|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday July 10, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- The Cold Hard Reality of the Combines Rolling in Sprouted
Wheat
-- Thirty one percent of Oklahoma Wheat Acres Expected to be
Harvested Still Are NOT.
-- Oklahoma and other Southern Plains Cotton Producers in Arizona
this week for a piece of the PIE!
-- National Media Blasting Away at the Concept of Using Contract
Lawyers in Cases Like the Lawsuit by Oklahoma Against the Poultry
Industry
-- More with Derrell Peel- Where are cattle prices headed???
-- NACD Takes Pot Shots At House Ag Committee Chairman Over His
Chairman's Mark for Conservation.
-- More Us-Korean Beef Talks Coming in August- Full Reopening is at
Stake (or is that steak?)
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 recently 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 Cold Hard Reality of the Combines Rolling in Sprouted Wheat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We got one
response to our request to hear from folks who are trying to get going
with some harvest in some of the wheat fields left standing after days and
days of rain after the wheat had become dead ripe.
The producer that gave us his story is from Fairview and tells us "We were able to get into the field on Sat. and got some wheat and rye harvested. Sunday things finially dried enough that we got a lot cut. We had some showers come through this morning so today does not look good. I had one machine in western Major county harvesting wheat, the test weight was 48 with 15% sprout damage & moisture was 8%. With all that the yield was still over 30 Bushels per acre. Sooner Coop in Fairview is taking wheat with up to 20% sprout damage. The deduct for the test weight and sprout damage amounted to about $2.50 a bushel!! I had my other machine in eastern Major county harvesting rye the test weight was very good at 54# with NO sprout damage, 11% moisture and yielding over 30 bushel/acre. This has been a very very stressful and very very expensive harvest for all involved." As we get other reports- we will update our website and we have that link below for you to checj later in the day on Tuesday. | |
Thirty one percent of Oklahoma Wheat Acres Expected to be Harvested Still Are NOT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma is
the odd man out when it comes to wheat harvest here in 2007 in the
southern plains, with both Texas and Kansas now at 81% harvested while
only 69% of the Oklahoma wheat crop has seen a combine come and go. The
question continues to be- how many more of those acres will actually have
a combine come a calling. Thirty one percent unharvested means that one
point three million acres need to be harvested, based on the figures
released by USDA about a week ago. That figure staggers the mind.
Many fields planted this spring remain very wet and the dampness has slowed crop development in many cases. When it comes to soybeans, only about half of the expected acres were ever planted this season- it simply was too wet in late May and in most of June. The corn crop is rated in good to excellent condition, while the peanut, cotton and grain sorghum crop are largely rated in good condition. Eighty two percent of the pasture and range land in the state is rated in good to excellent shape, and we are over ninety percent adequate to surplus on both topsoil and subsoil moisture supplies. We have the full Oklahoma Crop-Weather update linked below- check it out! Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update from the NASS. | |
Oklahoma and other Southern Plains Cotton Producers in Arizona this week for a piece of the PIE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
farmers (as well as those from Kansas and Texas) make up the membership of
the National Cotton Council 2007 Cotton Foundation Producer Information
Exchange (PIE) Program. These producers are now visiting Arizona and
California operations and wrap up this Thursday, June 12. Tour particpants
include: Jarod Abernathy, Altus, Ok; Brian Kellog, Dill City, Ok.; John
Evridge, Midcliff, Tx; Jacob Gerik, Aquila, Tx; Joshua Rieder, Sinton,
Tx.; Israel Salazar, Jr., Raymondville, Tx.; David Stubblefield, Colorado
City, Tx.; James Synatschk, Sudan, Tx.; Dereck Totton, Oxford, Ks.; John
Wilde, San Angelo, Tx.; and Ryan Williams, Farwell, Tx.
The program, now in its 19th year, fosters valuable communication between cotton producers and helps them gain new perspectives in land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting from peers in the Cotton Belt's different regions. After this year's tours, the program will have exchanged more than 800 individual US cotton producers. | |
National Media Blasting Away at the Concept of Using Contract Lawyers in Cases Like the Lawsuit by Oklahoma Against the Poultry Industry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two of the
leading mouthpieces for the national media, the Wall Street Journal and
the New York Times, have both written in recent days about the practice of
Attorney Generals wanting to use their cronies outside of government in
pursuing potentially big payoff legal cases on a contingency basis.
