~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday March 17, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Awfully Dry- And that means Danger and Dire Consequences for Wheat
and Pasture Conditions
-- Coburn Pushes on End to VEETC Subsidy for Ethanol
-- Chelsie Livingston and Seiling FFA Going Whole Hog for Food Drive
at 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo
-- Skye McNeil Wins the Kerr Traveling Trophy at the Oklahoma Youth
Expo
-- Public notice by Oklahoma Pork Council and the National Pork
Board
-- Eastern Oklahoma Cattle Summit to Feature Stockman and Stewardship
Program
-- Cattle on Feed Preview for Friday March 18
-- 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. | |
Awfully Dry- And that means Danger and Dire Consequences for Wheat and Pasture Conditions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It will be
very warm and very windy for St. Patrick's Day. Highs all across Oklahoma
will reach well above normal. Oklahoma City will have highs in the lower
80s while western Oklahoma will likely see highs in the mid to upper 80s.
Winds will stay strong out of the south/southwest at 15 to 35 mph. A Fire
Weather Watch is in effect for western Oklahoma this afternoon and evening
due to the very low humidity values and very high winds.
This comes on top of a very long time of little or no rain. Gary
McManus of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey tells us that it has now
been 123 days since our Mesonet site at Grandfield has recorded 0.10
inches of rainfall in a single day. In fact, they have only had 0.3 inches
in the last 120 days, dating back to November 16, 2010. Here's
a map showing the number of days since we last had at least a quarter of
an inch of rain. No one in the state is anywhere close to normal rainfall in recent months. The eastern third of Oklahoma has had 55% to 58% of normal rainfall in the last 120 days- while west central Oklahoma stands at 21% of normal in the same timeframe. Click here to see a weather map showing the percentage of normal rainfall across the state in the last four months. Gary sums up our "dire straits" of a rainfall situation pretty well- "To put it bluntly, things are serious in the western one-half of Oklahoma. *IF* we don't get rain soon out in that part of the state, expect a brief green-up that will take advantage of the available soil moisture, then a rapid decline to dormant/dead vegetation once that resource is gone. Keep in mind that the soil moisture will also be depleted thanks to increasing daylight hours and temperatures. In turn, that will mean a prolonged wildfire season." | |
Coburn Pushes on End to VEETC Subsidy for Ethanol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
Republican Tom Coburn introduced an amendment to immediately repeal the
Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit in the small-business program
reauthorization bill. This is a 45 cent per gallon subsidy that is also
known as the "blenders credit." Senator Coburn contends it will have no
impact on the number of gallons that will be produced and that it will
save the US taxpayer $6 billion annually.
In a recent editorial penned by Senator Coburn- the Senator contends that "Ethanol distorts and manipulates the economy by increasing the price of food and energy." (Click here to read the full op-ed on the subject from Tom Coburn) In response, the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the
National Corn Growers Association are urging the defeat of the amendment.
But, if this amendment is pursued, RFA recommends that Coburn also offer
an amendment that would eliminate subsidies to oil companies posting tens
of billions of dollars in profit quarterly. | |
Chelsie Livingston and Seiling FFA Going Whole Hog for Food Drive at 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Food Drive
being promoted by the Diamond Hats group at the 2011 Oklahoma Youth Expo
will be more than just canned beans and corn- as what will end up going to
the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma will be several hundred packages of
fresh ground pork produced by some of the exhibitors of the Youth Expo.
For the past couple of years, Chelsie Livingston of the Seiling FFA Chapter has donated her show pig to the local food pantry if it does not qualify for any premium sales. When the Seiling Chapter Advisor Ben Fisher heard that the Diamond Hats had organized a food drive in cooperation with the office of Governor Mary Fallin for those coming to the Oklahoma Youth Expo, their chapter decided they would try to find corporate sponsors to pay for the processing and donate six pigs from the Seiling FFA to the Food Drive. Click on the LINK below for more on this story- and remember- if you are going to the Oklahoma Youth Expo in the next few days- be sure to grab a sack full of canned goods and bring them to help fill the trailer! | |
Skye McNeil Wins the Kerr Traveling Trophy at the Oklahoma Youth Expo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The hardware
that State Representative Skye McNiel won last night at the Oklahoma Youth
expo signifies her victory as the Showperson in Chief at the annual
Legislative Showmanship Contest at the OYE.
Dozens of state lawmakers took a break from work at the state capitol and traveled to State Fair Park to meet some of their young constituents and their families and show their choice of a steer, lamb or pig in the celebrity competition. It's not so much to have a serious competition as it is to play show and tell with the lawmakers about the value of keeping the appropriation that helps fund the annual "world's largest junior livestock show." Click on the link below for more on the show- and for a link to our pictures on FLICKR- we have lots from the Legislative Showmanship contest of last night. Click here for our coverage of the Legislative Night Actitivies of the OYE | |
Public notice by Oklahoma Pork Council and the National Pork Board ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The election
of pork producer delegate candidates for the 2012 National Pork Producers
(Pork Act) Delegate Body will take place at 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 24,
2011 in conjunction with the Oklahoma Pork Congress and Annual Meeting
which will be held at the Reed Conference Center, 5750 Will Rogers Road,
Midwest City, Okla. All Oklahoma pork producers are invited to attend.
Any producer who is a resident of Oklahoma and has paid all assessments due may be considered as a delegate candidate and/or participate in the election. All eligible producers are encouraged to bring with them a sales receipt proving that hogs were sold in their name and the Checkoff deducted. If you are interested in being a candidate, please prepare a short (1/2
page) biography telling about yourself and send it to the Oklahoma Pork
Council, ATTN: Election Committee, One North Hudson, Suite 900, Oklahoma
City, OK 73102 to arrive by March 17, 2011. Nominations will also be
accepted from the floor. | |
Eastern Oklahoma Cattle Summit to Feature Stockman and Stewardship Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Wednesday,
March 23, 2011, OSU Cooperative Extension Service will host the Eastern
Oklahoma Cattle Summit in McAlester at the Southeast Expo Center, located
at 4500 W. State Highway 270 from 8:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m. There will be an
outstanding slate of presenters including Dr. Ron Gill from Texas A&M
who will be conducting a Stockman and Stewardship program; which is funded
in part by the beef checkoff.
The Stockman & Stewardship session teaches handling methods that improve gathering, penning, chute work, and hauling. Much emphasis is placed on ways to increase cattle performance by reducing handling stress, and interactive discussions show how cattlemen can actually shape consumer's perception of beef. Other sessions will be led by educators, specialists and researchers from OSU's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Topics will focus on the importance of animal husbandry, the economics of good fly control, how safety and consistency promote profitability and tips for preventing anaplasmosis of robbing a cattle operation of profits. Registration is $20 for the first family member and $10 for each
additional family member. To register call the Pittsburg County extension
office at 918-423-4120. Registration is ending this week- so call and be a
part of this event. | |
Cattle on Feed Preview for Friday March 18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our next USDA
Cattle on Feed Report comes tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM central time after
the markets have closed for the week.
According to Allendale's Rich Nelson, February Placements are expected to be 3.0% larger than last year. This represents seven months in a row of higher placements. This should be the last month of higher placements for some time. Availability of calves and feeders is a problem and it will get even worse. February placements were higher as cattle feeders scrambled to replace profitable outgoing cattle. February marketed cattle left the feedlot with $140 per head profits. Cattle placed in February will be marketed from July through October. Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 4.1% larger than February of
2010. Slaughter levels will go from slightly higher than last year this
spring then balloon to sharply higher in the summer. | |
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 $9.00 per
bushel- as of the close of trade Wednesday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $10.00 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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