My name is Shad Schoenfeld with Schoenfeld Livestock in Fort Stockton, 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 Piney Woods of East Texas to the rocky ranges of the Trans-Pecos, and from the Panhandle down to the Rio Grande Valley. Here's today's top stories. Nominations are now being taken for the 2027 Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year contest. I'm Tom Nicoletti and I'll have the full details straight ahead on Texas Ag today. The Trump administration has teased an announcement they say will affect the prices of certain proteins. I'm Jessica Dommel, and that story is coming up on Texas Ag Today. As the new season gets underway, what sort of pests are Texas High Plains corn farmers likely to face? I'm James Hunt, and we'll talk about that on Texas Ag Today. Now, here's the host of Texas Ag Today, Carrie 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. Cotton prices have seen quite a rally over the last month or so, going from the low 60 cent level to well over 80 cents. Texas A&M cotton marketing specialist John Robinson says it's hard to put your finger on exactly what is fueling this rally. But he does see a change in how the big funds are looking at the cotton market right now. There's been a big short position held by short speculators going back two years, and that's unwinding. We can see that Friday by Friday. The short hedge fund managers have been covering their positions and the long hedge fund managers have been building a long position. It's flipping from short to long. That's been happening depending on which speculator report you look at. It's either been going on for a couple of weeks or we're poised for it to happen now. That alone would be positive for prices, just the buyback of that short position. But it's hard to know exactly why those fund managers are doing that. I don't know what's in the minds of those fund managers that would make them do that unless for some reason they're bearish on the crop itself, the new crop situation. For some reason, they think we're going to either have less acreage or more abandonment or lower production. I'm not sure what's on their minds, but they're bailing out of their short bets. Texas A&M's John Robinson. State and national animal health officials are investigating a case of pseudorabies virus reportedly linked to a hog facility here in Texas. According to USDA, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently detected antibodies for pseudorabies virus in a small commercial swine facility in Iowa. Initial traceback of that herd indicates that the five affected boars came from an outdoor facility in Texas where other animals from the herd have also reportedly tested positive. This is the first known case of PRV in a commercial herd since 2004 when it was eradicated. PRV is still prevalent in the feral swine population and there are occasional spillover cases. APHIS is working with officials in Iowa and Texas to expand traceback efforts and identify any potential exposures to the virus. For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm Jessica Domewold. We're looking for good farm dogs. Tom Nicoletti has more. Farmers and ranchers can now submit nominations for the 2027 Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year contest, which comes with cash prizes and bragging rights. This is the ninth year of the contest, supported by Nestle Purina Pet Care, which celebrates farm dogs in the many ways they support farmers and ranchers. The contest is sponsored by the American Farm Bureau Federation. The grand prize winner as the Farm Bureau Farm Dog of the Year will win a year's worth of Purina ProPlan dog food and $5,000 in prize money. The winner will be recognized at a Farm Dog of the Year award ceremony at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in January 2027. AFBF President Zippy Duvall said, quote, Farm dogs are often important partners in our daily work, as well as wonderful companions for farm families. Duval concluded, rounding up livestock, chasing off predators, opening gates, fetching or carrying tools, buckets, and greeting visitors are among the many tasks performed by farm dogs. Scientific research from a collaboration between Mayo Clinic and Purina reveals that interacting with pets can provide health benefits. Farm dog owners must be Farm Bureau members to enter their dogs in the competition. Eligibility guidelines and submission requirements are available on American Farm Bureau Federation's website at www.fb.org. Farm Dog of the Year nominations, which include written responses to questions, at least one still photo, and an optional video clip, must be received by July 11 2026 for consideration I Tom Nicoletti with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network The Department of Justice is investigating major beef processors Jessica Domo reports The U.S. Department of Justice gave an update on its investigation into potential antitrust violations in U.S. cattle and beef markets Monday. Here's Todd Blanche, acting U.S. Attorney General. The department has been actively investigating with a review of over three million documents, Hundreds of industry participants, including ranchers, producers and processors, have been contacted and many interviewed as part of