From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 6:46 AM
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday October 28, 2008!
A service of Johnston Enterprises, National Livestock Credit and American Farmers & Ranchers!
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-- Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
-- The Double Crop Blues- Worrying About Cold Weather and Late Maturity Crops
-- Monsanto Says Price Increases for Seed Technology Will Stick for 2009 Crop
-- John McBride on Livestock Auctioneers Bidding for a World Chmapionship
-- COOL Talking in Lawton
-- A Sign of the Times- Electronic Trade ONLY in Minneapolis
-- Governor's Water Conference Begins Today
-- Looking at our Agricultural Markets...

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 have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

We are also pleased to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to have served agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website!
And we are proud to have 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.

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.


Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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Last Friday morning, we saw temperatures in the Panhandle dip into the 20s, with a few locations right at or slightly below 32 degrees in Harper, Woodward and Roger Mills Counties. We bounced back over the weekend to warmer overnight lows- but early Monday morning, the colder air rolled back in- and we had temperature readings down into the 20s over a wide area of Oklahoma- for example the Mesonet station in Canadian County recorded an overnight low of 24 degrees. Temperatures yesterday morning were down to or slightly below freezing all the way to the Red River.

This morning- as we write this email- we are seeing the colder air settle in on the Eastern half of the state, with a 24 degree reading posted in the 4 AM hour at Burneyville, down along the Red River.

We have the Mesonet's Ag Weather website linked on the WEATHER page of our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com, and you can check it out- as well as weather information and predictions from the two best weather teams in the state- Gary England and the folks at News9, KWTV in Oklahoma City and Travis Meyer and his crew at the News on 6, KOTV in Tulsa. Below, we have the link from the Mesonet for today's High/low temps- it will show you the colder air sitting on the eastern half of our state this morning.

Clcik here for the AgWeather's High/Low Temps for Oklahoma for Today.


The Double Crop Blues- Worrying About Cold Weather and Late Maturity Crops
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The latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update reflects the concern of some that this freezing temperatures that we wrote about above ends the growing season too soon for some crops that were planted after wheat this summer. The NASS team in Oklahoma writes "Some producers were fearful that double-cropped row crops would be damaged by freezing temperatures before reaching maturity." Based on the percent of the crops that are now mature- it appears that almost thirty percent of the grain sorghum crop was not yet mature as we hit the freezing conditions, and 35% of the soybean crop also in that not yet mature stage.

Regarding harvest progress- "Ninety percent of the corn had been harvested by week's end, up 11 points from the previous week but seven points behind the five-year average. Twenty-nine percent of the State's sorghum had been harvested, 23 points behind normal. Soybeans mature increased four points from the previous week to reach 65 percent, 17 points behind the five-year average. Soybeans harvested were up eight points from the previous week to reach 35 percent complete, 19 points behind normal. Ninety-four percent of the State's peanuts were mature by week's end, up two points from the previous week but three points behind normal. Sixty percent of peanuts had been dug, up 15 points from the previous week but 11 points behind the five-year average. Peanuts combined reached 42 percent, nine points behind normal. Cotton harvested reached 21 percent by week's end, up eight points from the previous week but 11 points behind the five-year average. Cotton harvest was in full swing in several southwest counties."

Regarding the winter wheat crop- they report "In areas that received rain last week, producers were forced to bring small grain planting to a standstill. However, the recent rains will help wheat emerge in those areas. Some counties in the eastern part of the State remained dry and in need of moisture. Winter wheat planted increased four points from the previous week to reach 86 percent complete, three points behind the five-year average. Nearly three-fourths of the State's wheat had emerged by week's end, up 10 points from the previous week and one point ahead of normal."

Click here for the latest Crop Weather Update from USDA issued Monday afternoon.


Monsanto Says Price Increases for Seed Technology Will Stick for 2009 Crop
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A senior Monsanto executive, Executive Vice President Brett Begemann, says that the company will stand pat with the prices they announced earlier this year for their newest technology of stacked traits for soybeans and corn. This is despite the fact that corn and soybean market prices have plunged 50 percent since mid-summer.

Begemann says that he has great respect for farmers because of the risks that are a part of farming and ranching. He adds that Monsanto has been able to grow their market share by providing seed technology that farmers have made money with- and that Monsanto believes that the technology will pay- even with less than stellar crop prices that we now see.

Our colleague, Stewart Doan, has an audio report of his conversation with Begemann on this issue- and we have it linked on our website- the link is below.

Click here for more on the Monsanto Decision to Not Tie Pricing of their technology to Commodity Prices.