The Wall Street Journal talked about the concept on their editorial pages this past week- hailing a move by President George W Bush- issuing an Executive Order that bars Federal Agencies from hiring private lawyers for cases on a contingency fee basis. They call it the principle of "prosecutorial Neutrality," adding that the legal system in this country has been set up on the idea of officials "pursuing cases in the public interest, not for personal profit." They point out that this profit concept came up in the 1990s when trial lawyers found a new way to make money- go after Big Tobacco on behalf of states for a piece of the action.The Journal points out that the concept is alive and well, with Oklahoma's lawsuits against the northwest Arkansas poultry companies cited as one of the cases where personal gain may trump public interests. The New York Times has published an article this week that is all about the Oklahoma AG turning to contingency fee lawyers to pursue his case against the poultry companies. The article cites a conversation they had with Drew Edmondson- "On the phone the other day, Mr. Edmondson said that how he paid his lawyers was a distraction from the serious issues in the suit. He controls every aspect of the litigation, he said, and personally argued important motions last month. Mr. Edmondson added that the state could not afford to address the problem any other way. "We are over $10 million in litigation costs to date," he said. "We simply lack the resources in the attorney general's office to handle this." Asked if he had given any thought to hiring lawyers by the hour, he said, "With what?" The Times' article says that our AG has signed a contract that would award a huge part of any award to the private lawyers, money that many believe should be used to clean up any problems that the lawsuit might identify. However, "In the chicken manure case, Judge Gregory K. Frizzell turned back a challenge to the contingent-fee contract last month, though he suggested that he might seek the views of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on the matter," according to the New York Times. We have linked below a copy of the Wall Street Journal Editorial from last week- makes for interesting reading. Click here for the editorial from the WSJ on Government pursuing a monetary judgement on the shares. | |
More with Derrell Peel- Where are cattle prices headed??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In our
continuing conversation with Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU, we ask Derrell to do
a little predicting about the direction of cattle prices. He says that he
believes the short term- say the next six weeks- is a lot tougher to
predict right now than a longer term outlook that would take us out to the
end of the year.
Derrell says the question is how much lower we might go compared to the 87 dollar prices we saw week before last. He points out there is a lot of summer left that could give us a little more down in cattle prices, especially from the 90 dollar prices of this past week. He sees feeder cattle supplies tight and prices steady to strong for the balance of 2007- especially if we retain some heifers from that limited supply of yearling weight cattle. The middle part of the country may see some of that with good pasture conditions while the western states and the southeast are probably too dry to see that occur. You can hear all of Derrell's thoughts on current price outlook by going to the link we have provided below- the Beef Buzz is heard daily on radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click here to listen to the Beef Buzz with Ron and Derrell Peel of OSU! | |
NACD Takes Pot Shots At House Ag Committee Chairman Over His Chairman's Mark for Conservation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) urged members of the House
Agriculture Committee today to reconsider portions of the proposed 2007
Farm Bill, stating that current language in the bill threatens the
locally-led process and is not favorable to America's landowners and
managers. NACD President Olin Sims, a rancher from McFadden, Wyoming, sent
a letter to Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN), again emphasizing
the importance of a Farm Bill that allows customers to participate in Farm
Bill conservation programs with ease and efficiency.
"Conservation districts have been pushing from the start of the debate for a Farm Bill that streamlines and consolidates programs and processes to make it easier for America's landowners to participate in conservation programs and implement effective practices," Sims said. "Unfortunately, the legislation proposed by the House further complicates producer requirements and threatens the locally-led process that is vital to applying conservation to the ground." The Committee's proposal switches administration of the 2007 Farm Bill Conservation Programs from USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service to the Farm Services Agency. Such a change would force producers to work though multiple federal agencies to participate in any conservation program. NACD calls this a bad deal for producers. The full letter that has gone to Chairman Peterson is linked below. Click here for the full text of the letter sent to House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson | |
More Us-Korean Beef Talks Coming in August- Full Reopening is at Stake (or is that steak?) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Korea may hold
fresh talks next month with the U.S. aimed at possibly relaxing Seoul's
U.S. beef import policy. A senior veterinary official at the Agriculture
Ministry said on Monday a government proposal on food safety, animal and
plant health will be out this week based on which Seoul and Washington are
expected to discuss further steps in August.
Korean livestock experts just returned from an on-site inspection in the U.S. where they visited slaughterhouses, meatpacking plants and cattle holding areas. Seoul has partially lifted its ban on U.S. beef to allow imports of boneless meat from cattle under 30 months old. Although the U.S. beef issue is not technically part of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement U.S. lawmakers have warned they will not ratify the deal unless Seoul fully opens its market. While nothing is certain at this stage of the talks, Korean officials have been quoted as saying a full reopening of the Korean market to both boneless and bone-in US beef may occur as early as September. | |
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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