this ongoing investigation. More broadly, the department has also executed on the president's executive order to stop anti-competitive behavior in the broader food supply market. Later this week, we will be announcing an historic settlement that will directly affect the prices of proteins like chicken, pork and turkey. Lynch said there is more work to do and the DOJ could use some help. If you have information about antitrust crimes, about price fixing, bid rigging, market allocation, or even procurement fraud, the Department of Justice wants to hear from you. Through our Whistleblower Rewards Program, which we do in partnership with the United States Postal Inspection Service, you can be financially rewarded for coming forward with information about this behavior. If the information you provide helps us secure a criminal penalty in excess of $1 million, you can be entitled to recover and receive 15 to 30 percent of the money that we recover. Whether you're a farmer, a purchaser, a processor, you can help protect food security in America by reporting these types of violations and potentially criminal conduct. We will use every law enforcement tool available to help reduce food prices and vigorously enforce the antitrust laws to ensure every aspect of the agricultural industry competes on a fair playing field. We'll have more on that announcement he teased after it's made. For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm Jessica Duhlmull. Corn leafhoppers may not be much of a threat this year to Texas High Plains corn growers. But James Hunt says there are other pests that producers should be on the lookout for. The populations of corn leafhoppers downstate remain relatively small, so farmers in the Texas High Plains can probably relax about that pest for right now, although paying attention for updates is still warranted. When it comes to pests that are likely to be a problem this season, Texas A&M AgriLife entomologist Tyler Gilreath says is very likely pesticide applications will be required for spider mites. They're not quite there yet, but I'm very, very concerned about with how dry and hot it's been. I would expect a very big spider mite year that tends to favor that sort of development for that insect. They love to be hot and dry. I would expect to see quite a few applications go out this year. A lot of them are going to go out with those prophylactic applications, trying to stay ahead of them, because we all know that the populations build quickly and sometimes we can't get across all of our acres quick enough. Be on the lookout for those guys. I expect to see them coming up pretty hard. The other one to kind of be aware of, I've heard reports down south, kind of in the winter gardens, some corn leaf aphids have kind of blown up down there. It can be a typical pest for us. We can see it every now and then. I wouldn't say they're usually economical. Kind of depending on your situation, you may or may not see those situations kind of arise. Just keep it in mind. as we go through the season that you'll keep an open eye out for potential aphids to kind of pop up in our corn we do tend to kind of favor more of those dry stress conditions aphids love to get on plants like that so just a kind of couple pests to keep in mind of course nothing really new for the panhandle anyways but just some kind of things to keep in our mind that's tyler gillreath agri-life entomologist for the texas high plains i'm james hunt on the texas farm bureau radio Network. Coming up next... Farmers on the southern plains of West Texas are in the pre-planting stages for spring planting of their crops, but they are in desperate need of rainfall. I'm Tom Nicoletti and we'll go to the region for an update on Texas Ag Today. And what percentage of beef cows need help calving? These stories plus a look at the markets are straight ahead on Texas Ag Today. Texas is full of great young farmers and ranchers, and we're looking for the very best. I'm Roger Hall with the Texas Farm Bureau, inviting young farmers and ranchers between the ages of 18 and 35 to enter the Outstanding Young Farmer and Rancher Contest. If you make more than half your income from production agriculture, this contest is for you. And the prizes are big. You could win a $60,000 voucher to be used with any of our member benefits partners, Ford, Case IH, Caterpillar, and Grasshopper Mowers. Go to TexasFarmBureau.org for more information. The deadline to enter is May 15th. Broadcasting from a padded room in the basement of the Texas Farm Bureau World Headquarters, here's kerry martin with more texas ag today farmers on the south plains of west texas are getting ready to plant but they need some rain tom nicoletti goes to lubbock for an update now on the southern plains of west texas is where we go next and eddie griffiths is there to give us the latest report on the pre-planting stages for farmers up there where they're needing rain before the planting starts, right, Eddie? That is correct, Tom. It's the same old song and dance here. We're in desperate need of some moisture. There have been crops planted. I saw some sorghum coming up but it was on drip irrigation But you know if it a dry land farm they going to have a tough time trying to get anything up right now because