20th Annual Tulsa Farm Show Opens for Three Day Run 

The 20th Annual Tulsa Farm Show gets underway today at the River Spirit Expo Center in Tulsa. The doors open at 9 a.m. today and Friday and close at 5 p.m. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

John Sampson of Midwest Farm Shows has been the mover and shaker behind the Tulsa show for its 20-year run.  With each passing year, the show has evolved and grown, he says.

"In the first show, I believe, we used 66,000 square feet which sounds like a lot, but not when you're in a building that has 480,000 square feet."

Sampson said this year's show almost fills the entire venue and they have 366 vendors as opposed to 70 their first year.  

The Tulsa Farm Show is unique in that all the exhibitors are totally inside a single building, making it a very pleasant show for visitors, rain or shine. Of the seven venues used by Midwest, Tulsa's is by far the largest and allows them to perform horse clinics and demonstrations with livestock indoors.

This year's show will again feature horse trainer Craig Cameron. Sampson says he's especially proud of his relationship with Cameron this year as he's just completed his First Annual Guts and Glory Ride. Cameron uses the ride to raise funds for veterans who need assistance with a variety of problems that can include anything from financial challenges to serious health issues and physical wounds.

"They need our help and thanks for their service and it's great that Craig is doing that," Sampson says.

The show will also include the youth cattle handling competition with scholarships going to the winners.  Sampson said the show has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships during its 20-year run in Tulsa.

You can click here to listen to my conversation with John, read more of this story and find a link to the Tulsa Farm Show website. 

NACD Concerned with User Fees In Budget Agreement 

The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) is pleased that the Ryan-Murray budget agreement avoids a government shutdown and replaces sequestration for the next two years with some additional non-defense discretionary funding. However, we are extremely concerned about the unprecedented imposition of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) technical assistance user fees.

"Imposing conservation planning technical assistance user fees is short-sighted, creating a burden on producers who are simply trying to be proactive and do the right thing for the land and water resources," said NACD President Earl Garber. "User fees will discourage producers from implementing critical conservation practices at a time when they have the heavy burden of meeting the demand of a growing population. This will ultimately take a toll on our nation's natural resource base, when as we know, the cost of repair is always greater that the cost of proactive maintenance in the first place."

NACD says it cannot support user fees if they are not going toward the technical assistance that is necessary to do conservation planning. 

Click here to read more of the NACD statement.  

National Chicken Council Supports FDA Phase Out of Medically-Important Antibiotics

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its Final Guidance 213 and proposed Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) rule. FDA's Guidance 213 implements a plan to phase out over a three year period the subtherapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in food producing animals. The proposed VFD will ensure that all antibiotics that are administered to food producing animals will be done so under the supervision of a veterinarian.

In response, National Chicken Council (NCC) Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., released the following statement:

"NCC appreciates the open and collaborative process FDA has undertaken to phase out the use of subtherapeutic, or growth-promoting uses, of antibiotics that are medically important in treating humans.

"We strongly support the responsible and judicious use of FDA-approved antibiotics and the involvement of veterinarians in raising healthy chickens. In fact, in raising chickens today, chicken farmers already maintain close relationships with licensed veterinarians who interact on a routine basis, with the farmers and their chickens, to provide the best care possible for the flock."

You can read more of this story by clicking here.  

Preparation Increases Pig Trapping Effectiveness

Ag Research Assistant Joshua Gaskamp writes in the latest newsletter from the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation:

Trapping wild pigs can be a daunting task. Certain uses and types of traps may have caused them to become more aware of structures built for confinement. This is where we get the term trap-shy. Often, when traps are set up, pigs abandon the bait or consume bait only up to the gate, never crossing the threshold into the trap. Even the best trappers fail, but studying hog behavior and learning from our mistakes helps make us more successful.

