From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 06:42
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday June 4, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Weekend Harvest Delivers Both Delays and Green Lights!
-- Drier Weather is in the Mix this Week!
-- L.E. Castle- Longtime Ag Teacher and Farmer from Jet named as 10th Inductee into the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame
-- Electronic Trade Virtually Around the Clock Arrives in Livestock Contracts Today.
-- Junior Livestock Preview Show this Weekend- And Summer Ranch Tour later this month planned by OCA.
-- NAWG President calls Direct Payments the Right Thing to Do in Farm Policy
-- Warmer Weather Predicted this Week just what the Doctor Ordered for 2007 Cotton Crop.

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.

The newest part of our delivery to Oklahoma of agricultural information is our Saturday morning segment on News9. In The Field with Ron Hays airs each Saturday morning at 7:40 am on KWTV out of Oklahoma City- and if you missed this past Saturday's segment with Steve Kouplen of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau- here is a link that will allow you to take a look- just click here!


Weekend Harvest Delivers Both Delays and Green Lights!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More rain showers on Sunday morning halted wheat harvest that had its best day yet in southwestern counties in the state on Saturday- that the word from Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Mike Cassidy of Cassidy Grain in Frederick reports that quality has improved as more wheat has come in to his elevator location in Frederick.

Further north where we stayed dry enough, wheat is quickly becoming dry enough and ripe enough to cut as well. We saw combines running and some 8,000 bushels being taken in by one Kingfisher elevator by late Sunday afternoon.

There are places that will take more time to dry out as receiving so much rain at the end of this past week- and there are a few showers out on the radar scope even this morning as we write this- but it looks like we have a drier week ahead of us and that will likely mean a major breakout in harvest activity!

Clcik here for today's Wheat Harvest Update featuring comments from Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.


Drier Weather is in the Mix this Week!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fortunately for our Oklahoma wheat producers, we finally have a drier pattern of weather in the mix for several days- in fact for the bulk of this week through our wheat belt. Temperatures appear to be headed for the nineties and that will do a lot to dry mature wheat down to an acceptable moisture level- and more importantly where we have had repeated rains- dry the fields where they can support combines and hopefully trucks that will transfer the wheat from the combine auger to the dump at the local elevator.

For Altus, after precipitation chances that remain in the forecast today and to a lesser extent tonight, it turns dry in the forecast through Friday. Hobart's forecast looks dry after this morning through Friday as well. Clinton's forecast has a slight chance today and then leaves rain out of the forecast until we have a twenty percent chance during the day on Friday.

On into Central Oklahoma, it looks like a dry week of weather until that 20% chance of rain appears on Friday- based on predictions for Kingfisher and the same is true for Stillwater, which has the dubious distinction of receiving far and away the most rain of any Mesonet station in the last week to ten days- more than eight inches of rain total.


L.E. Castle- Longtime Ag Teacher and Farmer from Jet named as 10th Inductee into the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It appears that the largest newspaper in the state jumped the gun on the announcement- but they have reported that L.E. Castle of Jet, will be officially inducted into the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame in ceremonies planned for later this morning at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

We will feature some comments with this tenth member of the Oklahoma Ag Hall of Fame tomorrow morning after he is so recognized by Governor Brad Henry today- I will say that Mr. Castle has had a remarkable lifetime in serving Oklahoma agriculture and that through his students that he taught as a Vo- Ag teacher and mentored through the FFA Chapter at Jet- his influence has reached well beyond Oklahoma's borders and around the world.


Electronic Trade Virtually Around the Clock Arrives in Livestock Contracts Today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With very little fanfare, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange kicks off around the clock trading on their livestock futures as the contracts begin their open outcry day this morning. Futures on commodities, including lean hogs, frozen pork bellies, live cattle, feeder cattle, cash-settled butter, class III milk, dry whey and fertilizer will be available for trading beginning at 9:05 a.m. Chicago time Mondays through 1:30 p.m. Fridays with a daily 60-minute trading halt commencing at 4:00 p.m. These contracts are all offered currently on CME Globex during day-time trading hours in Chicago.

The exchange's decision to halt trading between Friday afternoon and early Monday morning is due to U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that are typically released on Fridays after normal market trading hours, according to the exchange. That, said CME, will prevent open outcry pits from being at a disadvantage in reacting to those reports. Electronic trading for most of the affected commodities has been offered on CME's Globex platform since March 2002 alongside open-outcry markets during regular daytime trading hours between 9 a.m. CDT and 1 p.m. CDT. However, a nagging concern for electronic livestock markets is their lack of liquidity or volume compared with their open outcry counterparts.

CME live cattle volume on this past Thursday numbered 34,434 contracts versus 1,361 traded on Globex screens that represented 3.9% of live cattle's overall volume. Volume on the hog contracts was somewhat higher this past Thursday during the day- but still it also has a long way to go before it reaches parity with the open outcry trade.


Junior Livestock Preview Show this Weekend- And Summer Ranch Tour later this month planned by OCA.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Oklahoma Junior Cattlemen's Association have their annual Summer Preview Show planned for this weekend in Stillwater at the Payne County Fairgrounds. This will feature a couple of hundred young people involved in breed specific heifer shows, a judging contest, ambassador competition and more. Scott Dewald, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, calls the young people who gather this coming weekend in Stillwater the "cream of the crop" when it comes to the cattle business.

