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.

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 held in Oklahoma City, 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.

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.

We are looking forward to our part in the morning's program- as we will be moderating a round table discussion of where we are, economically speaking, down on the farm and ranch in the state. OSU Ag Economists Derrell Peel, Kim Anderson and Phil Kenkel provide the expertise- our job is to moderate the discussion and perhaps stir the pot- just a bit.
Several national speakers are also on the program- as Neil Conklin, Farm Foundation president; Chris Peterson, Nowlin Chair of Consumer-Responsive Agriculture, Michigan State University; and Jason Henderson, vice president, Omaha Branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City are also a part of the Outlook Conference. Dr. Mike Woods and the Ag Econ folks have assembled a good program- one you will want to come and learn from.

Also on Friday- the 17th Annual Totusek Lectureship is planned on the same day as the Outlook Conference- and the Animal Science folks are bringing in a major player in the US cattle feeding industry to Stillwater. This year's lectureship will feature speaker Mike Thoren who has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC since the Company's inception. From 2003 until 2005, Thoren was the President and CEO of ContiBeef LLC, a former wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Grain Company.

JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC (Five Rivers) is a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS. Five Rivers has a combined feeding capacity of more than 839,000 head of cattle with locations in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
Mike Thoren can offer a perspective of where the US cattle feeding business has been- as well as where it may be going, especially as we face the uncertainty of more government regulations thru the so called GIPSA Rule now in the public comment period. Click here for more details of the Totusek Lectureship and this free event on campus at OSU's Animal Science building.

Stabenow issued a statement on Wednesday after the Lincoln defeat. "I am saddened by Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln's loss of her Senate seat. Senator Lincoln is a dear friend and her leadership on the Senate Agriculture Committee will be greatly missed. As colleagues on the Committee, we worked closely together for over nine years and passed two Farm Bills that were important to Michigan and our country."

"As Michigan's second largest industry, agriculture is critical to our economy and employs thousands of people. Michigan is second only to California in our agricultural diversity including our leadership in the production of many fruits and vegetables. With over 19.3 million acres of forest land, we are also leaders in forest products and practices.

"American agriculture not only creates jobs and feeds our families, but it also brings innovation to the development of new fuels and energy sources. With the next Farm Bill right around the corner, I am ready once again to advocate for and strengthen this critical part of our economy for Michigan and our country."

Committee members apply their knowledge and judgment to make decisions on disaster and conservation payments, establishment of allotments and yields, producer appeals, employing FSA county executive directors and other local issues. FSA committees operate within official regulations designed to carry out federal laws. To be an eligible voter, farmers and producers must participate or cooperate in FSA programs. A person who is not of legal voting age, but supervises and conducts the farming operations of an entire farm, can also vote. Agricultural producers in each county submitted candidate names during the nomination period held last summer.

Eligible voters who do not receive ballots in the coming week can obtain ballots at their local FSA office. Dec. 6, 2010, is the last day for voters to submit ballots in person to their local FSA office. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than Dec. 6th. Newly elected committee members and alternates take office Jan. 1, 2011.

Click here for more on the FSA County Committee Election Process

They invited members of the media along for the event- and we enjoyed seeing this tremendous cattle operation just east of Purcell a few miles where Brock and Sheila Karges received truck loads of cattle almost everyday as they process 20 to 25,000 cattle annually.

Click on the LINK below to jump to our webstory where we have an audio conversation that we had with Rob Kelly, head of US Cattle Operations for Pfizer Animal Health- you can also go to the ranch and see what was going on that day with a video that we have produced and posted on our YouTube Channel, RonOnOklaFarmReport.

Click here to check out our video and more of our time on the Triple Heart Ranch in Wanette, Ok.

According to OSU Beef Cattle Specialist Dr. Glenn Selk, most of the "Value-Added" calf sales require that the calves are weaned at least 45 days prior to sale date. Some cow calf producers may wonder why the post-weaning period needs to be so lengthy. Data from Iowa from over a nine year period in a couple of their feedout tests compared the health status of calves weaned less than 30 days to calves weaned longer than 30 days. Data from hundreds of calves were summarized. Calves that had been sent to a feedlot at a time less than 30 days had a higher incidence of bovine respiratory disease (28%) compared to calves weaned longer than 30 days (13%). The percentage of calves that required 3 or more treatments also was significantly different (6% versus 1%) in favor of calves that had been weaned more than 30 days. In fact the calves weaned less than 30 days were not different in health attributes than calves that were weaned on the way to the feedlot.

Dr. Selk provides us a LINK to the full study put together by Iowa State University- you can click on that LINK below to review the extensive results which seem to have a pretty powerful message. Dr. Selk says of those calves that are in such programs "Certainly part of the "value" in value-added calves can be attributed to properly applied vaccinations. However, there is little doubt that a portion of the improved health is due to the length of time between weaning and the movement of calves to the next owner."

Click here for the study from Iowa State that is pretty convincing in what 45 days of weaning can mean to the value of a calf.

Board meeting number one is the quarterly board meeting for the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, which starts at 10 AM. The Oklahoma Cattlewomen's Board will also meet separately at 10 AM as well. A ribeye Lunch will be available from the Oklahoma Cattlewomen at noon, and then the 12th Annual OCA Fall Cattle Drive Sale begins at 1 PM.

Consignments continue to come in and there are some tremendous females set to be sold next Friday afternoon. Click on the LINK below for the full listing to date of these replacement females.

Click here for the full consignment list to date for the Fall Cattle Drive of the OCA

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. Click on the TCFA Link here to review cash cattle trade $2 cheaper than last week- active trade at $98 on Wednesday.