Peterson Blasts House Leadership for Refusal to Debate Farm Bill- Lucas Looking at Options 

U.S. House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., made the following statement after House Republican leaders outlined next week's floor schedule, which does not include the farm bill. This leaves only four legislative days to consider the bill before Congress adjourns for their August recess.

"There is no excuse not to bring the farm bill to the floor. We've wasted the last two weeks on political messaging bills that are going nowhere. If the House Republican Leadership were serious about creating jobs and growing our economy they would bring up this bill. There is no good reason to put one of our nation's economic bright spots, the rural economy, at risk.

"The House Agriculture Committee passed a strong, bipartisan farm bill and we need to continue moving forward so we can resolve our differences with the Senate and get a bill to the President's desk before the current bill expires September 30. I remain hopeful we'll find a way to finish our work but time is running out."   

The Chairman of the Committee, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas, was in Panama City Beach, Florida over the weekend at the Southern Peanut Growers summer conference- we have comments from Chairman Lucas in our Monday morning Farm and Ranch news as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- he says he is "spending time" with both Speaker John Boehner as well as with Majority Leader Eric Cantor about getting floor time- and that while he would prefer regular order- that any other option out there that could result in a farm bill getting done this year is being explored. Click here to listen to our morning farm news and hear Chairman Lucas on finding a way across the finish line.  

U.S. Cattle On Feed Up Two Percent 

The latest USDA Cattle on Feed report showed the "On Feed" number at 102 percent of year ago levels, less than the trade had estimated. Placements came in at 98 percent of year ago levels, slightly less than what the trade estimated. Marketings came in one percent above trade estimates at 94 percent. The overall report is looked on as neutral with very little impact on the markets. 

United States Cattle on Feed Up was up three percent. Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on July 1, 2012. The inventory was three percent above July 1, 2011. The inventory included 6.74 million steers and steer calves, up four percent from the previous year. This group accounted for 63 percent of the total inventory. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 3.92 million head, up one percent from 2011.

Placements in feedlots during June totaled 1.66 million, two percent below 2011. Net placements were 1.60 million head. During June, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 460,000, 600-699 pounds were 320,000, 700-799 pounds were 390,000, and 800 pounds and greater were 494,000.

You can hear Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities break down all the numbers and give his take on how they will affect the markets. Just click here.
 

OCA Executive Director Compares Current Drought with 2011, Previews Upcoming Convention

As the 2012 drought continues to worsen across Oklahoma and a large part of the Midwest, Scott Dewald, executive director of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, compared it to last year's catastrophe for the state's cattle producers. In some areas, he told us during a recent interview, some producers are not being hurt as badly as last year, while others are seeing a continuation of the hardships of last year's drought. All in all, he says, many of his organization's members remain cautious and in "drought management mode."

"While we were at the epicenter last year, if you consider far western Oklahoma and you look at the northeast corner of the state of Oklahoma, they never came out of it. Those guys continue to be dry and so they've suffered drought conditions where the middle two-thirds of the state of Oklahoma experienced some good rains early this year. We grew a lot of hay; put a lot of hay up. And, so, some hay's been put in the barn.

He says the demand for that hay is not as high this year because, "we've already, and I hate to use the term, but we've liquidated a lot of those cows, so there are fewer mouths to feed."

Even with fewer mouths to feed, Dewald says producers are likely to see their feeding costs continue to rise due to the hot dry weather across the corn belt. 

Click here for more of our conversation with Scott Dewald and a link to the agenda for the OCA annual convention.

USDA Announces Sign-Up Date for Highly Erodible Land Initiative under the Conservation Reserve Program

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin sign-up for the Highly Erodible Land Initiative under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on July 23, 2012. The purpose of this initiative, announced by Secretary Vilsack in February, is to protect up to 750,000 acres of the nation's most highly erodible croplands. Producers may enroll at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office. Enrollment will continue until the 750,000 acre limit has been met.

"CRP is an important program with more than 25 years of success in protecting the nation's natural resources through voluntary participation," said Vilsack. "We are excited to include this new initiative that targets the most fragile cropland, in addition to other targeted initiatives that are currently available under the CRP."

CRP is a voluntary program designed to help farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers protect their environmentally sensitive land. Currently, 29.6 million acres are enrolled in CRP. Through this Highly Erodible Land Initiative, eligible landowners receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible cropland for a period of 10 years. Croplands with an erodibility Index of 20 or greater are eligible for enrollment.

For more on this story, click here.

American Farmland Trust States Case For Mandatory Conservation Compliance on Crop and Income Insurance

Three U.S. agriculture leaders held a briefing for Congress on Capitol Hill today to support attaching conservation compliance to crop and income insurance in the farm bill -- a measure that would save taxpayer money, protect against soil erosion and conserve natural resources.

Conservation compliance, which is not tied to the crop or income insurance premium subsidies American farmers enjoy, restricts participation by farmers on highly erodible land in any other farm payment programs unless the farmer agrees to maintain soil loss below a basic, good stewardship level.

Jon Scholl, President American Farmland Trust says:

* Conservation compliance is a highly effective tool in protecting soil and wetlands. The USDA Economic Research Service reports that in the past 25 years, conservation compliance has reduced annual erosion on our most vulnerable soils by 40 percent. Conservation compliance has also been a major factor in achieving the goal of no-net-loss of wetlands on farms.

* We are at risk of effectively losing compliance. Since compliance was removed from crop insurance in 1996, making crop insurance the centerpiece of the safety net will reduce the incentive for farmers to continue following their conservation plans -- putting soil and wetlands in jeopardy. This must not happen.

Click here for more of the American Farmland Trust's take on the conservation compliance issue.

Canola TV Previews OSU-KSU Canola Conferences on July 26 and July 31

Farmers in central and southwestern Oklahoma are invited to attend the eighth annual Oklahoma-Kansas winter canola conferences. The first conference will be held July 26 at the Hoover Building at the fairgrounds in Enid. Another conference with the same information available will be held July 31 at Western Oklahoma State College in Altus. 

Discussion topics will include the economics of wheat and canola rotation, winter canola varieties available for farmers to grow along with insect and disease control and fertilization methods concentrating on in-furrow applications and pH effects.

Crop insurance, industry updates and the perspective of growing winter canola from grain handlers are other subjects to be explored at each conference. 

We talked with Gene Neuens of PCOM about these meetings planned for Thursday of this week and Tuesday of next week- and you can learn more about them by clicking here and jumping over to this latest episode of Canola TV.

Canola TV is a service of PCOM, and you can also check out our Canola TV YouTube channel for the many previous reports that offer lots of information on how to produce winter canola here in  Oklahoma and across the southern plains.  

Good Management Can Reduce Incidence of Heat Stress in Cattle

Understanding and avoiding heat stress in cattle can be a valuable management tool in Oklahoma, where most areas of the state experience 70 or more days each year with temperatures that exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Cattle have an upper critical temperature that is approximately 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than humans," said Greg Highfill, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension area livestock specialist. "When we're uncomfortable at 80 degrees and feel hot at 90 degrees, cattle may well be in the danger zone for extreme heat stress."

The potentially bad news does not end there. Humidity is an additional stress that intensifies ambient temperature problems by making body heat dissipation more difficult. In other words, it can be tough to cool off in Oklahoma during the summer, for people and cattle. 

Click here for more information on dealing with heat stress in cattle.