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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday February 22,
2011 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Big Iron
OnLine Auctions!
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-- Direct Payments- Perhaps the Only Way to Hold a Budget Baseline
Figure
-- State Lawmakers Looking to Provide Way for Producers to Hold Lien
on Livestock Until the Check Clears
-- Staying Heart Healthy With Beef
-- Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center Coming to
Central Oklahoma This Week
-- Ethanol Advocates Roll Out New Study Showing Billions of Dollars
of Benefit to US Economy from Ethanol
-- Feeder Cattle Supplies Continue to Dwindle
-- Pollard Farms Getting Ready for Their Spring Bull Sale Happening
This Saturday!
-- Let's Check the Markets!
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 Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as one of our sponsors of the daily Email. Their next auction is Wednesday, February 23- 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. 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. | |
Direct Payments- Perhaps the Only Way to Hold a Budget Baseline Figure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There's lot of
detractors that would like to take away from agriculture the money for
Direct Payments that is a part of current farm policy. We talked about
this key part of the current safety net for farmers with OSU Ag Policy
professor Dr. Michael Dicks, who was part of a panel Monday afternoon at
the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Leadership Conference.
Dicks says he fully understands why Oklahoma Congressman and current House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas likes Direct Payments and wants to extend them into the 2012 Farm Bill. The key reason Congressman Lucas and others want to keep Direct Payments is what they do for the budget baseline. The five to six billion dollars allocated to farmers through Direct Payments is accounted for in the budget baseline- and it is Michael Dicks' contention that if you lose the Direct Payments- that you lose the one element of farm policy that gives you a chance to hang onto the baseline we have maintained to this point. Dr. Dicks is convinced that if we go to an expanded ACRE type program that uses that money- it will not be a consistent amount of money that will be accounted for in the budget baseline. He believes that our last significant pot of money will be drawn away. Dicks says that the farm program bottom line is "You have to have some way of protecting that budget- and that's the only thing we have got folks." Click on the LINK below to read more and to hear Michael Dicks as he talked with us about the value of Direct Payments in helping maintain money for agriculture in the Budget Baseline. | |
State Lawmakers Looking to Provide Way for Producers to Hold Lien on Livestock Until the Check Clears ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cattle
Producers are asking two questions in the aftermath of the trainwreck in
the cattle industry that happened last fall when checks started bouncing
all across the middle of the country when Eastern Livestock went belly up.
Eastern, the nation's largest cattle buyer, left cattle producers holding
millions of dollars of hot checks that have not been honored by their
bank- Fifth Third Bank.
The first question the cattle industry is asking is how do we make the cattle producers who were left holding those hot checks whole? That appears to be in the hands of the bankruptcy court and could take years to sort out. The second question is how do we not allow this scenario to happen again. One possible fix is being talked about in the Oklahoma legislature. Senate Bill 530 is being touted 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. | |
Staying Heart Healthy With Beef ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The American
Heart Association Has Listed Three Beef Cuts As Part Of Its Food
Certification Program, which places the Association's heart-check mark on
food packages to help healthy consumers identify foods that meet criteria
for saturated fat and cholesterol. The listing of the three products
results in part from the Association's partnership with the Beef Checkoff
Program.
The three beef cuts that met the Association's criteria for extra lean
and now are certified to display the heart-check mark
include: This certification allows retailers to display the heart-check mark on fresh case beef packages, promoting the health benefits of a serving of these particular beef cuts to their customers. This is good news, as many of the food industry's top brands have certified products. The mark has been shown to influence sales by as much as 5%. In addition, The Beef Checkoff Trade Association Certification simplifies a retailer's processing and related costs to participate in the American Heart Association's heart-check mark program, such as waiving of certain fees and significant discounts to participate. | |
Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center Coming to Central Oklahoma This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Extremely high
cattle prices currently has the cattle industry scratching its head with
many questions of exactly what this means for beef producers. Throw in a
shrinking cow-herd nationally and the federal government pumping more
incentives into the corn-to-ethanol production, cattlemen have many things
to ponder and keep them awake at night!
