*Bell County farmers and ranchers had a roller coaster ride of a year.
*The new Congress will be seated in Washington D.C. this week.
*Cotton prices took a nosedive in 2024.
*When should you call your veterinarian about problems in your sheep and goat herd?
*EPA is proposing a rule that would limit the use of chlorpyrifos.
*Geopolitics are having a big effect on U.S. agriculture.
*USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced a new federal directive on testing raw milk for avian influenza.
*Young dairy calves should have access to heated water.
Hi, I'm Jackie Gleetz with J&H Farms in Waller, Texas. You're listening to the latest news in Texas, agriculture on Texas Ag Today. This is Texas Ag Today, the number one source for the latest news in Texas agriculture. The largest and most experienced farm news team in the Lone Star State covers it all. From the tiny woods of East Texas to the rocky ranges of the Transbakers, and from the panhandle down to the Rio Grande Valley. Here's today's top stories. We have a lot of people in the Texas High Plains who are new to the business of raising sheep and goats. If you're one of those who's just getting started, what are the signals for when it's time to call your veterinarian? I'm James Hunt, and we'll talk about that on Texas Ag Today. EPA is proposing a rule that would limit the use of "properifoss." I'm Jessica Dommel, and I'll have that story coming up on Texas Ag Today. Geopolitics, agricultural production, and U.S. food security all tie together when it comes to conflicts around the world. I'm Tom Nickelodeon, and I'll have more on Texas Ag Today. Now, here's the host of Texas Ag Today, Karen Martin. Hello, Texas! Why don't you jump on in with me and buckle up? We're going to take a ride around the Lone Star state as we cover the most important industry in this greatest state in the nation, Texas agriculture. Be sure to hold on tight, because it all starts right now. Bell County is located in Central Texas, and farmers and ranchers there experience some highs and some lows in 2024. Michael Moon is the owner of Brushie Creek Sires in Taylor. 2024 had its ups and downs as far as water, as far as drought, and then too much water, and the weather patterns were just not favorable. We had low corn yields, some people had good corn yields, depending on where you were at in the county. Some places got rain, some places didn't. I wasn't fortunate enough to be in the right place, but as far as our input costs went, really high. Interest rates went really high. It's been a problem for farmers and ranchers in our area, as a matter of fact, across the state. Moon says hey, production was not all that great in his area this year, but corn and Milo Stocks will help him get through the winter. The new Congress will be seated in Washington, D.C. this week. U.S. lawmakers will return to Washington, D.C. this week to kick off the next session of Congress. The 119th Congress officially begins Friday. According to U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate will swear in 12 new members Friday. The House is expected to swear in 66 new members, or of whom are from Texas. Voters in Texas elected Craig Goldman of Fort Worth to replace retiring Congresswoman Kay Granger. Sylvester Turner of Houston to succeed the late Sheila Jackson Lee, Brandon Gill of Flower Mound to replace retiring Congressman Michael Burgess, and Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch to replace Colin Allred who ran for the Senate in November. For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm Jessica Dommel. Cotton prices were great at the beginning of 2024, but by the time we got to the end of the year, the market was at an unprofitable level. Arlen Suderman is the chief commodity analyst for Stonax. From well over a dollar when there were concerns about tight supplies to drop them down to about the 66 cent level where it found some support overall. And one of the evolutions that we saw there that contributed to that was that China, one of our main customers of buying cotton, has been shifting more and more of its purchases to Brazil where they've been expanding production of cotton. And so like soybeans, we're losing some of our market share to China to Brazil as they increase production of the fiber. And so that's a concern. Arlen Suderman with Stonax. When should you call your veterinarian about problems in your sheep and goat herd? James Hunt has an answer. At the recent Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show, Michelle Buckley of the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine spent some time talking with people who are new to raising sheep and goats. One of the topics was how to identify sick animals, which Dr. Buckley told me is often pretty simple to do. I always told my clients if they look at you funny, I want to know about it. Especially when it comes to livestock, they're prey animals, so they're going to hide it until it's a real problem. So if someone's normally first one at the feed bunk and they're way behind everyone this morning, you better call your vet or at least be doing an assessment. Do they have a fever? Are they lame when they get up? Will they even get up? Do they