Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website that features their grain, ports and seed business!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.

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State Secretary Bobby Green of Okemah was reelected as the State Secretary of the organization, running unopposed. However, two board members chose not to run for reelection in 2011, Dick Stults of Luther and Ed Preble, Jr. of Norman- and three others were defeated in their bids for reelection- Scott Blubaugh, John Ogden and Billy Perrin. Current Board Members Jim Campbell of Idabel and Melody Cummins of Elk City were not up for re-election in 2011.

The five new board members include Eric Bilderback in the Northwest District Seat from El Reno, Joe Ed Kinder in the Southwest District Seat from Frederick, Jerry Nick in the Northeast District Seat from Okmulgee, Bobby Holley in the Southeast District Seat from Antlers and Justin Cowan who won the At-Large Seat that was up for grabs in 2011.

We have a brief bio of each of the five new board members, who swept the incumbents running out of the way, as well as well known Oklahoma farm figures like former State Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach. Click on the LINK below to read more- including those bios of these new board members.

Click here for more on the sweeping changes seem at the American Farmers & Ranchers Convention on Saturday.

On the regulatory front, several measures were okayed by the House to slow the EPA ont heir regulatory binge. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall issued the following statement regarding the passage of three amendments to H.R. 1, legislation to fund the federal government through the end of this fiscal year, that if passed by the Senate will block the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) funding to regulate dust and implement its Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rule for the Chesapeake Bay and its nutrient criteria rule for Florida.

"I hope the activists turned government officials at the Environmental Protection Agency were listening to the very clear signal sent by the U.S. House of Representatives that enough is enough. Our elected leaders are growing weary of defending this agency that appears to be determined to put farmers and ranchers out of business. Burdensome, job stifling regulations are never a good thing. But when you have a struggling economy on the verge of a rebound, government overreach is definitely not a way to stimulate job growth and economic recovery. On behalf of U.S. cattlemen and women, I commend Representatives Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) for leading the charge against overregulation and in support of economic growth in rural America and throughout the country."

On the issue of Ethanol- two measures were offered and approved by the House- one by Jeff Flake of Arizona and the other by John Sullivan of Oklahoma- that would bar funding for the EPA to implement its decision to allow up to 15% ethanol blends (E15) for use in cars, pickups, and SUVs built in model year 2001 and newer as well as prohibiting USDA and EPA funds from partnering with private companies to install blender pumps that dispense mid-to-high ethanol blends.

Click on the LINK below to read more- AND to hear reaction on the CR from Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union President, who was in Oklahoma for the weekend at the AFR convention in Norman.

Click here for more on the Continuing Resolution and what Roger Johnson is thinking on how the Senate will deal with the measure.

Jeff writes on Friday- "As promised earlier this week, I spent much of today looking for freeze-injury in wheat. I made a loop from Stillwater to Okeene north to Ringwood and back and failed to find freeze injury that went beyond cosmetic damage. I realize this is not an exhaustive search, but based on what I observed I am sticking with my statements earlier this week and concluding that injury from last week's frigid temperatures is by and large cosmetic in nature. It is not hard to find late-emerging fields or heavily-grazed fields that are in rough shape and the freeze probably made this situation worse. The prolonged drought we have experienced, however, is still the main source of limited growth and yield potential in these fields. If we do not receive moisture in southwestern and far western OK in the near future, the wheat crop in these areas could certainly be in jeopardy."

Edwards adds this note on First Hollow Steam- "We have found plants that are at the first hollow stem stage of growth in September-sown plots of Fannin and Overley at Stillwater. I will report a full listing of first hollow stem measurements from Stillwater and El Reno early this week. I anticipate that if the current weather patterns hold, most varieties will be at or well-past first hollow stem by March 1."

Click here to explore more about the world of wheat at our land grant institution- Oklahoma State University

Representative Osborn told AFR that she is supportive of a couple of Senate bills that will offer a positive impact to livestock producers in the state. One is Senate Bill 530. This legislation is being advanced by the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau in an effort to ensure livestock producers maintain a security interest in livestock they sell until such time as the proceeds from the sale clear the bank. This is in response to the recent Eastern Livestock Bankruptcy which left some producers holding hot checks. The weekly OCA newsletter reports they anticipate easy passage of this measure as it has been shared with the banking community, the livestock marketing communities and others. Representative Osborn says that his measure won't help those already stung by Eastern Livestock this past fall when they got checks for cattle they sold to Eastern- and found those checks were worthless as Eastern's Bank, Fifth Third Bank, had decided to freeze their account during the height of the fall stocker cattle run of last fall.

Osborn also spoke of the need to set the bar as high as possible for groups like HSUS to come into Oklahoma and use the Initiative Petition process to force a popular vote on how we handle livestock in this state. The Humane Society of the US has used that tool to force votes in other states and dictate the livestock practices they deem correct- not based on sound animal husbandry practices and research. Osborn is working with Senator Mike Schulz of Altus on this measure, which would require signatures from all five Oklahoma Congressional Districts on a weighted basis in order to land a proposal on a general election ballot.

Click here for more from Lesley Osborn- and a chance to hear our conversation about these bills and more as found on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

"We are excited to have Governor Fallin talk to our leaders concerning her legislative initiatives this year," said Mike Spradling, OFB president. We have an audio conversation with Spradling about the 2011 Leadership Conference- click on the LINK below to listen to that visit Ron Hays had with President Spradling.

The afternoon session will include OFB's Public Policy staff explaining Farm Bureau's priority issues, followed by a panel discussion on the next farm bill.

The farm bill panel will be narrated by Scott Neufeld, Fairview producer and chairman of the OFB Farm Bill Committee. Other panel members include Francie Tolle, Farm Service Agency (FSA) state director; Dr. Mike Dicks, OSU agricultural economics professor; and Garrett King, Oklahoma Agriculture Liaison for Congressman Frank Lucas.

Click here to read more about the 2011 OFB Leadership Conference and to hear our conversation with Mike Spradling of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.90 million, 4 percent above 2010. Net placements were 1.84 million head. During January, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 465,000, 600-699 pounds were 475,000, 700-799 pounds were 547,000, and 800 pounds and greater were 410,000.

Marketings of fed cattle during January totaled 1.78 million, slightly above 2010.

These numbers were called mostly in line with trade expectations- with Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities saying they looked a little bearish to him. You can hear his conversation with Ed Richards of the Radio Oklahoma Network by clicking on the LINK below.

REMEMBER- the market won't have an opportunity to react to the numbers today as our Ag Futures are all off in celebration of President's Day.

Clcik here for more on the Friday Cattle on Feed Report- a link to the full report available here as well as our conversation with Tom Leffler with his take on the COF Report.

We have an audio update of what the Big Iron folks are telling us they are selling this week- click here to listen and check what will be offered this week.

You can also click on the LINK below and see the full auction lineup for this Wednesday found exclusively on Big Iron.Com.

Click here to jump to the official site for Big Iron.Com

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. CHECK TODAY'S REPORT As CATTLE TRADED THREE DOLLARS HIGHER FRIDAY at $110!