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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday October 29,
2007! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and
Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- FFA Finale- Oklahoma can Boost of Multiple National Award
Winners!
-- CREP Program Starting to Become Reality
-- OSU's Wheat Specialist- Jeff Edwards-out with his latest Wheat
Production Newsletter.
-- Thanks for your Support!!!
-- Senate Timeline for Farm Bill- Quickly!
-- OSU's Glen Selk Says- Tis the Season for Prussic Acid
Poisoning.
-- One Opinion on the Packer Ban on Livestock Ownership- It's
UnAmerican!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here! We also welcome American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click
here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts
to serve rural America! 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. | |
FFA Finale- Oklahoma can Boost of Multiple National Award Winners! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the curtain
came down on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis, the 80th annual
convention of the National FFA is officially done- but there is a lot to
celebrate as the Oklahoma contingent flew or drove home.
We reported on Friday morning about Oklahoma landing one of the Four
Stars Over America in 2007- Chance Simpson of the Timberlake FFA- Chance
being the National Winner as the Star in Ag Placement. Friday afternoon-
Oklahoma nabbed six national championships in the Proficiency Awards
judged at this 2007 event. Those six included We have other details of Friday and Saturday all up on our 2007 National FFA Convention Page on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Take a look- and take a listen to several of the interviews- and be sure to listen to our young friend McKenzie Walta of Kingfisher, who did an incredible job in bringing the FFA Creed to life- answered her questions flawlessly and ended up second to a young lady from California. Click below and check all of this out on our National Convention page! Click here for the 2007 National FFA Convention Page from WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
CREP Program Starting to Become Reality ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An event
marking the signing of the very first Oklahoma contract for the
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was held at Riverside Park
along the Illinois River in Tahlequah on Oct. 26. The contract marks the
beginning of a $20.6 million cooperative conservation partnership
agreement between U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oklahoma that will
create up to 9,000 acres (or 370 miles) of riparian buffers and filter
strips. The conservation plantings will reduce the flow of nutrients,
sediment and other pollutants in the Spavinaw Lake and Illinois River/Lake
Tenkiller watersheds (Oklahoma CREP). Jerry Hammons of Tahlequah is the
first landowner to sign a contract for the new program.
It's a great deal for those that sign up- - Land owners participating in the program will receive annual rental payments, financial and technical assistance and other incentives for voluntarily enrolling land into contracts. FSA will administer Oklahoma CREP, with support from state CREP partners. Eligible landowners will receive up to 90 percent of the cost of practice installation in addition to their annual rental payments and their signing incentive payment. In Hammons' contract, will remove 14 acres of his land from agricultural production, in a 300-foot wide strip bordering the Illinois River to develop riparian (streamside) buffers and filter strips of vegetation. The conservation plantings will reduce the flow of nutrients, sediment and other pollutants in the Illinois River/Lake Tenkiller watershed. In return, Hammons will receive $63 per acre per year plus a $6 per acre per year maintenance payment for the 15-year life of the contract. He also receives a one-time $100 per acre signup incentive at the beginning of the contract. The total payment is $15,990 to take out of cattle production a strip of land 300 feet wide and just under four miles long. And that first piece is a small portion of the total 370 miles the sponsors would like to enroll in the program. You may remember our coverage of the signing ceremony that brought
together the money part of the deal. At the state Capitol in April,
Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and U.S. Deputy of Agriculture Secretary
Chuck Conner signed the Oklahoma CREP agreement, paving the way for the
program in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC) is the
state agency managing the Oklahoma CREP. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)
will administer the federal portion of the funding. Key partners include
the City of Tulsa's Metropolitan Utility Authority, Oklahoma Scenic Rivers
Commission, five local conservation districts, and USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS). | |
OSU's Wheat Specialist- Jeff Edwards-out with his latest Wheat Production Newsletter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our State
Extension Wheat Specialist, Dr. Jeff Edwards, tells us that in his latest
Wheat Production newsletter, he is addressing several key subjects,
including late planting, Hessian Fly, nitrogen management, and scouting
for the Flea Beetle.
One of the big issues that Dr. Edwards addresses is planting here at the tail end of October into early November your winter wheat. Dr. Edwards tells us "Wheat sown in early November can have good yield potential. Of course, a few minor adjustments in your management strategy will be in order. Late-sown wheat will typically not tiller as well as early-sown wheat, so seeding rates should be increased by 20 to 30%. Seeding rates should be adjusted upward even further if planting extends into the latter half of November." Dr. Edwards also reports that Hessian Fly is already starting to show up this fall- and how you need to respond- and this issue also addresses keeping costs as low as you can when it comes to applying nitrogen. We have the latest newsletter linked below for your inspection- so take a look! | |
Thanks for your Support!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we continue
to crank out this email news update daily, I want to thank those of you
that take time and respond to the various stories that we have worked on
for you. We appreciate your good and bad feedback- it really helps keep us
sharp as to what really matters to Oklahoma agriculture.