look a little bloated? I think it's never too soon to call the vet personally because the earlier we know about it, the easier it is to avoid a train wreck. But if anything's out of whack, you know your animal's best. So if something in the back of your brain says this isn't right, dig into it. Now, as we head into lambing and kitting season, Dr. Michelle Buckley says one thing owners of sheep and goats need to be prepared for is dystosia. Dystosia is trouble delivering babies. Again, it's always better to call the vet sooner than later. My rule was if you see an animal actively pushing for 15 minutes and there's nothing happening, so you're not seeing any feet coming out or anything like that. There's no progression, then you need to call your vet and get them on the phone right away. For those of you out there who want to learn more about dystosia and related topics, the Texas Tech vet school and New Mexico wool growers are offering a three-hour course on lambing and kitting on January 11th in Amarillo. The registration deadline is January 3rd. To get more information about the event, you can search online with the words Texas Tech "Laming and Kidding" January 11th. I'm James Hunt on the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. The EPA is proposing a rule that would limit the use of chlorpyrifos. Jessica Dommel has the story. The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting comments on a proposed rule that would further limit the use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos. The rule would revoke all tolerances of chlorpyrifos except for those associated with the 11 food and feed crops that remain registered. Those 11 crops are alfalfa, apples, sugar beets, soybeans, strawberries, spring and winter wheat, asparagus, tart cherry, citrus, cotton and peaches. EPA says the action will support the agency's effort to cancel most uses of chlorpyrifos on food. The agency said at high levels, exposure to organophosphates like chlorpyrifos can result in neurological effects like trimmers, fatigue and nausea. The EPA also voiced concerns with its impact on pregnant women and children. In August of 2021, EPA revoked all food tolerances for the insecticide, saying it was in response to an April 2021 order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court ordered the agency to issue a final rule, addressing the use of chlorpyrifos in food or feed crops. In 2023, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated EPA's attempt to ban the insecticide, saying the agency's actions were arbitrary and capricious. They said EPA inappropriately rushed to meet a court deadline, and it could have implemented a partial ban like it is done with other chemicals. The court's action reinstated the chlorpyrifos tolerances, allowing farmers to use them once again. EPA says since the 8th Circuit's decision, they've worked with chlorpyrifos's registrants to further reduce pesticide exposures by limiting the registered uses on food to be consistent with the 11 uses, referenced by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, and outlined in the interim registration review decision. EPA notes the registration review process is ongoing. The agency plans to issue an amended proposed review decision in 2026. chlorpyrifos and organophosphate is the main ingredient in products like Loresban and Dursban. It's been in use in the U.S. since 1965 to help control a variety of pests on crops, as well as grass seed production in Texas. The pesticide is also used in greenhouses, on golf courses, and on non-structural wood treatments. For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm Jessica Dommel. Geopolitics are having a big effect on U.S. agriculture. Tom Nicoletti reports. My guest today is Dave Judae. He is founder and principal of the Judae Group, which is an analytical group for agriculture, and it looks at various issues within the agricultural industry and how they affect farmers and ranchers here in the U.S. and Dave, part of what you folks are addressing are simply the foundations of U.S. food security, that being networked in navigable waterways and a few others. Well, there's a lot of discussion now, obviously, since Russia's invasion of the Ukraine and the Middle East, the conflicts going on there, about the impact that geopolitics has on agriculture and trade. I think it's important to understand, come to a common agreement on what the definition of geopolitics is. It often uses just a shorthand for foreign policy, but I think it's broader and more nuanced, and it has its cornerstone in Western political thought going back to Aristotle, and it was a big issue during the British Empire, right? And it takes into consideration a country's land, its location, its geography, its climate, which factors into arable land, its culture, its location to the sea, as a framework that kind of puts structure to domestic politics and foreign policy. The battles in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine War continue as 2024 turns to 2025. It's kind of a mixed bag in the Red Sea attacks on ships, mostly coming from the hoodies, has not really impacted U.S. ag cargo much, and then we haven't seen any escalation on energy attacks