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!

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"Through the past two years, I have listened carefully to stakeholders throughout the country about how to reach effective animal disease traceability in a transparent manner without additional burden," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "We are proposing a flexible approach in which states and tribes can develop systems for tracing animals that work best for them and for producers in their jurisdiction. This approach offers great flexibility at the state and local level and addresses gaps in our disease response efforts."

Under the proposed rule, unless specifically exempted, livestock moved interstate would have to be officially identified and accompanied by an interstate certificate of veterinary inspection or other documentation, such as owner-shipper statements or brand certificates. The proposed rule encourages the use of low-cost technology and specifies approved forms of official identification for each species, such as metal eartags for cattle. However, recognizing the importance and prevalence of other identifications in certain regions, shipping and receiving states or tribes are permitted to agree upon alternative forms of identification such as brands or tattoos.

Click here to listen to our overview with Secretary Vilsack on the proposed animal traceability rule- as well as to get the additional links to read the full proposed rule.

The reactions and comments from the Livestock Marketing Association, R-CALF USA, National Cattlement's Beef Association, National Farmers Union and National Pork Producers Council can be found below.

Livestock Marketing Association
Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) will be carefully reviewing USDA's proposed rule, released today and to be published in the Federal Register Aug. 11, to determine if it meets the markets' expectations: that it is practical, workable and the most cost-effective ID/traceability plan possible for their businesses, their customers, and all segments of the U.S. cattle industry.

R-CALF USA
"The proposed rule, expected to be published in tomorrow's Federal Register, not only spurns the U.S. livestock industries key recommendations regarding the hot-iron brand and younger cattle, but also, it snubs the critical recommendation by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's own Advisory Committee on Animal Health, which urged the Secretary to provide at least a 120-day public comment period for the proposed rule. Instead, Vilsack is only providing a 90-day public comment period," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard.

National Cattlemen's Beef Association
"Cattlemen's top priority is raising healthy cattle. As such, NCBA is supportive of an ADT program for cattle health purposes. That is why NCBA has been an industry leader working diligently with other cattle groups and USDA's APHIS to ensure cattlemen's concerns are addressed in a new ADT program."

National Farmers Union
"The proposed rule USDA revealed today is a step in the right direction for animal disease traceability. We recognize that this will not prevent disease, but it does create a systematic approach to allow for swift response when there are issues."

National Pork Producers Council
NPPC is pleased with today's announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that the long anticipated proposed animal traceability rule will be published for comment in the Federal Register on August 10, 2011. This is a significant step in formalizing an animal traceability program and the pork industry is grateful for USDA's effort.

Click here to read the full reactions from these organizations

"I really like cotton," he said, "it is the only crop you can make any money on."

Stephenson will harvest a lot less cotton this year, he said. "Extreme dry weather left us with only two locations totalling 480 acres where the cotton will be worth harvesting, " he said. "And what happened is really strange. My best cotton is located in two different counties and covers the same acreage at both locations. To make it even stranger, there are three different fields planted to three different cotton varieties."

"Here in Dewey County, only four inches of rain has fallen on this field since November, 2010," he said. "I planted FiberMax 1740 B2F here May 4 this year."

The other fields were planted this year with DeltaPine 0912 B2RF and 0924 B2RF varieties, he said. All of the cotton was planted no-till in wheat stubble, he said. In 2010, he planted DeltaPine 104 B2RF and 0924 B2RF. All of these varieties are Roundup Ready helping the farmer with weed control and bollgard to combat plant diseases and insects.

Click here to read more about current cotton stands in Oklahoma

I was interested to see how cropland soil moisture compares to a nearby Mesonet site. Therefore, we collected soil samples to a depth of 4ft at OSU's Lake Carl Blackwell farm located approximately 15 miles west of Stillwater. Samples were collected from soils under a standing corn crop, wheat stubble, stubble invested with weeds (primarily crabgrass) and from the nearby Mesonet station.

As expected the greatest amount of soil moisture was found below the wheat stubble. Much of this stored water is in the surface 16 inches of soil, especially when compared to the weed infested soil. The soil under the standing corn had the least soil moisture and was nearly identical to that found at the Mesonet station under permanent grass. Calculating the total volume of water in each of these situations we find 9.2, 8.3, 6.6, and 6.8 inches in the wheat stubble, weed invested, corn, and Mesonet soils, respectively. Although the difference between the weed invested soil and the clean stubble is only 1 inch of water, notice that the water is distributed near the surface in the wheat stubble were it is more easily available for crop utilization. Also realize that 1 inch of water transpired through a wheat crop will produce 5 bushels, making the difference in the amount of water found in the wheat stubble vs the corn equivalent to 12 bushels of wheat.

Click here for more from Jason Warren on subsoil moisture conditions

"The remarkable growth in farmers markets is an excellent indicator of the staying power of local and regional foods," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "These outlets provide economic benefits for producers to grow their businesses and also to communities by providing increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other foods. In short, they are a critical ingredient in our nation's food system."

Updated market listings were submitted to USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service by farmers market managers on a voluntary, self-reported basis between April 18 and June 24, 2011, as part of USDA's annual outreach effort. USDA invited market managers to submit desired changes in their market's Directory profile as well as new market listings. Information in the Directory is also continually updated throughout the year in response to incoming requests.

Click here to see a list of the top 10 states with most growth in farmers markets

Below's unique "omission plots" allowed him and his team to see the bushel impact when an individual "high tech" practice or input was added or subtracted, then compare it to other plots in which all "high tech" actions were in place in same plot. Replicated in various locations over various years, the results allowed Below to identify and rank those seven factors with the greatest impact on corn yield.

The new 7WondersOfCorn.com website features separate video segments dedicated to each Wonder, narrated by Below himself; a "News" section about Below's real-world plots at the upcoming Farm Progress Show; a link to the 7WondersOfCorn Facebook page where growers can share their own photos and experiences; is easily navigable.

Click here to see the new 7 Wonders of Corn website

There are several legendary Angus herds who will be holding production sales at the end of the month- including the Pollard Farms who will be hosting their 14th Annual Production sale of top females on Sunday, August 28th at the farm in Waukomis. The sale offering will include Donor Dams, Heifer Calf Pregnancies, Spring E.T. Heifer Calf Prospects, Fall E.T. Yearling Heifers, Spring Bred Heifers, Spring Pairs and Fall Bred Cows & Heifers. Click here for more information and links both to the online sales catalog as well as the Pollard Farms website.

As we mentioned- lotsa of other events are on our August calendar- Congressional town hall meetings, Farm Bureau August Area Meetings and many other informational as well as fun events to check out- click here for our calendar pages- and remember- you can find our calendar on our website by clicking on the calendar button on the left hand side of any page on our site. ALSO- email us your calendar items and we will get them included.

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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
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.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices: As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.