The first thing to consider when trapping wild pigs is bait placement. A location where damage is observed is not always the best location to trap. Take the trap to the pig, don't try to bring the pig to the trap. In selecting a proper trapping location, follow the trail that leads to the damage. Find where the pigs are spending the daytime. This is often in dense thickets near water. By placing the bait closer to their bedding area, the bait is the first thing that they encounter when they head out to feed and will allow us to more accurately pattern the sounder (group of hogs).

Many different types of bait have been used to attract wild pigs. No single bait is best in every situation, but avoid switching bait in the middle of trapping. When prebaiting (baiting a site before erecting a trap), place the bait near the timber and/or water source, and provide only enough bait so the pigs consume all of it in 30 minutes.  

Click here to read more tips from Joshua Gaskamp.

Rural TV Becomes Home of Superior Livestock Auction and Superior Productions

Superior Livestock Auction and Superior Productions build a new home on Rural TV Dish Network, channel 232. Superior Livestock's bi-weekly commercial cattle auctions and Superior Productions purebred auctions will blaze the airwaves providing viewers with expanded coverage on Rural TV. Superior is committed to the decades of relationships built with farmers and ranchers from coast to coast and will continue to be dedicated to the auction method and true price discovery. The growth of Superior made the transition a necessity to best benefit our customers, their cattle operations and future business.

Danny Jones, President of Superior Livestock Auction, LLC stated: "Rural TV has the air-time inventory needed to accommodate Superior's growth. Superior is constantly innovating and the transition to Rural TV gives us the flexibility we'll need as we move forward. Along with expanded Television service, Superior will also be introducing new opportunities for our customers through satellite internet and mobile technologies. Our customers know our goal is to help them grow and succeed with their business while staying focused on the needs of both buyers and sellers. Acquiring access to additional air-time will help facilitate positive growth."

Rural TV is a multimedia agribusiness and rural lifestyle network reaching 14 million U.S. homes. Launched in 2012 by the creators of RFD-TV, RURAL TV features primetime news broadcasts focused on agribusiness and Rural America.

 

This N That- Apache Auction Cow Sale Set for Saturday , Curt Pate Headed for Oklahoma Next Week and Come Say Howdy to Travis Meyer Today at Tulsa Farm Show 

The Apache Livestock Market is holding another Replacement Cow sale this Saturday in Apache at 11 AM central time.  

Approximately 500 head of Pairs, Replacement Cows and Bred Heifers will be offered.  

They have numerous lots that they will be offering- and they have videos of some of the females on their Facebook page.  For example, they have a video of  Twenty-six head of March-April calving Red Angus cows to be offered. The cows originate from the Feemster Ranch in Kim, Colorado, and have Beckton Red Angus bloodlines. Bred to Mushrush Red Angus bulls.  

Click here for their Facebook Page where you can take a look at many of the cattle that will be offered on Saturday.  

For more information, you can also make contact Bob Rodenberger at 405-641-8998  

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Ranchers and farmers have the opportunity to fine tune their cattle handling skills with one of the nation's most sought after clinicians, Curt Pate on Tuesday, December 17, 2013 in a seminar hosted by Ratcliff Ranch in Vinita, Oklahoma and sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and the Oklahoma Beef Council.  The clinic will focus on low-stress cattle handling techniques with the intent of enhancing profitability by working with the natural instincts of cattle.

The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with registration and a dinner followed by the clinic beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 17, 2013.  Ratcliff Ranch is located at 24645 S. Highway 2, Vinita, OK.  For dinner reservations, please RSVP to the Oklahoma Beef Council at 405-840-3777- You can also email your intentions to come by clicking here. 

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Finally- we remind you that we are pleased to have Travis Meyer from the News on 6 joining us in our Radio Oklahoma Ag Network booth at the Tulsa Farm Show (Booth 998) which is just inside the Main Door of the River Spirit Expo Center (look for the Big Tulsa Driller and you know you are at the right place).  Travis is the lead Meteorologist  for the News on 6 and also ranches south of Tulsa- so come by and talk weather with Travis from 1 to 2 PM today at the Tulsa Farm Show!