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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday November 20,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Ranking Member Slot for Congressman Lucas Not Final
-- American Farm Bureau Pushing FTAs During the Lame Duck
-- Rumormill has it wrong- Texas officials say NO BSE case in Texas
this week.
-- Replacement Heifers- Should They Be Implanted?
-- Ug99 Worries World Wheat Industry
-- Laila Hajii Ready to Jump on Board a Year Long Magic Carpet
Ride
-- Late Word from the North American Livestock Expo
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show scheduled for December 11-13 here in 2008, as well as the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here. It's also great to have the Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma
with us regularly as an Email Sponsor- Financing Oklahoma is their
business! Check out their website which shows their locations statewide 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. | |
Ranking Member Slot for Congressman Lucas Not Final ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We quoted an
inside the Washington beltway lobbyist yesterday that had indicated that
we could know as early as this week whether the ranking minority member
position on the House Ag Committee was available- and that Congressman
Frank Lucas would fill that slot as it became available.
In talking with Congressman Lucas' office yesterday- they contend that the process is not nearly that advanced- and that it could be January before the ranking member position is known on any of the committees, including this situation that involves Bob Goodlatte who is the current ranking member on the House Ag Committee. It is still possible that Goodlatte could receive a waiver on the term limits question- or that the Steering Committee appointed by the Republican leadership could skip over the most senior person on the committee and award it to a more junior member- such as Jerry Moran of Kansas. However, our lobbyist friend contends that it will be the Congressman from the Third District that will get the nod at the end of the day. We do know that while several members of the House Republican leadership have either quit those positions or have been replaced- the head of the GOP in the House remains John Boehner of Ohio- and he has been an advocate of the six year term limit rule. As for Congressman Lucas, he talked about the possibility of being the ranking minority member yesterday morning on K101 radio in Woodward- one of our great radio stations that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network. Lucas talked with J Douglas and Dan R. about the ranking member position possibilities, who might be the next Secretary of Agriculture and the bailout package and its relevance back down to northwestern Oklahoma. We have a hunk of that conversation on our website- and it's linked below- go and take a listen. Click here for a listen of Congressman Frank Lucas with the K101 morning crew from Wednesday. | |
American Farm Bureau Pushing FTAs During the Lame Duck ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The American
Farm Bureau Federation continues to push for passage of the Colombia and
Panama Trade Promotion Agreements. In a letter, AFBF President Bob
Stallman urged House and Senate leadership to schedule a vote on the
agreements during the lame duck session. Stallman said, - Congressional
action to pass these agreements will correct the current trade inequities
brought on by U.S. preference programs and will result in U.S.
agricultural export gains. At full implementation, the agreements
represent U.S. agricultural export gains of more than one billion dollars
per year.
Currently, Colombia and Panama face no tariff barriers on agricultural products entering the U.S. market. U.S. farmers on the other hand continue to face significant tariff barriers when exporting products to these two markets, on average 25 percent to 30 percent. Passage of the Colombia and Panama FTAs will eliminate the tariffs placed on U.S. products. However, it is a long shot at best for Congress to consider these during the final days of the Bush Presidency. At the behest of U.S. organized labor, President-elect Barack Obama, during his Presidential campaign, repeatedly denounced the FTA suggesting that it would increase violence against Colombian labor activists. | |
Rumormill has it wrong- Texas officials say NO BSE case in Texas this week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Texas and
Southwest Cattle Raisers Association is working with state agriculture
groups to quell rumors that a case of BSE, or mad cow disease (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy) was discovered in Texas. In the news release
issued late Wednesday afternoon they say "A case of BSE has not been
discovered today in the state."
They quote Carla Everett of the Texas Animal Health Commission as saying their agency in Austin had received numerous calls on Wednesday about the human disease sporadic CJD. Here is what Everett told TSCRA as they quoted her in this release. "We have received no official written statement or announcement from
public health authorities regarding this case. | |
Replacement Heifers- Should They Be Implanted? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our regular
Thursday visit with Dr. Glenn Selk of the OSU Animal Science Department
asks this question- saying that if you have heifers that have been born on
your place- the first time you work them at around two or three months of
age- you need to address this question.