Later in June, lots of history as well as the cutting edge of the cattle industry will be on display as the 17th annual Summer Ranch Tour of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association is planned in southwest Oklahoma- following near the original Chisolm Trail that shaped the cattle industry all along its route in the late 1800s.

Stops will include a look at history as participants will stop on Monday at the Stuart Ranch near Waurika- this ranch has been under the same family ownership since 1868! Tuesday morning- the first stop of the day illustrates where the industry continues to go in the use of technology as tour participants will see what is going on at Ultimate Genetics in Sterling. Ultimate Genetics headquarters in Normangee, Texas and is a full service beef genetics company offering semen collection and marketing, donor flushing and embryo transfer for customers across the United States and a contract for commercial cattleman to raise calves for their customers. Pete White and his brother Buck operate a Cooperative Satellite Embryo Center for Ultimate Genetics. The Oklahoma Center maintains around 1,800 recipient cows that are maintained on a corn silage ration and it takes 6,000 tons annually for the operation. Around 400 donors are flushed during the year for a number of leading breeders in Oklahoma and across the United States.

Scott Dewald visits with us about the Ranch Tour on today's Beef Buzz heard on radio stations across the Radio Oklahoma Network. We have it linked on our web site and we invite you to go there to our Beef Buzz page and scroll down to the bottom of that page where you can find today's Beef Buzz dated June 4!

Click here to be taken to our Beef Buzz page found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.


NAWG President calls Direct Payments the Right Thing to Do in Farm Policy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kansas Wheat Producer and Banker John Thaemert is arguing forcefully for Direct Farm Program Payments in an Editorial he has penned this past week. This comes as former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas has joined with former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle (who was also a Majority Leader before losing a reelection bid to Congress at the beginning of this decade.) in calling for an end to the Direct Farm Payment as seen in the popular 2002 farm bill. The former lawmakers are claiming those payments are not justified because of current high farm gate prices and that the savings within the Commodity Title should be used for other priorities, including more dollars into conservation and energy programs.

Thaemert says that "Most growers and lawmakers know by now that NAWG is advocating for an increased direct payment for wheat growers. There are also some legislators and special interest groups that oppose the direct payment and would seek to use the direct payment monies for other purposes. However, of the three support mechanisms available, our members have only been able to access the direct payment since the enactment of the 2002 Farm Bill."

The Wheat Leader adds "We also recognize the many benefits that the direct payment offers. The direct payment is decoupled from current production, so it doesn't distort farmers' planting decisions or the market place. Because it is decoupled, it is also the most trade-friendly income support in the current farm policy arsenal, which is very important for American wheat, almost half of which is exported. But, most importantly, the direct payment is dependable, something a farmer can rely on. This is one reason some people oppose the direct payment. They ask the question, "Why provide access to direct payments when growers have good crops?" The answer is something I and every other farm banker in America strive for: stability."

And the NAWG President goes on to point out that stability is not just for farm families- but also is very important to the rural infrastructure that make up our rural economies. You can read his full argument for a direct farm payment to continue to be an important part of the Commodity Title of the 2007 Farm Bill by clicking below.

Click here for the Word On Wheat about why the Direct Payment within the Farm Program Makes Sense.


Warmer Weather Predicted this Week just what the Doctor Ordered for 2007 Cotton Crop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEEDS NEED WATCHING, according to Dr. J.C. Banks, Oklahoma State University Extension state cotton specialist. Dr. Banks, in his report from NTOK, says "Cotton planting is essentially complete in irrigated areas and is well underway in dryland areas. Most early planted cotton is up to a good stand, but not growing rapidly due to a lack of heat and sunshine. I have been observing a few fields with wet weather blight on leaves and some disease lesions on roots, but warm weather should turn the cotton around and it should grow out of the early problems."

"The cooler weather that slows cotton growth also favors weed growth. We are learning the value of a yellow preemergence herbicide, even when we are in a Roundup Ready program. The wet weather has not allowed timely spraying of Roundup and weeds are growing much faster than the cotton. One of our weed problems that is much worse this year is horseweed (mares tail). This weed can be managed when it is small, but when it gets over six inches tall, it is difficult to kill. It is really difficult to kill in no-till conditions if it was not controlled prior to planting. The best control programs have involved phenoxy herbicides alone or tank mixed in early to mid- April about one month prior to planting. At planting or soon after planting, a treatment of Roundup will usually control the small weeds before they get large enough to be difficult to control."

"Continued Roundup treatments in the summer should be as needed to the weeds when they are small. If the weeds, (especially horseweed), are over six inches tall, the maximum labeled rate of Roundup should be used. Be sure to condition the spray solution with ammonium sulfate prior to adding the Roundup and set spray boom height and pressure to obtain maximum deposition on the weeds. For morningglory control in irrigated areas, Staple has been effective, but application needs to be made after the water furrows are made to avoid moving an untreated layer of soil on top of a band of Staple." If you have questions about your cotton- Dr. Banks will be glad to visit with you- his number in Altus is 580- 482-2120.


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 and make plans to be an exhibitor at either the Tulsa Farm Show this December or the Southern Plains Farm Show next spring!

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:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forward email

This email was sent to ronphays@cox.net, by ron@oklahomafarmreport.com

Oklahoma Farm Report | 10700 Whitehall Blvd | Oklahoma City | OK | 73162