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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday December 7,
2007! A
service of National Livestock Credit Corporation, American Farmers and
Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Farm Bill Deal is Cut with a 20/20 Solution!
-- Energy Bill Passes House on Mostly Party Line Vote.
-- Tulsa Farm Show Had Excellent Opening Day!
-- Southwest Oklahoma Has a New "Bugman" who started working this
week.
-- How Dry It Is!!!!
-- Healey and Smola Named to the Cattlemen's Beef Board.
-- We Remind You About Two of Our Great RON Radio Stations- KGWA and
KOFM!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company is 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!!! We are proud to also welcome National Livestock Credit Corporation as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. National Livestock Credit Corporation works diligently to provide unsurpassed service to their customers in the area of livestock financing. Check out the National Livestock Family of Services website by clicking here. And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show THIS WEEK- December 6-8, 2007, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City next spring. 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. | |
Farm Bill Deal is Cut with a 20/20 Solution! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Democrats and
Republicans have agreed to the number of amendments that will be allowed
to go forward- debated and voted upon- in the 2007 farm bill debate. That
will allow the debate to proceed, as Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Saxby
Chambliss of Georgia will be the gatekeepers as to which amendments will
be allowed to see the floor during the debate.
The magic number for each party is 20- so as many as 40 amendments(what are called first degree amendments) will be allowed in this process. The goal is to finish next week. One report that we have gotten from Washington is that Senator Reid plans on starting votes on amendments next Tuesday. The website, the Crypt's Blog details that this is just one of several deals that the Democrats are now doing as they forego campaign promises in some cases and step up to try to make the legislative machinery work. We have linked this piece on our webpage on the 2007 Farm Bill process below- it is in our December 7th Pearl Harbor Day musings- you can get to our Farm Bill page by following the link below. Click here for the 2007 Farm Bill page of WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Energy Bill Passes House on Mostly Party Line Vote. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before the
House voted to pass the energy bill by a vote of 235 to 181, the White
House once again renewed a threat to veto the bill over tax provisions and
renewable electricity mandate. The measure would boost corporate average
fuel economy standards, require billions of gallons of ethanol and other
biofuels to be blended into gasoline, and mandate that 15 percent of
electricity by 2020 come from renewable sources.
The Renewable Fuels Standard advanced by this House measure would be 36 billion gallons by the year 2026- with about 15 billion gallons to come from corn and other grains-with the balance to come from cellulosic ethanol. Three of the five members of the Oklahoma House Delegation voted against the Energy Bill- Congresslady Fallin and Congressmen Sullivan and Boren(Boren was one of seven Democrats to vote no) while Lucas and Cole did not vote. | |
Tulsa Farm Show Had Excellent Opening Day! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day one of the
Tulsa Farm Show went well- it was a little chilly outside but perfect
conditions inside the massive Quik Trip Center at the Tulsa Fairgrounds.
It was a good crowd for the opening day and it appears the weather will be
favorable for folks to get to Tulsa for the 2007 event today and tomorrow.
One of the long time features of this show and several other farm shows in the area is the appearance of Craig Cameron with his gentle horse training techniques. We talked with Craig about how he works with horses he has just met at the shows he is featured at- and we also asked him for a few tips for those that might be thinking "horse" for a youngster in their family for Christmas. You can take a listen to our conversation with Craig by clicking on the link below. Click here to listen to Ron and Craig talk horses from the Tulsa Farm Show. | |
Southwest Oklahoma Has a New "Bugman" who started working this week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Terry Pitts,
who has worked professionally for university ag extension services as well
as in the private sector, began work this week in integrated pest
management at the OSU Southwest Extension and Research Center just south
of Altus. "We have been needing an entomologist who will be doing both
research and extension work in cotton statewide and in other areas such as
livestock, wheat, alfalfa, canola, pasture and rangelands in our southwest
district," said Dr. J. C. Banks, OSU Ag Extension state cotton specialist
and director of the Southwest Extension and Research Center. "Terry will
be a valuable addition to our research and extension demonstration team.
We are fortunate to have him."
Other responsibilities included in Pitt's job description will be pests affecting consumers and residential areas in the southwest district. Pitts comes from a farming family in north-central Oklahoma. He has BS and MS degrees in entomology and plant pathology from OSU. He also has done graduate work at Texas A&M University. His work experience includes working as an ag extension area agronomist for OSU and as a Texas A&M area extension specialist in integrated pest management. More recently, he worked as a senior field development manager and an insecticide product manager for Bayer CropSciences and Gustafson. Integrated pest management, Pitts explains, is the coordinated use of pest and environmental information with available pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and with the least possible hazard to people, property and the environment. Pitts says that IPM allows farmers and the environment to both win as pests are kept in check. | |
How Dry It Is!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While we may
finally get some decent amounts of precipitation this weekend and into the
first of this coming week in parts of the state- we have gotten critically
dry over the last month and half or more across a lot of our major winter
wheat country in the state of Oklahoma.
Mark Hodges with the Oklahoma Wheat Commission forwarded a map to us from the Climatological Survey on how dry it is in regards to the numbers of days without measurable rainfall of at least a quarter of an inch. It shows clearly how badly we need the precipitation being predicted- even if we have to take some freezing rain and ice to get it. Click below to see the survey map- and check in on the Saturday morning news on KWTV News9 as we have asked Mark to be our guest to talk current crop conditions as well as a bit of a preview of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers meeting that goes on Saturday in Oklahoma City. Our segment will ususally land at at either 6:40 AM and/or 7:40 during that two hour period- kinda depends on how the news flow is going on a given morning. | |
Healey and Smola Named to the Cattlemen's Beef Board. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acting
Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner on Thursday announced 39 appointments
to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board. All appointees will
serve three-year terms beginning Feb. 3, 2008. There are a total of 104
members on the CBB.
The two Oklahoma cattle producers who will serve a three year term are Brian Healey and Steve Smola. Healey has been a part of the Oklahoma Beef Council- and has served as Chairman of that group- while Steve is a past President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association- among his other jobs he has taken on down through the years in the industry. They replace Mike Brooks and Terry Detrick who are ending three year terms (Mike is ending his second three year term). The board oversees collection of $1-per-head on all cattle sold in the United States, and $1-per-head equivalent on imported cattle, beef and beef products. In addition, the board contracts with established national, non-profit, and industry-governed organizations to implement programs of promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications. The 104-member board is authorized by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985. The agriculture secretary selects the appointees nominated by beef, veal, dairy and importer certified organizations. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service monitors operation of the board. | |
We Remind You About Two of Our Great RON Radio Stations- KGWA and KOFM! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are
continuing to grow our list of radio stations that are partners with us on
the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we will have several more to share with
you in early 2008. But we wanted to remind you of two of our outstanding
stations that serve the important north central area of the state from
Enid.
Our Information Station in Enid on the AM dial is KGWA, AM960. They
take nine of our reports daily, from our morning farm and ranch news to
our closing market wrapup. You can see a full listing of the shows and times both stations air our
programming at the link we have provided below. We are working with
several of our radio stations to increase their commitment to serving
Oklahoma farmers and ranchers by broadcasting our reports of news and
market information several times each day. Do your part by letting your
local radio station know that you appreciate the fact that they carry Ed
and Ron on RON- the Radio Oklahoma Network. If they don't currently carry
our programming, ask them to consider adding the very best agricultural
information source in the state to their programming daily. And let us
know that you are talking to them- we will have our radio station liaison
make contact to follow up on your ground breaking efforts. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and National Livestock Credit Corporationfor 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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