Dr. Selk says for those heifers that you plan on selling as a feeder or stocker animal- there is a real benefit to using an implant. However, if you intend to hold that female back and incorporate her into your beef cow herd- the benefits largely evaporate. We get an explanation of all of this in our Thursday edition of the Beef Buzz, as heard on the Radio Oklahoma Network. The Beef Buzz is heard on great radio stations around the state- and it is also a regular feature that is available on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. You can click on the left hand button on any page on the site- Beef Buzz and be taken to the listing of Beef Buzz shows from throughout the year- and we have the link below direct to today's Beef Buzz with Glenn Selk holding court on this production question- click to check it out. | |
Ug99 Worries World Wheat Industry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Representatives
from agricultural organizations from around the world met in India earlier
this month to discuss the threat of Ug99, a virulent stem rust, and how to
effectively deal with it through surveillance and breeding. More than 130
participants from ministries of agriculture of 31 countries, senior policy
makers, researchers, seed producers, plant production experts and others
attended the meeting, jointly organized by the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research, the government of India and the U.N.'s Food and
Agricultural Organization.
In a declaration after the meeting, participants pledged to strongly support prevention and control of the wheat stem rust as a matter of national policy and international cooperation. Participants also released a road map to tackle the problem, calling for urgent, coordinated action to prevent and control the strain, which is a major threat to food security due to its potential to cause heavy damage to wheat crops. Ug99, so named because it was first discovered in Uganda in 1999, can cause 100 percent yield loss in infected plants. The disease, which is primarily spread through the wind, has traveled as far as Iran, though a recent field survey funded by Cornell University showed it had not yet arrived in India, Pakistan, Egypt or China, according to FAO. A large but still unknown portion of wheat varieties around the world are highly vulnerable to Ug99, including an estimated 80 percent of wheat varieties in Africa and Asia, nearly all spring wheat varieties planted in the U.S. and 75 percent of winter wheat varieties planted in the U.S. NAWG, the National Wheat Improvement Committee and other members of the wheat chain have continued to work with little success to secure U.S. government resources for additional Ug99 research. Click here to see more about that wheat industry gathering in Oklahoma and Kansas | |
Laila Hajii Ready to Jump on Board a Year Long Magic Carpet Ride ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She is getting
ready for the adventure of her life. Laila Hajii of Guthrie, Oklahoma is
one of six national officers of the National FFA organization for 2008-
2009. And, right after Thanksgiving, she will head to Indianapolis and
begin to become part of the team of two young men and four ladies that
will each travel about 100,000 miles over the next eleven months- some
together and a lot of their own to spread the FFA message.
We caught up with Laila as she is wrapping up her fall semester at Texas Tech, spending a little bit of time at home and then will head out. We asked her about her FFA journey to this point and what she anticipates for the coming year. We posted our video conversation with Laila at the beginning of this week- but wanted to also direct you to our audio recorded visit with Laila as well- as she goes into more depth about where FFA has taken her to this point- and where she sees the organization going in the days ahead. We have posted it both as a podcast as well as one of the lead stories right now in our Blue-Green Gazette- a regular look at the FFA and 4-H activities in the state of Oklahoma. Click below to jump to our visit with Laila as she readies herself for the next year of non-stop travel and experiences that will shape her forever. | |
Late Word from the North American Livestock Expo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two of the top
market animals at the 2008 North American International Livestock
Exposition in Louisville are from Oklahoma- and will be a part of their
Sale of Champions later today.
The Grand Champion Market Lamb was shown by McKenzie Clifton, age 17
from Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Her lamb won the Hampshire market lamb show and
then bested the Crossbred animal from New Mexico for the Grand Champion
honors. The Oklahoma entry in the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest from Cleveland County placed fifth nationally, with Chris Hall as the tenth high individual in that competition. We had featured these young people earlier on our Blue-Green Gazette and you can click here to check out that story. In the collegiate Livestock Judging Contest- Texas Tech won the overall Show title- OSU placed fifth. The Cowboys placed third in the Sheep Division, ninth in Swine and 4th in Beef Cattle. | |
Our thanks to Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill and Midwest Farm Shows 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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