Texas Ag Today - September 11, 2026

0:00I'm Doug Anderson with Lucetto Ranch in Rogue Ranch City, 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 long-star state covers it all. From the tiny woods of East Texas to the rocky ranges of the Transpacus and from the Pamil down to the Rio Grande Valley. Here's today's top stories. Water challenges are bringing changes to area agriculture. I'm James Hunt and we'll talk about that on Texas Ag Today. South Texas County Farm Bureau helps feed Texas families. I'm Tom Nicoletti and I'll have more straight ahead on Texas Ag Today. USDA is using advanced technologies like drones and artificial intelligence to combat the spread of new world screwworm.

1:04I'm Jessica Domo and we'll have an update coming up 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. We keep hearing how hot and dry the summer has been for many areas of Texas but that's not the case everywhere. In parts of the hill country some ranchers like David Fisher of Sonora have had a great summer. We've had a phenomenal summer aside from the one week of flooding. We had 150 homes flood in our community which was sad day but when you get past that and start to rebuild and you look at the land, we got a lot of grass out here. I believe I've recorded 35 inches rains since the 1st of April.

2:04I can't complain about that and of course now August is set in and is kind of kicking our tail a little bit with this hot dry weather. Really all in all I think the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country isn't a really good place. You know forage wise and the animals look good and you know I like to like to use the term everything is fat and happier right now so I don't have to worry about them too much. And so David Fisher of Sonora he's currently serving as chairman of the American Lamb Board. For the second year in a row Texas Doug Conners will see a shortened early teal season. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a May 2026 survey indicated there are around 3.96 million blue wing teal. That is 11% below last year and below the numbers required for Texas to have a special 16 day early season. Because of that this year's special teal hunting season in Texas will span 9 days from September 19th through the 27th. DPWD forecasts a below average teal hunting season overall however specialist say a few good rains and a well timed weather system in late September could put a lot of birds over Texas that they say could improve Hunter's chances.

3:14For the Texas Farm Bureau radio network I'm Jessica Domo. Over the past several weeks President Trump has made numerous announcements regarding beef. Some well received by ranchers others not so much beef industry lobbyist and consultant Chandler keys says that in his time working in public policy in Washington. He's never seen a president and his senior advisor so focused on the beef industry. I guess the closest that would have come would have been during BSE when George W Bush was involved in trying to get the markets back open and he was very involved but that was on a that was on its trajectory that everybody wanted to get back in our export. Market during the BSE crisis certainly a lot of involvement there but this is sort of unprecedented in my years. The most recent announcement was the administration has directed USDA to reduce barriers to ranchers processing and selling their own meat into support small and regional processors. Water challenges are bringing changes to agriculture on the Texas high planes James Hunt reports from the panhandle.

4:21With more than 30 years as a Texas high planes agronomist Russell French has certainly witnessed a few changes in our region's agriculture but these days French is seeing producers make some rather significant moves in response to our diminishing groundwater supplies. You see a lot more acres being planted to grass or especially grasses like stockmaster and things like that for grazing. You know they're putting pivots to that so they can irrigate and raise forage for their cattle operations. So I'm seeing an increase in those acres also. So definitely the trend is less corn and more forage crops, cotton, grain sorghum, wheat that's just going to be the future. Okay so you're seeing more people now saying we're going to get into livestock instead of continuing with road crop farming. Yes they're diversifying and doing that you know I mean it's not everybody wants to be in the cattle business but those that have been in it a little bit are expanding their operations, expanding their herds and right now that's a smart thing to do. Sometime in the future it may swing back the other way but right now that's the direction a lot of people are going you know more forage crops and getting into the livestock in.

5:29Anything that you see in the way of challenges for people who are making that move? Well you know the cattle business has its challenges you know for labor and you know you have to take care of them but people are aware of that if they make that move into it. So I think only the people that know what they're doing are going to get into it. People that haven't done cattle for their whole farming career they just basically been farming. You may not see them doing it but they may start raising forages for their neighbors that do do that you know if it makes more sense to do that. Russell French owns French agronomics in Amarillo. I'm James Hunt on the Texas Farm Bureau radio network. Farmers are feeding families in South Texas. Tom Nicoletti tells how. For a Dimmitt County Farm Bureau supporting its community goes beyond advocating for agriculture. It also means helping put locally grown food on the tables of families in need. Through Texas Farm Bureau's Farmers Feeding Families Program, Dimmitt County Farm Bureau has helped provide about $50,000 worth of cantaloupes to food banks across Texas this year.

