Perspectives Podcast - Oklahoma Farm Report

Rabobank’s senior beef analyst, Lance Zimmerman, talked in depth with Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays about the Global and Domestic beef and beef cattle marketplace- they covered topics like current price outlook, heifer retention, consumers and their current love affair with the high quality beef that is being produced by the US Cattle Producer and more.

Listen to their full interview by clicking on the link above.

The post On Our Latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- Lance Zimmerman with Rabobank Talks Global and US Beef and Beef Cattle Outlook first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

The LMA Convention & WLAC is happening in Oklahoma June 12-15, 2024! The convention will be held in Oklahoma City at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel, and the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship will be held at Oklahoma National Stockyards. As the trade group that represents the livestock market companies in the US- LMA advocates for the livestock marketing industry and provides a voice on state and federal legislative and regulatory issues. We represent over 80 percent of all viable, regular-selling (minimum 1 sale per week) livestock markets in the United States.

Chelsea Good is Vice President of LMA- and ahead of the start of meetings the next couple of days- she sat down with Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays to talk about some of the issues important to the group and their membership.

The post On Our Latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- Ron Hays talks with Chelsea Good of Livestock Market Association in OKC Ahead of Their 2024 Meeting first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

Cattlemen’s Conference is a type conference based around building and crafting the right kind of cattle.

35 years ago, cattle industry leaders came together and held the Blue Print for the Right Kind of Cattle Conference, focused on building cattle that fit the industry at that given time. Today, the industry has evolved and therefore, our cattle need to do the same.

Together, Cattlemen’s Congress, Oklahoma State University and the Noble Research Institute have partnered together to bring you the Cattlemen’s Conference.

This Year’s Focus:
Gene Editing
Breeding Systems & Heterosis Relative to Marketing Endpoint
Regenerative Ranching & Sustainability

Learn more and register by clicking here.

The post On Our Latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- Dr. Mark Johnson Reviews the 2023 Cattlemen’s Conference- and Previews the 2024 Edition first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

Senior Farm and Ranch Farm Broadcaster Ron Hays talks about a variety of issues- including the inclusion of his CIFUS language in the MiniBus Appropriations package, the SEC deciding not to force farmers and ranchers to report greenhouse gas emissions on an individual farm/ranch operation, the prospects of getting a Farm Bill in 2024, his priorities as Chair of the Science Committee(think weather and AI) and even a word on the wildfires near his Roger Mills County home.

The post On Our Latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- Congressman Frank Lucas Talks with Ron Hays About CFIUS, SEC Scope 3, Farm Bill and More first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

USDA has released a finalized rule on another aspect of fairness to livestock producers under the umbrella of the Packers and Stockyards Act- Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talks with Ethan Lane of NCBA on this latest rule from the Biden Administration- and what may still be coming under what we have called the GIPSA rules in previous years.

Lane is not concerned about the majority of the language in this just released rule- but is very concerned about what might still be coming from the Biden White House and the Tom Vilsack USDA.

Hays and Lane also talk about Super Tuesday, the Appropriations process and what is in the latest FY 2024 Ag and FDA portion of the bill that matters to the cattle industry. They also talk about the “what ifs” that need to happen in order to get a Farm Bill back on track to get completed here before the November general elections.

Click on the listen bar above to listen to Ron Hays and Ethan Lane cover these issues in their Tuesday, March 5, 2024 conversation.

The post On Our Latest Ag Perspectives Podcast- Ethan Lane Talks Packers & Stockyards Rule and More with Ron Hays first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talked a week ahead of the 30th Annual Spring Bull Sale of Express Ranches with Kevin Hafner, the Vice President for Operations for the ranch.

The sale is Friday, March 1, 2024 at 12 noon at the ranch in Yukon, Oklahoma. Details are available on their website, ExpressRanches.Com. They have the sale book, a bull sorter for their Angus bulls and sale videos all online.

The post Ag Perspectives Podcast- Ron Hays Talks With Kevin Hafner of Express Ranches Ahead of Their 30th Spring Bull Sale first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

After two weeks of the general legislative session in Oklahoma, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, caught up with Oklahoma Farm Bureau Vice President of Public Policy, Steve Thompson to talk about the latest policy impacting producers in the state of Oklahoma.

