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Hot, sunny and dry conditions have totally dried out the 2013 hard red winter wheat crop across most of Oklahoma- and combines are actively rolling and the elevators are filling up with wheat. According to the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update- the 2013 wheat harvest is now fifty five percent complete, and the bulk of the harvest could be done by the first of July for many producers if the current weather conditions hold- and the current weather forecasts suggest hot and dry weather will stay in place until the weekend. (more details on the Crop Weather Updates are in the third story of today's email)


We caught up with Don Schieber of Kay County combining wheat for the Fitzgerald family of Minco in the northern edge of Grady County on Monday and rode with Don for several passes in his six year old John Deere Combine. Don, who we have known from our days as members of Class One of the OALP, does some custom harvest work each year before harvesting his own crop east of Blackwell and before he turns to seed cleaning which he told us is more profitable than custom cutting.


The field that Schieber was cutting on Monday afternoon was averaging around fifty bushels per acre- and we have a picture in our story on the web that shows the yield monitor at one point at 62 bushels per acre.  

You can go to the web story by clicking here- you can listen to Don and I plus we have the link for our FLICKR set of photos of harvest at that location.   We also have a small set of harvest photos on our website that you can see by clicking here.  

Summer Weather Patterns Setting Up Across Oklahoma

Weather patterns across portions of Oklahoma have improved somewhat in the last few months and Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus says the trend from an unsettled, wet pattern is trending toward a hot and humid one.

"No shock there. As we get into late June and head into July, that's sort of what we expect here in Oklahoma. It doesn't always work out that way, but generally that's what we expect."

The weekly drought monitor maps have shown an easing of dry condition in much of eastern and central Oklahoma. McManus says that is not unusual, but it does not necessarily mean the drought is broken.

"The eastern two-thirds of the state have probably seen a couple of periods of relief over this three-year period of drought whereas far western Oklahoma and the Panhandle they've been in continuous drought for the last three years. So, that's the difference in experiences between the two regions.

"Once the drought starts to really get going, as we get into the summer, it's very difficult to get out. 

You can read more from Gary McManus by clicking here.

 

Wheat Harvest Over Half Complete Across Oklahoma and Texas 

In Oklahoma, the latest USDA Crop Weather and Condition report shows the week began with rainfall, but the rest of the week was sunny and dry, allowing for substantial progress in small grain harvest and row crop planting and emergence. Wheat harvest was 55 percent complete by Sunday, 26 points behind the five-year average.  

Canola harvest was three-quarters complete by the end of the week. 

Fifty-three percent of the wheat crop was listed in very poor or poor condition, 26 percent was fair, 19 percent was good and only two percent was listed as excellent.

Canola was rated mostly fair to poor condition. Virtually all of canola was mature and 75 percent had been harvested by the end of the week.  (Click here to read the full Oklahoma Crop Weather report.)

In Kansas, the winter wheat crop was turning color on 92 percent of the acreage, behind 100 a year ago and 97 average. Forty-seven percent of the crop was ripe, behind 100 last year and 69 average. The crop was eight percent harvested, well behind last year's 94 and 39 average. Condition rated 24 percent very poor, 21 poor, 27 fair, 24 good, and percent excellent.  (You can read the full Kansas report by clicking here.)

Much of Texas received heavy rains last week, but wheat harvest was continuing.  As of last week, 55 percent of the crop had been harvested compared with 50 percent the year before and an 69-percent five-year average. (The Texas report is available by clicking here.)

Summer Beef Demand Critical for Fed Cattle Market, Derrell Peel Says

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

Cattle and beef markets are still struggling to get on the same page. Fed cattle markets are groping for a summer bottom amidst seasonally large slaughter and beef production. Meanwhile feeder markets appear to have found a bottom after being on the defensive since February. Of course, part of the reason is that fed and feeder markets are looking at different factors at different points in time.   

