From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 06:44
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 July 29, 2008!
A service of American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures & Johnston Enterprises!
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-- COOL Rules Are Unveiled by USDA
-- BQA Sessions Coming In August at Multiple Locations Across Oklahoma.
-- Scorching Hot- That's the Word From the Latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update
-- A Fine Line Between Success and Failure- the Late Word on WTO
-- Dick Bond of Tyson Sees Poultry Problems Now- and Ahead
-- Hello Dolly! Oklahoma getting the leftovers from this tropical system.
-- From the Calendar This Week- Check out the HEAR Sessions.
-- 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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their recent TV Commercial or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

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 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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COOL Rules Are Unveiled by USDA
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It's actually a final interim rule that USDA will be accepting comments on for sixty days after it is published in the Federal Register- that will apparently occur this Friday, August first. Once those comments are digested- USDA will make any changes to this interim rule and that will be the final say on the COOL regulations- but obviously that will actually put the final word out after the start up of the implementation of COOL- sometime in October or maybe November.

So the Interim Rule is where producers, processors and retailers start. In the Interim rule- here's what USDA is calling a USA product: "The law prescribes specific criteria that must be met for a covered commodity to bear a "United States country of origin" declaration. The specific requirements for covered commodities are as follows: perishable agricultural commodities, pecans, ginseng, peanuts, and macadamia nuts--covered commodities must be produced in the United States; beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and goat--covered commodities must be derived exclusively from animals (1) born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States (including animals born and raised in Alaska and Hawaii and transported for a period of time not more than 60 days through Canada to the United States and slaughtered in the United States); or (2) present in the United States on or before July 15, 2008, and once present in the United States, remained continuously in the United States."

The total interim rule totals 233 pages- and we have the link for it below- it's from the Federal Register website. The rule does have an email address to write to if you have a burning question on this subject- that address is "cool@usda.gov."

Click here for the Interim Final Rule for COOL to be published Friday in the Federal Register.


BQA Sessions Coming In August at Multiple Locations Across Oklahoma.
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Oklahoma Beef Quality Assurance (OBQA) is part of a national program that provides guidelines for beef cattle production. The program raises consumer confidence through offering proper management techniques and a commitment to quality within every segment of the beef industry.

The month of August will find a total of six meetings now on the calendar that will train Oklahoma producers and certify them as being BQA trained. The first of those meetings is set for August 5th in Enid. Other meetings planned include Goodwell, Woodward, Stillwater, Wagoner and Ardmore. We have all of these meetings linked on our calendar- scroll through the month of August to find the meeting closest to you.

Below is the link to the Beef Quality website for the state of Oklahoma- and later this week we will be featuring some comments from Anne Burkholder, one of two ranch owners who were singled out as BQA operators of excellence at the recent summer meeting of the cattle industry.

Click here for more on the Beef Quality Assurance Program sponsored by the dollar per head beef checkoff and the Oklahoma Beef Council


Scorching Hot- That's the Word From the Latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update
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Tipton has the dubious honor of being the hottest place in Oklahoma this past week as measured by the Mesonet- 106 degrees this past Sunday afternoon. Topsoil moisture supplies were quickly sucked out of the ground int he last seven days as we went from 56 percent adequate to surplus to 37 percent adequate on topsoil moisture supplies- short to very short readings moved up from 44% to 63% in one week.

Hot, dry days have slowed progression of row crops. Some recently planted double crops risk failure if rainfall is not received. Corn silking reached 86 percent, an increase of seven percentage points from last week but two points behind normal. Forty-five percent of the corn crop had reached the dough stage, up eight points from the previous week but also eight points behind the five-year average. Twenty-three percent of the corn crop was beginning to dent. Sorghum emerged was at 86 percent, a 10 point jump from the previous week but 12 points behind normal. Twenty-five percent of the State's sorghum had headed, an increase of three points from the previous week. A small percentage of the State's sorghum was coloring by week's end. Soybeans emerged were at 98 percent, an increase of six points from the previous week and four points ahead of the five-year average. Soybeans blooming were at 53 percent by the end of the week, an increase of seven points from the previous week and five points ahead of normal. Thirteen percent of the State's soybeans were setting pods, 13 points behind normal. Peanuts pegging increased four points from the previous week to reach 85 percent, eight points behind normal, while peanuts setting pods were at 56 percent, five points behind normal. Cotton squaring increased two points to reach 66 percent, 17 points behind normal, and 19 percent of the State's cotton acreage was setting bolls, 15 points behind the five-year average.

