|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday May 7, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Have we lost wheat because of violent weekend weather?
-- Lake Altus now almost five feet higher than last May- Irrigated
Cotton already being planted expecting to use some of that water this
summer.
-- Mark Hodges talks about Kansas & Oklahoma Wheat Crop
Potential.
-- Second Segment of the Governor's Conference on Agriculture
happening this week in Eastern Oklahoma.
-- Head of the Food Safety Division of the Oklahoma Department of
Agriculture named to USDA Advisory Panel.
-- Oklahoma Union FFA the best in the Nation in Range Judging!
-- The Manure Fight is(and will continue to be) an Uphill Battle in
Washington.
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 just concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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. 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. | |
Have we lost wheat because of violent weekend weather? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's likely we
will start getting some reports from the affected counties early this
week- even as our heart (and prayers) goes out to the folks in Sweetwater,
Oklahoma as well as Greensburg, Kansas who suffered Mother Nature's worst
fury that lasts for seconds but often takes years to overcome.
The rainfall is starting to pile up in both west central as well as central into northeastern Oklahoma from Sunday and early Monday thunderstorms. We have the Mesonet linked below- I would suggest going to the link we have provided below- then clicking on Current Weather, then Rainfall and then you can look at both the rainfall of yesterday which includes over 4 inches of rain reported at Erick in Beckham County- you can also look at the rainfall for today which includes over three inches already in El Reno. Storms continue to line up and will be tracking across the Southern Plains for at least another couple of days- but drier weather may be in place by the end of this week- a few days of drying conditions will be welcomed by both those wanting this Oklahoma wheat crop to mature as well as those who wish to bale hay and plant some of our spring planted field crops. | |
Lake Altus now almost five feet higher than last May- Irrigated Cotton already being planted expecting to use some of that water this summer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The heavy
rains we saw yesterday and thus far today in the Lake Altus watershed
should help push this irrigation storage lake higher this week, even as it
is now some five feet above the level of early May of last year. Lake
Altus now stands at just over 60% of its conservation pool full, with
something over 82,000 acre feet of water currently in storage.
Dr. J.C. Banks, state cotton specialist for Oklahoma State University says that planting of irrigated cotton in southwestern Oklahoma is now underway, with these early planted fields going into some of the longer season varieties. Most of the planting has been with Roundup Flex varieties to help ensure more effective weed control in mid to late season. When it comes to dryland cotton acres, that process is getting underway as well- and Dr. Banks says that with modern planters, we can normally space the seed in the seed furrow. Planting rates should be three to five seed per foot, shooting for a plant population of 35,000 to 50,000 plants per acre. The ideal time to plant in Oklahoma is May 10 to 20, and it looks like we can take advantage of moisture conditions to get most of our planting done during this period. We appreciate Vic Schoonover and the NTOK cotton folks for providing JC's comments to us in a timely fashion, as our 2007 cotton growing season is underway here in the state of Oklahoma. | |
Mark Hodges talks about Kansas & Oklahoma Wheat Crop Potential. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We talked with
Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission about the 2007 Kansas Wheat
Crop Tour that he participated in last week- as well as what is continuing
to be the story for the Oklahoma wheat crop this year- trying to dodge the
Leaf Rust bullet that could seriously harm what looks like should be a
somewhat above average Oklahoma wheat crop.
Hodges says that the planes have been flying- and that it has made economic sense in most cases this year as higher wheat prices means that a four or five bushel per acre improvement in yield as you spray for wheat disease will pay for the treatment. He also talks with us about the Oklahoma Wheat Commission elections planned- one this week in Apache and the second in Guymon on May 24. Listen to the interview and Mark will tell you more about that process- and you can call the Wheat Commission and they can give you additional details about the events- that first is this Wednesday with a noon lunch being provided by the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association at the Apache Community Center- followed by the election at 2 pm- the names of the top three vote getters will go to the Governor and he will select one of the three to take the remainder of the term vacated with the death of Paul Jackson. | |
Second Segment of the Governor's Conference on Agriculture happening this week in Eastern Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The second of
two Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Summits happens this week in Okemah at the
Grape Ranch in Okemah.- an opening reception planned for Thursday evening
May 10th with the Summit underway on Friday.
As with the western Summit held a week ago, the Summit will feature a session on Animal ID with State Vet Dr. Becky Brewer, Water Issues, Agri-Tourism opportunities featuring a tour of the Grape Ranch as well as a session on prescribed burning. For more information, contact the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture at 405-522-5489- or go to their website for a registration brochure. We have that linked below for you. Click here for more on the 2007 Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Summit | |
Head of the Food Safety Division of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture named to USDA Advisory Panel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Stanley
Stromberg of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture is one of 18 named by
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to set as the National Advisory
Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. Established in 1971, this
committee provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary on meat and
poultry inspection programs. Membership is drawn from a broad range of
groups interested in food safety including: consumers, producers,
processors, exporters and importers of meat and poultry products - as well
as those in academia, public health, and federal and state government.
Dr. Stromberg is the head of the Food Safety Division at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture. He and the other 17 appointees are being nominated for a two year term on this Committee. Perhaps the highest profile nominee by the Republican Johanns was Carol Tucker Foreman, an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Food and Consumer Services back in the Carter Administration- a past Executive for the Consumer Federation of America and now is the Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of America's Food Policy Institute. | |
Oklahoma Union FFA the best in the Nation in Range Judging! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hundreds of
young men and ladies from 4-H Clubs and FFA Chapters came to Oklahoma City
this past week to compete in the 56th annual National Land and Range
Judging Contest. Thirty six states were represented in the competition,
and Scotty Herriman, President of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation
Districts, says that the teams matched skills in judging the adaptability
of land for various purposes including farming, range management, and
homesite construction. An adult category was provided to allow coaches,
team alternates and others interested in soil to compete.
The top placing Oklahoma teams included the FFA Chapter from Oklahoma Union in South Coffeyville as they won the Championship trophy in the Range Judging Contest, while the FFA Chapter from Rattan won the Reserve Championship title in the Land Judging Contest, placing second to the FFA squad from Ravenswood, West Virginia. If you want to look over the complete results from the 56th annual National Land and Range Judging contest, we have linked to their website below- which has pictures and results of the 2007 contest. Click here to see more on the 2007 National Land and Range Judging Contest | |
The Manure Fight is(and will continue to be) an Uphill Battle in Washington. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In today's
Beef Buzz, we feature the comments of NCBA lobbyist Colin Woodall about
the uphill fight to get manure defined as NOT being a toxic waste using
the Superfund regulations that have been around for several decades.
Obviously, this has a direct Oklahoma tie as the lawsuit by Oklahoma
Attorney General Drew Edmondson against the northwest Arkansas poultry
companies-citing the Superfund regs as part of the basis for his lawsuit
and that has prompted livestock groups to call on Congress to specify this
is an incorrect use of the Superfund statue.
Woodall says they are working and have about a hundred signatures of House members supporting this measure- but the problem lies in the fact that the Chairmen of the two Committees this proposal has to go through are on record as being strongly opposed to this legislation. Colin talks with us about how you get around those mountains of opposition as we feature him on our daily Beef Buzz, heard on many of our Radio Oklahoma Network stations. It's found on our website at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and clicking on the Beef Buzz button on the right. We have numerous shows from the last six months on that page you can select from- including the one that is dated today on this Superfund controversy. | |
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
