Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as our newest sponsor of the daily Email. Their next auction is this next Wednesday, June 23- featuring Low Hour, Farmer Owned Equipment. Click here for their website to learn more about their Online Farm Equipment Auctions.

We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM website- go there by clicking here.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more on the December 2010 Tulsa Farm Show, including information on how you can be an exhibitor.

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The biggest problem that remains is that the export trade continues to talk about the need for protein higher than 12%- and the first couple of grainsheds that have come in don't suggest much help in that area. Industry officials have pointed out we have millions of bushels of wheat in storage from the last couple of years that is 11% protein- and the crop harvested thus far adds to that stockpile.

Mark Hodges tells us "Early testing indicates the northern Texas crop has very good kernel data and resulting flour yield reminiscent of very good climatic conditions (cool temperatures with sufficient soil moisture in the profile) during grainfill, even more so than in southwest Oklahoma. Unfortunately, these conditions are not conducive to accumulation of protein in the grain and as you know there are usually tradeoffs with good yields and outstanding kernel characteristics."

He adds that ""The bottom line is that- with all things considered, functionality is good. Wheat proteins under 11.5% will probably require some type of "improver" (add gluten) or blending with wheat of higher protein."

Click here for more on this first quality report released by Plains Grains- with a link at our story to a PDF of the details of the quality tests for both regions.

One of those that was on the teleconference with USDA was Nancy Robinson, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Livestock Marketing Association. We talked with her as she and other staff of the LMA prepare for their annual meeting the next three days in Oklahoma City. Robinson has been involved in the concerns that LMA has had with how the checkoff is run for many years- and she mentions that as we talked with her on Wednesday evening.
Robinson tells us that it's "always a good thing" when you are able to meet and discuss difficult issues- and she acknowledged that the NCBA's recent modifications to their plans address "some of the concerns" of the groups that raised the red flag and caught the attention of Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA.

However, she believes the only acceptable conclusion would be for a strong separation out of the checkoff side of the NCBA- which is the Federation of State Beef Councils- having it separate from NCBA altogether. When we asked if that would look a lot like the Federation when it was under the National Livestock and Meat Board- she indicated that yes, that would be the best solution in LMA's opinion.

Click here to listen to our conversation with Nancy Robinson, who has strong opinions about the Federation of State Beef Councils under the wing of the NCBA.

"This important new report confirms that farmers and ranchers are stepping up and implementing conservation practices that can and do have a significant impact on the health of America's soil and water," Vilsack said. "The information gathered for this study will make it possible to quantify the effectiveness of conservation practices for the first time and enable USDA to design and implement conservation programs that will not only better meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, but also help ensure that taxpayers' conservation dollars are used as effectively as possible."

A couple of the findings in this study can apply to really anywhere conservation practices are utilized, including the concept of targeting your conservation efforts on the most vulnerable acres gets you a lot more bang for the conservation buck. USDA has also learned that if you stack a series of relevant conservation practices on top of each other- the sum of the whole is more than just the single practices.

Click here to read more about this study and some of the other findings- plus we have a link on our webstory for the entire study.

Wathina Luthi, from Fargo, Okla., owns a 4,800 sow farrow-to-wean operation along with her husband and sons and markets over 100,000 hogs each year. The Luthi's also raise cattle and 960 acres of hay and wheat pasture.

"With her years of experience, Wathina has exceptional knowledge of pork production and the challenges facing the pork industry," said Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr., Oklahoma Pork Council executive director. "Her knowledge will be an asset to the National Pork Board as they lead the industry's Checkoff funded programs."

The other appointee that has a significant Oklahoma tie is Julie Maschhoff, of Carlyle, Ill. She is co-owner of The Maschhoffs which has pork production in the Hydro and Hinton, Okla., areas as part of their 130,000 sow pork production system with additional locations in Iowa and Illinois. Maschhoff joined the family owned business in 1989 and serves as the vice president of public relations. She has traveled around the country as a speaker on agricultural issues including animal health and welfare, family business planning, environmental responsibility, and food safety.

Click here to read more about these appointees and the other three pork producers also going on the National Pork Board here in the summer of 2010.

The nation produced enough ethanol to reduce the nation's need for imported oil by 364-million barrels last year - and the letter states U.S. renewable fuel producers are equipped to reduce the nation's need for oil even more - ultimately eliminating the need. It's stated that it's imperative the Energy Department refines its current renewable energy loan guarantee programs to make them more accessible to next generation ethanol technologies.

The ethanol industry says it's ready to take the full range of American know-how to tackle the challenges posed by the nation's addiction to fossil fuels - saying renewable fuels - like ethanol - and more efficient technologies to convert plants to fuel exist today and can be deployed to begin the process of securing the nation's energy, economic and environmental future.

Click here to see and read the entire "open letter" to the President.

McPherson Ranch - Beefmaster X Angus first-calf heifers

Hall Ranch - Crossbred steers

Holcombe Ranch - Crossbred steers

Dick Drummond Ranch (Sandra Drummond) - Crossbred Steers

Leslie F. Drummond & Sons Ranch - Angus X bred heifers & Angus X first-calf heifers

The Ranch Rodeo on Saturday night will be followed by the 57th Annual Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping on Sunday, June 20th. Click on the LINK below for more information about all of these events happening in Osage Country this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Click here for more info on the 2010 Osage County Ranch Tour and MORE

We have comments with Secretary Vilsack on our program, the Beef Buzz, that we have linked for you below. The Beef Buzz is a daily radio report heard on great radio stations across the state that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network. One of those stations is KOCD, 103.7 on your FM dial. You can hear the Beef Buzz every morning during their Radio Oklahoma in the Morning Show with Larry Stein at about 7:40 AM. KOCD can be heard over a large area from the eastern side of the OKC metro all the way to east of Henryetta on I-40, south down into the Ada, Sulphur and even McAlester area and northward to the Turner Tunrpike.

Click on the LINK below to hear this Beef Buzz, featuring the comments of Secretary Vilsack.

Click here for more on efforts by the Obama Administration convince the Japanese to go with sound science and increase access to US Beef.

We also invite you to check out our website at the link below to check out an archive of these daily emails, audio reports and top farm news story links from around the globe.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.