Canadian County Cattlemen's Association will sponsor a repeat appearance by one of the nation's most renowned livestock marketing gurus. Brad Tipton, Ag Extension Agent in Canadian County says "We are fortunate to have secured Mr. Jim Robb from the Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC) in Lakewood, Colorado. Mr. Robb is the Director of LMIC who conducted an outstanding seminar for area cattle producers two years ago. Present market fundamentals are as extraordinary as cattlemen have ever faced and many folks have a 'gut-feeling' that something is going to give real soon." And that evening will also feature two of the most popular extension
specialists at OSU- Dr. Derrell Peel and Dr. Kim Anderson. Derrell will
offer an Oklahoma spin on the things raised by Jim Robb in the livestock
sector- and Kim will tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the grain
markets. Click here for more details about the Thursday night Market Outlook Meeting in Canadian County | |
Ethanol Advocates Roll Out New Study Showing Billions of Dollars of Benefit to US Economy from Ethanol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With ethanol
plants operating and being built in 29 states, the economic benefits of
domestic ethanol production are having an impact for hundreds of thousands
of Americans. According to an economic analysis from Cardno ENTRIX
economist John Urbanchuk, released at the National Ethanol Conference,
70,600 Americans are employed directly in the production of ethanol and in
industries providing goods and services to ethanol producers. As a result
of the economic activity generated by ethanol production, more than
400,000 Americans have been able to keep their jobs or find new ones.
Ethanol production is also contributing to our nation's financial
well-being as well as that of American households. In 2010, ethanol
production contributed $53.6 billion to the national Gross Domestic
Product and added $36 billion to household incomes. Click on the LINK below for more on this study- we also have a link to the full economic analysis paper written by John Urbanchuck on the value of ethanol here in the United States. Click here to read more about the value of ethanol to the US Economy. | |
Feeder Cattle Supplies Continue to Dwindle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
USDA Cattle on Feed report confirmed that feedlots continue to build
feedlot inventories. The February 1 on-feed total was 11.514 million head,
106 percent of year earlier levels. However, Dr. Derrell Peel of Oklahoma
State University says it should be noted that this is compared to a small
February number last year. In fact, the current February 1 feedlot
inventory is actually just equal to the five average from 2006-2010 for
this date. Nevertheless, it is remarkable to rebuild feedlot inventories
to this level given overall cattle inventories.
January placements were 104 percent of one year ago, continuing a trend of your over year placement increases in recent months. Placements were up the last five months of 2010 and, in fact, were up 9 of 12 months last year. The result of that was an estimated feeder supply on January 1 that was down 3.3 percent from the previous year. Clearly feedlots are placing cattle at a rate that is not sustainable indefinitely. All of the increase in January feedlot placements was cattle less than 700 pounds, with the biggest increase in feeders weighing less than 600 pounds. That leads to a couple of important questions. First, why are feedlots placing cattle so aggressively and why are they
placing lightweight cattle in the face of such high feed costs? Another
question is how long can feedlots continue to defy gravity with feeder
supplies? | |
Pollard Farms Getting Ready for Their Spring Bull Sale Happening This Saturday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Pollard
Farms Annual Bull and Commercial Female Sale will be happening this
Saturday February 26, 2011 at 12:30 pm. at the ranch, one mile east of
Hwy. 81 on Wood Road in Waukomis, Oklahoma.Selling will be 79 Angus Bulls, 3 Hereford Bulls and 130 Commercial Females. In the sale catalog- Barry Pollard tells us "Our goal at Pollard Farms has always been to improve the quality of the bulls offered each year, and this year is no different. Our 2011 offering is the stoutest ever, with a number of exciting young herd sire prospects by industry leading bulls such as Bismarck, Predestined, Gardens Prime Star, Roundup, Pendleton and Rito 5118." You can call the Pollard Ranch number at 580-758-1464- or click on our link for more information which also give you the option to download the full catalog for the 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $9.75 per
bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$10.50 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are
working with PCOM.
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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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