Oklahoma Farm Bureau's John Collison Pleased With Horse Slaughter and Water Resources Board Legislative Wins in 2013 

Following the adjournment of the latest legislative session, John Collison, vice president of public policy and corporate communications with the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said Oklahoma farmers and ranchers were well served by their legislators. He said there were several victories for all of agriculture this session especially in the area of water resources and tort protection for agritourism.

Collison said the first victory of the session came when legislators approved a measure allowing the processing of horses in the state.

"House Bill 1999 got a lot of attention and a lot of fuss over something that became a bigger issue than it really was.   We came out successful on that bill and, again, that bill allows people to find a useful end for horses that have had a useful life.

"At the very end of the session we had another major victory with the passing of Senate Bill 965 that was authored by Senator Marlatte and Representative Mike Jackson which reorganizes the water resources board. We have places today that have never been represented on a water board, like southeast Oklahoma. We've got gaps today-massive gaps today in northwest Oklahoma. And the Water Resources Board is an important board that we make sure we're using water the correct way.

"That was an issue that was wide open for the whole session and we had a lot of input. The cities didn't seem to like it as much as we did. But, again, for all the state of Oklahoma, Senate Bill 965 was a huge issue and an issue that's just one step in a massive issue that will take us on into the future--water."

You can listen to John Collison's recap of the legislative session or read more by clicking here.  

Six New Members to be Inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame, Class of 2013 

The Meat Industry Hall of Fame has announced the results of voting by its more than 70 Members and Trustees, in which six new Inductees were named to the Class of 2013.

Each year, previously elected members and the Hall's Board of Trustees choose a new class from nominations submitted by... participants across all sectors of red meat and poultry production, processing, marketing and research. This new class is the fifth group of meat and poultry industry leaders to be inducted.

These are the new members of the Meat Industry Hall of Fame , Class of 2103: Barry Carpenter, CEO of the newly formed North American Meat Association; Michael E. Dikeman, Ph.D., Professor of Meat Science at Kansas State University; Sheldon Lavin, Chairman and CEO of OSI Group, LLC; Tom Pierson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University; James "Bo" Reagan, Ph.D., Vice President of the NCBA Research and Knowledge Management Center; and Roger Reiser, President of Reiser.

You can read more about these inductees on our website by clicking here.  

Early Wheat Harvest Results Fairly Good Considering Conditions, Kim Anderson Says

Wheat harvest is now underway in far southwestern Oklahoma. In his preview to this weekend's SUNUP program, Kim Anderson, OSU Extension Small Grain Marketing Specialist says yields have been fairly good considering the conditions.

"The yields were relatively good-20 to 25. One load was up to 34 bushels per acre. The test weights were good, mostly above 60, some in the low 58 to 59-good No. 1 and No. 2 wheat. And the protein tests that have been done have been relatively high."

He says prices are all over the place right now with cash prices in Oklahoma fluctuating in a 20-cent range between $7.20 and $7.40. He said the Kansas City Board of Trade is showing a 28-cent trading range for the last couple of weeks. He says the forward contract price for wheat delivered this harvest is now running about $7.25.

Anderson says there is a lot of concern this year with the quality of the wheat crop.

"The crop conditions are significantly below last year's level. If you look at the total U.S. winter wheat crop, 31 percent is good to excellent. Oklahoma is well below the average at 17 percent good to excellent. That's compared to 73 percent last year good to excellent."

You can hear Lyndall Stout's interview with Kim Anderson and see the whole lineup for this weekend's SUNUP show by clicking here.

 

Latest Drought Monitor Shows More Drought West, Less Drought East

Active weather since the beginning of the week has brought prodigious amounts of rain to central and eastern Oklahoma as evidenced by the map we have posted on our website this morning- updated at 4 AM Friday. Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus says unfortunately, Western Oklahoma has remained relatively dry all week long.


