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 great Iphone App which provides futures quotes for your Iphone.

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 this past December's Tulsa Farm Show.. Click here for the Midwest Farm Show main website to learn more about their lineup of shows around the country, including the Southern Plains Farm Show coming April 7-9, 2011 in Oklahoma City.

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The 2011 meeting of the AFR promises to be a spirited event, with Director elections drawing multiple candidates in all districts that are up for election. There are four candidates for the at-large spot on the Board. Current AFR Secretary Bobby Green is unopposed in his bid to be reelected- and the office of President is not up for election this year as Terry Detrick will continue as President for another year.

Perhaps the most interesting race to watch at the 106th Annual Meeting of the AFR/OFU will be the seat for the Northwest District Board Member. Three members are running- including former state Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach. Running against Peach is Eric Bilderback of El Reno and Duane Shanks of Waynoka.

Other Board of Director Races include:

State Director Southwest District 2 candidates are: Marty Oxley, Apache; and Joe Ed Kinder, Frederick.
State Director Northeast District 3 candidates are: Gary Bledsoe, Wellston; and Jerry Nick, Okmulgee.
Candidates for State Director Southeast District 4 are Billy Perrin, Hugo; and Bobby Holley, Antlers.
Running for State Director At-Large #2 are John Ogden, Oktaha; Justin Cowan, Locust Grove; Scott Blubaugh, Tonkawa; and Wayne Ludwig, Okarche.

Click on the LINK below for our web preview of the AFR meeting- including an audio preview with AFR President Terry Detrick. It looks like a great convention is shaping up- and with the multiple Board of Director races- attendance will likely be very strong for this first meeting of the organization in my memory outside of Oklahoma City.

Click here for more of our preview of the AFR annual Convention and Trade Show This Weekend in Norman

We discussed a couple of subjects with this very articulate cattle producer from the north country- including a key question for the future of the entire beef industry. I asked Bill Donald about how the NCBA hoped to gain a consensus with other cattle groups and groups that have a large number of cattlemen in their ranks to be able to lobby Congress for an increase in the dollar per head beef checkoff- and then successfully be able to get passage in a referendum of cattle producers on that increase.

You can hear his response on this issue by clicking on the LINK below and jumping to our Beef Buzz with the NCBA President. Our Beef Buzz shows are heard on great radio stations across the region via the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we have an archive of previous shows on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. If you are involved in the Beef Industry Business- you need to be checking out the varied subjects that we cover daily on the Beef Buzz.

Click here to go and check out our Beef Buzz with Bill Donald of the NCBA

According to Allendale, "January Placements are expected to be 6.2% larger than last year. This represents six months in a row of higher placements. The industry knows Placement levels will switch to below last year levels soon. The only argument is in which month that change happens.

"Availability of calves and feeders is a problem and it will get even worse as spring comes. January placements could have been higher were it not for weather. March corn futures averaged 592 in December and rose over 43 cents to 635 1/4 in January. Cattle placed in January will be marketed from June through September."

Meanwhile, Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 1.0% smaller than January of 2010. After summer slaughters will clearly be below previous year.

Allendale concludes that total Cattle on Feed as of February 1 will be 5.9% larger than last year. The monthly Cattle on Feed report from USDA is due out this Friday afternoon at 2 PM Central time- after the cattle futures are closed for the week.

"Additionally, Jonathan Coppess will return to Capitol Hill to help craft the next farm bill as chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He has done an excellent job of administering the Farm Service Agency, and has been instrumental in implementing provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill. We thank him for his outstanding service and wish him the best as he assumes his position as announced today by Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Committee.

"I am also pleased to announce that Val Dolcini, California FSA State Executive Director, will serve as the Acting Administrator for FSA. I am confident that Val will provide continuity and steady leadership for FSA's efforts on behalf of America's farmers and ranchers."

Earlier, the previous Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Ag Services, Jim Miller, left USDA for a Senior Staff position with Senator Kent Conrad, current Budget Committee Chairman. Miller is to help Senator Conrad as the 2012 Farm Bill Debate unfolds- although that will only be to the end of 2012 as Conrad has announced he won't be running for reelection next year.

In an Action Alert that was supplied to us by an R-Calf member- Bullard writes "Working with a broad-based coalition called the Livestock Competition Coalition, we have designated today, February 14, through Wednesday, February 16, as the three-day timeframe in which each organization within the coalition will encourage each of its respective member to make personal telephone calls to the White House urging the President to stand firm and issue a strong, final GIPSA rule to restore competition to our U.S. livestock markets as quickly as possible. Our goal is to generate at least one thousand calls to the White House during this three-day period."

Farm Aid is promoting this scheme as well- in a memo to their supporters, they have made a similar call for calls- saying "President Obama's Department of Agriculture is ready to put these new rules into practice, but the big meat corporations are lobbying hard to scrap them, leaving corporate players in control - and leaving us without much choice about what we feed our families. Show your love for family farmers this Valentine's Day! Please call the White House on February 14th and ask them to finalize and implement USDA's new livestock marketing rules. You can bet the Obama Administration is getting an earful from the big agribusiness corporations - we need to make sure that they're also hearing from people all across the country that good food is fair food." They indicate that calls yesterday and today were okay as well.


Supporters and detractors of the GIPSA Rule continue to push and promote- even as USDA has indicated that it will be MONTHS before the Cost Analysis Secretary Vilsack has promised to have done will be finished(based on the timeline that has been offered by Chief Economist of USDA Joe Glauber).
I suspect this call for calls may be more about keeping the base energized rather than really thinking that impacting policy can be done in this fashion.

This victory, following the teams win at the Carload judging contest at the National Western last month in Denver, gives the team two wins so far this year. The OSU team's next competition is next weekend at the San Antonio Livestock Show.

In the sale catalog- Jot Hartley writes "A special feature to this sale is the progeny of SPUR SUCCESS 2801. SUCCESS was the high indexing and high gaining bull out of 138 Angus bulls at OBI Test No. 031. Very few Angus bulls can match SUCCESS' spread for Birth Weight to Yearling Weight, Scrotal, Carcass quality, $W and $B. Sons of SUCCESS will sell on SATURDAY, February 19, 2011 beginning at 12 Noon."

For more information, click on the LINK below- it has phone numbers as well as a link to the complete sale catalog.

Click here for more information on the 2011 Spur Ranch Hot Stove League Registered Angus Bull Sale.

Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis- FREE!

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.