From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 06:45
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday January 10, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Delegates make short work of the Resolutions Process- and the AFBF Convention is a wrap!
-- More from Salt Lake on the wrap up of the AFBF meeting
-- Oklahoma Conservation teams wtih Chesapeake for 2007 Contest.
-- The 2007 Strategy for Success in the Pacific Rim when it comes to US Beef.
-- Blizzard Update from Southeastern Colorado- Hay is Needed!
-- Speaking of the Feds- Governor Henry asks for help for the Panhandle from the Winter Storms
-- Our deepest sympathy to the Terry Family...

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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here.

Our E-mail the next few days is also being sponsored by Laura's Lean Beef- Laura's Lean Beef Co., a natural beef provider based in Lexington, KY, will hold a gathering 10:00 am Jan 24 at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center in Shawnee, Ok to introduce local producers to the benefits of raising the lean, heavily muscled cattle that will perform well on Laura's bonus grids. For more information on this meeting- you can can e-mail Beth Whiteford at bwhiteford@LLBcorp.com. Or click here to be taken to their web site for more producer information on Laura's Lean Beef!

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.


Delegates make short work of the Resolutions Process- and the AFBF Convention is a wrap!
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One policy set on Tuesday by the AFBF delegates was in the area of immigration reform- as the farm group says that employers should not be held liable in determining the legal or illegal status of workers. They said in this resolution adopted that State Employment Agencies should be the body responsible for determining the legality of the workers that farmers are hiring through such bodies. One Farm Bureau member stated during the discussion that workers "should be legal in this country- but that status should not have to be determined by farmers seeking to hire labor."

Regarding farm policy, several actions were taken. One is that the organization struck language from existing policy that had them supporting a simple extension of current farm policy. They now support writing a new farm bill here in 2007. They also inserted language in their farm policy position that has them in favor of a "revenue based safety net" without being specific as to exactly how they would like to see this concept fleshed out.

One thing that the delegates did not vote in favor of was support for a Permanent Disaster Aid title in the 2007 Farm Bill- something that Farm Bureau leaders heard Collin Peterson, the new Chair of the House Ag Committee, say he would like to see included here in 2007. Meanwhile up in Washington, we saw a group of four Democratic Senators introduce legislation this week that would create a permanent Disaster Program for agriculture- something that National Farmers Union immediately endorsed.

Click here for our continuing coverage of the American Farm meeting in SLC on our Web Site


More from Salt Lake on the wrap up of the AFBF meeting
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We have linked below some of the comments from President Bob Stallman from his Post Convention News Conference held Tuesday afternoon in Salt Lake City. He spoke of where it appears Farm Bureau stands within the spectrum of the farm policy debate- saying the radical changes being talked about by Secretary Johanns is something his membership is not interested in- based on the actions of the delegates. He also stated that he believes that livestock agriculture is under attack from multiple sources right now and that we must step up and be proactive in the defense of the industry.

Besides the resolutions we mentioned in our first story above, other matters of interest considered and disposed of by the Delegates included AFBF coming out strongly in favor of voluntary Animal ID- we understand that Oklahoma delegates spoke strongly in favor of this issue and prevailed; they support a voluntary COOL and they support further discussions to possibly raise the dollar per head beef checkoff although they did not put in place a specific number.

Click her for the Audio Overview of Bob Stallman's Post Convention News Conference from Salt Lake City.


Oklahoma Conservation teams wtih Chesapeake for 2007 Contest.
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Chesapeake Energy Corporation and the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts are once again partnering to sponsor the “Chesapeake Energy Outstanding Oklahoma Conservation Educator Awards.” The Chesapeake Outstanding Conservation Educator Award will be presented to one teacher in each Oklahoma Congressional District. Each winner will receive $3000 at the Governor’s Conservation Awards Ceremony during Conservation Day at the Capitol on March 9th.

“We are honored that Chesapeake is once again our partner in helping educate the next generation of Oklahomans on the importance of natural resource conservation,” Dan Lowrance, President of OACD said. “We are deeply appreciative of Chesapeake’s continued support of this program that provides encouragement for teachers to become more involved in conservation education."

“This is a great partnership between Chesapeake and OACD,” Clay Pope, Executive Director of OACD said. “By working together we can help ensure that the next generations of Oklahomans, both rural and urban, have the productive base of natural resources we now enjoy while maintaining healthy soils, clean water, and abundant wildlife. We are proud to be working together to accomplish these goals.” The official rules for this contest and additional information are available by contacting your local conservation district office or by contacting Clay Pope, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts at (405) 699-2087 or claypope@pldi.net. The deadline for the contest is February 1, 2007.