As there has been some movement on particular bills in the 2024 state legislative session, and Thompson said he feels that this year’s pace is historically fast.

“Everybody is truly scrambling to make sure there is not something that anyone has missed or that your bases are covered,” Thompson said.

The number one issue right now, Thompson said, has to do with water.

“We have had probably four or five predominant bills kind of geared at western Oklahoma,” Thompson said. “We have lived through multiple years of drought. We were reading today about the drought map and how good it looks relative to where we have been, and one of the reasons we noticed that is because of what we are used to, unfortunately, for the last few years.”

There are a few more water-related issues impacting the rest of the state, but Thompson said the predominant bill concerns western and southwest Oklahoma. Thompson said this bill is aimed at the Upper Red River Basin.

Thompson said this bill would completely rewrite the way Oklahoma water law works.

“It has some dangerous implications as written that would take away some groundwater rights, particularly in the northern end of that basin, and comingle some of that with surface water rights, which we handle totally differently,” Thompson said.

There are many other ideas that are being explored in several bills involving water in Oklahoma concerning issues such as water metering, measurement, and trying to gauge how much water is being used in permitted wells, irrigation, and more.

Thompson said with permitted water, it is currently somewhat of an honor system with no verification of how much water is actually being used. There is also discussion about water wells that are not metered but should be.

When it comes to measuring how much water is being used, Thompson said producers he has had the chance to speak with are open to the idea, but more concerned with how much this technology will cost.

“Make no mistake, these are significant potential policy changes in Oklahoma,” Thompson said.

Hays and Thompson also talked about Eastern Oklahoma water issues- especially as it relates to the poultry industry. Thompson also offered an updated on the 13 year old court case that has recently been ruled in favor of the state of Oklahoma versus several poultry companies, legislation to help implement the efforts of the legislature last year to allow younger drivers to get limited licenses for driving to and from town legally and more.

Click on the link above to listen to their full conversation.

The post On This Ag Perspectives Podcast- Ron Hays Gets a Legislative Update from Steve Thompson first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

Michael Kelsey of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association feels good about policy that was hammered out this past week at CattleCon 2024 in Orlando, Florida. He told Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays that at the top of the list for policy issues that Oklahoma producers were watching was language on traceability.

“This has been the lightning rod issue of the last few weeks, there’s no question about that, and appropriately so. It’s very important that we get this right.” Kelsey describes the NCBA policy development process saying that NCBA has policy on Animal Disease Traceback for twenty years. He adds that one proposed policy that cattle producers had in front of them at the Committee level in Orlando went farther than what was eventually hammered out- and would have required electronic ID tags for all breeding cattle by the end of this year- and for feeder and stocker cattle under 18 months of age by 2026. That was a proposal was scaled back by delegates which is not unusual in previous debates that the organization has had for a variety of policy discussions.

Kelsey goes on to say “the final results is a really good piece of policy in our opinion- it matches OCA policy very well- it takes out all of the feeder cattle- we are not going to talk about feeder and yearling cattle right now under this policy. We are going to target on the 18 month and older cattle, sexually intact so that takes out steers from the policy…moving those cattle to electronic ID. “

This was a policy proposal that cleared the Friday Board of Director’s meeting and lines up with what USDA is working to put into place this year.

Kelsey is convinced that electronic ID is coming and it’s important for the industry to drive the decisions and direction of this coming down the road- and not let government or groups unfriendly to the industry to seize control of this traceability conversations.

Hays and Kelsey also talked about the fears of not getting an extension on the current deduction levels for Federal Estate taxes.

And- they talked about the state legislative session kicking off on February fifth.

Click on the listen bar above to listen to Hays and Michael Kelsey.

Below is a PDF of policy worked on at the NCBA Board meeting on Friday, February 2, 2024

The post At CattleCon 2024- Ron Hays Talks Policy With Executive VP Michael Kelsey of the OCA first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

Click here for the full report from USDA- as released on January 31, 2024

Our coverage from CattleCon is a service of Farm Data Services of Stillwater, Oklahoma

The post At CattleCon 2024- Ron Hays Talks Cattle Inventory with Derrell Peel first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.

The post At CattleCon- Ron Hays Talks with NCBA’s Ethan Lane first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.