Feeder cattle markets have been focused heavily on new crop corn prospects for several weeks. Feedlots have been looking for feed price relief for the coming crop year relative to the drought-driven record corn prices of the last year.   Feedlots have taken advantage of significantly lower feeder cattle prices the last three months to increase placements, year over year, in March and April and maintain a large, though slightly down, placement level in May. Feeder markets are strengthening now based on better demand, ala feed prices this fall, and tightening of feeder supplies. Improved feed prices will likely be offset by higher feeder prices this fall. Strong feedlot placements the past three months has surely utilized the slightly larger feeder supplies indicated on January 1 and likely some of the heifers intended as replacements this year. Feeder supplies will tighten considerably in the second half of the year with reduced feeder cattle imports and a smaller 2013 calf crop. The possibility of heifer retention restarting again this fall could further tighten feeder cattle supplies late in the year. 

Click here to read more from Derrell Peel.

 

Beef Checkoff Releases Comprehensive Report on Beef Demand

Price, food safety and product quality are the most important demand drivers on which the beef industry should focus to have the most compelling effects on beef demand in the long term. Other key drivers include health, nutrition, social aspects and sustainability.
     
So concludes "Beef Demand: Recent Determinants and Future Drivers," a newly released study commissioned by the Beef Checkoff Program to summarize the current knowledge of consumer demand for beef and identify the best opportunities for the industry to influence demand positively. One of the authors of the study is Dr. Ted Schroeder of Kansas State University- he is our guest of today's Beef Buzz.  (Click here to listen to that audio or to read more.)

The report makes five key recommendations for cattlemen to consider in making decisions about how to invest checkoff dollars.  Among the recommendations are:

--Continue to invest in food-safety enhancement and assurances. Consumers demand it, and there is considerable opportunity to positively improve beef demand in the future. 

--Price has been for a long time, and remains, an important driver of consumer purchase decisions. But beef experts indicate that they see little opportunity during the next 10 years for the industry to influence beef prices significantly.

Paper Examines Impact of the Precautionary Principle on Feeding Current and Future Generations

After a research-based analysis and peer-reviewed process, the authors of the latest Council for Agricultural Science and Technology issue paper make it clear: "The precautionary principle may well be the most innovative, pervasive, and significant new concept in environmental policy over the past quarter century. It may also be the most reckless, arbitrary, and ill-advised."

The paper looks at the history of the precautionary principle (PP) and examines problems of ambiguity, arbitrary application, and bias against new technologies. Because the publication is especially focused on the need to feed a growing population, the case studies center on agricultural issues such as pesticide use, genetically modified foods, and food irradiation.

You can read more by clicking here.  You'll also find a link to the entire research report.

 

This N That- A Field of TEAMS Update and Superior Livestock Sale Offering Southeast Calves This Friday

We traveled over to Minco to catch up with Don Schieber as he combined wheat there on Monday- to meet up for a few moments with the Israeli Trade Team that is being hosted by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission this week(more on that tomorrow) but on our way back up from Minco to El Reno- we saw several combines wrapping up in a field just north of Union City that we spent some time in about three Saturdays ago.  

That field was one of the early ones cleaned up by the Field of TEAMS folks- and we noticed that Levi Clifton was snapping a few photos of the harvest in a field that she and volunteers walked and cleaned  up to allow those combines to roll.  We stopped and got an update from her on the clean up effort to date- and still needs to be done.  Click here to read more and to listen to our conversation.  If you want to help- you can call Levi at 405-301-1626 and she will be glad to get you lined up in this continuing "one of a kind" rural relief effort.

By the way- a big SHOUT OUT to Shari Holloway, Amy Dronberger, Steve and Ronda Regier and Curtis Sears (among others) that are alum of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- they went and volunteered this past weekend and the picture in the webstory that we have linked above has the picture of this dynamic group of farm folks helping out.  Good Job!   

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For those of you that have pasture available, you may want to check out this Friday's Superior Video Auction- they have quite a few calves and stockers from the southeast that may fit well with your operation.  A total of 28,000  will be sold- and we are told that includes the following numbers from the southeast-

Louisiana Cattle
855 yearlings
5130 calves
50 Bred heifers
Total 6,035

Georgia and Alabama - 500 head

Texas
5143 yearlings
2211 Calves
79 breeding stock

Total 7433

They will also have 1015 Holsteins as well- for more information, click here or call Superior at 1-800-422-2117.  The link here is for their front page- and you will notice that the catalog is now available to review- check it out.