6:34The effort builds on a decades long partnership with the South Texas Food Bank in Laredo. During the cantaloup season, Dixondale Farms donates smaller food that may not meet the size preferences of grocery store chains but is still high quality, great aid produce. The Food Bank covers the cost of packaging and freight while Dixondale Farms and Dimmitt County Farm Bureau provides the cantaloupes. Bruce Frazier, Dimmitt County Farm Bureau Vice President and Dixondale Farms President says we partner with them every year. The cantaloupes are distributed through food pantries across South Texas and to food banks in other parts of the state including Amarillo and Odessa. The South Texas Food Bank serves communities from Del Rio to Laredo and throughout the Winter Garden region. Food banks typically pick up the cantaloupes once a week during the growing season, helping fresh produce reach families throughout the season rather than through a one-time donation.

7:36Frazier says providing fresh fruits and vegetables is especially important when addressing food insecurity. The smaller cantaloupes can also help food banks stretch their resources and provide more fruit to families. I'm Tom Nicoletti for the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. USDA is using advanced technologies to combat the spread of screw worms. Jessica Domo has the story. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and State and local partners have made significant progress in the fight against new world screw worm in Texas. According to USDA, there are now only two active cases of new world screw worm in the state. USDA Undersecretary Dudley Hoskins tells us that USDA has implemented several new tools in addition to releasing sterile flies to combat the spread of new world screw worm, drones and artificial intelligence. We have definitely amped up our wildlife surveillance work. A lot of that is in the Feral Swan population, but it's in addition to that.

8:37We have got a number of agreements with our federal partners at the Department of Interior, state partners at Texas Parks and Wildlife, and individual private property owners who have allowed us access to their property through either trail cameras or drone surveillance. We don't do any drone surveillance on any property without written consent from the property owner or the property manager. Since June 4th, there have been more than 1600 drone flights across the state to scan the landscape for animals that need closer monitoring or testing. More than 29,000 animals have been observed by those drones. The drone capability gives us additional eyeballs and additional flexibility to potentially find suspect cases or feral animals that may be moving in certain areas of concern or in addition to our MOU with the Department of Homeland Security. If there's intentional illicit movement of animals. USDA has now also released a billion sterile new world screw worm flies to cut down on the amount of screw worm flies here in Texas.

9:42For the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, I'm Jessica Dullmull. Coming up next. Fall is coming and I know a lot of people who are looking forward to it after a very tough summer for agriculture. Hell, I'm Barry Moller. I have the story from North Central Texas and today for Bork. And stomach ulcers are common in horses, but not all of them will heal with medication. These stories plus a look at the markets they're straight ahead of Texas Ag today. Young farmers ranchers and agriculture professionals ready to strengthen their leadership skills and tackle the issues shaping agriculture can now register for the 2026 Texas Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet. Hi, I'm Roger Hall. Young Farmer and Rancher Coordinator for Texas Farm Bureau. The discussion meet is open to TFB members between the ages of 18 and 35. It's designed to simulate a committee meeting where active participation, collaboration and thoughtful discussion are encouraged. The winner will receive an ATV with an estimated prize value of $9,000 courtesy of Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company and an expense paid trip to compete in the national contest during the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention.

10:56For more information, visit texasfarmburo.org slash YFR. Broadcasting from a padded room in the basement of a Texas Farm Bureau World Headquarters, here's Carrie Martin with more Texas Ag today. Farmers and ranchers on the Texas rolling planes are looking forward to fall. Barry Moller has an update from which it all falls. Well, it's been pretty easy to assess the crop losses due to the hot rise summer, but there's other things that have been involved too, and we'll talk about that today. You know, even the irrigated acres suffered to stay vigorous and moving forward, but there are some other places that affect Texas agriculture probably long term more than we would expect. You know, back in January, the U.S. cattle herd was at a 75-year low at 86.2 million head. Now, that was caused by major drought several years ago, forcing producers to sell cattle that it would have normally been kept in the herd, and they were sold because we were out of water and out of feed.

