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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.
Let's Check the
Markets!
Today's
First Look:
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.
Okla
Cash Grain:
Daily
Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- as reported
by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture.
Canola
Prices:
Current
cash price for Canola is $11.34 per bushel-
2012
New Crop contracts for Canola are now available at
$11.50 per bushel- delivered to local
participating elevators that are working with PCOM.
Futures
Wrap:
Our
Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio
Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler-
analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day.
KCBT
Recap:
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two
Pager from the Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all
three U.S. Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on
Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's
market.
Feeder
Cattle Recap:
The
National Daily Feeder & Stocker
Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Slaughter
Cattle Recap:
The
National Daily Slaughter Cattle
Summary- as prepared by the USDA.
TCFA
Feedlot Recap:
Finally,
here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from
the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.
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Oklahoma's
Latest Farm and Ranch News
Your
Update from Ron Hays of RON
Wednesday,
December 21, 2011
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Howdy
Neighbors!
Here is your daily Oklahoma farm and ranch
news update.
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Featured
Story:
HumaneWatch
Runs TV Ad Targeting HSUS Fundraising
Tactics
Just
in time for the holiday giving season,
HumaneWatch.org, a project of the Center for
Consumer Freedom (CCF), is issuing a consumer
alert reminding Americans to be wary of the
deceptive fundraising practices of the Humane
Society of the United States (HSUS). The ad,
airing nationally on television beginning Dec. 14,
highlights HSUS's duplicitous fundraising
practices as the vast majority of their
fundraising commercials feature dogs and cats, yet
only 1% of the money HSUS raises from the public
goes to local, hands-on pet shelters. The ad also
encourages Americans to give directly to their
local pet shelters to make the greatest impact in
their
community. The
ad comes in conjunction with a new analysis of
HSUS's recent television ads, which determined
that the group's television fundraising appeals
perpetuate the misperception that HSUS is an
organization that primarily supports pet shelters.
Specifically, CCF examined 28 separate HSUS
television appeals that ran from January 2009
through September 2011, identified by the Campaign
Media Analysis Group (CMAG), and discovered that
more than 85% of the animals shown in the ads were
dogs and cats despite very little of HSUS's budget
going to pet
shelters. "HSUS
uses emotionally manipulative ads to raise money
on the backs of abandoned and abused dogs and
cats, yet it gives just one penny of each dollar
it raises to local pet shelters," said CCF Senior
Research Analyst J. Justin Wilson.
"HumaneWatch.org wants to ensure that donations go
to support the cause donors intend. If they want
their dollars to aid cats and dogs in their
community they should give directly to local pet
shelters instead of inadvertently bankrolling
HSUS's aggressive animal rights
agenda." According
to recent public polling performed by ORC
International, 71% of Americans mistakenly believe
that HSUS is a pet shelter umbrella group and 68%
wrongly believe that HSUS gives most of its money
to local pet shelters.
Click here for a link to watch the
new TV ad by
HumaneWatch.org. |
Sponsor
Spotlight
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 website to learn more about their
efforts to serve rural America!
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. |
Canola
TV - Canola Crushing Wraps Up 2011 Canola
Crop
In
the latest edition of Canola TV, we talk with Gene
Neuens of PCOM about the 2011 canola crop and how
the crop is holding up as the year comes to a
close. Neuens says that Oklahoma had a fair crop
for 2011 despite some weather difficulties such as
drought and even cold weather.
The oilseed
content was down to about 38-39% says Neuens,
while the oil content has been running about 42%
usually. Overall, Neuens says the canola crushing
was good and they will be crushing canola all
throughout the winter months. Neuens adds that
learning how to crush canola has been a beneficial
process because this year PCOM is crushing a lot
more canola than cottonseed because of the drought
reduced cotton crop of 2011 in the southern
plains.
Compared to wheat, Neuens says he
predicts the prices of canola to be fairly steady
and wheat prices to go down a little due to the
large amount of carryover. The price of canola
throughout 2011 was a fairly consistent and decent
price and Neuens predicts that to
continue.
Click here to watch our newest
edition of Canola TV with Gene
Neuens. |
Oklahoma
Board of Equalization Estimating $6.5 Billion
Budget Number for Coming Fiscal Year- Flat is
Good
The
seven member Oklahoma Board of Equalization
has certified preliminary revenue figures
that show lawmakers will have an estimated $6.5
billion to spend on next year's budget- Fiscal
Year 2013- that begins July 1, 2012.
The
amount certified by the Board of Equalization on
Tuesday is roughly the same that they spent last
year. However, the budget estimate for this coming
fiscal year looks far better than just two years
ago when that body was guessing that Oklahoma
lawmakers would have $4.4 billion of state
revenues to build a budget on for Fiscal Yer 2011.
Federal One Time funds helped that year
dramatically and to a lesser extent in the current
Fiscal Year.
After
word came from the Board of Equalization- Governor
Mary Fallin offered the following statement-
"The numbers certified by the Board of
Equalization today indicate that tax revenues are
increasing as Oklahoma's economy continues its
rebound from the national recession. That's the
good news. The loss of one time funding sources,
however, means the state is currently facing an
estimated budget shortfall of $150 million. While
that number may change, the bottom line is that
next year's budget will be flat at best. Moving
into 2013, state agencies should redouble their
modernization and efficiency efforts to ensure
they are maximizing the value of their
appropriated funds and saving taxpayer dollars."
