Horse Industry Provides $3.6 Billion Economic Impact to Oklahoma  

The Oklahoma Equine Alliance released a comprehensive study today showing the economic impact generated by the Oklahoma Equine Industry reached $3.6 billion in 2012, yielding roughly 35,070 full time equivalent jobs.   The study was completed in 2013 and commissioned by members of the Oklahoma Equine Alliance.



Members of the Oklahoma Equine Alliance include the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association, Remington Park, Will Rogers Downs, Fair Meadows, Oklahoma Horse Council, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. These members as well as state legislators and top executives from breed organizations and private entities gathered today to recognize Oklahoma's thriving equine industry.   The study provides thorough economic data and highlights the cooperative efforts of private and public partnerships that have driven the growth of Oklahoma's equine business. 

Click here to read more- and we have the PDF file at this link  you can check out that is a complete summary of the report unveiled on Tuesday.

Talking Record Cattle Prices, COOL and Zilmax with Don Close of Rabo AgFinance 

As 2013 draws to a close, all eyes begin to turn toward 2014. Don Close, vice president of food and agribusiness research with Rabo AgFinance, has been looking at the trends and sees a lot of issues on the horizon- and we talked with him about several of those issues this past week while in Kansas City for the 2013 National Association of Farm Broadcasters annual meeting.

Among the issues we covered with Don- ZIlmax and the impact it's removal from the market has had on beef production, the struggle of rebuilding the mama cow herd nationally and a look at Mandatory COOL.

Click here to read more and to listen to our conversation with Don- it's worth your time to hear his thoughts about where the cattle industry is when it comes to these issues.

Canola Leader Looking for Producers Hurt by Crop Insurance Snafu 

Many hazards can affect a young crop's progress as it grows in a farmer's field. As he travels across the Southern Plains checking on the progress of the 2013 winter canola crop, Gene Neuens, oil crop field representative for the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill here, is aware of both insect and government red tape problems affecting the crop.


"We are finding out there is a significant number of farmers who have planted winter canola, but, due to the US government shutdown in October, don't have their crop covered by USDA Risk Management Agency crop insurance," he said.


If you have a crop of winter canola planted and were not able to obtain USDA RMA crop insurance, Neuens asks you to contact him as soon as possible. When he obtains a sufficient number of replies from producers without crop insurance, Neuens intends to contact the RMA to seek a solution, he said.


Neuens can be reached by calling 405-760-4205.

Neuens also offers some scouting advice for Canola producers- click here for that advice- a part of our webstory with Gene Neuens.

Biodiesel Stakeholders Pushing Back on EPA Renewable Fuel Volumes for 2014

Dozens of biodiesel stakeholders from across the country are in Washington this week to support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and voice strong disappointment with the Obama Administration's recent proposal for next year's renewable fuels volumes.

Among those making the trip is Ben Wootton, a biodiesel producer from Pennsylvania, who said his plant is likely to close under the EPA's volume proposal announced last week.

"If the EPA freezes the biomass-based diesel target, it would put our company out of business," said Wootton, president and CEO of Keystone BioFuels of Camp Hill, Pa. "Keystone is just starting to come out of a reorganization plan. The EPA proposed freeze on biomass-based diesel would essentially cut our current market in half and force us to shut our doors. It would be a major step back for the environment and the economy in our state." 

Click here to read more about the Biodiesel industry's efforts in Washington regarding the RFS.

Bird Collisions with Wind Turbines Studied by OSU Researchers

As wind energy continues to emerge as a green energy alternative to fossil fuels, bird mortality from collisions with the turbines also is on the rise. Previous research suggests anywhere between 10,000 and nearly 600,000 fatalbird collisions occur in the lower 48 of the United States each year.



Most of these previous estimates are based on extrapolation of data from a small number of U.S. wind facilities to all U.S. wind turbines. However, researchers in Oklahoma State University's Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management (NREM) recently shed a little more light on the subject, by reviewing studies and industry reports from 59 different wind power facilities across the U.S. Their findings were published in "Biological Conservation," an international leading journal in the discipline.



"We estimate between 140,000 and 328,000 (mean = 234,000) birds are killed annually by collisions with monopole turbines in the contiguous U.S.," said Scott Loss, NREM assistant professor. "We found support for an increase in mortality with increasing turbine height and support for differing mortality rates among regions, with per turbine mortality lowest in the Great Plains." 

Click here for more details about the research that Dr. Loss participated in.  

National Drought Resilience Partnership to Help Communities Prepare for Drought 

The Obama Administration today announced an interagency National Drought Resilience Partnership to help communities better prepare for future droughts and reduce the impact of drought events on livelihoods and the economy. Responding to requests from communities, businesses, and farmers and ranchers, the National Drought Resilience Partnership will make it easier to access Federal drought resources, and will help link information such as monitoring, forecasts, outlooks, and early warnings with longer-term drought resilience strategies in critical sectors such as agriculture, municipal water systems, energy, recreation, tourism and manufacturing.


In its first year, the Partnership will focus on creating a new, web-based portal to ease access to Federal agency drought recovery resources, hosting more frequent regional drought outlook forums that provide access to experts and locally relevant information, supporting the coordination of a national soil moisture monitoring network to help improve monitoring and forecasting drought conditions, and identifying a single point of contact for the public. In collaboration with local, state and regional governments, the Partnership will also undertake a pilot project in a western area hard hit by drought to create a local-scale drought resilience plan that could be applied in other areas.

I guess we can only hope that the people who created the government healthcare website were not picked for this web based effort- in the meantime- click here to read more about these efforts at the Federal level to help when drought rears its ugly head.

This N That- Farm Bill Negotiations, Big Iron, and the OSU Livestock Judging Team  

David Rogers writes on Politico.Com that "Hopeful but also impatient, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas says "this is deadline week" for a farm bill deal if he is to have any chance of enacting legislation before Congress goes home for the year in December.

"We're not there yet," the Oklahoma Republican told reporters Tuesday. "I am still hopeful. I am still enthusiastic. I am still trying. But we have to make progress this week."

You can read more about the "why" of this week being so crucial- click here to jump over to the Politico article.  

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On this Wednesday morning, Big Iron is getting set to closing this week's online no reserve auction of 348 items- first items start to close at 10 AM central time.  Click here to go and check out their lineup of farm equipment and more up for bids today.  Big Iron will have a sale next week on the day before Thanksgiving- and then the first Wednesday of December- a huge lineup of over 600 items will be auctioned off online on December 4th.

If you have questions about Big Iron and how easy it is for you to buy or sell- call District Manager Mike Wolfe at 580-320-2718  and he will give you the lowdown on how Big Iron can work for you.

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The final judging competition of the fall for the Oklahoma State University was at the North American International Livestock Show in Louisville- and the OSU team placed fourth nationally- behind Texas A& M, Texas Tech and Kansas State. 

Brock Herren was one point behind the high individual overall of the NAILE- tying for second nationally.

Four of the OSU Judging Team members were declared All Americans- Taylor Graham, Morgan Neilson, Dalton Newell and Kass Pfeiffer.  We have bios of these Livestock Judging Super Stars- click here to read more.