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!

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Buis sees no premium for beef that is labeled as USA born and raised, but adds that consumers want that information and that they deserve it. He fully expects that the major three beef packers will all opt for the mixed origin label- and that will account for as much as 85% of the beef found in the retail meat counters. He does commend the pork industry for heading the opposite direction, as he believes all of the major pork packers will follow the lead of Smithfield and their intentions to label all of their pork as a USA product.

We have comments from Tom Buis and others in our lead story as we begin this Thursday morning as found on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click on the link below to jump there.
Back here in Oklahoma, in doing a little grocery market checking Wednesday evening- we found a Homeland with the verbiage "Product of USA, Canada and Mexico" on white cardstock above the part of the meatcase reserved for fresh beef. For the pork section, it was "product of USA and Canada" and for poultry, it was "Product of the USA." At a Walmart Neighborhood Market, there was no info around the meat case- they did have little country designations above most of the fresh fruits and vegetables- mostly from the US but a few Mexicos, Costa Rica and even a Peru mixed in. Finally at a Crest Supermarket (A local Oklahoma City chain) they had Product of the USA over some but not all of the meat case. Most of their fruit and veggies were from the USA except for their peppers- the bell peppers as well as the hotter stuff came from Mexico.

Click here for the latest on COOL as found on the OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Dittmer writes "Friday, Sept. 26, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) spooked everything by issuing a sentence in a guidance document that instantly changed what livestock feeders and packers had been assuming for months. "
He adds that "The minute we read the compromise language in the Farm Bill it was obvious to us what packers would do. They could avoid the liability risk of mixing a carcass from a Canadian or Mexican feeder calf in with a U.S. load, as well as avoid millions in costs in reconfiguring processing lines, coolers and systems by putting all cattle in the second "Multiple Countries of Origin" category. No major packer was going to voluntarily spend huge amounts to guarantee U.S.- only category meat without a substantial, demonstrable demand or premium for U.S.-origin meat. Over 90 percent of the muscle cuts in American meat cases are already from U.S. cattle and consumers already assumed that. "

"Both the law and the interim rule clearly specified that U.S.-origin cattle could be included in the Multiple Origin category. " Dittmer says at the very last moment, USDA blinked over the outcry and claims that while that is how the law is written, those who negotiated the deal, did not mean it that way.

He adds "Congressmen, radical farm groups and activists have railed that USDA's regulations didn't follow the law and that packers are planning to flout the "intent of the law." So after six years, the intent isn't in the language? The problem is, do-gooders often have no understanding of how the systems they are "fixing" actually work, no concept of cost and no perception of the penalties in reputation, fines and operational disruptions if a business runs afoul of federal food labeling regulations."
Dittmer concludes by saying "if the packers can't find some way to live with the shift basis - and major cost increases - and manage to supply some U.S.-only labeled meat, Congress will re- open the mCOOL section of the Farm Bill." He adds that if Tom Buis and others get their way, it will turn out to be a "bloodbath" of cost and liability that meat packers will face.

After his presentation, we sat down with him to run the gamut of beef market topics- and we have that interview linked below for you to listen to you. Click on the link to our website and get caught up on some valuable marketing information, even though you may have missed his presentation at the Conference in Lawton.

Our coverage from the Southwest Stocker Conference is a service of our Cattle events sponsor, Hudson Livestock Supplements.

Click here for our webstory with Derrell Peel and the chance to hear his comments on multiple beef marketing topics.

The writer quoted the Attorney General who said the underlying lawsuit will continue because of the dangers of poultry litter. They also quoted the President of STIR- the Save the Illinois River group who also worries about the contamination of the River.
For balance, the writer quoted poultry producer Bev Saunders who was pleased with the ruling.

Finally, they they turned to Rick Stubblefield, who is one of the Commissioners of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, who took aim and fired at the AG. "Ultimately, the court believed the professionals who work for water quality agencies for the state of Oklahoma," said Stubblefield. "In promoting his multimillion-dollar, hired gunslinger witnesses, Edmondson was forced to attack the expert work of practically everyone who works for the state of Oklahoma - and the court obviously does not believe everyone who works for the state of Oklahoma is a liar."
Edmondson roared back , saying that Stubblefield is "an embarrassment to the OSRC and the state of Oklahoma." And he added that "I am not surprised he is not concerned about phosphorus in the Illinois River. I am not surprised he is not concerned about algae in the Illinois River. If there was a polluted rivers commission, he'd be perfect for it."

Click here for the link to the Tahelquah paper's coverage of the Frizzell Ruling of earlier this week.

On the Campbell's site that you can link to- they are saying "As part of our corporate mission to nourish people's lives everywhere, every day, Campbell Soup Company is committed to supporting the farmers that have provided the wholesome ingredients for Campbell's condensed soups for more than 110 years. Through a partnership with the National FFA Organization, which is dedicated to developing our next generation of leaders through agricultural education, Campbell has committed a quarter of a million dollars to help support the future of American farming."

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU THIS MORNING IS SIMPLE. Take about thirty seconds to go to the link below- click through and get to the small red barn and click it. I know we have some of the best FFA supporters in the entire world in Oklahoma- and I am convinced that we could and should get a thousand hits on this Thursday. Please go to the link below, click on through- and know you have played a part in getting FFA another buck to get the Blue and Gold shining bright!

Click here for the link on our website that will jump you straight to the Campbell Soup specialty site where you can help the FFA pick up a cool quarter of a million bucks.

The state of Oklahoma is sponsoring a big American Angus Association Conference and Tour this coming week- it should be a most interesting meeting of some of the sharpest people in the seedstock business gathering for that event.

Later in the month, on tap are a group of Cow-Calf Survival meetings planned by OSU extension in the northeastern part of the state, as well as the National FFA Convention, which we will be covering as we travel to Indianapolis.
You can check out all of these events and more by clicking on the link below- and I want to remind you that you can send me calendar items and we will get them included so everyone will know about them around the state.

Click here for the Calendar page on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Featured at this sale on October sixth will be 200 plus Angus bulls including 40 select Fall Yearling bulls
65 Limousin and Lim-Flex Bulls
40 Fall calving registered Angus pairs.
and 300 Commercial spring calving bred heifers bred by Express Ranches Bulls

We have the Express Ranches website linked below- on the right hand side of the page you will see the link that will take you to the sale catalog right on your computer- review the offering and then make plans to be at the Express Ranches Fall Bull Sale and Commercial Female Sale Monday October 6- twelve noon is the start time of the auction.

Click here for more information on the Express Ranches Fall Bull Sale October 6 in Yukon.

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

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.