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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Lots of details to come- but USDA says it will look a lot like previous ID programs for some previous animal diseases that have been mostly eliminated from the cattle and hog herds in the US- and it will apparently use low cost simple ear tags that will cost pennies per animal instead of the high tech options of electronic ear tags and readers that could cost several dollars per animal.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association responded to the announcement from Friday- new President of the group, Steve Foglesong of Illinois, says "The plan appears to lay the foundation for a flexible approach to animal disease traceability, including greater state-involvement and choices in the use of technology.
“We encourage USDA to work closely with producers in the development of the framework moving forward. It's important that the system is workable for producers, and accomplishes the goal of increased animal surveillance by enabling state and federal animal health officials to respond rapidly and effectively to animal health emergencies.”

There are a lot of questions- and several folks that join us today on the Beef Buzz raise those questions- and say it will take a long time to sort all of this out- further delaying any chance of having a national animal disease traceback system that works. Click on our link below and you will hear a custom "online" version of the Beef Buzz today with extra audio comments above and beyond what we shared with our Monday radio audience.

Click here for more on the move by USDA to dump NAIS.

A major reason for optimism, Adams said, is that after seven months of the 2009 marketing year, it is increasingly clear that global cotton stocks will see their first substantial decline since the 2002 marketing year, and the estimated stock reduction of 9.4 million bales would be the largest single-year drawdown since 1986. Projected 2009 global mill use of 114.6 million bales- 3.1 percent higher than 2008, and ending stocks of 51.5 million bales would result in a global stocks-to-use ratio of 45 percent.

Click on our link below for more from Gary Adams on the outlook for the cotton industry in the US- and we have a link in our story for his full presentation made in Memphis this past Friday.

Click here for more on the improving economic outlook for the US Cotton Industry as described by Gary Adams of the NCC

Assuming an average abandonment rate of 11.5 percent, total upland and ELS harvested area would be about 8.9 million acres. Applying state-level yield assumptions to projected harvested acres generates a cotton crop of 15.5 million bales, compared to 2009's total production of 12.4 million bales. Assuming average seed-to-lint ratios, 2010 cottonseed production is projected at 5.2 million tons, up 1 million from last year at 4.2 million.

Based on survey results, all four production regions show intended upland cotton planting increases from last year. The West shows the largest percentage expansion of 26.6 percent; however, the largest acreage increase is in the Southwest at 475,000 or up 9.1 percent. The two other regions, the Southeast and the Mid-South, indicate rises of 12.2 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

Click on the link below for the full story- and a chart of the acreage predictions coming from this survey by the National Cotton Council for 2010 plantings.

Click here for more on the acreage estimates from the National Cotton Council for 2010 US cotton plantings.

The report from Tyson indicates that all operating segments were profitable, with three above their normalized ranges. Tyson has major operations in the poultry, pork and beef markets.
Operating efficiencies for beef and pork were cited as positives, and lower grain costs were welcomed in their poultry division.

Click on the link below for more on the results of the first quarter- as well as the insights provided by Tyson about what they see ahead for the poultry, pork and beef markets in 2010. It makes for good reading.

Click here for more on Tyson making money in their first quarter of the new fiscal year.

The estimated supply of feeder cattle outside of feedlots in Oklahoma on January 1 was 2.37 million head, down slightly from 2.39 million head last year. The 10 year average of the last decade is 2.32 million head of feeder cattle in Oklahoma on January 1. Oklahoma continues to receive a higher share of stocker cattle despite the fact that total feeder supplies in the U.S. are at record low levels.

One measure of stocker cattle production by state is to compare the estimated feeder supply to the calf crop of the previous year. The 2010 ratio of feeder supply to calf crop in Oklahoma was 1.25 indicating that the state is a significant net importer of stocker cattle. In fact, Oklahoma had the highest stocker ratio of any state this year. Other states are significant net exporters of stocker cattle including, for example, Montana, which had the lowest stocker ratio of any state at 0.42. The large stocker ratio for Oklahoma illustrates, in part, the importance of the winter grazing that occurs in the Southern Plains. The USDA reported an estimated 1.92 million head of cattle grazing small grain pasture in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, up 16 percent from one year ago.

Oklahoma's total cattle inventory on January 1, 2010 was 5.45 million head, the highest level since 1996 and growing despite the fact that total U.S. numbers continue to decline. The cow-calf and stocker sectors, along with cattle feeding, continue to be a very important component of Oklahoma agriculture and are generally growing relative to other states.

Also on the agenda this week- the quarterly board meeting of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, the regular monthly Board meeting of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, the Kay and Noble County Women in Agriculture Conference on Thursday and the American Farmers & Ranchers Annual Convention this coming Friday and Saturday. Details on all of these events and others for the next several weeks are to be found on our Calendar page at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- we have it linked below.

Looking into March, we have added a bunch of events in recent days- including lots of info on the Oklahoma Youth Expo- again available on the link below.
Be sure to let us know about events that you think should be on our daily calendar pages- we want to have the most comprehensive listing of meetings and events that are of importance to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers- so we are always delighted to hear from you! There is an email link for Ron Hays at the bottom of this email update- just click on that and we will look forward to hearing from you!

Click here for the Calendar pages found at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Resflor Gold is a fever-reducing, bacteria-killing, fast-acting, one-time treatment for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) It offers simultaneous control of bacterial infection and pyrexia , reduces fever that can cause depression and appetite loss. It also controls bacterial growth that leads to the release of bacterial toxins which cause lung damage.

Dr. Joe Roder of Intervet Schering Plough talked with us on the Beef Buzz this past Friday about both RESFLOR GOLD and NUFLOR GOLD now being available to help in the battle against BRD. We did not have the chance to share that with you on Friday in the email update- but wanted to do so this morning. If you have concerns about BRD- and want to get ahead of it this winter and spring in your cattle herd- you may want to click on this Buzz and listen to Dr. Roder, who by the way, is an OSU grad.

Click here for more on the advantages of these new procuts in battling BRD.

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.