Business

An Estate Planning Workshop will be held on Dec. 14 by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in Randall County. The free program will be from 9 am to 12:30 pm at the Kuhlman Extension Center, 200 N. Brown Road, Canyon. The event will conclude with lunch courtesy of Happy State Bank.

CANADIAN—The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has started mailing ballots for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committee elections to eligible farmers and ranchers across the country. To be counted, ballots must be returned to the Hemphill County FSA office or postmarked by Dec. 6.

DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and RecruitMilitary® will co-host a Virtual Veterans Job Fair, Nov. 23 from 11 am to 3 pm. The event is free to veterans, their spouses, active-duty military personnel and members of the National Guard and Reserve. In a time of great uncertainty, especially among our nation’s workforce, DAV and RecruitMilitary® are committed to positioning veterans, active-duty service members, reservists, their spouses and partnering companies for success. Employers who are actively seeking the unique talents of America’s veterans will be representing a range of industries, from construction to medical to administrative and logistics, with career opportunities from entry level to senior management. To register for the Virtual Veterans Job Fair and access additional no-cost resources for veterans and their families, go to jobs.dav.org.

EDGEFIELD, S.C.—The National Wild Turkey Federation announces a new landscapescale initiative addressing critically urgent conservation needs in riparian ecosystems throughout its America’s ‘Big Six’ of wildlife conservation regions.

AUSTIN—Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced today that he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $1.07 billion in local sales tax allocations for November—20.6 percent more than in November 2020.

AUSTIN—The Texas Railroad Commission issued a total of 768 original drilling permits in October 2021, compared to 395 in October 2020, including 689 permits to drill new oil or gas wells, 10 to re-enter plugged wellbores, and 60 for recompletions of existing wellbores. The breakdown of well types for original drilling permits in October 2021 is 174 oil, 69 gas, 479 oil or gas, 39 injection, and seven other permits. In the Panhandle area, the RRC issued 12 permits to drill new oil/gas holes, and received reports for four oil completions and three gas completions. During the month, RRC staff processed 597 oil, 95 gas, and 341 injection completions for new drills, re-entries, and recompletions, compared to 777 oil, 196 gas, and 119 injection completions in October 2020. Total well completions processed year-to-date for new drills, re-entries, and recompletions are 7,980 compared to 12,901 recorded during the same period in 2020. Detailed data on drilling permits and well completions for the month can be found at https://www.rrc.texas.gov

The Hemphill County NRCS has hired southern New Mexico native Hailey Frost to serve as the new biologist for the Canadian field office. Originally from southern New Mexico, Frost received her Bachelor of Science in biology in May of 2021 from New Mexico State University, where she was an avid member of the student chapters of the American Fisheries Society and The Wildlife Society.

Livestock Producers: Monitor forage for hazardous conditions In an email sent early this week, Hemphill County Extension Agent Andy Holloway warned area ag producers that, with the potential this week for a killing freeze, they should be particularly aware that any sorghum plant—like Johnsongrass, sorghum-sudangrass, or any type of sorghum hay grazer—has the strong potential to present either cyanide or prussic acid poisoning to your cattle. “We recommend getting your cattle off any area that might have these type of plants for at least 14 days following a hard freeze,” Holloway said.

The Texas Railroad Commissioner is reporting August 2021 crude oil and natural gas production, which came from 163,332 oil wells and 86,329 gas wells. The RRC reports that from Sept. 2020 to Aug. 2021, total Texas reported production was 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil (not including condensate, which is reported separately) and 10.2 trillion cubic feet of total gas. Preliminary reported volume for crude oil was 111,620,063 bbls, compared to the updated total volume of 122,013,767 bbls in August 2020. Preliminary volume for natural gas was 822,692,289 mcf, compared to 883,110,237 Mcf in August 2020. Preliminary figures are based on production volumes reported by operators and will be updated as late and corrected production reports are received.

Wheat acres are expected to increase in Texas, but dry, warm conditions are delaying many plantings for now, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. Texas producers are expected to follow national projections and plant more wheat this season, said Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension statewide wheat specialist, Bryan-College Station.