probably the first five six inches of that is pretty much dry So a lot of guys have their planters hooked up greased and ready to go They're just waiting for a rainfall for the majority. There are those that are, they've got a lot of acres to cover. They're going ahead and getting started so they can get across it, whether that be dry planting or trying to get irrigated pivots or drip irrigation. This would be for corn, green sorghum, and cotton planting more or less in that order. And so May is certainly going to be a busy time for those farmers as planters. There'll be crisscrossing fields to get those crops in the ground. The opportunity to get in there and try to get something established in the germination state is pretty minimal right now. If we get some moisture, you're going to see guys getting out there in a hurry to try to take advantage of what little moisture there is in that upper profile of the soil. We definitely need more than one shot of moisture to try to build that profile up. We generally try to look towards some of the winter and then going into spring, build that top layer of the profile up with moisture and ensure we get good establishment and germination there. But this year, it's probably going to be hit and miss, even with a shower and moisture, trying to get that seed in the ground. You hope that you can get it in there and get something established before the wind sucks all the moisture out of the ground. wind and heat, that's the worst thing that you could get on it. How are the cattle doing on the pastures right now? A lot of feed going out to cattle on pasture, especially on the grassland. See lots of brown bells moving up and down the road. You know, every time you go to the feed store, it seems like out of something. So there's a lot of feed going out trying to keep cattle going until we get that next rain. And the rangeland in this area is pretty dry. We've had a couple of small showers and you'll see it try to start springing out, but that last for just a few days and you're back down to dry forage if you have any forage at all. Eddie, thanks for your report from that region. Thank you, Tom. That's Eddie Griffiths. He's reporting for us today from Lubbock. What percentage of beef cows need help calving? Dr. Bob Judd has an answer. We're in the middle to the end of the spring calving season for beef cattle and hopefully all of your cattle calved without any difficulty. However, it's likely that Most folks in the cow-calf business will have some cases of difficulty calving called dystocia. The veterinarians from Kansas State indicated at drovers.com that 10 to 20 percent of the calvings may require some assistance. And this is usually due to the size of the fetus compared to the size of the cow's pelvis. Expected progeny differences, or EPD, can be used to determine the likelihood of a cow calving without assistance. as one of the traits tested for is calving ease and you can select bulls with EPDs with a low birth weight of their calves. Also, pelvic measurements can be made with a pelvic meter and compared to established ranges that indicate if a heifer is likely large enough to calve without assistance. The other factor contributing to calving difficulty is a mild presentation, such as the head is turned back or the calf is breached. The fetus normally presents with the front two feet and the head at the birth canal, but this does not always occur. Dr. Todd Gunderson from Kansas State indicates some believe the bull can have some effect on the presentation of the fetus, but this has not been scientifically proven. I think most of the time, malpresentations are just going to happen from time to time, as it happens in other animals and even humans. I have experienced herds in which a higher number of cows may have a backward presentation, so there could be a genetic reason for this, but it does not seem to happen every year. Certainly, if you're calving out heifers, you're going to have more calving problems than mature cows. But I have found waiting until 18 months of age to breed your heifers decreases calving issues. I'm veterinarian Dr. Bob Judd. You are listening to the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. We'll check the markets coming up next on Texas Ag Today. Your picks could be worth cash. Hi, I'm Emmy Powell with the Texas Farm Bureau, inviting you to enter the 2026 Texas Farm Bureau Photo Contest. Share your best pictures with the entire Lone Star State. First place wins $250, second place wins $200, and two honorable mentions will win $100 each. Role settings and role lifestyles are the preferred themes for all submissions, and contestants are limited to one entry per person. The winners will be published in the July edition of the Texas Agriculture publication and the summer edition of the digital magazine Texas Neighbors. For contest rules, go to texasfarmbureau.org slash photo dash contest. The entry deadline is June 1st. here's the latest market information on texas ag today howdy neighbors i'm larry marble with the livestock auction market report on texas ag today we are on the line with kenny mingus from milam county livestock auction cameron kenny uh how was the sale Friday. You know, I thought we got along good, Larry. You know, for the rain, it rained all day Friday. It drizzled around all day Thursday. We had $9.92. Out of that mix, we had 235 cows, 40 bulls, and 81 buyers. Walk the pins with me. With the steers under $300, $640 to $770. Three to 400 pound steers, $498 to $7. Four to 500 pound steers, $419 to $585. and over $500, $3 to $535. On the heifers under $300, $530 to $750. Three to 400 pound heifers, to Four to 500 pound heifers to and over to Packer cows about steady again to 188 Packer bulls 150 to 235 Might be a record there Larry Yeah. On the bred cows, 1550 to 3850. And on the pairs, 2600 to 6300. And what was the count? 