From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 07:20
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 Monday January 22, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Lots of snow west and north of the OKC Metro!
-- Don't try to lay that nitrogen topdress on top of the ice, snow and sleet!
-- Which planet do you think Secretary Johanns is currently on?
-- Lots of Conservation Tillage events to help educate producers on Low Till and No Till.
-- National Western Grand Steer brings $80,000!
-- This week in Washington- Wheat Growers Gather...
-- This Wednesday- Laura's Lean Beef folks to be in Shawnee to meet with area producers.

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.


Lots of snow west and north of the OKC Metro!
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The huge snow event that was to have included central Oklahoma up to Tulsa this past weekend slipped further north and west- disappointing lots of city kids in the two metros and providing a small amount of additional precipitation to the central areas of the state. North and west of a line from Blackwell to Hollis, it was a snow event for real, though, as we had from four to eight inches of the wet white stuff fall on mostly Saturday. The northwestern counties that received the snow can mostly certainly use the moisture, as some of the other recent weather events had not provided them with as much precipitation as other areas of the state.

Breezy northwest winds will become light and out of the west and southwest by tonight as surface high pressure builds over the southern Plains. Seasonable temperatures are expected for the work week with mainly dry conditions. Very little if any snow will remain by the end of the week. Colder weather may arrive Saturday into Sunday.

We will see temperatures into the 40s and close to 50 degrees several days this week- the areas with the deeper snowpack will be slower to warm up compared to others that received just a trace over the weekend. Southeastern Oklahoma hopes to get the last of the power lines back up and service restored to those who have had more than a week of power outages because of these winter storms that have slammed our state.

Click here for the National Weather Service update of snowfall across Western Oklahoma this past weekend!


Don't try to lay that nitrogen topdress on top of the ice, snow and sleet!
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That's the advice of OSU State wheat specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards who says he understands the temptation to go in and where the ground is still frozen and roll those fertilizer rigs before the melting makes your wheat fields muddy.

However, Dr. Edwards says that all you will accomplish is to mix your nitrogen with the melting snow and ice and sleet on top- then that nitrogen will flow right off of the fields with the runoff water into the ditch. It just will not get to where you want it to go- namely on your wheat plants.

Dr. Edwards adds that we have several weeks more to get top dressing done for the 2007 crop- and that the food for your wheat can be applied all the way to first hollow stem and still be very effective in helping produce a higher yielding wheat crop. We talked with Dr. Edwards about this on Friday- and you can link below to hear his comments.

Click here to listen to Ron visit with Dr. Jeff Edwards about timing on your wheat fertilizer top dressing.


Which planet do you think Secretary Johanns is currently on?
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The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, is not sure which planet Johanns is on- but he says when it comes to the direction of farm policy here in 2007- the Ag Committees and the USDA are worlds apart. Peterson and Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, both spoke to the Pheasants Forever Convention over the weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.

Peterson says he doesn't like what he has heard of Ag Secretary Johanns calling for wholesale reform of programs. If Johanns' speeches are an indication of what USDA may propose in farm policy this spring, it won't go far in the house according to the House Ag Committee chair. Peterson adds that he has talked with Secretary Johanns and has told him "he should quit making those speeches."

Johanns has defended his stance on massive change in farm policy on comments he gleaned from the thousands the USDA received over dozens of listening sessions in 2005. Peterson says that the House and Senate both held hearings on the subjects as well that lead him to vastly different conclusions. "It's like we're on a different planet" according to the Blue Dog Democrat who will lead the House Ag Committee in 2007.


Lots of Conservation Tillage events to help educate producers on Low Till and No Till.
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We have mentioned several no-till events coming up in Oklahoma- as well as the No-Till on the Plains Event in Salina, Kansas January 30-31. I have had a couple of other no-till events brought to my attention- so we bring them to your attention.

This week on Thursday, January 25th, there will be a 2007 Winter No-Till Conference planned for the Northwest Technology Center in Alva from 10 am through 3 pm. Lunch will be provided by our friends from Western Implement- but to have a head count, they need for you to let them know you are coming by tomorrow- Call Kate Nickel at 580-327-0344 for more information and to RSVP.

February 16 will be a Conservation Tillage 101 Workshop in Enid at the Chisholm Trail Expo Pavilion. It's an all day event and has a great lineup of speakers. We have a link for more information on this Workshop, which we have linked below. Garfield County Extension can provide you more information if you wish to call them at 580-237-1228.

We have two links of information on this conference- check them both out by going to our web page's Calendar section- it's the first item listed.


National Western Grand Steer brings $80,000!
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No Oklahoma youth grabbed any of the top prizes at this year's National Western Stock Show after several were in the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion ranks a year ago. Here in 2007, they changed the rules in how the money would be distributed from the sale of the very top animals in the annual event.

For example, in the case of this Grand Champion Steer that was shown by Lance Unger from Indiana, the sale price Friday evening was $80,000. Deductions to helping run the show, their carcass contest and the general scholarship fund drops the number down to $61,200 to Lance. Of that money, he will receive $15,300 in cash, with the balance (a little over $45,000) to be placed in the National Western Trust Fund in his name that he or his family can use for educational expenses up to the age of 25. It's still quite a payday for the youth, but allows the Trust Fund to control the lion's share of the money and in fact, make money for the next several years on those winnings by charging fees to administer the account.

As far as the Oklahomans that we have not yet mentioned that did place well in the latter part of the competition, we salute Chelsea Head of Snyder for showing the Reserve Grand Blackface lamb; Hanna Runner of Agra who showed the Champion Dorset and Draven Smith of Waynoka who is the owner of the Reserve Champion Dorset. In the Swine Showmanship Junior Division, Ben Persall of Newcastle was the Champion Showman, while Natalie Hofschulte of Wyandotte took home the Reserve prize. And finally, OSU placed third in the Collegiate Judging Livestock Judging Contest, behind K-State and Texas A&M.


This week in Washington- Wheat Growers Gather...
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The Winter Board of Directors meeting of the National Association of Wheat Growers is underway this week in Washington, and sure to be on their agenda will be how to best pressure Congress to move on Disaster Aid legislation. NAWG has been one of the leading ag groups in calling for disaster help- as several of the major wheat producing states have faced disaster conditions- mostly drought- over the last couple of growing seasons.

They will also ponder the direction of the 2007 farm bill debate- and how to line up support for their desire to see a higher direct payment for the wheat producer as drought has cut into the wheat producers ability to produce a crop- and without bushels of production, there is no LDP which is one of the key components of the safety net as presently structured.

Representing Oklahoma at the Board meeting will be new OAWG President J.T. Winters, Jeff Krehbiel, Kent McAninch and OAWG Executive Director Tim Bartram.


This Wednesday- Laura's Lean Beef folks to be in Shawnee to meet with area producers.
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Laura's Lean Beef Co., a natural beef provider based in Lexington, Ky., will hold a gathering THIS WEDNESDAY January 24th at 10:00 am in 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. Producers interested in attending should RSVP to Beth Whiteford at bwhiteford@LLBcorp.com or (859) 685-4406.

Here's a link to Laura's Lean Beef website that describes their program for cattle producers.


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



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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