as targets, right? It's probably been maybe less than what was originally feared. With Russia and the Ukraine, there have been some weird things ever since that war started. Both are big exporters. I think a lot of the news would get it wrong, and they would say Ukraine's one of the biggest producers in the world. Well, not really, it's equivalent to kind of Iowa, but they export a huge percent, and where they export it to is important. They are the world's largest sunflower oil exporter. Those markets have been affected. Wheat has been affected. Various corn on the margin early in the war. I think a big issue has been fertilizer and inputs that come out of that region, especially nitrogen products. So that is having some marginal effect. Ukraine, Russia war is going on three years. February of 2025 would be three years. On the nightly news and the cable television channels, you had experts swear up and down this thing is over in ten days at the longest, maybe seven. And you're right, we're now almost three years. That is Dave Judae, founder of the Judae Group. I'm Tom Nicoletti for the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. Coming up next... USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced a new federal directive on testing raw milk for avian influenza. I'm Chad Smith, and I'll have that story coming up on Texas Ag Today. And young dairy calves should have access to heated water. These stories plus a look at the markets are straight ahead on Texas Ag Today. Texas farmers and ranchers are tough and self-reliant, but occasionally all of us need a little help. Find the help you need by calling the Texas AgriStress Helpline. The number is 833-897-2474. That's 833-897-2474. Farmers and ranchers face a lot of challenges like drought, flooding, wildfires, low prices and more. It can cause anyone to feel overwhelmed. A friend who understands agriculture is ready to take your call at the Texas AgriStress Helpline. Call 833-897-2474. He always wanted to be a rodeo clown, but he had to settle for being a radio clown. Here's Gary Martin with more Texas Ag Today. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced a new federal directive on testing raw milk for avian influenza. Chad Smith has more. The new AFIS federal rules on testing raw milk are part of a larger strategy to help mitigate the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cattle, also protecting U.S. trade relations. Baron Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the goal is to get rid of H5 and 1 once and for all. This new order is essentially designed to complement the existing order by setting up a five-stage testing protocol and response system. Now, this is supposed to be completely up and running in about two months. They're going to be starting with states that have demonstrated proficiency in some of their testing programs. Nelson said the testing plan progresses from the local level to eventually reach regionalization. In Stage 1, we're standing up mandatory testing of national plants and silos. Stage 2 is determining a state's overall HPAI status in dairy cattle. Now, Stage 3 involves detecting and responding to the virus in an affected state. Stage 4 will be demonstrating the ongoing absence of avian influenza in dairy cattle. If negative samples continue to show up, AFIS will continually decrease the number of samples as time goes on, eventually leading to Stage 5, which is demonstrating a state's freedom from the disease. Nelson said the end goal is to completely eliminate the disease in dairy cattle. Now, in order to do this, we need to kind of implement these protocols on a regionalized basis to try and eliminate it heard by herd and then keep it out. So, another thing that's going on here is there are vaccines that are under development and that will likely be a part of these protocols as we move forward. From Washington, I'm Chad Smith for Texas Ag Today. Young dairy calves should have access to heated water. Dr. Bob Judd tells why. Dr. Al Kirch indicates in the dairy herd management publication that water plays a critical role in room and development. Some folks only feed milk replacer in the winter because water is difficult if you live in freezing temperatures. However, water should not be skipped in the winter as when pre-weaned calves have access to free-choice water, they will consume about four times their dry matter intake. Room and bacteria must live in water and without water, room and development is slowed and calves will eat less when they do not have enough water. Dr. Allison Fall from the University of Wisconsin indicated calves like warm water, especially in the wintertime. A study in Finland showed that pre-weaned calves drank 47% more water when it was warm to 63 degrees Fahrenheit compared to cold water at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Even after weaning, the calves still preferred warm water as cold water delivers a shock to the rumen, which is their first stomach compartment. Another study from South Dakota State found that when calves drank 45 degree Fahrenheit water, it took an hour for the rumen to warm back up. This requires energy, so feeding water at 100 degrees Fahrenheit keeps the rumen