and Condition Report shows wheat heading was 93 percent complete by the end of the week.  Wheat in the soft-dough stage of development was 49 percent complete, 33 points behind the five-year average.  Twenty-five percent of the crop was rated in very poor condition, 29 percent was rated poor, 29 percent was in good shape, and 15 percent was listed in good condition.

Canola was rated mostly good to fair with 42 percent rated poor to very poor.  Thirty-seven percent of the crop was estimated to be mature by the end of last week in comparison to 99 percent last year.  (Click here for the full Oklahoma report.)

Rain moved across portions of Kansas over the weekend, leaving an inch or more of precipitation across many areas of the north and east, but accumulations across the drought stricken, western half of the state were limited in most cases.

The winter wheat crop was 98 percent jointed, near the 100-percent mark of a year ago and the 99-percent average. The crop was 74 percent headed, well behind 100 a year ago and a 91 average. The condition rated 24 percent very poor, 21 poor, 27 fair, 24 good, and 4 excellent.  (You can read the full Kansas report by clicking here.)

Small grain harvest is underway in the Trans-Pecos, South Central Texas, and the Upper Coast. Producers in the Blacklands and North East Texas commented that wheat was in good condition after recent rains. Some producers in the Plains continued to cut wheat fields for hay due to previous damage.  Seventy-six percent of the wheat crop was listed in poor or very poor condition, 17 was in fair shape, and six percent was in good condition.  (Read the full Texas report by clicking here.) 

Declining Pork Exports Challenge U.S. Pork Producers, Roy Lee Lindsey Says

With pork exports lagging and corn planting in the Midwest behind schedule, Roy Lee Lindsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Pork Council, says it could be another challenging year for pork producers.

Lindsey recently spoke with me and said there are several other changes currently keeping pork prices in check including more supplies of pork in cold storage and the dollar which is gaining strength on the world market. But, he said, the biggest issue he sees is a veiled protectionism that seems to have taken hold in a few countries.

"The biggest change is folks in China, folks in Russia, folks in other part of the world who have decided they want to protect their domestic industries and so they've erected trade barriers, is what it really boils down to. They're not food safety issues. There's nothing wrong with our product and they know they can't compete with what we can do in terms of efficiency, in terms of price, in terms of quality so they put up these artificial barriers that keep us from being able to move as much product."

He said exports are down significantly after years and years of record sales and record exports. The Unites States exported 24 percent of its pork production last year.   This year's exports are significantly lower.

Click here to read more or to listen to my conversation with Roy Lee Lindsey.

 

Mixed Market Signals Affecting Cattle Markets, Derrell Peel Says

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

It has been difficult this spring to get cattle and beef markets all operating on the same page. Choice boxed beef, which capped wholesale values below $200/cwt. for more than a year, finally punched through the ceiling on May 2 and posted a strong May run culminating in record highs of $211.37/cwt. on Thursday prior to Memorial Day. While Choice boxed beef is likely to drop from the pre-Memorial Day highs, the question is one of how far and how fast wholesale beef prices may drop in the coming weeks. In any event, the strength in Choice boxed beef sets the stage for stronger summer beef demand.

Packers have enjoyed better margins recently as fed cattle prices have not responded in similar fashion as boxed beef prices rose. However, it is important to remember that virtually all of the wholesale beef price increase has been in the Choice market. The Choice-Select spread has widened which limits the impact of higher wholesale values in the fed cattle market. While Choice boxed beef values have increased over $10/cwt. in May, the wider Choice-Select spread limits the potential increase in fed cattle price to less than $4/cwt. Despite the potential, fed cattle prices have weakened from highs at the beginning of May to current levels under $125/cwt. May into June is a difficult period for a fed cattle rally as slaughter numbers increase seasonally. The last three weeks, fed slaughter (steers and heifers) has increased over 4 percent compared to the previous several weeks. However, steer and heifer slaughter in May is down nearly 3 percent from the same period last year. Unexpectedly large beef cow slaughter since mid-March has contributed to more seasonal slaughter pressure in May. If boxed beef holds stronger into the summer, fed cattle prices will likely maintain higher summer values than are currently expected. 

You can catch more of Derrell Peel's analysis of the beef markets by clicking here. 