For all the other details found in this week's crop weather update- click on the link below for the full report from the state NASS office found at the State Ag Building at the Capitol.

Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update.


A Fine Line Between Success and Failure- the Late Word on WTO
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Marathon talks to nail down a global trade pact ran into a ninth day described as a "extremely delicate moment", with contentious issues surrounding import tariff measures still unresolved.

At the heart of the hold-up of progress to negotiations here is an issue called SSM or Special Safeguard Mechanism. The mechanism allows countries to protect poor farmers by imposing a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall. Some developing countries such as India want that mechanism to kick in at a lower rate to protect their farmers, while others want that measure to take effect at a higher rate.

We have coverage of the negotiations on our website, including some comments from spokesman Keith Rockwell on the possible reissuing of agricultural text at almost any time now. Click on the link below for those thoughts and more on the precarious progress in Geneva.

Click here for coverage on the WTO talks in Geneva


Dick Bond of Tyson Sees Poultry Problems Now- and Ahead
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The long-term financial well-being of the U.S. poultry industry is being threatened by its inability to pass along higher feed costs to customers- so says Dick Bond, CEO of Tyson Foods out of Springdale, Arkansas. Bond spoke on a conference call with analysts yesterday and painted a gloomy picture of the chicken business- mostly because of the high price of feed.

Major chicken players are trying to cut their losses by curbing production as much as 5 percent. Bond said he's confident those cuts would be realized and disclosed that key foodservice customers were starting to worry about broiler supplies in 2009 and beyond. Tyson, the world's largest meat producer, announced Monday that its poultry business lost 44-million dollars in the three months ended June 28.
He was more optimistic about the beef sector- of course packers have been making a lot of money on cattle they have been processing for several months now.

We have comments with Dick Bond from that Conference Call on our website in our agricultural news of the day- the link is below to go and see what the top hired hand of the nation's largest meat producer is thinking about all three species they deal with.

Click here for the Tyson Foods Outlook with Dick Bond.


Hello Dolly! Oklahoma getting the leftovers from this tropical system.
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As we write this on Tuesday morning, we have scattered showers across mostly western Oklahoma at this point- apparently courtesy of Hurricane Dolly- which has mostly fallen apart and is a very disorganized band of showers as it worked across the Texas Panhandle and parts of the Oklahoma panhandle on Monday- and this morning is providing some thunder and a few showers from north Texas up across the western portions of our state.

You gotta love the National Weather Service folks- when they write their forecasts- they boil it down to the odds of rain- but when you get under the hood and look at their "forecast discussion" they admit it's sometimes scientific and sometimes not- they are saying this morning "MODELS DO NOT HAVE MUCH OF A CLUE ABOUT COVERAGE AND PLACEMENT OF THIS MORNINGS PRECIPITATION."

In other words- they did not see very much rain out of this system- so whatever we get is a blessing. We have the link below for our weather page which has the links to the weather info on both News9.Com and Newson6.Com- Gary England and Travis Meyer who both do great jobs- and we also have the link to the new and improved Agweather site of the Mesonet- as well as the link to the National Weather Service itself.

Click here for the latest weather info found our Weather Page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


From the Calendar This Week- Check out the HEAR Sessions.
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The HEAR Grower information meetings start today at 10 AM in Enid- we have details on our website on the calendar listings of this meeting, as well as their Alva, Oklahoma City and Fairview meetings. HEAR stands for High Eurcic Acid Rapeseed which a company by the name of Technology Crops International is touting as yet another rotational alternative for winter wheat. This is the industrial use version of winter canola- grows pretty much like winter canola but will need separation from winter canola if you are planning on growing that crop on your place.

Other events planned for this week include the Oklahoma 4-H Roundup in Stillwater and the end of the week gathering of cattle producers at the 2008 Oklahoma Cattleman's Convention and Trade Show in Midwest City.

Next week- there are a lot of things going- the start of the BQA sessions, Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Grass Roots District Meetings and more- and we have them all listed for you.
REMEMBER- drop us a note if you have a calendar item that we need to add to our listing!

Click here for our Calendar Listings as found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Our thanks to Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers & Ranchersfor 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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Seven thousand cattle on Monday were sold at the Oklahoma National Stockyards in Oklahoma City- with feeder cattle and calves commanding steady money. Five weight calves brought from $113 to $121- with fleshy calves in that weight range of five to six hundred pounds bringing from $102 to $112. Yearling steers from seven to eight hundred pounds cleared $110 to $113.75. Click here for the full report.

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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