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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Tuesday March 23, 2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- HB 3202 Clears Another Hurdle at State Capitol
-- Grand Champions Lead the Sale of Champions at Oklahoma Youth
Expo
-- NCBA Responds to Groups Having Concerns Over Restructuring Plan
with Their Own Letter to USDA's Vilsack
-- Wheat Crop in Three Southern Plains States in Mostly Good
Condition
-- Canola Crop Looking Strong- But Some Worries are Surfacing on Bug
Pressures
-- Farm Bureau's Scott Bulling Worries About Federal Crop Insurance
Budget Cuts
-- Higher Quality Grades Here to Stay - So Says Larry Meadoes of
USDA's Market Grading Service
-- 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. 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. If you have received this by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here. | |
HB 3202 Clears Another Hurdle at State Capitol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Monday, the
Oklahoma State Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee heard,
considered and approved House Bill 3202 by a ten to nothing vote. This
language that came from the State House is the compromise that has been
agreed to on both sides in what has been called the "teeth floating"
debate.
The measure cleared the full House a couple of weeks ago by a 71 to 25 margin, with the emergency clause that would make it law as soon as the Governor signs it passing 69 to 26. HB3202 amends the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act by explicitly stating that it does not prohibit animal husbandry, teeth floating or farriery. The measure offers a definition of teeth floating as "the removal of
enamel points and the smoothing, contouring and leveling of dental arcades
and incisors, and the extraction of molars and deciduous and vesitgal
teeth of bovine, equine, porcine and other farm animals. It does not
include dental procedures on canines and felines." It is anticipated that the measure will have little trouble in passing the Senate- no time frame is currently known on when a Senate floor vote may occur. Click here for the complete text of HB 3202 as now working its way through the Senate | |
Grand Champions Lead the Sale of Champions at Oklahoma Youth Expo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A total of 205
animals have sold for "approximately $800,000" at the 2010 Oklahoma Youth
Expo Sale of Champions that was held Monday afternoon/evening at the State
Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. This is the grand finale of the eleven day
run for the world's largest junior livestock show. The dollar amount comes
from Jeramy Rich, Executive Director of the OYE, and a final tally may be
a few days away as they continue to add up the dollars that have come in
as "add ons" and more.
The first animal to sell on Monday afternoon was the Grand Champion Market Steer shown by Bailey Buck of the Madill FFA. Bailey's Crossbred Steer sold to a consortium of buyers for a total of $50,000, just below the record level of $53,000 obtained in 2009 for the Grand Champion Steer last year. We have the list of buyers and details on the other top steers on our website- click here for the details on the Steer sale info. The other three Grand Champions were very close together in what they brought to their young owners. Both the Market Lamb shown by Tyler Rhoades and Market Barrow exhibited by Brianna Robinson sold for a total of $20,000 apiece, while the Grand Champion Market Goat fetched $21,000 for owner Chance Greenroyd of Noble. Click on the respective Grand Champion species and young person's name for details of that part of the Sale of Champions at this year's OYE. | |
NCBA Responds to Groups Having Concerns Over Restructuring Plan with Their Own Letter to USDA's Vilsack ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack has had ample reading material sent to him in
recent days by groups that have members that raise cattle and have a stake
in the beef checkoff program. The first letter came from six groups that
have cattle producers as a part of their membership. Those groups include
the American Farm Bureau, the National Farmers Union and the Livestock
Marketing Association (plus 3 more) that expressed "grave concerns" about
the National Cattlemen's Beef Association redoing the structure of their
organization. That four page letter said, in effect, that NCBA members had
an unfair advantage over other cattle producers in determining how at
least some of the beef checkoff dollars might be spent.
Today on our Beef Buzz, we review a second letter that has been put together by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and signed by their three national officers refuting the first letter and claiming that NCBA will become more inclusive and that any and all cattle producers of any group will be welcome to come to their Committee meetings and express their opinion and even have a vote. We also look at the issue of money- which is the real bone of contention between these groups. NCBA seems to be saying in their letter that the Federation of State Beef Councils that is under their wing is successful because they have done a good job of spending the money that has come in. Again, the issue that is raised is, who's got control and who should have control and/or input on budgets of beef checkoff dollars. Click here for today's Beef Buzz- where we have access for you to read both letters. | |
Wheat Crop in Three Southern Plains States in Mostly Good Condition ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Crop weather updates are out for Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma- and all show
the 2010 winter wheat crop is looking good in our region. In Kansas, 77%
of the crop is now breaking dormancy, with the rating of the Kansas crop
at 10% excellent, 54% good and 30% fair. In Texas, wheat is starting to
head in the south central part of our neighbor to the south, with their
crop statewide rated 10% excellent, 43% good and 33% fair. Their index on
crop health shows the crop is 72% of normal versus 38% at this point a
year ago.