I have two requests- one is to pass this email along to those who you think might be interested- and suggest they might want to sign up for the daily delivery themselves. I know that these stories get passed around quite a bit- and that helps in spreading this information to lots of folks that can make good use of it. Keep it up! The other request I would make is to make sure that you have
"whitelisted" my email address that his email comes from- in other words
declared that it is safe to receive emails from this address- the address
I am talking about is ron@oklahomafarmreport.com | |
Senate Timeline for Farm Bill- Quickly! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Leader in
the US Senate, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, says that he likes the
reforms achieved in the Senate Ag Committee, and that he wants to move the
bill "in the quickest time possible." That translates into a floor date of
November 5.
Meanwhile, a much lower payment limitation will likely be tacked onto the Senate Ag Committee's farm bill on the Senate Floor. The so-called Dorgan-Grassley Amendment that would put the limit for payments at $250,000 dollars under a hard cap should pass easily, according to Tom Harkin, the Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, who is delighted with that possible outcome. He says we got 67 votes for a similar amendment in 2002- and he thinks there are that many votes out there to be garnered this go round. Of course, the hard cap was stripped out in the Conference Committee, and that fate is a real possibility again here in 2007 as the House has no similar provision in their bill passed by the full House back in early August. Time will tell, but it now looks like a Conference Committee could be formed and start to work on a final proposal before Thanksgiving. Who knows, maybe we will get a Farm Law for Christmas! | |
OSU's Glen Selk Says- Tis the Season for Prussic Acid Poisoning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prussic acid
when ingested by cattle, is quickly absorbed into the blood stream, and
blocks the animal's cells from utilizing oxygen. Thus the animal dies from
asphyxiation at the cellular level. Animals affected by prussic acid
poisoning exhibit a characteristic bright red blood just prior to and
during death. Lush young regrowth of sorghum plants are prone to
accumulate prussic acid especially when the plants are stressed such as
drought or freeze damage. Several nights have recently reached the
freezing mark. Light frosts, that stress the plant but do not kill it, are
often associated with prussic acid poisonings. Producers should avoid
grazing fields with sorghum type plants following a light frost. The risk
of prussic acid poisoning will be reduced, if grazing is delayed until at
least one week after a "killing freeze". As the plants die and the cell
walls rupture, the hydrocyanic acid is released as a gas, and the amount
is greatly reduced in the plants. One can never be absolutely certain that
a field of forage sorghum is 100% safe to graze. To date, only millets
have been shown to be unlikely to accumulate prussic acid.
Cattle that must be grazed on sorghum pastures during this time of year should be fed another type of hay before turning in on the field, and should be watched closely for the first few hours after turn in. If signs of labored breathing, such as would be found in asphyxiation, are noted, cattle should be removed immediately. Call your local veterinarian for immediate help for those animals that are affected. Nitrates may still be a concern. Even though Oklahoma has had a summer with above average rainfall, laboratory tests of forage sorghum hays are continuing to show high concentrations of nitrates in some of the late summer, and early fall hay cuttings. Any of the summer annuals that would be in sorghum family (especially millets) are capable of accumulating nitrates. Don't be caught off-guard with the relatively mild summer, nitrates can still be a potential issue as producers feed forage sorghum type hay this winter. | |
One Opinion on the Packer Ban on Livestock Ownership- It's UnAmerican! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Journalist
turned Activist Steve Dittmer says that the proposed ban on livestock
ownership by packers will be a crippling blow to livestock producers that
want to be involved in various value added alliances.
He writes "But if you are a cattleman or pig producer or meat packer, you do not have the rights other U.S. citizens have. Your business cannot operate like other U.S. businesses. You don't even have the rights foreign companies have. At least under an amendment to the Farm Bill in the Senate this week*, rights to contract livestock would be stripped from livestock producers and to contract or own livestock from packers. Cattlemen who have shared ownership of cattle or hogs in joint ventures to supply high quality beef, "organic beef" or "natural" beef would be stripped of the right to associate in business with the one class of business to which they can sell slaughter cattle or hogs." Steve's comments are in line with the thinking of groups like the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Texas Cattle Feeders- but obviously fly in the face of those who are supportive of what Senator Harkin inserted without much debate into his Committee's Farm Bill Proposal that could be on the floor of the Senate in about a week. We have a link of his commentary below- and be advised, that is what this link is - commentary. Consider it some "Meat to Chew On" about this issue. Click here to read Steve Dittmer's piece "Crippled by Congress?" | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! 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
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