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Goats(Doe Kids)

Division 1 Doe Kid Show Champion- Taylor Parrish of the Kremlin-Hillsdale 4-H Reserve Champion- Collin Ring of the Morrison FFA

Division 2 Doe Kid Show Champion- Chelsea Morris, Atoka FFA Reserve Champion- Taylor Parrish, Kremlin-Hillsdale

Division 3 Doe Kid Show Champion- Taylor Parrish, Kremlin-Hillsdale 4-H Reserve Champion- Karissa Pfeiffer, Mulhall-Orlando FFA

Division 4 Champion Doe Kid Champion- Karissa Pfeiffer of the Mulhall-Orlando FFA Res. Champion- Courtney Fomby of the Boswell FFA

Sheep (Breeding ewes)

Champion Dorset Purebred Ewe Dakotah McBride, Hooker FFA Reserve Champion Dorset Purebred Ewe Jenna Maltbie, Burlington FFA

Champion Shropshire Purebred Ewe Keelyn Schafer, Stillwater 4-H Reserve Champion Shropshire Purebred Ewe Erica Nightengale, Noble 4-H

Champion and Reserve Champion Purebred Southdown Ewe goes to Jaleigh Oldenburg of the Mulhall-Orlando 4-H

Market Barrows

Poland: Champion Paige Decker, Canadian County 4-H Reserve Champion Poland Jody West, Fort Cobb-Broxton FFA

Duroc:  Champion- Rebecca Skipworth, Mountain View-Gotebo 4-H Reserve Champion- Dalton Berg, Minco FFA

Chester Champion Drive Champion-Tyler Vanoven of the Duncan FFA.  Reserve Champion- Kort Cole of the El Reno FFA

Champion Berkshire- Braeden Coon of the Mountain View-Gotebo 

4-H.  Reserve Champion Berkshire- Adrienne Mabry of the Lawton FFA

Also on Tuesday evening- about 70 lawmakers converged on the arena and participated in the 8th annual State Legislative Showmanship Contest- overall winner of the Robert Kerr Showmanship traveling trophy was Mike Jackson of Enid.  We talked with State Representative Don Armes- click here to read more about the Legislative event and to hear comments from Armes on the value of this event for both the Lawmakers as well as the OYE.

AND- we are actively taking pictures again at the 2013 OYE- click here to go and take a look at the almost 300 pcitures posted on far on our FLICKR photo set for the 2013 OYE.

Farmer Co-ops, Ag Groups Celebrate National Ag Day 

The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives joined farmers and other agricultural associations across the country in celebrating the importance of American agriculture during the 40th National Agriculture Day yesterday.

"National Ag Day gives us an amazing opportunity to showcase agriculture and share the true success story that we see as we look out across rural America today," said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of NCFC. "Agriculture continues to be a bright spot in the U.S. economy and farmer-owned cooperatives are at the core of that success." (Click here for more from NCFC on National Ag Day.)

The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) organizes Ag Day and announced the 2013 National Ag Day written essay and video essay contest winners, Whitney Bowman and Lebo Molefe, respectively.

ACA called upon ninth- to 12th-grade students nationwide to submit an original written essay of 450 words or an original, two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture in the U.S. Using this year's theme, "American Agriculture: Nourishing Opportunities" students addressed how the agriculture industry continues to feed a growing population while acknowledging the many ways today's farmers continue to provide a safe, stable food supply and sustain the significant role agriculture plays in everyday life. (You can read more on the ACA's contest and find a link to the video winner by clicking here.)

American Heart Association Certifies Three More Beef Cuts as 'Heart-Healthy'

The Beef Checkoff Program announced today that three additional fresh beef cuts now are certified to display the American Heart Association's Heart-Check mark. With that, retailers have the opportunity to market a total of six different extra-lean beef items to shoppers using one of the most trusted nutrition icons on food packaging today.

The extra-lean beef cuts that meet the American Heart Association's criteria for heart-healthy foods as part of an overall healthy dietary pattern, and are certified to display the Heart-Check mark include the following USDA Select grade cuts:  Sirloin Tip Steak, Bottom Round Steak, Top Sirloin Stir-Fry, Boneless Top Sirloin Petite Roast, Top Sirloin Filet, Top Sirloin Kabob.

"Having the American Heart Association certify three additional extra-lean beef cuts is yet another important milestone in the beef checkoff's efforts to help consumers understand the positive health and nutritional benefits of beef," says Jeanne Harland, beef producer from Illinois and chairman of the checkoff's Nutrition and Health Subcommittee.

