Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are excited to have as one of our new sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information about rotating some of your winter wheat acres into winter canola this year- and check out the full story on PCOM on their website 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!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show held each December, 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.

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.

The date that will impact a lot of Oklahoma producers comes up on the 30th of September. That is the day where you have to declare your intentions to buy crop insurance for your fall seeded small grain crops- winter wheat, oats and barley.
In order to be eligible for disaster aid of any kind for the 2009 crop year- Bulling reminds everyone that you HAVE to buy crop insurance. No Crop Insurance= NO Disaster Payments if any should come along later.

By September 30- you need to declare to buy crop insurance and you have to decide which type of insurance you plan to buy. The choices include traditional multi-peril insurance which protects yield only. If you want to have a better level of coverage- there is what is called CRC and RA. CRC is the Crop Revenue Coverage and RA is Revenue Assurance. Both of these offer protection on both your yield as well as on the price at harvest time.

We talked at length with Scott about these decisions- and several other crop insurance issues that are of interest here in the state of Oklahoma. The link to that story and our audio conversation is below.

Click here for our Crop Insurance update found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

The Alliance fully expects the measure to be brought up for a Committee vote this coming week (the week of September 15) and that it could pass that body based on the Chairman's support. Philip Lobo with the Animal Ag Alliance says that this is the type of measure that could pass at the end of a Congressional session as a "feel good" measure- with many lawmakers taking money from the HSUS and their assurance that it can't hurt anything for them to support it.

We have more on this story- an audio interview to share and a link to the Animal Agriculture Alliance, which has a complete listing of the House Judiciary Committee members that you can get in contact with early this week if you want to express your displeasure with this measure.

Click here for the latest on the Horse Transport Issue as found at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Downing, a sophomore at Grove High School, scored 538 points out of a possible 550 and was the first place in the Senior FFA Division. Maverick Squires of the Cleveland County 4-H won the Senior 4-H Division- and he had the second highest individual score overall, with a 533 out of 550.
The top teams included Cleveland County 4-H winning the Senior 4-H team title, Marshall County winning the Junior 4-H team honors, Thomas Fay Custer taking top team honors in the Junior FFA Division while Kingfisher FFA had the top Senior FFA team, with 1572 total points- five points better than the Elgin FFA team.

We have details of the top five finishers in each division- as well as a quick interview with the high scorer in 4-H and in FFA. Click here for the 4-H story found on our website- and details of the FFA competition can be had by clicking here.

Secretary Schafer has stated using 2007 and 2008 prices would increase the cost of the program by about 12-billion dollars. But according to the letter - the Congressional Budget Office used the higher 2007-2008 projected average price to determine the cost of ACRE in the 2008 Farm Bill - and therefore - if ACRE is implemented using these years - the farm bill would be of no additional cost to taxpayers.

Iowa's Grassley says Congress was clear in the farm bill that the 2007 and 2008 crop years are the basis for assistance through the ACRE program. He says it appears USDA is again misinterpreting Congressional intent for its own benefit. Coleman says he's hopeful Secretary Schafer will listen to the concerns outlined in the letter and implement the farm bill consistent with Congressional intent.

USDA says the reduced corn yield forecast is a result of the lack of rainfall during August across the northern and eastern Corn Belt and the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. The yield prospects also decreased across much of the middle Mississippi Valley and adjacent areas of the Great Plains. Soybean yields in the mid-Atlantic States, the central and eastern Corn Belt, Louisiana, Nebraska and South Dakota are forecast lower or unchanged. Yields are higher or unchanged across the Southeast and the remainder of the Great Plains.

Tropical Storm Fay is blamed for lower cotton yields in Georgia. Texas producers are expecting increased yields from a month ago - and record high yields are expected for upland growers in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Speaking of our Oklahoma numbers- we have a review of our spring crops in the state on our website- click below to take a look.

Click here for the Oklahoma Spring Crop Production Estimates.

With the finding of two cases of TB within a state in a four year time period, the level is moved down to MAA, or Modified Accredited Advanced. This requires more testing, especially in interstate shipment. The finding of three or more cases within one year moves a state's status down to Modified Accredited. This requires all breeding animals to be tested within 60 days of shipment and a whole herd test within 12 months. In addition all feeder animals must have a test prior to movement. Oklahoma is currently TB Free, but we did have a confirmed case in 2006, so one more case by 2010 would see a decrease in status here.

Dr. Sparks writes "As more cattle movement occurs, it becomes more important to be able to document the movement. It makes a lot of difference what kind of area cattle are moving from, and it is important to be able to identify the animals. Veterinarians within the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry feel like it is quite possible that the 2006 case of TB confirmed in Oklahoma was actually a cow that came in from another state. The rancher had purchased cows from a neighboring state, but because the individual animals identity could not be confirmed as a part of that shipment, Oklahoma was credited with the case.

"So what does this mean to Oklahoma cattlemen and what can we do to safeguard our TB Free status? When you add cattle to your herd make sure that they are long time Oklahoma resident cattle, or be sure you determine their true point of origin. Use a permanent ID system, such as a brucellosis test tag or calfhood vaccinate test tag to identify these additions to your herd. These tags may take an extra effort to record and file but it could help save a lot of grief in the future. Apply careful consideration before enacting or allowing wildlife management plans that include feeding, baiting or increasing wildlife populations. Be careful when screening workers or others that may come in contact with your cattle. If you don't know the person or their health status, consider requiring a TB test as a condition of employment.
"There is no reason for undue alarm or public fear of TB danger, but we have had one case, and we don't need another. The regulatory veterinarians at the Oklahoma State Veterinarian's Office are working hard to ensure the safety of our herd with the least possible restriction to movement. Common sense management and some eyes-open awareness can help them achieve this goal."

Our daily Beef Buzz this week will feature several segments of an interview that we conducted this past week with Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. We talk current economics of the beef industry, exports and even a little bit of politics. The Beef Buzz page is found by clicking here.

One segment that we are working on right now that we hope can be turned on in the near future is a blog that will spotlight our coverage of 4-H and FFA events. We are shooting to have this up and running by the time we head to Indianapolis for the 2008 National FFA Convention- Stay tuned!

Click here for the 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.