Red Dirt And Round Bales

Route 66 turns 100 in 2026, and Oklahoma’s stretch of the Mother Road tells a story of rural life, small-town business, migration, preservation, and memory. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken looks back at how Cyrus Avery and Oklahoma helped shape U.S. Highway 66, why the road mattered to farmers and towns, and how places along the route built livelihoods from gas stations, c...

Forage sorghum can be a practical summer hay option in Oklahoma, but producers still have to manage the line between more tonnage and safe feed. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken visits the question of nitrogen timing in forage sorghum with insight from Steve Phillips Ph. D. of Oklahoma State University. Phillips shares field research from Stillwater and Perkins looking at n...

Oklahoma wheat harvest is underway, but thin stands, dry spring weather, and global grain supplies are making this crop harder to read. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken visits with Pete Matheson of Matheson Farms near Billings, Oklahoma , about a wheat crop that has been all over the board — from fields in the 20-bushel range to others that may do much better. Dave also tal...

Railroads did more than move freight across Oklahoma — they helped decide where towns grew, how crops reached markets, and how rural communities connected with the rest of the country. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken looks back at the tracks, depots, grain elevators, and train lines that shaped Oklahoma before and after statehood. From the Katy and Santa Fe to the rise of...

How much grazing pressure is too much? In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken looks at that question with insight from Laura Goodman Ph. D. , Oklahoma State University Extension specialist for rangeland ecology. The episode breaks grazing pressure down into practical ranch terms: how much forage is available, how much can safely be used, how long cattle stay, and whether the past...

Oklahoma wheat harvest is arriving early after a dry, uneven season that left producers weighing grain, forage, and risk field by field. In this episode of Red Dirt and Round Bales, Dave Deken reflects on eight weeks of wheat tour stops across Oklahoma, from the Red River country to north-central Oklahoma and the Panhandle. The 2026 crop tells a hard story: USDA numbers point to a short crop, whil...

This week on Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken heads west with his daughter Molly for a wheat-checking trip across the Oklahoma Panhandle. What starts with windshield time, field video, Slapout stories, Lake Optima, Guymon, Hooker, and a stop in Forgan for Hank the Cowdog turns into a deeper look at one of Oklahoma’s most fascinating regions. The episode traces how the Panhandle went from No M...

This week on Red Dirt and Round Bales, Dave Deken looks at one of Oklahoma agriculture’s most important crops: wheat.  The episode features a conversation with Brett Carver Ph. D., who leads Oklahoma State University’s wheat breeding work, about how Oklahoma wheat varieties are developed and why the process takes years of selection, testing, and patience. The conversation starts with the early his...

This week on Red Dirt and Round Bales , Dave Deken checks in on an Oklahoma wheat harvest that is arriving ahead of schedule. In mid-May, the combines that are usually rolling south toward Texas are already finding wheat ready to cut in Oklahoma, with early activity reported near Okarche and harvesters moving into a crop that has been pushed hard by drought and fast maturity. Dave visits with Aman...