State House Speaker Kris Steele of Shawnee
also looked at the announcement in a "glass half
full" way- "It shows what we've expected,
and that is to prepare for a relatively flat
budget. The encouraging takeaway is Oklahoma's
strong, growing economy has helped lead to a
positive state revenue rebound, so we're going to
keep doing our part at the Legislature to promote
pro-growth policies, seek tax relief and manage
state resources in a fiscally conservative way. If
these figures are any indication, the path we're
on is the right one."
Click here for the final
Board of Equalization numbers issued last June for
Fiscal Year 2012 that the state of Oklahoma has
been operating on since July one of this
year.
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OSU's
Dr. Derrell Peel Advises Cattle Producers How to
Prepare for 2012
The
drought and extreme weather of 2011 added on a lot
of additional pressure to cattle producers in the
state of Oklahoma. With a lot of cattle
liquidation and even some uncertainty, cattle
producers are beginning to prepare for the 2012
year. Dr. Derrell Peel, OSU Extension Livestock
Market Economist, offers some advice.
Peel
says that obviously, producers need to keep
watching the drought conditions, particularly into
next spring, to see if it is going to allow
producers to operate a little more normally when
it comes to forage production. However, Dr. Peel
adds that there are a few things that are
generally going to be true in 2012.
The
first is that prices are going to generally be
good, certainly for any kind of feeder cattle,
whether it is light weight calves or heavier
weight feeder cattle says Peel. The other general
factor says Peel is the fact that even with these
high priced feeder cattle, there is a good
opportunity for some decent value of gain for
stocker producers.
Click here to listen to our Beef Buzz
with Dr. Peel on gearing up for
2012. |
Better
Wheat Pasture Conditions May Moderate Oklahoma
Cattle Losses
The
current climate forecast is for drought conditions
to persist this winter across central and western
Oklahoma. According to Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma
State University Extension Livestock Marketing
Specialist, though future conditions are
uncertain, widespread and persistent rain in
November was ideal for establishment and growth on
winter wheat. The result has been more winter
wheat than anyone thought possible at the end of
October.
However,
it must be remembered that the amount of wheat
pasture is still below normal. Many pastures have
a minimal amount of forage for grazing and look
more like what they would a month earlier in a
more typical year. Depending on winter weather
these pastures may or may not see much additional
forage growth before February.
Nevertheless, the available wheat pasture
fueled a brief feeder cattle market boom after
Thanksgiving that saw prices in Oklahoma jump
$10-$12/cwt for stocker cattle as local demand
pushed against smaller than normal volumes. The
boom lasted about two weeks as producers picked up
a few stockers to take advantage of the unexpected
wheat pasture. Prices have dropped this last week
but are still $8-$10/cwt. higher than November for
light stockers while heavy feeders are $1-$3/cwt.
higher than a month ago. In other situations, the
wheat pasture is being used to provide forage for
cows and replacement heifers. Many producers have
minimal supplies of forage, often of marginal
quality and the high quality wheat pasture
provides critical nutritional supplies for
cow-calf operations.
Click here for more from Dr. Peel on
wheat pasture
conditions. |
RFA
Seeks Answers in 2012 Renewable Fuel Standard
Delay
The
Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) wrote to
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator Lisa Jackson seeking an explanation
for the delay in releasing the 2012 Renewable Fuel
Standard (RFS) requirements. According to statute,
volume requirements for the coming compliance year
were due by November 30th.
A portion of
the letter from RFA President and CEO Bob
Dinneen to Administrator Jackson is listed
below:
"With fewer than two weeks remaining
before a new compliance year is set to begin under
the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), it is
concerning that EPA has thus far failed to
announce the volume requirements for 2012 as
dictated by the law. Equally concerning is the
failure to provide renewable fuel providers and
obligated parties under the RFS any explanation
for the delay beyond the November 30th deadline
set forth by the statute."
Click here for a complete copy of the
letter sent to Administrator
Jackson. |
This
and That- Snow Blankets Exceptional Drought Zone-
& Oklahoma Ag Leadership Alums Reminded to Get
Some Skin in the Game
The
Oklahoma Panhandle got
significant amounts of snow- and the hope is it
that it won't all blow into Colorado and Kansas.
The word from the Amarillo National Weather
Service office is that Kenton topped snow fall
amounts in their region- with 15 inches of the
white stuff, while Boise City ended up with a foot
of snow- Guymon six inches and Beaver with five
inches. Click here for further NWS data of
the Snow Fall totals from the Oklahoma and
Texas Panhandles through yesterday
evening.
For
alumni of the Oklahoma Agriculture
Leadership Program, there is still time
to contribute to the $20,000 Noble Foundation
Challenge Grant. To date, 59 alumni have
sent in their contributions but Director Edmond
Bonjour reports that OALP is still short of
meeting the goal. He asks that alums of the
program to "join your fellow alumni in
helping us meet the challenge. All
contributions must be post-marked by Dec. 31 and
checks should be made payable to "OSU
Foundation/OALP" and sent to 321 Wes Watkins
Center, Stillwater, OK 74078." Edmond tells
us that Classes X and XIV are currently tied
for the lead followed closely by Classes IV and
VIII in the numbers of alums from those classes
who have contributed any amount to the Noble
Challenge Grant. To learn more about the OALP- you can click here
for their OSU based website.
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God Bless!
You can reach us at the following:
phone: 405-473-6144
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