The 2007 Strategy for Success in the Pacific Rim when it comes to US Beef.
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The President of the US Meat Export Federation, Phil Seng, is our guest once again today on the Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network- and you can hear today's show by going to the link below. I would suggest you take the time to listen to Phil's thoughts on what needs to be done in 2007 to move Japan, Korea and China closer to being more fully opened to US beef.

One encouraging thing that is finally getting closer to a conclusion is the testing on mice for BSE from tissue coming from those "so called" cases of BSE from animals that were 21 and 23 months of age. We are now up to the sixth generation of mice in this test- and there still have been no BSE prions show up- and Seng says that this report will likely be released by the Japanese by March. This will give the Japanese political leaders some latitude in raising the age limit of cattle in which they will accept beef from- the current age limit is 20 months of age and that has been a problem in sourcing enough product for the Japanese market from that younger demographic.

He adds that in the case of both Korea and China- we must continue to stay after the getting the process to move forward towards the goal of open beef trade- this at the government to government level.

Click here to listen to today's Beef Buzz with Phil Seng.


Blizzard Update from Southeastern Colorado- Hay is Needed!
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Our thanks to Heather Buckmaster of the Oklahoma Beef Council who has forwarded the latest update on blizzard cleanup that continues in southeastern Colorado from Terry Fankhauser of the Colorado's Cattlemen's Association. Cleanup continues to go slow as a thick snow cover continues to hang around in southeastern Colorado, Southwestern Kansas, Cimarron County in the Oklahoma Panhandle and also in northeastern New Mexico.

After the initial rush of helping ranchers feed their livestock by the various states- it appears now the longer slower process of cleanup and recovery will almost totally be on the backs of individual cattle producers and those private individuals who are willing to help them. In the case of Colorado- it looks like the county and state governments are pretty well out of money to do much more than they have already done. Federal money will be slow to come- if it comes at all. So, it's up to us.

They continue to deal with finding those cattle who did not survive the storm and getting them buried or hauled off to be rendered. The report from Colorado also says many ranchers are very concerned about running out of hay very soon or most certainly within a matter of days or a few weeks. The Cattlemen's Association in that state is trying to help coordinate donations of hay at this time. What I would suggest is to work through the NCBA as they are going to divvy up the money and other donations that are offered (hay, trucking etc.) to all of the states impacted through the state cattlemen's associations. Call the NCBA at 1-866-233-3872 (toll free) and they'll be glad to discuss your options on helping. Contributions made through the National Cattlemens Foundation are tax deductible.


Speaking of the Feds- Governor Henry asks for help for the Panhandle from the Winter Storms
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Governor Brad Henry has requested a federal disaster declaration from President George W. Bush for three Oklahoma panhandle counties hit hard by winter weather. Beaver, Cimarron and Texas counties are still recovering from two storms that triggered widespread power outages, stranded residents and threatened livestock. If approved by President Bush, public entities impacted by the Dec. 19th ice storm and Dec. 29 th snow storm will receive assistance for expenses related to response and recovery efforts.

Preliminary damage estimates show nearly $6 million in damage to municipalities, counties and the local electric and telephone systems. Officials with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency joined local officials in completing the damage survey. Tri-County Electric Cooperative alone sustained more than $3.7 million in damage to its system. The storms required $881,000 in emergency protective costs, to include overtime for first responders, and left $156,000 in damage to roads and bridges. Additionally, it will cost about $1.1 million to clean up all the downed trees and other debris left by the two storms.


Our deepest sympathy to the Terry Family...
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as the wife of Dr. Bob Terry, Barbara, passed away earlier this week. The Terry family has been a key part of the Ag Education scene here in Oklahoma for a lot of years, as Dr. Bob Terry taught in that arena for many years. We got to know Bob even better during his tenure as the Director of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program as I have served as Chairman of the Advisory Group. Barbara was very supportive of Dr. Terry as he led this group as a part of his duties as he wound down his career at Oklahoma State University.

Funeral services for Mrs. Terry are planned for this Thursday morning at 10 am at the University Heights Baptist Church in Stillwater. Burial will follow in Meeker that afternoon. There are several Memorials that the family have identified in lieu of flowers, including the Terry Trust for the Agriculture Education Scholarship Program
Oklahoma Department of CareerTech
1500 W. 7th
Stillwater, OK 74074

The family is using Strode Funeral Home, 610 S. Duncan St., Stillwater, OK 74074. Visitation is this evening from 7 to 9 p.m.


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com



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