Beef, Pork, Poultry Production Increases Over Last Year

According to the latest USDA 'Livestock Slaughter' and 'Poultry Slaughter' monthly reports, April beef, pork and poultry production was notably higher than a year ago. The increase was in part due to calendar differences, with April 2013 containing 22 weekdays vs. 21 weekdays a year ago. Still, even when adjusting for the extra slaughter/production day, output numbers across all three main species were higher. Combined beef, pork and poultry production in April was estimated at 7.810 billion pounds, 6.3% higher than in April 2012. Weekday production in April 2013 was 355 million pounds, compared to 349.8 million pounds a year ago, 1.5% higher than a year ago.

Total cattle slaughter in April was 2.729 million head, 6.2% higher than the previous year. The average weekday slaughter in April was 123,068 head, 1.4% higher than a year ago. This was the largest weekday slaughter increase since June 2011. The increase in average daily cattle slaughter was driven by more cows coming to market than a year ago. Daily steer/heifer slaughter in April was actually down 0.9% from a year ago while daily average cow slaughter for the month was 11.5% higher than last year.

This was the largest year over year increase in daily cow slaughter since September 2011. Cattle carcass weights continue to run above year ago levels but the pace of growth has slowed down.

You can read more of this article on our website by clicking here.  

Hunting Leases Can Provide Land Owners with Additional Revenue

Oklahoma landowners can do more with their property than just farm it.

Leasing land for recreational hunting can provide a little extra cash in the pocket, labor resources for their land, perhaps a few new friends and a reduction in trespassing, said Dwayne Elmore, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist.

"Leasing for recreational hunting has become a major source of revenue for landowners," he said. "In fact, in many areas, revenue generated from hunting leases has surpassed lease rates for more traditional agriculture production."

While leasing land for hunting seems very simple, there are some precautions that need to be considered by landowners to have a successful lease.

It is important for a landowner to carefully screen and select good lessees to reduce liability. To do so, it is advised that landowners should take time to visit with potential lessees.

The lease also should have conditions for termination, a legal description of the property, rights granted or withheld, terms of payment, effective dates, liability waivers and acknowledgements of risk, Elmore said.

You can read more of Dwayne Elmore's tips by clicking here.

 

This N That- Wheat Harvest Kicks Off in Eldorado and Grandfield and Links to Stories on the Ogallala Going Dry 

It appears that the first harvested wheat of the year in Oklahoma was in the Eldorado area- last Thursday. Mike Schulte of the OWC reports "Over the weekend Barney Trammell with Eldorado Famers Coop took in a little over 100,000 bushels. Test weights were averaging 61 to 62 pounds. Yields on one field averaged 34 bushels per acre, other fields were averaging 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Some early sampling of protein was really good- at 15.5%." The protein reported from Eldorado is consistent with wheat that was stressed by drought conditions.

Mike also emailed us on Tuesday about one load of wheat that came into Grandfield- Mike writes "The Grandfield Coop has reported their first load of wheat and estimating the yield to be around 15 bushels per acre, the moisture is 14.9%, and test weights came in at 58.2 pounds. The load was cut Monday night. Tuesday the heavy cloud cover will make it hard to begin harvest early this afternoon. They are also talking rain so the elevator manager in Grandfield did not think they would take much more in" (short term).

With the weather boys pointing to an active weather pattern across Oklahoma for much of the rest of this week- harvest beyond these locations may have little chance of jumping into "drive" for the final days of May.

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A couple of articles have surfaced this week about concerns of draining the Ogallala Aquifer. One was pointed out to us by a colleague of mine from all the way back when we were both young guys, had hair and worked in Wichita, Kansas. Steve Cornett is now one of the long hairs at Beef Today Magazine and website- and he linked on their site an article from a writer in Great Britain about concerns in our part of the world over the future of the Ogallala- especially here in the southern half of this underground ocean of fresh water. Click here to read what Rupert Cornwell has to say about a looming Dust Bowl in our part of the world- obviously something that our friends in the Oklahoma Panhandle are facing as we write this.

The other article on this subject has to do with farm policy and the agenda of the EWG- the Environmental Working Group. In an op-ed penned by Craig Cox , Senior VP for Agriculture and Natural Resources, EWG seems to have second thoughts about EQIP as it currently is being used by many landowners- and he comes out and endorses amendments to both the Senate and House Ag Committee Farm Bills that would would reengineer EQIP so that when it is used to save water through the investment of more efficient irrigation gear- that the water savings be left in the aquifer and not be used to irrigate more land or more thirsty crops. Click here to read the article in full- and the article has links to the proposed legislation of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.).