In Oklahoma, the crop also looks good with no indication that anyone is worried about the cold weather of the weekend. The crop is rapidly moving into the jointing stage, up twenty percentage points over the last week and now standing at 37% jointed, just below the 40% five year average. Seed bed preparation for spring planted crops continue to lag year ago levels. "Row crop seedbed preparations and planting were postponed last week due to the snow storm. Seedbed preparations for corn reached 31 percent complete, 33 points behind last year and 19 points behind normal. Sorghum seedbed preparation was at 12 percent while soybean seedbed preparation reached six percent complete, both still running well behind last year and the five-year average. Peanuts continue to run ahead of normal with 41 percent of seedbed preparations completed by Sunday. Seedbed preparations for cotton increased by ten points from the previous week to reach 29 percent complete, 22 points behind last year and seven points behind normal." Click here for the complete Oklahoma Crop Weather Update, as released on Monday afternoon. | |
Canola Crop Looking Strong- But Some Worries are Surfacing on Bug Pressures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU
Entomologist Dr. Tom Royer offers this update on those that have winter
canola acres this spring- "Although we normally think of army cutworms as
a pest of winter wheat, they are also a concern in canola, a crop that is
expanding in Oklahoma. I wrote an article about army cutworms in wheat
back in February, but field reports from Heath Sanders indicate that
canola is taking a hit in Blaine, Custer and Dewey counties. Thus, canola
growers need to keep a vigilant eye on their canola crop. Army cutworms
can cause severe stand loss in canola if not controlled. Cutworm damage
often goes unnoticed through the winter because the caterpillars grow
slowly and don't get big enough to cause noticeable damage until
temperatures warm in the spring."
Army Cutworms can cut out stand as they feed, killing the canola growing point. Because they like to hide below the soil surface during the day, they can go unnoticed unless they are physically brought up from their sleeping chambers. Sample a field by stirring or digging the soil to a depth of two inches at 5 or more locations. The cutworms will be "greenish grey", and will probably curl up into a tight "C" when disturbed. The suggested treatment threshold for cutworms in canola is 1-2 per row-foot. We have also gotten some on the ground views courtesy of Twitter and OkieAgMan. He writes "Dewey Co OK, had bad cutworms. Many acres sprayed too late. Fields range excellent to poor from worms. Sprayed w/ 5 to 40% stand losses." He does say that things are better in a couple of other counties "Blaine & Kingfisher Counties have canola fields looking good. Best I have seen for these counties in recent years. More aggressive insect management used." | |
Farm Bureau's Scott Bulling Worries About Federal Crop Insurance Budget Cuts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
FarmBureau's Crop Insurance Manager Scott Bulling has just returned from
Washington, D.C. where he and OFB President Mike Spradling tried to
convince the Obama administration they are wrong about cutting $6.9
billion from the program. Bulling says that there is a risk that crop
insurance companies might choose to stop providing policies in higher risk
states like Oklahoma if the cuts materialize.
The hope is that those cuts will be reduced or eliminated- and Bulling says that he believes that things will work out and that we will have a suitable program ready to go for the next big signup period for Oklahoma farmers- coverage of the 2011 winter wheat crop. We have an audio report featuring Scott Bulling courtesy of Sam Knipp of Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Click on the Link below to jump to our website and hear this special report. Click here for more on Crop Insurance Concerns here in the southern plains. | |
Higher Quality Grades Here to Stay - So Says Larry Meadoes of USDA's Market Grading Service ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nation's
beef quality has continued its rise in recent weeks, with nearly 65% of
federally graded cattle grading Choice - an increase compared to 60.1%
reported July 2009, according to Certified Angus Beef. The numbers add to a trend ending a 30-year decline, a trend that's likely to continue, said Larry Meadows, chief of USDA's meat grading and certification branch. Increases in higher quality grades during the past two years can be attributed to several factors, Meadows said, including: feeder and slaughter cattle weights and ages due to market conditions (higher grain prices); better genetics (the increased use of marbling EPDs over the past 15 years); excellent feeding conditions; and efficient use of distillers' grains. We have more on this story- including the perspective of folks like Larry Corah and Sally Northcutt with the American Angus Association. Click on the link below to read more. Click here for more on the improvement being seen in carcass grades in the Beef Business. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR 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! 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 $7.65 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.70 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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