John McBride on Livestock Auctioneers Bidding for a World Chmapionship
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McBride is our guest on the Tuesday Beef Buzz, as we talk with him about the Quarterfinals of the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship that will happen in Texhoma, Oklahoma Wednesday. twenty five auctioneers will compete for eight slots that will advance to the World Championships that will be held in Minnesota next June.

Eight of the 25 are from Oklahoma, including Charlie Baker, Calera, Okla.; Tate Cobb, Guymon, Okla.; Jonathan Cooper, Yukon, Okla.; Dustin Focht, Stillwater, Okla.; Kevin Magby, Atoka, Okla.; Mike Mawske, Shattuck, Okla.; Lane Rodman, Stillwater, Oklahoma and Paul David Rodman, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Click on the link below to get to today's Beef Buzz and hear McBride's comments on the plans for Wednesday in Texhoma- the sale starts at 10 AM and the actual competition gets underway around 11:30 AM.

Click here for our Tueday Beef Buzz with Ron and John.


COOL Talking in Lawton
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Ryan Reuter, a beef specialist with the Noble Foundation, and Bill Barnhart, managing partner for the OKC-West Livestock Auction at El Reno tag-teamed to address new Country of Origin labeling law and its impact on livestock producers during the Greater Oklahoma Farm Show in Lawton last week. Oklahoma Grain & Stocker Producers organized the event. (and our thanks to Candace Krebs for providing us an update as I was out of state covering FFA)

Ryan Reuter kicked off the presentation with an overview of Country of Origin labeling, reminding everyone that it is a law requiring retailers to provide origin information on meats, nuts and produce. A similar law for seafood went into effect back in 2002.
Reuter did some scouting at area stores prior to his presentation and gave some examples of how the label is being applied. On a ground beef chub from Wal-Mart, you "have to turn it over and read the very fine print to find out where it is from."

What it means for producers is that all cattle sold now require a verification process. "All cattle sold in the U.S. require some sort of origin documentation and it has to flow all the way up the chain to retail," Reuter summarized.
Barnhart followed up by talking about how things are working at his facility, which handles on average 5,000 head a week, or a total of 250,000 head annually. "During the grace period, we can use visual inspection," he said. The first load of Mexican cattle to come through the sale barn after COOL implementation - which were included in last week's sale - were immediately apparent. Sale officials called the individual who brought the cattle in and had him sign an affidavit certifying that they were of USA/Mexican origin.

We have the complete story that Candace Krebs provided us on the COOL meeting in Lawton- click here to read more.


A Sign of the Times- Electronic Trade ONLY in Minneapolis
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Outcry trading at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange is coming to an end. On December 16th the MGEX will close its trading pits. As a result the exchange will transition to exclusively electronic trading. The move was unanimously approved by the MGEX Board of Director.

The CME Globex electronic trading platform will remain unchanged. And the MGEX will continue to host the cash market from a newly remodeled location in the historic Grain Exchange Building.

The decision comes after a study done by MGEX Management at the request of the Board of Directors. The MGEX ownership has yet to give its approval. During the transition period to exclusively electronic trading MGEX will waive all fees associated with open outcry, beginning November first.


Governor's Water Conference Begins Today
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Everything from Climate Change to how the Indian Tribes in the state view water will be addressed during the 2008 Governor's Conference on Water that begins this morning at the Reed Center in Midwest City.

Agriculture, as a major user of water, has a presence at this conference, and that can be seen by who the Chairman is of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board- Mark Nichols from southwest Oklahoma.

We'll be covering some of the sessions of this meeting- and we'll have more on that tomorrow morning here in our daily email- as well as on our Radio Oklahoma Network reports- and of course on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com as well.

Click here for the agenda of the Governor's Conference on Water.


Our thanks to National Livestock Credit, American Farmers & Ranchers and Johnston Enterprises 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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Looking at our Agricultural Markets...
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The run at the Oklahoma National Stockyards was the best we had seen in several weeks- as cattle producers decided they needed to move cattle despite all the market uncertainty. The market reporter tells us that "Feeder cattle 2.00-4.00 lower with demand improving after futures closing. Steer and heifer calves 5.00-10.00 lower erasing all of last weeks advance. Demand light to moderate for all classes. Some feedlots still on the sidelines while others are cautious." For the prices at the Oklahoma City market on Monday- Click here.

Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click on the name of the report to go to that link:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- One Pager From Country Hedging- looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges and the why of that day's market.

Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture.
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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