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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Tuesday September 20, 2011 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- President Obama Demands $33 Billion Dollars in Ag and Conservation
Spending Cuts in His Deficit Reduction Proposal
-- Ag Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Pat Roberts Dislike
Obama's Debt Plan
-- Oklahoma Crop Weather Update - Storms Bring Mixed Results
-- Cotton Still Dealing with Heat and Low Yield Potential
-- Oklahoma Faces Historic Cattle Reduction Due to Drought
-- Cattle Feedlots Expected to Finish Year with Red Ink
-- Light Squared, Goober Talk and McAlester Replacement Sale
Coming
-- 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 proud to have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555- and their IPHONE App, which provides all electronic futures quotes is available at the App Store- click here for the KIS Futures App for your Iphone. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there by clicking here. 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. | |
President Obama Demands $33 Billion Dollars in Ag and Conservation Spending Cuts in His Deficit Reduction Proposal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President
Barack Obama has proposed a plan that the administration claims could
result in two trillion dollars of savings over the next decade. This is
accomplished by tax increases, budget cutting and some selloff of
government assets. Agriculture is seen as fertile ground for deficit reduction to the tune of almost $31 billion dollars over a ten year period- on top of that, conservation program savings are computed separately- expected savings in cutting conservation programs would total $2.148 billion dollars over the next ten years. Together, the Obama plan would cut $33.245 billion dollars out of agricultural and conservation spending within the federal budget. Interestingly enough, the White House has come out in favor of continuation of the so called SURE program- but no hint is given about the cost of doing so or how it will be paid for. SURE has no budget baseline and is not available to crops after the 2011 season- at least not right now. You might remember that early in the 2012 farm bill discussions- USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack indicated that the Administration would not submit a specific farm bill proposal to Congress- but they are awfully close to one with this proposal- elements of these ideas have have in previous Obama budget proposals and were a part of the discussions held between Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner this past summer. Here's the opening pitch on ag cuts made by the White House in their
Monday release: Eliminate direct payments Click here for more details on the cuts to agriculture in Obama's Plan | |
Ag Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Pat Roberts Dislike Obama's Debt Plan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S.
Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK), Chairman of the House Agriculture
Committee, and U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking Member of the
Senate Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement in response
to President Obama's debt plan."The agriculture community remains willing to do its part in getting our fiscal house in order, but, in essence, President Obama's plan for economic growth and deficit reduction is not credible. "The President's policy priorities reveal a lack of knowledge of
production agriculture and fail to recognize how wholesale changes to farm
policy would impact the people who feed us. For example, cutting $8
billion from the crop insurance program puts the entire program at risk.
We have heard again and again from producers that crop insurance is the
best risk management tool available. In jeopardizing this program, the
President turns a deaf ear to America's farmers." National Corn Growers Association also voiced their opinion on the
President's plan. President Bart Schott released the following statement
in response to President Obama's Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction
Plan: | |
Oklahoma Crop Weather Update - Storms Bring Mixed Results ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Crop Weather Update focuses on the scattered showers seen recently around
the state saying- "The week began with triple digit heat, as high as 109
degrees in Walters in the West Central district, but storms during the
latter half of the week brought cooler weather. Temperatures for the week
averaged in the upper 60s to lower 70s across the state. Rainfall was very
light in most of western Oklahoma, with a few isolated areas receiving
upwards of an inch, including 3.14 inches at Grandfield. The Northeast and
East Central districts both averaged more than an inch of rain with
several Mesonet locations recording two and three inches. Storms in Grant
County produced at least one tornado Saturday, with no injuries reported.
The coveted rainfall was only the beginning of what was needed to obtain
planting moisture for wheat, so producers continued waiting and weighing
their options for the fall. Livestock producers are also struggling as
they wait for more rain. The lack of hay and pasture coupled with low pond
levels forced operators to continue selling cattle."
For our fall-planted crops, the USDA says- "Seedbed preparations
continued as moisture allowed and a very small portion of wheat and canola
was planted this past week. Seedbed preparation for wheat ground was 63
percent complete by week's end, 14 points behind normal. Canola seedbed
preparation reached 75 percent complete by the end of the week, up eight
points from the previous week." When it comes to hay, production continued to be limited. Third cuttings of alfalfa were 48 percent complete, 52 points behind normal. A second cutting of other hay reached 49 percent complete by Sunday, 19 points behind the five-year average. Click here for the complete Crop Weather Update for Monday, September 19, 2011 | |
Cotton Still Dealing with Heat and Low Yield Potential ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The extreme
heat wave across Oklahoma for a majority of 2011 finally broke on
September 4, however there are some areas of the state still in the 100
degree category. Altus is on the verge of having 100 days of 100 degrees,
while Grandfield already broke that record earlier this year. And the
cotton crops in southwestern Okahoma are still suffering from these high
temperatures.Many of the fields that have been surveyed over the past two weeks show that irrigated cotton will yield less than desired. Some cotton producers are still running pivots in late planted or replanted fields in attempts to make harvestable bolls from blooms that were set after September 1, which can be risky in southwestern Oklahoma. Also, many irrigated fields have some open cotton at this time. When it comes to crop insurance, producers need to be meeting with crop insurance adjusters to obtain yield determination as soon as possible. The accepted date for moving from the stand count adjustment method to the boll count method has already passed on September 15. A large number of irrigated fields may also be lost to low yield potential. After crop insurance has released a field because of low yield potential, producers should consider terminating their cotton crop with a high dose rate of paraquat or shredding to allow for crop residue to remain on the field. This will provide a potential to reduce wind erosion. Click here for more on cotton and the latest edition of the Cotton Comments Newsletter | |
Oklahoma Faces Historic Cattle Reduction Due to Drought ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite the
fact that the last year has been the driest on record, the drought in
Oklahoma seems to have had surprisingly large impacts very quickly. It is
the nature of this drought that makes it so devastating. According to Dr.
Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing
Specialist, most droughts affect part of a year but rarely the entire
year. A typical summer drought evolves after, at least some forage growth
and hay production has taken place. The drought comes on rather slowly and
producers have more time to see and react to the evolving situation.
This drought has largely wiped out an entire year and popped out very suddenly and dramatically after a dry winter that emerged into a complete lack of spring. The result was sharp decreases in summer production of crops and forage and a nearly immediate need to begin reducing cattle numbers in Oklahoma. Given data and information available in mid-September, Table 1, which can be found by following the link below, presents my estimates for Oklahoma Cattle inventories on January 1, 2012. Oklahoma is heavily dependent on the stocker industry, especially winter stockers grazing wheat pasture. Dry conditions in the fall of 2010 sharply reduced winter grazing in the 2010/2011 period and there is little prospect of winter grazing for the 2011/2012 period. Oklahoma typically imports a significant number of stocker cattle from other states with the result that the estimated January 1 feeder supply for the state is usually the second largest in the nation and represents about 44 percent of the Oklahoma All Cattle and Calves inventory on January 1. This stocker proportion is higher than for any other state which means that the drought impact on the All Cattle and Calves inventory will be greater for Oklahoma than for any other state. Oklahoma will not be an importer of stocker cattle this year and will, in fact, be a significant exporter of stocker cattle based on the sizeable calf crop produced in the state. A 27 percent decrease in total cattle numbers will be, by far, the largest year to year decrease in the history of cattle in Oklahoma. Click here for more from Dr. Peel on Oklahoma cattle inventories | |
Cattle Feedlots Expected to Finish Year with Red Ink ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The cash
cattle prices in feedlot country are close to the highs of 2011 right now.
Lately $1.17 to $1.18 per 100 weight is being paid, however, even at these
levels we are still losing quite a bit of money. According to Erica
Rosa-Sanko of the Livestock Market Information Center in Denver, we are
going to continue to see the red ink of losses until the end of this
calendar year. For the balance for the year, Rosa-Sanko says it will definitely be in the red given where corn prices are headed as well as all remaining other production costs involved, which are also increasing. Rosa-Sanko says for the Livestock Market Information Center, the estimation for the August profit and loss or returns to cattle feeders is a loss of $164 per head, which is slightly below the $167 loss per head in July, but is still very deep in the red. Rosa-Sanko adds that as the Livestock Market Information Center prepares for the end of the year balance, they expect returns to stay in the red but to decline some or improve so there will not be as big of losses that were seen this summer. Overall, they are looking to breakeven in the mid to high $120 per 100 weight range, which Rosa-Sanko is pretty high depending on where corn prices end up. Rosa-Sanko says that for the year, profit and loss cattle feeding
sectors in the Southern Plains on Livestock Market Information Center
estimates can expect about an $80 to $85 loss per head. Click here to listen to Erica Rosa-Sanko and more on cattle feedlots | |
Light Squared, Goober Talk and McAlester Replacement Sale Coming ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While we have
heard about the controversy for quite some time and the potential
disruption to GPS that the wireless broadband provider LightSquared could
bring- the whole conversation has been elevated with charges that the
company has been in bed with the White House and that the military was
supposedly pressured to give testimony that would have downplayed GPS
interference concerns. You can read and see a video on this latest blow up
over LightSquared from Fox News- click
here for that. Precision agriculture proponents have beat the drum of
concern about the problems those using GPS for this application- we have
gone back a couple of months and have a letter on this subject sent to the
FCC by the National Ag Aviation Association- Click
here to see that letter to get a feel of the arguments from a "down on
the farm" perspective. Of course, it is in rural America's interest to see wireless broadband succeed- as that would bring much more reliable and faster internet service to millions in underserved areas- but the problems with GPS are real and have yet to be ironed out. Our friend Mike Kubicek of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission reminds us of that group's efforts at the 2011 State Fair of Oklahoma that comes up on Wednesday- Mike tells us that "tomorrow, Cooking with Peanuts, State Fair Contest will be happening at 2pm in the Creative Arts Bldg. We'll have a great time talking peanuts to the participants & audience. May even show them what a "peanut farmer" looks like!" The McAlester Union Stockyards Special Replacement Cow & Bull Sale is scheduled for Saturday, September 24th, beginning at noon. It appears some good looking ladies will be at the sale barn that day- several groups of proven beef cows that are from 4 to 7 years old- in some cases with a calf by side. There will also be a good number of purebred and crossbred bullls for you to consider as well. Click here for our auction listing of this sale coming up this Saturday at the McAlester Union Stockyards- you can see a detailed listing of many of the lots that will be available to bid on at this link. | |
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 $12.65
per bushel, while the 2012 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available
are $12.68 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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