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 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.

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I mentioned that it depends on who is counting as to whether you get to 14 or 15 in Canada when it comes to total BSE cases. The discrepancy is that one of Canada's dairy cows found with BSE was discovered with the brain wasting disease in Washington state in December 2003, and is the famous "Cow that Stole Christmas" for US cattle industry interests. After that case in the US, we have found two other animals with BSE in the United States, both born in the USA.

Our friend Carla Everett of the Texas Animal Health Commission has assembled a nice timeline of the BSE cases found in Canada- which you might find of interest- here it is- Canada has had 1 imported case back in 1993 and 15 native-born cases since 2003.
1993: 1 imported case
2003: 1 case in Canada (May 20, 2003)
1 Alberta cow was exported to the U.S. (Washington state), detected Dec. 2003..when we discuss this case, we always make the point that it was a cow born in Canada and exported to the U.S. The Texas BSE case was the U.S.' first native-born case.
2004: Dairy Cow...older...Alberta...(late December detection, announced in early January 2005)
2005: Beef animal just under 7 years old....Alberta-- January 2005
2006: Cross-bred cow...Alberta--January 2006
Cow...British Columbia
Cross-bred...Manitoba
Dairy Cow..Alberta
Beef Cow...Alberta
2007: Dairy Cow..British Columbia
Bull...Alberta
Beef Cow...Alberta
2008: Dairy cow...Alberta
Cow...British Columbia
Beef Cow..Alberta (the most recent case announced this past Friday)

Last week, more than 50 Members in the House of Representatives wrote Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer arguing that USDA's interpretation goes against clear Congressional intent. This week, 25 Senators echoed that message in their own letter to Schafer. Neither of Oklahoma's Senators signed the letter- Kansas Senator Pat Roberts and Arkansas Senator Blanch Lincoln both did sign.
"The policy set forth in [a notice about program participation] disregards the statutory language which applies the limitation to the 'sum of the base acres of the farm,'" the Senators said. "This intent is clearly stated in the statement of Managers(the so called Manager's amendment)" USDA analysis shows that its interpretation of the rule would affect 255,000 farms and $24 million in direct payments.

The disagreement over the 10-acre rule is only one problem that has popped up as USDA begins to implement the 2008 Farm Bill. For instance, FSA is required to implement the new SURE program in the 2008 crop year and the new ACRE program for the 2009 crop year, though the agency does not have the IT infrastructure to do so nor funds to upgrade its systems. USDA also doesn't have expedited rulemaking authority, without which it is required to go through the full regulatory process, which could take many months.

Dr. Chad Godsey, OSU Extension Crop Specialist, wrote a SARE Grant in which Canadian County wheat producer Lawrence Lagaly agreed to be the cooperating partner. Four different legumes (guar, mungbeans, cowpeas and soybeans) were planted back on June 13th in Lawrence's no-till wheat field he harvested with a stripper header. This legume plot work is a replicated, on-farm case study to determine if any of these legumes yield significant amounts of nitrogen prior to being burned down. Following the field day on August 19th, the researchers will to burn the legumes down after 68 days of growth.

Prior to Lawrence planting his wheat this fall, he will establish nitrogen rich strips to evaluate exactly how much nitrogen each legume returned to the soil after burn down. Since there was excellent establishment and growth of all four legumes, this study should yield some interesting data. Canadian County Agent Brad Tipton reminds one and all that "our field day will be held on August 19th and the location is just north of Union City on SW 59th, one mile east of Highway 81 at the intersection of SW 59th and Alfadale Road. Plots are in the field located on the northwest corner of this intersection. In order to beat the heat, the field day will start at 9:00 am and last less than one hour. Refreshments will be served and no RSVP is necessary. OSU Extension Specialists scheduled to speak at the field day include Dr. Chad Godsey, Dr. Jeff Edwards, OSU Small Grains Specialist and Dr. Randy Taylor, OSU Ag Engineering and Biomachinery Specialist."

Wheat Profitability: Play it safe with nitrogen reference strips Soil tests are still crucial to evaluate phosphorus availability and pH, but take a look at Dr. Arnall's article on how to fine-tune your nitrogen applications using reference strips.

There is also a followup article of some material that we provided you last week on planting date and seed treatment effects on wheat diseases and insect pests offered by Dr. Bob Hunger.
We have the full newsletter linked on our website- click below to get to that webpage.

Click here for the latest newsletter from the OSU Plant and Soil Science Department.

Three projects that total $6.2 million are located in Oklahoma. Those projects include Bryan County Rural Water Sewer & SWM District No. 2 receiving a loan for $416,750; Rogers Rural Water District No. 3 also receiving a loan for $1,000,000; and Washington Rural Water District No. 3 qualifying for a loan for $4,800,000. No grants were awarded in Oklahoma.

To see the complete list of projects that received these monies- we have the link below provided by USDA.

Click here for the half billion dollar list of Water grants and loans announced by USDA.

However, based on National Sorghum Producers Association discussions with seed companies and farmers, this projection seems low. Seed companies saw increases in seed sales this year and NSP estimates perhaps a million acres of sorghum were planted in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in late June and the first half of July. With first harvest over in South Texas and with harvest yet to begin farther north, true numbers remain to be seen but will likely be much higher than USDA predictions.

It does seen odd that so many Oklahoma producers reported coming back in after wheat this year with short season grain sorghum varieties- yet the August grain sorghum production number for Oklahoma was slightly less than the 2007 production. As the National Sorghum Producers are saying, it is very possible that number could easily move above 2007 production as harvest in our state arrives later in the summer/early fall.

Click here for our calendar page found on www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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.