~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday March 15, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Radiation Fears Swamping Crude Oil and Agricultural Futures
-- Oklahoma Youth Expo- Grand Champion Market Goat Shown by Mercedes
Hardin of Hennessey FFA
-- Tyler Waitman of Dibble FFA Claims Supreme Champion Gilt Award at
OYE
-- National Farmers Union Calls Out for Strong Safety Net and a 2012
Farm Bill in 2012.
-- U.S. Pork, Beef Exports off to Solid Start in 2011
-- Pork Groups Concerned About Feed Availability
-- Final Shots- Crop Insurance- Crop Weather and OYE
-- 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 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 brand new 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. | |
Radiation Fears Swamping Crude Oil and Agricultural Futures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After our
grain and oilseed futures were slightly higher on Monday- the additional
explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant has the equity markets in
full retreat- and with the equities- agricultural markets are heading
south in a hurry in electronic trade this morning. Wheat futures are now
twenty cents a bushel lower in overnight trade- corn is off ten to twelve
cents and soybeans are down 12 to 17 cents per bushel.
Perhaps the most troubling report is the fact that Japan has now asked the United States for help in dealing with the out of control nuclear reactor- a definite sign of desperation from a nation that is famous for never being willing to accept advice or help on anything. Earlier on Monday, before these latest concerns about the nuclear disaster that is unfolding- Steve Meyer and Len Steiner offered a few thoughts in their Daily Livestock Report that showed most of the ability to import beef and pork into Japan lies in the southern ports of Japan that were not touched by the earthquake and tsunami. In their report they indicated that "The short-term impact may indeed be negative but stocks of food and other items will eventually be replenished and that process will be a positive for U.S. exports." Click here to read the Meyer- Steiner take on meat exports to Japan- now and later. | |
Oklahoma Youth Expo- Grand Champion Market Goat Shown by Mercedes Hardin of Hennessey FFA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the second
time in three years, Mercedes Hardin of the Henessey FFA Chapter has
claimed the top prize in the Wether Goat Show at the Oklahoma Youth Expo.
Mercedes had the best goat out of a 1,040 market goats shown on Monday at
the 2011 OYE- and that will put her into one of the top slots in the sale
order at this coming Monday's Sale of Champions that begins at 4 PM at the
State Fair Arena.
Mercedes told us that this is her last time to show goats at the OYE- and it's great to be able to go out with a Grand Champion. Her goat was purchased in Texas and is named Debo. As judge Billy Zanolini of Madisonville, Texas described the top goats just before he went over and shook the hand of Mercedes, signifying that her goat had won the show, he called his Grand Champion a "beast" and one that really was the right type meat goat that the industry is looking for. Reserve Grand Champion for the Market Goats was shown by another FFA
member from Hennessey- Carson Lough. His Goat placed second in Division
three behind the Grand Champion. He just missed winning both the Doe Kid
and Market Goat competition as he had the top Doe Kid on Sunday afternoon
at State Fair Park. | |
Tyler Waitman of Dibble FFA Claims Supreme Champion Gilt Award at OYE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 900
gilts representing seven breeds paraded before the judges in day one of a
two day breeding hog show at the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo. Breed Champions
and Reserve Champions were named in all of the breeds, with each of those
young men and ladies receiving $1500 as Breed Champ and $750 as Reserve
Champ- these being scholarship dollars.
Just before 7 PM Monday evening, the Grand Champions in each breed entered the ring and the Supreme Champion of the Seven Breeds turned out to be Duroc Grand Champion, shown by Tyler Waitman of Dibble FFA. Pictured here is Tyler showing his Duroc gilt in the Supreme Champion Drive. For his Supreme Champion Gilt, Tyler Receives a total of $4,000 in Scholarship money. We talked briefly with Tyler about his Supreme Champion as he walked her out of the show ring- you can hear that conversation by clicking on the LINK below. You can also review the Champions and Reserves at that same LINK.
Click here for the complete rundown on the Purebred Gilts from the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo | |
National Farmers Union Calls Out for Strong Safety Net and a 2012 Farm Bill in 2012. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Farmers Union
delegates adopted a special order of business calling on Congress to
include a strong safety net in the 2012 Farm Bill at National Farmers
Union's (NFU) 109th annual convention in San Antonio, Texas.
"The next farm bill must include a farm safety net for producers that will provide meaningful assistance for family farmers to stay in production," said NFU President Roger Johnson. "The number of farmers and ranchers who make their primary living from production agriculture continues to shrink because of high price volatility. These farms are crucial to our nation's food supply and the health of our rural economies. When times are difficult, such as periods when prices are low or when disastrous weather strikes, are the times where we most need a strong safety net in order to ensure the continuation of family farm and ranch operations." The special order of business also called on Congress to write the farm
bill before the close of the 112th Congress. | |
U.S. Pork, Beef Exports off to Solid Start in 2011 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ January
exports of U.S. pork and beef were well above year-ago levels, though both
took a step back from the totals recorded in the previous month, according
to statistics compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
Pork exports totaled 165,138 metric tons valued at $396.9 million - an
increase of 15 percent in volume and 19 percent in value over January
2010. Beef exports made an even larger year-over-year jump, increasing 24
percent in volume to 89,673 metric tons and 43 percent in value to $355.6
million. Click on the LINK below for more specifics on both the beef and pork exports for January of this year- a great start that may be more uncertain with the problems we are seeing this week in Japan. Click here for the latest on beef and pork exports from the US. | |
Pork Groups Concerned About Feed Availability ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Worried about
the ability to feed animals should there be a drought or crop disease that
affects feed grain supplies, leaders of the organizations representing
pork producers in Canada, Mexico and the United States urged their
respective governments to address the issue of feed availability.
The Confederation of Mexican Pork, the Canadian Pork Council and the National Pork Producers Council, at a meeting held in Merida, Mexico, noted the tight world grain markets. In the United States, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that there are only 20 days of corn carryover stocks - the lowest level since 1995. There was a joint statement issued by the pork groups- click on the LINK below to read it in its entirety. | |
Final Shots- Crop Insurance- Crop Weather and OYE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A final
reminder- TODAY is the last day to sign up for Crop Insurance for many
spring planted crops. Check with your local crop insurance agent today
to make sure you have everything in order. You will not be eligible for
any sort of disaster payment under SURE if you don't have insurance on ALL
crops on your farm.
The latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update is out- and reports that "Last week's showers were beneficial, but more rain is needed to improve crop conditions. Wheat jointing was 25 percent complete by week's end, up 12 points from the previous week"- and about nine percentage points ahead of a year ago. Click here to read the full report from USDA. We have more on the Oklahoma Youth Expo Available on our website- and will be posting more as the day goes by- click here for our Blue Green gazette section of the website where we have OYE coverage- and you can follow us on Twitter- here's the link to see our latest Tweets from the OYE and other venues- if you understand Twitter lingo- the hashtag for the Youth Expo is #OYE11. | |
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 $9.50 per
bushel, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$10.20 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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