12:00And that along with the high market, nose low numbers created a shortage that ranchers have had a hard time, you know, gathering back up. Retaining heppers to grow into producing cows takes a while. It takes a couple of years to get a calf on the ground and get something ready to market. It's tough enough to do in good times, but when it's not raining and feed is short and water is short, it's even tougher. You know, it was a lot easier back when the drought was owned to call cattle when they're bringing record prices, and they are doing that and the market continues to be strong. And a lot of people use the top or continue to use that cash flow to retire that, and some even decided to retire while the getting was good. Most folks are ready to begin to rebuild the spring and summer when another drought creeped in, and it's difficult enough to care for cattle for the two or three years it takes to grow that half of it, as I said, it's even tougher when it doesn't rain. So that leaves a short yet. We will rebuild the herd, but we're going to have better times before we get it done. That creates another problem, and that is how do you take care of the consumer who's been very loyal to the beef market so far, while we're waiting to rebuild the herd that leaves a void in the meat case, and we've been very fortunate consumers continue to eat beef because that wasn't always the fact when prices went up.

13:11So what do you do in that situation? Well, maybe you import some beef. Well, where do you get it from and how much does it cost and how safe is it and how does it affect the market? Well, we've been in the tough part. That's been a tough political call. If we put beef back in the meat case in another country, and the market goes down, it always reacts to knees like that, and there are cattlemen out there that are not liking that a lot, but we'll get through it. It's a tough call. Who do you protect? The consumer or the producer? On the crop side, the insurance adjusters will be busy for a while, assessing summer crops and farmers are looking to add as to what to do next. The least of the markets for cattle, grains and cotton are better than they were a year ago, or so still not where they need to be to cover the higher input costs. So cropping decisions are going to be challenging for a while. A summer like the one just passed will have a lot of folks looking for the first day of fall later this month, and the cooler and hopefully weather weather it can bring is going to be very welcome. I think we're all ready for that. Reporting from the Rolling Plains of Texas, this is Barry Mawr for Texas Ag Today.

14:12Stomach ulcers are common in horses, but Dr. Bob Judd tells us not all of them will heal with medication. Gastric or stomach ulcers are common in horses, but all of these ulcers do not heal with medication. Haley Feffer indicates in the horse publication that some of these horses develop chronic glandular changes, which is a condition characterized by persistent changes in the stomach lining that can remain long after inflammation subsides. Dr. Richard Hepburn indicated that equine glandular gastric disease affects the lower portion of the stomach and can cause poor performance, appetite changes, behavioral problems, myocolic and girthiness. However, these signs are not specific to this disease, so getting a correct diagnosis is important before treating. These glandular stomach changes can be just one or multiple areas in the stomach, and this tissue protrudes outward from the inner wall of the stomach into the lumen, which is where the food and digestive juices mix. Allegions can resemble gastric polyps in people, reflecting abnormal healing, and while some horses respond to typical ulcer treatment, others do not.

15:16Placing a scope in the horse's stomach called gastroscopy is required to make the diagnosis, and your vet can also examine the stomach for feed retention and motility. Scoping is also helpful to determine if the ulcer is healing after treatment, and most of these are treated with omeprosol to decrease gastric acid and sucral fate to form a patch over the ulcer and help with healing. Healing of these lesions can require a long term therapy, and Dr. Hepburn recommends appropriate ulcer prevention management using acid suppressing drugs at the lowest level that is effective, and repeating gastroscopy to make sure the ulcer is healed as all don't heal within 30 days. I'm Dr. Bob Judd, and this is the Texas Farm Bureau radio network. We'll check the markets coming up next on Texas Ag Today. You're up for game day. Cheer on your favorite college teams while utilizing your Texas Farm Bureau member benefits. Get free tickets for games at Texas A&M, UT, Baylor, Texas Tech, Sam Houston, Steven F. Austin, Tarleton, Texas State, Houston, North Texas, UTEP, UTSA, and West Texas A&M.

16:26For more details on how to claim your tickets, visit txfb.us-benefits. Sometimes you love them, sometimes you're custom. Here's a look at the markets on Texas Ag Today. Addie Neighbors, I'm Larry Marble with Live Stock Auction Market report on Texas Ag Today. We're on the line with Bill Martin from Lone Star Stock Yards, Bill Houds, Sailgo. Sail was good Larry, had about 600 head, calves sold fully 5 to 10 higher, feeder steers and heifers not well tested. It has some earling heifers out of white, deer 650 pound, preyed open at 336. Naravisa 700 pound, back-rounded black heifers at 328, also guaranteed open. From the calf sail, Claren and 466 pound steer calves at 430. 428 heifers at 422. Claren and 663 pound heifers at 294.

