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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday April 6, 2011
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Fire Danger Through the Roof as Everything Gets Drier and
Drier
-- AP Sources Say Obama Administration Finalizing Deal With
Columbia
-- 1099 Repeal Done in Senate- Easily- Now Heads to the White
House
-- Strong Cow Prices Present Dilemna of How to Rebuild the US Cow
Herd
-- The Path to Prosperity Calls on House Ag Committee Members to Cut
Farm Spending in Next Farm Bill
-- Grass to Grid Bull Sale Coming Saturday
-- Farm Bureau Ladies Head for the Capitol Today- Cattle Grading
Contest is Tomorrow
-- 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 website that features their grain, ports and seed
business! 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. | |
Fire Danger Through the Roof as Everything Gets Drier and Drier ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a Red
Flag Fire Danger Alert out for today in nine eastern Oklahoma counties.
Those counties include CHEROKEE, ADAIR, MUSKOGEE, MCINTOSH, SEQUOYAH,
PITTSBURG, HASKELL, LATIMER AND LE FLORE. This Red Flag warning is in
effect from 10 AM this morning through 7 PM this evening.
Meanwhile, the western third of the state is under a fire weather watch Thursday morning through Thursday evening- with strong south winds, very low relative humidities and extremely dry conditions makes fire danger extreme. It will be plenty dangerous today- although the winds will be worse on Thursday and that is one of the keys to the watch being issued. There are 47 counties that now have a burn ban in place across the state- click on the link below to review which counties have that ban now in place. In watching News9 Meterologist Gary England last night, it was amazing to me that you can see the fires burning in the state on the satellite shots- they show up as black dots. | |
AP Sources Say Obama Administration Finalizing Deal With Columbia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three people
familiar with the agreement say the U.S. and Colombia are likely to
announce a deal on a key trade accord Wednesday, ending a year-long
stalemate. U.S. and Colombian officials have held several meetings in recent weeks to finalize agreements with the Colombians over their treatment of unions and labor leaders. Ap adds that the trade pact has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Republicans have been threatening to block a completed trade deal with South Korea if the administration failed to complete the outstanding deal with Colombia, as well as a pending trade pact with Panama. Concern has mounted in the US wheat industry with word that the
Canadians have finished a trade deal with Columbia, which will give wheat
producers in Canada a huge advantage over US farmers in what was once a
largely US wheat export market. Click here for the backgrounder that the Wheat Industry has on their website regarding this FTA. | |
1099 Repeal Done in Senate- Easily- Now Heads to the White House ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tuesday
afternoon the U.S. Senate voted 87 to 12 passing H.R. 4. The bill
repealing expanded 1099 business reporting requirements. These new
requirements were part of last year's health care law. The repeal document
now goes to the President who has indicated an eagerness to sign it.
Republicans hope other such bills will follow, resulting in the entire
health care law being scrapped.
The section of the health bill involved would have require millions of businesses to file tax forms for every vendor selling them more than 600-dollars in goods each year, starting in 2012. The requirement was projected to raise nearly 25-billion dollars over the next decade by ensuring that vendors pay their taxes. Many farm organizations lobbied legislators for repeal, citing the increased load of paperwork for farmers. Lawmakers from both parties agreed; saying the filing requirement could create a paperwork nightmare for businesses and the Internal Revenue Service. Click here for farm group reaction of the 1099 Repeal that passed the US Senate on Tuesday. | |
Strong Cow Prices Present Dilemna of How to Rebuild the US Cow Herd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cattle and
wholesale beef prices are in uncharted, record territory this spring, as
the tight supplies that analysts have talked about for a year or longer
are squeezing the market and propelling prices skyward. Randy Blach with
Cattlefax discussed these extremely strong cattle prices with members of
the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association as their lead
speaker in the Sunday General Session of the 134th annual meeting of the
group that represents cattle producers in Texas and Oklahoma.
Blach pointed especially to cow and heifer prices- saying they are like a double edged sword. High prices are great when you get that check for those animals- with many cull cows worth a thousand dollars or more in today's cull cow market. However, those high prices make it harder for producers to look forward and be willing participants in rebuilding their cattle herd- and as a result, the US cattle herd. Today's Beef Buzz segment looks at the "catch 22" that cattle producers
are in the middle of when it comes to selling their cows or retaining
females to rebuild their beef herd. | |
The Path to Prosperity Calls on House Ag Committee Members to Cut Farm Spending in Next Farm Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the 2012
GOP Budget Blueprint released by Congressman Paul Ryan, the Chair of the
House Budget Committee, calls on agriculture to accept serious cuts in
farm program spending with the writing of the 2012 farm bill. Ryan says
farmers seem to be doing well and believes they could make do with a lower
level of direct payments- he also spotlighted "the open ended nature of
the government's support for crop insurance." Ryan and his Committee
(which includes Oklahoma Freshman lawmaker James Lankford) say reforms in
these areas could save taxpayers about $30 billion over the next decade.
The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma says "I commend Chairman Ryan for taking the first serious step in reining in our deficit. Unfortunately, the President's budget made it clear the President is not ready to participate, much less lead, in dealing with this serious issue. The House Budget Committee has outlined a plan that may shock some, but this only illustrates the deep hole we are in. While I might not agree with every proposed cut, we are well past the point where trillion-dollar deficits can be ignored. I am glad that we are finally having a serious dialogue about our nation's fiscal crisis. As for the policy suggestions that Chairman Ryan or the President use to reach the numbers they put in their budgets, they are simply suggestions. At the end of the day, Members of the House Agriculture Committee and I will write the next farm bill." Click on the LINK below for a look at the full blueprint that Congressman Ryan released on Tuesday- which includes a heavy reliance on restructuring Medicare and Medicaid, as well as repealing last year's health care law. Click here for the House Budget Committee Report- "the Path to Prosperity." | |
Grass to Grid Bull Sale Coming Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Griswold
Cattle Company will be offering over 250 outstanding GCC genetics sons and
40 commercial bred heifers at the Jeff Bourquin sale facility in Follett,
TX.The Grass to Grid sale will be held at that location this Saturday, April 9. The Griswold strategy is to bring you the most powerful genetics known to the Maine Anjou, Angus, and Simmental seedstock world. Quality is the driving force behind our program with the foundation of solid cow families coupled with industry leading GCC sires to produce genetics known across the nation for being proven producers, pretty, powerful, and most importantly PROFITABLE. For more information call John Griswold at (405) 780-3300 or visit our calendar listing which has their website linked below. Click here for our listing for the Grass to Grid Sale this Saturday in Follett, Tx. | |
Farm Bureau Ladies Head for the Capitol Today- Cattle Grading Contest is Tomorrow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Farm
Bureau ladies are taking over the first floor in the Rotunda area of the
Oklahoma Capitol later this morning- getting ready for their annual
feeding of the Legislature and staff. The ladies are calling this annual
event their Farm City Festival- it gives them a chance to remind lawmakers
from the city and country alike of the importance of agriculture in the
state of Oklahoma.
Tomorrow is the opening day of the Southern Plains Farm Show at the state fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. One of the first events that will be held on Thursday morning is the annual cattle grading school at 9 AM, followed by a contest for 4-H and FFA youth- top prize will be the $2,000 Rick Jones Scholarship. Please note that the contest will be inside BARN 3 this year, to keep the animals and the contestants out of the wind that is expected on Thursday. Click on the LINK below for our schedule of all of the things going the next three days at this year's Southern Plains Farm Show. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and KIS Futures 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 $10.10
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $11.15 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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