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 have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. When you call them- ask them about their brand new Iphone App which provides futures quotes for your Iphone.

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US Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is pleased with the net income numbers- saying that indicators point to a sustainable recovery sector-wide. While an increase in the value of livestock production accounted for much of the upward movement, the value of dairy production rose by 26.2 percent; the value of meat animal production is up 14.6 percent, and the value of poultry and egg production rose 8.4 percent. And commercial farms and intermediate farms are all expected to have higher average net cash income in 2010 than they did in either 2009 or 2008.

The Secretary was also upbeat about the export numbers coming from the agency. "Another factor driving this recovery is an increase in income from exports. Today, USDA is excited to announce that we are raising our forecast for agricultural exports for Fiscal Year 2010 to $107.5 billion - the second highest year on record. This a $3 billion increase from the May forecast, and an $11 billion increase over last year. And Agriculture is one of the only major sectors of the American economy with a trade surplus - expected to be $30.5 billion this year.
"What's more we expect to sustain this important progress. The outlook going forward into Fiscal Year 2011 is even more promising, showing $113 billion in agricultural exports.

Click on the link below to read more about these reports- and we have links on our webstory for the full reports if you want that much detail.

Click here for the story on Net Farm Income Rising here in 2010.

Allen Sents, who along with his wife owns a cattle feedlot near Marquette, Kansas strongly disagrees. He says "I can think of nothing more unreasonable" than to expect packers to stop buying cattle based on the value they have in their carcass. He dismisses the requirement of the rule that packers will have to have documentation of why they pay more for one set of cattle versus another as something they already have and will be able to produce without fear of litigation.

In this Beef Buzz, as heard on great radio stations around the state of Oklahoma via the Radio Oklahoma Network- you can hear both viewpoints, which provides some insight into how divisive this proposal is. Click on the LINK below for this audio look at a couple of feedlot operators and their views on the GIPSA Rule.

Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Jerry Bohn and Allen Sents

NCBA President Steve Foglesong says well-funded activist groups, like Food and Water Watch, are working to obstruct the success of U.S. agriculture and its efforts to feed a growing global population. He said Food and Water Watch, a lobbyist group, - has a longstanding history of lobbying for stringed agricultural regulations that are devoid of science. Foglesong says - as a cattle producer, it is concerning that an organization in my industry is admittedly partnering with a group that spreads fiction as fact to 98 percent of the population removed from production agriculture.

Foglesong said the lack of science-based information is a red flag on the credibility of this activist group. He said, according to USDA, 98 percent of all U.S. farms are family farms. USDA reports 91 percent of farms in the United States are considered "small family farms," which is contrary to Food and Water Watch reporting that "the work of producing our food has been replaced by large corporate enterprises." Foglesong said innovation, profitability and a commitment to consumers have driven expansion of family owned operations throughout the United States, not agribusiness.

Click here to read more about the NCBA concerns about this group that R-Calf is hanging with.

The AP story and the claims in that story by Neil Hall are in direct conflict with the BBSRC announcement released the same day and are a complete misrepresentation of the value of the work to breeders and scientists. Regrettably, the AP story and its headline that the wheat genome has been sequenced has been repeated in stories by all major media outlets around the world.

The truth is that according to this consortium- "this is an important step but significant work remains to be done to achieve a complete genome sequence" and the "full sequenced genome requires further read-throughs, assembly of the data into chromosomes and significant work to fully annotate the sequence data".

The IWGSC concurs wholeheartedly with the statement that the complete genome sequence of wheat will usher in a new era of wheat improvement. And, we agree with the press comments that the complete sequence will be a "scientific tour de force" that will be "the most significant breakthrough in wheat production in 10,000 years". Unfortunately, however, this is far from being the case at present and this premature claim is jeopardizing the ongoing international efforts to truly achieve a genome sequence with high utility for wheat in the next five years. The IWGSC remains committed to continuing our collaborative, international effort and look forward to the day when we can indeed announce that the "wheat genetic code has been cracked".

Click here to read up on the Consortium Working on the Wheat Geni

Effective January 1, 2011, any bull changing ownership within the state of Oklahoma by private sale, public sale, lease, trade, or barter must have a negative test for Trichomoniasis within 30 days of change of ownership. Exceptions are:

· Bulls that are less than 24 months of age and can be certified as virgin bulls.
· Bulls that are being sold directly to a slaughter establishment
· "Cutter Bulls" that will be castrated and put on feed within 10 days of purchase.
Untested bulls consigned to livestock markets can be sampled at the market at the buyer's expense and transported to the buyer's premise under quarantine until negative test results have been reported. The livestock market will not be liable for bulls that test positive after the sale. Those bulls must be castrated or sold for slaughter only within 10 days of notification. If a bull tests positive he must be sold directly for slaughter or castrated within 10 days of notification. The herd of origin will be notified that a bull from the herd tested positive for Trich. The herd owner will be advised to contact their veterinarian for assistance in managing and eradicating the disease from the herd.

Bovine Trichomoniasis (Trich) is a venereal disease of cattle caused by the protozoan Tritrichomonas foetus, which is about the size of a sperm cell. Infected bulls carry the protozoan on their penis and prepuce. As a bull ages the conditions on the surface of the organs become more favorable allowing the organism to survive and multiply.
Trichomoniasis, or "Trich", is transmitted to cows through breeding. Cows usually abort early in the pregnancy and become temporarily infertile. Cattle producers can lose valuable income from the resulting extended breeding season and diminished calf crop. In a herd with a compact breeding season, decreases in calving percentages can reach 50%.
You can't tell by looking! Infected breeding bulls continue to appear and act normally. Only testing will confirm the presence or absence of the disease causing protozoa. Once infected, bulls remain infected and capable of spreading infection.

Click here for more on this disease from a blog entry of a few days ago at the ODAFF website.

In a joint statement, the groups called on the FDA to "heed the overwhelming scientific evidence and outpouring of citizen concern by (1) strengthening the agency's [Veterinary Feed Directive] guidelines and (2) making mandatory, rather than voluntary, its June guidance to ensure that antibiotics only be used under veterinary supervision to treat sick animals, thus protecting human health."

You might notice that one of the groups that is listed above is the Food and Water Watch- the group that has joined up with R-Calf in their support of the GIPSA Rule. Click on the LINK below and you can go to their website as they have a news release on these letters that have been sent to the FDA in support of much stronger oversight of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

Click here for one of the news releases on these letters going to the FDA.

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.