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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday December 1, 2006
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- How much snow????
-- Any winterkill out there???
-- Oklahoma Farmers Union's Policy Committee gets some of their work
done...
-- Rain the thing in Little Dixie!
-- Next Week: The Tulsa Farm Show!
-- With all the recent rain you might ask why- but the Kerr Center
has a drought management seminar planned December 6th.
-- Smithfield Foods misses the mark on earnings.
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here. ON THIS FRIDAY MORNING- WE WILL BE IN CONTACT WITH THE FOLKS AT THE OKLAHOMA FARMERS UNION ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE STATE SPEECH FINALS SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY IN STILLWATER. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GET TO OUR WEBSITE LATER TODAY AND WE WILL HAVE ANY DECISION OFU HAS ABOUT THAT COMPETITION ON OUR MAIN PAGE!!!! 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. | |
How much snow???? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have had
some preliminary reports as to how many inches of snow that various
locations have received- but it appears that the forecasters were fairly
close to the amounts predicted in north central and northeast Oklahoma
where we got the biggest amounts of the white stuff. A report from
Blackwell shows that they got 12 inches of snow- while Stillwater reports
a snowfall total of 13 inches. In the southwest- the totals were much
smaller- Hobart, for example checks in with three inches of snow.
The hard part is dealing with the drifting snow- with strong winds yesterday into last night that has really piled the stuff up. We do know that both the Turner Turnpike from Oklahoma City to Tulsa and the Will Rogers Turnpike from Tulsa to Joplin have been closed and it is unknown as to when they will reopen. The Cimmaron Turnpike is virtually shutdown as well across from Stillwater to Tulsa. On our county roads- the difficulty of drifting snow is everywhere you look- and it may take a couple of days to dig out as this snow that fell was the dry fluffy kind that has blown around like crazy. The hope expressed by one wheat producer from north central Oklahoma that we spoke with was that he sure hopes that there will be some snow left on the wheat fields to protect from these cold temperatures and melt into the ground and provide moisture to our parched plants. Amen to that. | |
Any winterkill out there??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Temperatures
dropped like a runaway freight train Wednesday morning across the state-
and that was followed with precipitation that included lots of snowfall.
In talking with Dr. Jeff Edwards of Oklahoma State University, our state
wheat specialist, he believes that we will survive without any extensive
winterkill with most fields in the Oklahoma wheat belt getting a nice
cover of ice and then snow.
Edwards says that any preciptiation that we net from this system will be most welcome- and badly needed in the areas that got some of the heavier amounts. We have linked Dr. Edwards' latest Wheat Production newsletter from earlier this week- including a very good discussion about the current status of our wheat crop and how winterkill actually happens- click below for that information. Click here for Dr. Jeff Edwards for his Wheat Production letter on Winterkill and more. | |
Oklahoma Farmers Union's Policy Committee gets some of their work done... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Policy
Committee of the Oklahoma Farmers Union began their work on Wednesday-
then had to scurry back home in advance of the Winter Storm that has
struck our state. OFU Vice President Terry Detrick tells us that they got
several issues considered before breaking for the storm.
They expressed their fondness for the 2002 Farm Law- but believe that the National Association of Wheat Growers are correct in saying wheat deserves some love in providing wheat producers a better safety net than is currently the case. Detrick says they believe that a higher target- they will be advocating $5.29 and a higher direct payment to wheat producers of $1.19 is in order as the 2007 Farm Bill is developed. They also like the idea of a permanent disaster aid program- and have drafted policy for the full organization to consider that would call for tax credits for producers that use or adopt no-till or minimum till cropping practices. Click below to hear Terry's summary of things they were able to work on before they broke and headed home- he indicates they will get back to together during the first half of December to try to finish the work of their committee. Click here for Terry Detrick's comments to us on their Policy Committee work this week. | |
Rain the thing in Little Dixie! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While we have
talked a lot about the snow and winter storm that has barreled through
Oklahoma over the last day or so- the really big precipitation amounts
have been dropped on our southeastern Oklahoma counties. We still are
below normal for the year- but these precipitation events will go a long
way towards recharging soil moisture profiles and even filling some ponds.
Wister in LeFlore County and Talihina in Latimer County are two of the Mesonet stations that have received the most rainfall over the last two days- with both over five inches of rain in the last two days. Really, most of the southeast one third of Oklahoma has gotten two to three inches of what has been mostly liquid precipitation. We have been below freezing in the Panhandle for over 55 hours now- while in southeastern counties- we have been at or below freezing for ten to twenty hours depending on your location. | |
Next Week: The Tulsa Farm Show! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It appears the
weather will be back to sunshine and mid 40s by next Thursday- the opening
day of the 13rd annual Tulsa Farm Show. We are looking forward to seeing
lots of folks at our Radio Oklahoma Network booth and we have planned a
special couple of days of broadcasting from the Farm Show on Thursday and
Friday of the show. We will have details on that on Monday!
Friday morning, we will be following the Livestock Handling Skills Contest, as ten teams from top FFA Chapters from around the state will be working cattle and competing for scholarships! All three days of the show, Craig Cameron returns to Oklahoma to work his "gentle horse training" magic a couple of times daily. There will also be cattle working demos, Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Farm Safety Demos and OSU Seminars- along with millions of dollars worth of equipment and services that are cutting edge for today's agricultural producer. As has been the case since the first Tulsa Farm Show, admission and parking are free- and there are even a bunch of prizes to register for and that will be given away on Saturday at the Tulsa Farm Show. Click below for more info on all of the great stuff that is a part of the Tulsa Farm Show happening December 7, 8 and 9 in Tulsa at Expo Square. | |
With all the recent rain you might ask why- but the Kerr Center has a drought management seminar planned December 6th. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Livestock
producers searching for ways to withstand Oklahoma’s ongoing drought can
get suggestions at a free conference on December 6th. Managing for
Drought: Ag Conference 2006 will run from 9 to 2 at the Le Flore County
Fairgrounds in Poteau, Oklahoma. A noon meal is included. Speakers from
OSU and the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture will outline effective
strategies for weathering the drought.
OSU agronomist Chris Rice will discuss cool season grasses and fertilizer and herbicide options for spring pastures during drought. Jack Wallace, OSU livestock specialist, will cover culling, weaning, and feeding decisions. The Kerr Center’s David Redhage will review financial and tax considerations that can affect agricultural producers’ drought management choices. Speakers from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and OK Foods will also speak. Other topics on the program include nutrient management, livestock diversification, and parasite control. For information on the conference planned for next Wednesday- contact the LeFlore County Extension office at 918-647-8231. | |
Smithfield Foods misses the mark on earnings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Smithfield is
best known for being the largest pork producer in the country- but as they
make deals- they are getting to be more and more a dominant multi species
meat company. Yesterday- they disappointed Wall Street by reporting a
smaller 40 cents profit per share compared to what Wall Street expected-
46 cents per share. The value of their stock dropped two percent in
response- losing 58 cents per share to close yesterday at $26.38
Smithfield raises about 14 million hogs per year- plus they own a major piece of Five Rivers Cattle Feeders, the nation's largest feedlot outfit. And, they have announced plans to build a state of the art beef processing plant between Hooker and Tyrone in Texas County to become a beef processing player in the High Plains. Like Tyson, Smithfield warns that the competition of biofuels will likely push corn and feed grains higher, and that will put pressure on them to raise meat prices when and where they have enough leverage to do so. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show. 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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