992. What do you anticipate this Friday being? I think I've got a cow deal for next week. Some good young cows that a man's going to send. But right now, as far as this week, I think it'll be slow. It's kind of getting into shipping season around here. They're starting to pull some of these cattle off these oak fields. We could be slow here for a little while, but we'll be here every Friday. Tell everybody how to get a hold of you, Kenny Mingus. Catch us at the office at 254-697-6697. Follow us on our webpage at monocountylivestockauction.com or catch us on Facebook. 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. Cattle futures bounced back. After a couple of days of trading lower, we finish higher on both live and feeder cattle. June live cattle up $1.47, closing at $2.53.22. The August up $2.17, $2.48.35. Feeder cattle sharply higher. May feeders up $5.22, closing at $3.71.82. The August up $5.70, closing at $3.72.30. Cash-fed cattle market mostly quiet. However, we did see a few Texas cattle sell at $2.55 here early in the week. That's steady money with last week and steady with that all-time record high price there at $2.55. Outside of that, though, no bids are asking prices to report so far this week. Boxed beef prices higher with Choice back at a discount to Select. Choice was up $1.86, $3.93.42. Select up $3.91 at $3.94.51. Lean hogs closed higher. June hogs up $1.67, $1.01.42. June Class III milk up 12 cents, 1733 100 weights. Corn finished the day lower. July corn down 5.75 at $4.80 a bushel. September corn down 5, $4.85.5. Wheat finishing lower with July Kansas City wheat down 4.5 at 6.90 a bushel. Soft wheat Chicago, July contract down 13.25, 6.27.75. The bull market in cotton continues with July cotton up 188 points, 84.80. New crop December cotton up 159, closing at 85.27 cents. In the energy markets, June natural gas down 7 at 278. June West Texas crude down 406, 102.36 a barrel. The financial markets higher with the Dow up 356 points, 49,298. The Nasdaq up 258 at 25,326, while the S&P is up 58, 7,259. Now with a closer look at the energy and financial markets, here's economist Tim Snyder with Matador Economics in Dallas. Today's headlines are grabbing attention in a big way. There are reports that Iran has fired on vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, and yesterday they launched missiles and drones at a refinery in the UAE. Under normal circumstances, that kind of escalation would send energy prices sharply higher, but today we're seeing the opposite. Prices are actually moving lower even as tensions rise and the U.S. appears to be inching closer to a potential military response. Patience, it seems, is wearing thin. In a related development, India is now stepping into the conversation after an Iranian strike hit a refinery in Fujairah, about 94 miles south of the Strait of Hormuz, along the Gulf of Oman. The attack reportedly injured three Indian citizens and several workers while causing significant damage. India has called the strikes unacceptable, urging all sides to return to dialogue and diplomacy. Meanwhile, back here at home, fuel prices continue to climb. Diesel is up nearly 29 cents per gallon nationally, with gasoline prices almost 33 cents higher week over week. On the macro front, the latest job openings and labor turnover survey showed 6.866 million job openings, well above expectations. And in housing, new home sales came in stronger than forecast at 682,000 units, though the average price did dip to $387,000 per unit. Turning to interest rates, uncertainty is surrounding the Federal Reserve and how long Jerome Powell remains in place is creating friction in the markets. If Kevin Warsh steps in as expected, the transition could act as a bit of a sea anchor early on. And as always, markets crave stability. And right now, we're simply not there. Rates continue to climb as investors price in that risk. On Wall Street, however, the tone is more upbeat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P, and the NASDAQ composite are all trending higher with metals following suit. And in a bit of a twist, energy prices are moving lower across the board. WTI crude oil is down more than $5 a barrel with Brent sliding as well. gasoline and diesel futures are also sharply lower. But remember, it's not how prices look in the middle of the day. It's how they finish that really counts. For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm economist Tim Snyder. That wraps up our look at the markets and that wraps up this episode of Texas Ag Today. I'm Kerry 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 podcasts. 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. you