The Mesonet rainfall maps show Red Rock in Noble County had more than 5 inches of rainfall from training thunderstorms Wednesday. Skiatook- north of Tulsa, has now totaled almost six inches of rainfall this week with storms Thursday evening bringing the totals for that Mesonet site above that of Red Rock.

The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor map will likely show many changes next week due to the rainfall, but the dry areas in the western part of the start are accurate, McManus says. Areas of Exceptional Drought spread just a little bit across far western Oklahoma and have now crept up to cover 11.34% of the state. At the same time, the amount of D0-D4 has gone down from 75% to 68%. What that says is that drought is intensifying in the west and going away in the east.

You can see the latest maps and read more by clicking here.

 

Producers Should Be Aware of Potential for Hay Fires

Recent rainfall combined with rising ambient temperatures in the southern Great Plains should serve as a signal for agricultural producers to monitor their hay.

Although moderate temperature elevation is normal for baled hay put into storage, excess moisture in forage can result in hay heating to levels capable of spontaneous combustion.

"Whether hay actually burns depends primarily on stack size," said Ray Huhnke, director of the Oklahoma State University Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources' Biobased Products and Energy Center.

If heat developed in the pile can readily escape, the hay or straw may only mold or turn a tobacco-smell brown. However, if enough hay or straw is situated around the hot spot to prevent the escape of moisture and heat, the hot spot will burn.

You can read more by clicking here.

Oklahoma FFA members continue to earn awards as the school year draws to a close. 

The Oklahoma Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee selected Cade Childress and Carson Vineyard of the Altus FFA Chapter as the winners of the inaugural YF&R video contest. The contest was designed as an outlet for high-school students to use their communications skills to show how Oklahoma producers care about the products they are producing.

Childress and Vineyard's video focused on the farming practices of Jackson County farmers and gave a taste of what Oklahoma legislators are doing to preserve farming practices in the state.  (Click here to read more and to see their winning video.)

Garrett Crispin of Thomas-Fay-Custer High School in Thomas was awarded a National FFA Collegiate Scholarship.  Crispin was one of 18 FFA students to receive scholarships sponsored by AGCO and AGCO Finance.  He will be a freshman in the fall at Southwest Oklahoma State University majoring in Engineering Physics.  (You can read more about Crispin and his award by clicking here.)

This N That- Ponds Looking Great, As Does the Canola and a McAlester Cow Sale Reminder

We have received several emails in recent days- including one from Glen Shoulders who lives north of Tulsa- he writes "Ponds are all full! Best shape we have been in in over 4 years!"  I wish there was a way that we could wave the magic wand and share some of these recent rains with the folks in far southwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle- Bob Dietrick farms near Tyrone in Texas County and writes "WE are terribly dry, and west of here is worse.  I really don't know how my grandparents lasted out the drouth of the 30's."  He adds that he's looking for a weatherman to explain when and if the weather pattern for his part of the world is going to change for the wetter. Bob- we will work on that.

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Switching from email to Twitter- the tweet of the day came last night- as farmer friend Brent  Rendel from the northeastern corner of the state had a picture of his son standing in some canola as tall as he is- five feet tall to be exact. The canola looks good and Brent expects to be swathing before too much longer- click here to check out his picture and tweet.     

One weather Tweet to point you to comes from Jed Castles of News9- one of those weather guys that Bob Dietrick would like to hear from on weather outlook for our Panhandle- Jed says today- Friday- is likely to be the final day of the severe weather for awhile-  highest risk of hail, high winds and maybe a twister is southeast of a line from OKC to Tulsa- click here to take a look.  

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Julie Grant and her team at the McAlester Union Stockyards have a Special Mama Cow Sale on Saturday- June 1- with about 900 cows and bulls on offer. We have a list of many of the consignments for the sale on our website on our auction pages- click here to take a look and give the folks at the McAlester Stockyards a call for late information and consignments at this weekend's special sale- which starts at noon on Saturday.