Click here to read more. 

On the Hot Seat: Tyler Norvell Defends OYE Funding

Appearing on "The Hot Seat" segment on News 9, Tyler Norvell, the executive director of the Oklahoma Youth Expo spoke with host Scott Mitchell about the benefits of the OYE to Oklahoma.

"The Oklahoma Youth Expo is the world's largest junior livestock program. We will have 13,000 head of livestock from all of Oklahoma's 77 counties come to Oklahoma City over the next ten days to be exhibited by more than 6,000 young people. What we do is promote rural economic development and rural community development."

He said there are specific benefits to the taxpayers of helping fund the OYE

"We're benefitting our rural communities, No. 1. Number 2 is education. The young people have the opportunity to win scholarships through our program and through the academics in our program. And those scholarships can only be spent at Oklahoma universities and colleges. So, our program is also an investment in human capital. When you talk to the sponsors who put private dollars into our program they say, 'We support the Oklahoma Youth Expo because you promote education and kids, but also the kids that go through your program stay back home and are the employees we want to hire.'"

Click here to watch "The Hot Seat" segment, or to read more of this story. 

Enhancing Profitability of the Cow-Calf Operation Through Preconditioning

Gant Mourer, Oklahoma State University Beef Value Enhancement Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf Newsletter:

Drought in Oklahoma and the rest of the southern plains the last two years has made management decisions for cattle producers challenging to say the least. Decisions that are effected by lack of standing forage, high feed prices, the absence suitable drinking water and thankfully, for the most part, high cattle prices. Producers have mixed feeling about weaning and precondition practices in times of drought. Some believe input costs restrict profitability and they can market a calf directly off the cow without risk. While others will not market an animal till they know it is straight no matter what the cost. Whatever the thought, the question remains the same... are weaning and preconditioning programs still profitable? The answer is yes, if done right.

Pre-weaning health and nutrition of calves have significant impact. Virtually all early life disease protection comes from passive immunity of immunoglobulin in colostrum and lack of passive immunity to a calf makes it three times more likely it will be treated for BVD in a feedlot. Unfortunately, calf blood immunoglobulin concentration immediately following birth is decreased when the dam is in negative energy balance and lower body condition, like she may be in drought (Odde, et al., 1986). This is a reflection of the substantial increase in morbidity and mortality we have seen this winter in feedlots and grower yards. Many producers brand calves at two or three months of age. This may also present opportunity to vaccinate calves at "branding" and help increase protection from respiratory disease within the cow herd.

You can read more by clicking here.

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OSU Extension Beef Economist Derrell Peel Weighs in on M-COOL

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service released its revised rule regarding COOL March 8. This action is in response to the World Trade Organization's ruling last year that COOL violated U.S. obligations under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. The WTO set May 23, 2013 as the date by which the United States needed to come into compliance with the ruling or Canada and Mexico would be allowed to retaliate. According to the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, the major change is how product is supposed to be labeled. 

Predictably, the Texas Cattle Feeders and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association are totally against the proposed revised COOL rule.

Also predictably, the National Farmers Union and R-Calf USA believe it compares to being even better than sliced bread.

On the latest Beef Buzz, we talk with OSU Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel about the revised rule USDA is hoping to fast track through the process. 

Click here to listen and to read the labeling standards contained in the new rule.

Significantly Lower Cattle Numbers Now Becoming Reality as March Cattle on Feed Report Nears

The March 2013 Cattle on Feed Report will be out this Friday- 2 PM central time after the close of the futures markets for the week. Rich Nelson with Allendale provides us with their predictions of what the report may show- and if Allendale is right- substantially lower cattle numbers are the new normal as spring arrives.

According to Allendale, "February Placements are expected to be 13.4% lower than last year. Feedlot margins remain negative. Cash cattle prices averaged about the same in February as in January ($125). Concern over exports to Russia and China deterred placements. Cattle placed in February will be marketed from July through October.
 

"Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 7.5% lower than February of 2012. This is made after a 4.8% decrease due to a calendar adjustment, one less weekday in 2013 vs. 2012, for this month.
 

"Total Cattle on Feed as of March 1 will be 7.1% lower than last year. This is smaller than the February 1 survey which showed 6.2% fewer cattle. Months of lower placements, and tightening feedlot numbers, are now translating into lower slaughter levels."