stable. A third daily water feeding, if milk replacer is only fed twice a day, can help increase starter gain intake and keeps calves warmer. Also, the air in the winter is usually drier and calves exhale more moisture into the colder, drier winter air than they inhale, which leads to losing body water with each breath compared to the spring and summer. In freezing conditions, it is recommended to take advantage of habit-driven calf behavior and feed water every day on a consistent basis. I'm veterinarian Dr. Bob Judd. This is the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. We'll check the markets coming up next on Texas Ag Today. Texas Farm Bureau is the voice of Texas Agriculture with over 554,000 member families and a Texas Farm Bureau membership can save you big bucks. Last year, members saved nearly $5 million, utilizing TFB member benefits. If you're not a member, join today. Check out our TFB membership provides value and impact at TexasFarm Bureau.org. That's TexasFarm Bureau.org. Here's the latest market information on Texas Ag Today. Cattle futures wrapped up the year on a positive note, we finished higher in both live and feeder cattle, February live cattle up $1.30, closing the year at $1.91.60, April up $1.25.194.27. Same thing on feeder cattle, January feeders up $1.40, $2.63.02, March feeders up $1.92 at $2.62.97, April feeder cattle up $2.27, closing it $2.63.55. Cash fed cattle market at a stand still, nothing to report, we do see asking prices coming from the feed lodge here in the southern plains at $1.95 and better this week. Boxed beef prices lower, choice down 51 cents, $3.24.86, select down 48 and $2.94.28. Now let's check the sale barns. We're walking the pens with Larry Marble. I'm on the line with Sean Geisweid, Gillespie livestock. Sean, early happy New Year's to you and your family. Our same to you Larry and we sure want to wish everybody a happy new year coming up here in days. Hope everybody has a wonderful new year. What are y'all doing there at the yard? Cleaning up and fixing a few things and they're broke and sometimes they'll take a while, you know, a couple of weeks to fix and we've got some people in there fixing some of that kind of stuff. So it's always good when we shut down and we can get some of that stuff up. Plus a year we'll have pretty much where we can do that. Sure look forward to getting some of that stuff fixed every year. What kind of conversations have you had with customers and buyers over the holidays about sheeping goats and cattle? Larry, it looks like you've had a few calls needing some sheeping goats if there's any around, so it looks like they're cleaning up and getting rid of what they've got. So I'm sure anticipating the first of the year they're sure going to need some stock. It looks like they, so I'm kind of run out and they're needing more. So that's always a good thing with demand ought to be good when we get back after the first. Good. Cattle wise also, I know beef demand continues to be good. Box beef continues to climb. Yes sir, I would anticipate a good market on the cattle end also after the first. Everybody jump in there and probably need to get some inventory. When will be your first special sales coming up? Well, we'll have the second Wednesday of January. It'll be a special cattle sale, stock or feeder sale and then same in February. The second week, Wednesday of each month, we'll have a special. Gulliver body, how to get a hold of you, Sean, guys. Why? You can reach us at 830-997-4394. All right, we'll talk to you the night before the regular sales crank up again. It'll work, Larry. Thank you, bye bye. Thank you. Neighbor, thanks for joining me. I'm Larry Marble. This is the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. Walk in the pants. We'll see you tomorrow. Good day. Back over to the futures market. We're lean hogs finish lower. February hogs down 32 cents, 81.30. January class 3 milk down 16 at 20-27, 100 weight. Not much happening in the cotton market. Prices just drifted lower on the last day of the trading year. March cotton down 8.6840. May down 10 at 69.49 cents. Corn and wheat, however, had a strong close. Spellover strength from soybeans helped corn to move higher. March corn up 6 1/4, 458 1/2. May corn up 5 3/4, 465 3/4. The wheat complex closed higher, both hard and soft wheat, making gains. March, Kansas City wheat up 3 1/2, 559 1/4. March Chicago wheat up 3 1/4, 551 1/2. In the energy markets, February natural gas down 28 cents at 365. February West Texas crude up 92, 71, 91 a barrel. The financial markets slightly lower the down 98 points, 42,475. The NASDAQ down 161 at 19,325. The S&P down 29, 5,877. That wraps up our look at the markets, and that wraps up this episode of Texas Ag Today. I'm Gary Martin. Hope to see you back here next time as we cover the most important industry in this greatest state in the U.S. of A. Texas agriculture. Thanks for joining us for Texas Ag Today. Be sure to follow the Texas Ag Today podcast found wherever you listen to podcast. For more Texas farm and ranch news, check out our website at Texasfarmbureau.org or TFBRadio.com. Texas Ag Today is a production of the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. [MUSIC]
