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 Wednesday, October 13 - 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 upcoming Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more on the December 2010 Tulsa Farm Show, including information on how you can be an exhibitor.

If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.

AFR's membership is on record regarding this State Question- as they passed a special order of business at their annual convention earlier this year. It reads "AFR has a long tradition of supporting public education and the youth of our state, and we remain steadfast in that position. The leadership and membership of this great organization look forward to the day Oklahoma school systems are funded at or above the regional average. However, the initiative issue referred to as the HOPE initiative (SQ 744) would cause enormous and irreparable damage to every facet of state government by forcing devastating cuts to all other state budgets. AFR has no alternative but to actively oppose this initiative."

AFR is a part of the One Oklahoma Coalition- groups actively opposing State Question 744- and apparently, they are getting their message out very well. According to the website SoonerPoll.Com, support for the measure is crumbling. "The latest SoonerPoll reveals most Oklahomans now oppose a ballot initiative which had wide support when it was last polled in July. State Question 744, which would require the Oklahoma State Legislature to fund public education to at least the per-pupil average of neighboring states, was supported by 65 percent of Oklahomans in July, a number which has fallen to just 27.6 percent while 58 percent opposed when polling concluded Friday." Click here for details of that latest polling by this group.

Click HERE to listen to our conversation with Terry Detrick of AFR about their concerns with State Question 744.

"We believe they are circumventing the legal process and going against the desire of the state legislature," Mike Spradling, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said. "This goes against the intent of HB 3202 and is an attempt to usurp the power of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, the agency responsible for implementing policy on the care and handling of livestock." Legislators can disapprove the emergency rules but must wait until the next session convenes in February 2011. The injunction stops the emergency rules and allows producers to continue to care for their livestock without the threat of criminal prosecution.

"We're asking the court to declare the emergency rules invalid because they are inconsistent with the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act," Spradling said. The Farm Bureau leader is concerned traditional animal husbandry practices, which have been practiced for years by non-veterinarians, are now prohibited unless performed by a veterinarian. "Livestock owners face increased expenses for the proper care of animals and risk criminal liability unless these emergency rules are invalidated," Spradling said.

Cathy Kirkpatrick, Executive Director of the Vet Board, contends the rules are not contrary to the measure approved by legislators. "When they put acts not prohibited and they included animal husbandry, there's no definition of animal husbandry," she said. "We felt that if the legislators wanted to exempt reproductive services they would have included it in acts not prohibited like they did teeth floating. We defined what animal husbandry is not. A rule just clarifies a statute."

Lawmakers can reject the Emergency Rules passed by the Board and okayed by Governor Henry- and one of the lead dogs on getting the measure passed earlier this year in the legislature says that he will work to get a resolution of disapproval for these rules- The Chairman of the Oklahoma House Ag Committee, Don Armes, is not happy with the Board's decision to issue the Emergency Rule and vows it will not be allowed to stand.

The National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas is hosting a series of workshops, including a webinar, for poultry and livestock producers. At these workshops, staff attorneys will provide an overview of GIPSA's proposed rule changes for poultry and livestock, review the UDSA rule-making process, explain how to submit comments on the proposed rules, and include a question and answer session. The webinar will be hosted via eXtension for participants around the country.

The Webinar is set for tomorrow- October 14- starting at 11AM- click on the LINK below for our calendar item and details on getting set up to receive and participate in the Webinar.
In addition, a workshop in Eastern Oklahoma to be provided by the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas in conjunction with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service will provide an overview of GIPSA's proposed rule changes, review the USDA rule-making process and cover how to submit comments on the proposed rules online. This workshop will take place Nov. 1 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the LeFlore County Fairgrounds located approximately 1.5 miles southwest of downtown Poteau on South Highway 271. This is free and open to the public, and it also provides three hours of poultry waste management continuing education credit.
Shannon Ferrell, Oklahoma State University assistant professor in agricultural law, attended the USDA-DOJ workshop on Livestock Concentration Issues in Colorado in late August and is working with the folks in Arkansas to have this workshop in Poteau November first.

Click here for more on the Webinar planned on the GIPSA Rule on October 14

Oklahoma producers are continuing small grain planting but fields are in much need of moisture. Wheat seedbed preparation was 96 percent complete by Sunday, and 66 percent of wheat was planted, a 16 point increase from the previous week, while 37 percent of wheat had emerged. The 66% planted figure is in line with the five year average of 67%. Kansas wheat farmers now have 71% of their crop planted for the 2011 harvest- while Texas farmers are at 66% complete- ahead of 63% which is the five year average. You can click here to see the national numbers for wheat plantings, corn, cotton and soybean harvest and more in the latest Crop Progress document.

Back to Oklahoma conditions- "Row crop harvest continued across much of the State last week. Corn harvested was 94 percent complete by week's end, 12 points ahead of the five-year average. Eighty percent of sorghum had matured by Sunday, 24 points ahead of normal. Thirty-eight percent of sorghum was harvested by week's end, ten points ahead of normal. Soybeans at maturity reached 61 percent complete by week's end and 27 percent of the crop had been harvested. Eighty-eight percent of peanut plants had matured by week's end, a seven point increase from the previous week and ten points ahead of normal. Fifty percent of the peanut crop had been dug by Sunday and 25 percent were combined. Cotton harvest was 16 percent complete by Sunday, eight points ahead of the five-year average and 11 points ahead of the previous year."

Click here for the full Oklahoma Crop Weather Update as issued by NASS within USDA.

Lots of interesting things are listed in this week's sale- noticed that the first tractor that I remember having on our farm, a John Deere B, is available from a consignor in Nebraska. Obviously, they also have a lot of more modern equipment as well.

Click on the LINK below to jump to the October 13th listing to check out the items available this week on Big Iron.

Click here for the October 13th Listing for Big Iron- First Items Start Closing at 10 AM

After Tuesday's organizational meeting, Tolman said this represents - a start toward a unified voice for U.S. agriculture. He added, - while the results of today's organizational meeting represent the culmination of six months of planning, it is only the beginning of a process designed to create a coordinated effort by and on behalf of U.S. farmers and ranchers. USFRA plans to incorporate this week.

Several participants have already stepped forward to officially join the Alliance. Others need to return to their boards to determine whether they will join. Organizations have been asked to respond about affiliation no later than November 1. After that date, a board of directors will be established and will elect an executive committee.

Darin Annuschat was the 2nd High Individual Overall, as well as High Individual in Cattle. Jeremy Leister was the 4th High Individual Overall as well as the 5th High Individual in Sheep. Kaylee Kerbs was the 9th High Individual Overall as well as the High Individual in Oral Reasons and the 2nd High Individual in Cattle. Clint Mefford was 4th High Individual in Oral Reasons.

Team Coach Mark Johnson tells us that ehe team's next national competition is at the American Royal at the end of this month.

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.