17:26485 weight heifers at 355. Another group from Claren and 590 pound steer calves all black at 364. 460 weight steer calves at 429. 5 and a quarter weight heifers at 344. From Dimmitt, 590 pound steer calves at 377. 407 late steers at 471. 535 weight heifers at 348. 415 late heifers at 430. From Hart, Texas, 388 pound Corean across steer calves at 430. A big group, 495 weight mates at 373. 355 pound heifers at $4. And 428, Corean and heifers at 360. From Dimmitt, 690 pound lean steers at 345. 528 late heifers at 391. 700 pound lean heifers at 312. 559 late heifers at 333. From Panhandle, 510. 5 pound short lean steers at 416. 5 and a quarter weight heifers at 348. Panhandle, and I said 815 pound open crossbred heifers at 290. Cows and bulls are not tested. A few sails from 130 to 145.

18:26Good. Tell everybody how to get a hold of your bill. Please call us at 806, 677, 07, 777. Bill, I appreciate the call. Thank you so much and we'll talk to you next week. Thank you Larry. Thank you. Bye-bye. 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. Into the week. On an up-node on Friday, we close strongly higher in both live and feeder cattle. October live cattle up $1.85 to finish at 21967. That he's simmered up 262. Closing at 222.22. Feater cattle. Strongly higher. October feeders up $4.95 at 332.50. November feeder cattle up $540.328.17. Cash-fed cattle market. Slow going throughout the week. As a Friday afternoon, we didn't have much to report. We'll have to wait till Monday morning to see what happened late Friday and over the weekend. Box V prices mixed with choice down to $1.41.375.96. Select up $1.61.353.67.

19:30Over in the grain markets, corn closed lower despite a was the report that came out Friday morning that was neutral to bullish for corn. Traders didn't seem to pay any attention to that. With December corn down 3.5, 530 and a quarter. March corn down 3.3, 545 and a half. The was the report mostly neutral for a week. But the situation with Russia, Ukraine and the Black Sea grain exports continues to lend volatility to the market. December cans of city wheat dropped 20 and a quarter, closing at $7.98.5. December Chicago wheat down $17.75. Cotton saw a mostly neutral to bullish report. But again, traders didn't pay much attention to that. We ended up closing sharply lower. With December new crop cotton down 216.86.06. In the energy markets, October natural gas unchanged at $283.00. October West Texas crude down 201 and $100.47 a barrel. The financial markets higher with the Dow up 517.52.577.

20:35The Nasdaq up 263.234, while the S&P was up 67.7.0659. Now with a closer look at the energy and financial markets we're checking in with Tim Snyder with Matador Economics in Dallas. Markets are confronting another difficult question. After yesterday's hotter than expected PPI report and this morning CPI markets are pricing in a very high probability of a Fed rate increase next week. It's now up to 90%. And here's the rub. Much of today's inflation pressure is being applied by war driven energy costs and the Fed cannot produce another barrel crude oil or reopen a shipping lane by raising interest rate. Meanwhile, the geopolitical situation continues deteriorating. Only seven tracked vessels across the Strait of Horn Moose on Thursday while Iran-Backed hoodies have reached Dubab directly on the Babel Mandep Strait. Russia and Ukraine are also escalating attacks on each other's energy and economic infrastructure. And crude oil is lower this morning but don't confuse lower prices with lower risk.

21:36And it must be mentioned that diesel topped $6 a gallon yesterday, the highest it's ever been. The impact from $6 diesel has markets shaking in their boots as the risk of these higher prices floods the entire economic spectrum. Food prices will be higher, manufacture goods prices will climb and the cost of housing will increase even as the real estate market slows from demand destruction related to higher interest rate. Oh and don't forget it's about to be harvest time in Texas right when diesel prices are at their highest. It appears Texas farmers and ranchers just can't get it right. On the broader scale, Wall Street is actually higher today while the yield on the 10 year treasury remains about 5%. That's resilience on the equity side but it's certainly not comfort. Here's today's bottom line. Oil might be pulling back but geopolicle risk continues moving higher. And until the underlying conflicts improve every dip in energy prices risk being just that. A dip between the next round of escalation. 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 Carrie Martin. Hope to see you back here next time as we cover the most important industry in this greatest state in the US of A.

22:41Texas Ag Agriculture. Thanks for joining us for Texas Ag Today. Be sure to follow the Texas Ag Today podcast found wherever you listen to the podcast. For more Texas Farm and Wachews, check out our website at texasfarmburo.org or tfbredio.com. Texas Ag Today is a production of the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. www.tfbredio.org