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Richard Gebhart, is the new President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association and stepped into that role officially on Saturday morning at the 61st Annual Convention and Trade Show of the OCA. Richard Gebhart will serve as the President of the organization for a two year term. In addition to this new hat that Gebhart has put on at the OCA convention in Midwest City, he is serving in 2013-2014 as the Chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils within the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.


Gebhart is a Rogers County Hereford rancher and operates the Langley-area Beacon Hill Ranch, which has been a family owned Hereford ranch since 1909. He has served in leadership positions with the Oklahoma Beef Council, the Oklahoma Hereford Association, the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association and the Rogers County Cattlemen's Association. He is a fourth generation Hereford breeder and a former recipient of the Golden Hereford Breeder award. 

On Saturday morning- we talked at length with Richard about why he was interested and willing to take on two hats at once- giving him a leadership role on both the checkoff and the policy side of the beef industry table.  Click here to read more about our conversation as well as the chance to listen to our visit with the 35th President of the OCA.

Jim Birdwell of Fletcher Heads List of Honorees at Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Convention (And Thanks CattleWomen!)   

Lots of cattle producers were honored at the 2013 Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Annual Meeting in Midwest City Thursday through Saturday. Among them was Jim Birdwell of Fletcher, who was named the 2013 Oklahoma Cattleman of the Year.


Fletcher served the OCA as their 31st President from 2005 to 2007. Birdwell, along with wife, Jeanne, own and operate the Birdwell Ranch, an Oklahoma Centennial Ranching operation that includes the original Birdwell homestead, which was claimed in 1902. The operation includes a 300 head purebred Angus and Hereford cow herd and a small band of Registered Quarter Horse mares.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Cattlewomen named Barbara Strahm of Pawhuska as their 2013 Cattlewoman of the Year. She has been a long-time proponent of beef promotion. Barbara has been promoting beef in Osage County and surrounding area for more than 40 years. This past year, Barbara helped conduct Ag in the Classroom programs to 25 classrooms, educating students about beef. In 2012, she also helped coordinate Beef for Father's Day and Beef for Mother's Day campaigns and promoted beef in nursing homes throughout Osage County. 

Lots of other honors- and we have a substantial list of those winners that you can click here to go see.

One other award that I must mention- THANKS TO THE OKLAHOMA CATTLEWOMEN for the tribute they offered in giving Yours Truly with their 2013 "Honorary Cattlewoman of the Year."  I am appreciative and have been proud to work with them on several projects down through the years- including their Beef Cookoffs and their Beef Ambassador competitions. These ladies do an amazing job in promoting beef.

Three Commodity Groups Hang Tough in Opposition to Target Price Concept in New Farm Bill

Click here to read the entire leader to Congressional Ag Leaders which is supportive of the Senate Farm Bill and trashes the House Farm Bill.

It's No Longer "acting" as Jason Weller is Named Chief of the NRCS

National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) President Earl Garber made the following statement regarding the formal appointment of Jason Weller as Chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS):


"NACD has worked closely with Jason over the years, and especially during his recent term as Acting Chief. We appreciate his support and understanding of the locally-led conservation process and the critical role of conservation districts within that process, as well as his thoughtful navigation of the current national budgetary climate, and strong, working knowledge of Washington, D.C. We are fully confident in his ability to step up to the plate and continue NRCS' successful efforts in supporting the conservation of our nation's natural resources for the future.


"With pending appropriations bills and Congress' continuing failure to pass a Farm Bill, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of critical tools and funding to support successful locally-led conservation efforts across the nation. At the same time, we are faced with a number of serious challenges impacting our natural resource base, including drought, wildfires, and other severe weather events, in addition to the need to feed the world's growing population in a sustainable manner.


"For all of these reasons, it is important that NRCS has permanency and stability in place to provide strong leadership from the agency level. We are confident that new Chief Jason Weller will provide just this type of leadership.

 

Animal Science Department Head Dr. Clint Rusk Celebrates One Year at Oklahoma State University 

Dr. Clint Rusk, the head of the Animal Science Department at Oklahoma State University, is celebrating his one year anniversary at OSU today, Monday, July 29, 2013. Dr. Rusk came to OSU from South Dakota State University and leads the largest single department on the campus in Stillwater.

We caught up with Dr. Rusk during the 61st Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association in Midwest City. We have both an audio conversation with Dr. Rusk as well as a video segment that comes from our weekly In the Field segment as seen on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City.

Click here to jump over to our webstory where you can access both the audio and the video.

Populist Cattle Group to Fight Lawsuit Against COOL

Leo McDonnell, Director Emeritus of the United States Cattlemen's Association (USCA) has announced that USCA will lead COOL supporters in intervention in the lawsuit filed on July 8 by plaintiffs seeking an injunction to vacate the Department of Agriculture's Final Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Rule and asking the court to halt the implementation and enforcement of the revised COOL regulations. 

Here, in part, is the statement released by the US Cattlemen's Association on behalf of McDonnell:

"The USCA board has consulted with legal counsel in order to understand what the industry's best options are to assist with the defense of COOL in this case.

"The eight plaintiffs in this case seek to remove from us our right to differentiate our product with a USA label. NCBA and the other plaintiffs argue that 'beef is beef, whether the cattle are raised in Montana, Manitoba or Mazatlan.' Many producer groups, such as USCA, and consumer groups believe that consumers are entitled to the type of information the revised USDA regulations provide. It is important that those who believe this have their voices heard in this litigation."

Click here to read the rest of the McDonnell statement.  

Maybe Keith Kisling Will Finally Get Some Rain 

There is a Flash Flood Watch for north central and northeastern Oklahoma for later today and through midday Tuesday.  

That Flash Flood Watch includes what has been to this point a dry Alfalfa County- we talked to Keith Kisling of Burlington at the OCA Convention over the weekend- and he let me know that there are parts of the state that have not gotten the abundance of rain that other locations have enjoyed.

Well, Keith, there is good news and there is bad news.  It looks like Burlington's turn is coming- but it may be coming at the rate of three inches of rain PER HOUR.  Ouch.   

Here's the verbiage from the National Weather Service. "THE COMBINATION OF A VERY MOIST AIRMASS- UNSTABLE AIR- AND LIFT FROM A WEAK MID LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL ALLOW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING ACROSS THE AREA- ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA WHERE ROUNDS OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL MAY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING. RAINFALL RATES IN EXCESS OF 3 INCHES PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE."

Here's the link to the full statement and a listing of all counties impacted.  

One other bit of reading material may be of interest to you- Alan Crone with the News on 6 does an excellent job in explaining weather patterns that are easy to understand- he writes daily on his blog found on the News on 6 website- and Alan explains where the best changes of "enhanced rain" may be.  Click here for today's appraisal of the weather ahead for the northern half of the state.