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!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with nine locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

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.

"The group left the Spanish port of Algeciras early on the Feb. 18th aboard a ferry. The port is the largest passenger harbor in Europe and the 5th largest container harbor in the world. The hour and half ferry ride took the group past the rock of Gibraltar and into the Moroccan port of Tangiers at the top of Africa.
A five-hour bus ride along the Atlantic coast showcased the countries diverse and currently wet terrain.Two things stood out for class members during the trip. One was the large number of plastic green houses and row covers helping farmers grow acre after acre of strawberries, melons and bananas. The second was the primitive nature in which most farming was being done along the roadway. Men and women could be seen riding donkeys or using them to pull a small cart. Two men using a horse and wooden plow for rows while a third follows with a sack of grain over his shoulder planting seeds by hand. In this country more than 40% of the population works in agriculture and the average wage in Morocco is about $300 per month. If a family owns 2 cows or 10 sheep they're considered a wealthy family."

Day two in Morocco found the class on a ranch that has ties back to our neighboring state of Texas. "The Adarouch Ranch runs 5000 head of Santa Gertrudis cattle, 2500 females and pastured in groups of 300. The breed of Santa Gertrudis was brought over in the late sixties, or early 1970's from the King Ranch in Texas. The ranch was created in 1969 by the government of Morocco as a way to create a modern “American” style production system. The Santa Gertrudis were bred with the native cattle to help incorporate some of the desired native characteristics making them suitable for the terrain. Also included are two 2000 head feedlots, about 100 quarter horses and several Arabian horses."

Griffiths has also filed an audio review of the visit to the Adarouch Ranch- we have it linked below- and you can see pictures from the OALP experience thus far by going to our Flickr link found in the story linked in the story above.

Click here for the Audio Report from the Adarouch Ranch with Clinton Griffiths on the road with OALP Class 14.

One of those in Tulsa for the event is Alabama Dairy Producer Will Gilmer, who will be the Chairman in the coming year for the YF&R. We talked with Will about his farming operation and the theme of the 2010 conference, Stand up and Speak Out. Gilmer says that is an emphasis that he wants to carry not just through this meeting but throughout 2010. He says that in order for production agriculture to remain viable, farmers and ranchers must be willing to tell their story.

Click on the link below- and you can jump to the Ag Perspectives Podcast that features our conversation with Will Gilmer and his vision of what agriculture needs to do in telling its story to the American public.

Click here for our podcast with Will Gilmer, incoming Chair of the AFBF National YF&R Committee.

The number that was significantly different from expected was January placements numbering 1.825 million head, 98.2% as many as one year ago. That is over 3% more cattle placed last month than was expected by the surveyed analysts and a number that is a bit of a surprise given the very difficult weather conditions in many feeding areas. This figure could well be supportive of summer Live Cattle futures on Monday.

1.774 million cattle were marketed in January, 2.1% more than one year ago and just over 1% more than was expected by analysts. As a point of reference, steer and heifer slaughter for the four weeks ending January 30 was 5.5% higher than last year.

The February report also includes estimates of the number and inventories of various sizes of cattle feedlots, including those with capacities of less than 1,000 head which are not included in other monthly reports. USDA estimates that there are 80,000 feedlots with inventories of less than 1,000 head and that they held 2.634 million head on February 1. The number of small feedlots is the same as one year ago while their inventory is 0.5% higher. USDA also estimates that the total capacity of U.S. feedlots actually INCREASED last year, from 16.7 million to 16.8 million. Capacity utilization on February 1 was 82% — down 1% from last year. That low capacity utilization rate suggests that further consolidation will occur in coming year. Profit margins are not likely to ever stay good for long with that much excess capacity.

Click here for the full report- and an audio review of the numbers with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities.

Gribble says that some of the later planted wheat will likely need some weed control measures applied, as the stand is still very thin on many of those fields. He also worries that the number of tillers for this late planted wheat fields will be scarce- limiting the yield potential of this wheat to average or probably below average this coming June.

One question that a farmer may be asking in the next few weeks is rather or not to graze out some of the early planted wheat and then planting a spring crop after the cattle have grazed those acres. Gribble says that there was concern by many growers about performance of corn and in some cases, grain sorghum, based on hot weather hitting those crops this past year in June. The crop that seems to have grabbed a lot of attention in north central Oklahoma is soybeans. Gribble says that cost projections on soybeans seems to be telling many producers that as little as fourteen to sixteen bushels per acre could be a breakeven level for soybean production in 2010.

We talked with Roger on Friday afternoon- and you can click here to jump to that audio conversation with this veteran crop observer.

But Stallman says the effort to halt EPA's misguided regulation can't succeed without bipartisan support and leadership from members on both sides of the aisle. He says Democrats and Republicans need to work together and avoid partisan fights to halt regulation that could critically injure the U.S. economy. The resolution of disapproval has been introduced in the Senate and is expected to be voted on in a few weeks. It would only require a 51-vote majority to pass.

The American Farm Bureau was also one of several farm groups that has filed a legal challenge to the EPA's endangerment finding. Stallman says EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from farms and ranches through the Clean Air Act could lead to costly and burdensome mandates on America's food, fiber and renewable fuel producers - and the U.S. Court of Appeals needs to conduct a thorough review of the endangerment finding.

Click here to see their full statement on challenging the EPA on this endangerment finding- and hear audio comments with Stallman in a report from Stewart Doan.

Kyler is receiving his award this morning in a special school assembly- and the handoff will be made by Joshua Norman, former OU, San Diego Chargers, and Oakland Raiders football player. Joshua will also talk to the kids about his football experiences and how eating right and getting enough physical activity helped his career.
Phase 2 of the Fuel Up to Play 60 competition runs from Feb. 1 to March 15, 2010. A national individual winner will receive a healthy makeover with an NFL star and appear in a national promotional spot, while the national school winner will receive a cafeteria and gym makeover.

“I tried to eat healthy and I ate a lot of apples, cereal and drank tons of milk,” said Kyler. “I played football, basketball, and rode my bike. “I went online and tracked my exercise and food choices. Mrs. Wilson's 2nd grade class participated in Fuel Up to Play 60 at Eisenhower, and I told all of my friends about it. I hope this will help other students to want to get healthy.” Fuel Up to Play 60 is a free, youth-led program that empowers youth to take charge of their health, and is based on the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans which recommends consumption of nutrient-rich foods (such as low-fat and fat-free milk and milk products, fruits, vegetables and whole grains) and 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

Click here for the Dairy MAX website, where you can click on the Fuel up to Play 60 Icon to learn more about this checkoff funded effort.

The locations and dates are as follows: Helena Chemical 310 East Jensen, El Reno, March 2; Angus Valley Equipment, 3/4 mile east of the Hwy 56 & Hwy 9 intersection on Hwy 9, Wewoka, March 4; and the Red River Coop, 100 Yerby Street Hugo.

The Unwanted Pesticide Disposal Program is funded through the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and is a cooperative effort of that agency, the Oklahoma State University Extension Service's Pesticide Safety Education Program and the Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers Association. This program provides a safe and economical way to dispose of the cancelled, suspended, expired, unwanted, unused and unstable pesticides, said Jason Baker, ODAFF Consumer Protection Services. Some of these materials are very old and are in containers that are deteriorating.

Click here for more details about the locations, times, amounts and more FAQs about this ongoing joint program of OSU, ODAFF and the Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers.

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.