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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday September 19,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Oklahoma Pork Leader Responds to PETA Smear Job Against Entire
Industry
-- Obama Ag Endorsements Have Been Released by His Campaign
-- Who Says Congress Can't Move Fast? To Pass A Bill- It Takes Eight
Minutes.
-- Curly Calf Concerns Mount at American Angus Association
-- Courtesy of the TSCRA- Ranch Pics of What Hurricane Ike Left
Behind
-- The 840 EarTag Stands for USA Born Critters
-- A Preview of the Biofuels Field Day on Saturday's In the
Field
-- 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 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! 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. | |
Oklahoma Pork Leader Responds to PETA Smear Job Against Entire Industry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Roy Lee
Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council says that he and those that he
represents in the Oklahoma Pork Industry would never condone the type of
mistreatment that was shown in the recently released PETA video from a
farm in Iowa- but Lindsey adds as we visited with him at the State Fair of
Oklahoma- behind the Pork Chop booth under the shadow of the Space Needle
in the middle of the fairgrounds- that he wonders why PETA did not
immediately notify officials of the mistreatment in the first couple of
days when their undercover investigator discovered the abuse. Instead, he
points out they told no one for months, so they could continue to pile up
more and more sensational video for their website story.
Click here for our story of yesterday complete with the Video Link. Lindsey says the silence tells him that PETA is not interested in the welfare of the animals or solving the problem, but rather in pursuing a goal of convincing people they should stop eating meat. Roy Lee talked with us about things Oklahoma pork producers have done in proactively explaining to the rest of the state the economic value of the swine business in Oklahoma, the care that hog producers take in protecting the environment- and yes, the fact that they practice humane management of the animals in their barns. He says that while Oklahoma has been doing this for several years- it is only now being done at the national level- and more work needs to be done. We have our audio conversation with Roy Lee linked below- check it out. | |
Obama Ag Endorsements Have Been Released by His Campaign ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ U.S. Senator
Barack Obama's campaign today announced the endorsement of 25 former and
current leaders of the National Farmers Union (NFU), including the
personal endorsement of NFU President Tom Buis, along with several other
rural leaders, farmers and current and former agricultural officials from
across the country.
Others besides the National Farmers Union support are six former Presidents of the National Corn Growers Association, including Fred Yoder and Leon Corzine, 22 current and former State Directors of Agriculture, including Roger Johnson, President of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and 38 former State Executive Directors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. Senator Barack Obama said, "I am humbled to receive this support from those that know America's farmers best. Many of the issues facing rural America are the same that we are all facing, and I am determined to ensure that we do all that we can to support this key industry. If we fail rural America, we fail all of America." No one from the largest NFU affiliate- the American Farmers &
Ranchers(formerly known as the Oklahoma Farmers Union) offered an
endorsement of Senator Obama. In fact, only two Oklahomans signed the
endorsements- Terry Peach of Mooreland and Mike Newport of Stonewall- who
both served as State Executive Directors of the FSA under previous
Democratic Administrations. Peach did not sign the letter offered by State
Commissioners of Agriculture. Click here for agriculture's endorsement of Senator Obama for President. | |
Who Says Congress Can't Move Fast? To Pass A Bill- It Takes Eight Minutes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As they held
an early evening business session- the House Ag Committee wasted little
time in firing instructions back at USDA and their plan to deny farm
program benefits to hundreds of thousands of producers. The Agriculture
Committee today approved a bill to suspend for the 2008 and 2009 crop
years a Farm Bill provision that required producers to have a minimum of
10-base acres to receive program benefits.
"The Department's notice is a substantial change from what was in place
prior to the most recent Farm Bill and runs contrary to what Congress
intended when it wrote this provision and passed the bill," said Chairman
Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota. "This will protect the farm safety net
for producers while giving us time to decide how to correct the problem
for later years." After the measure was introduced to permanently repeal the so called
ten acre base rule, Chairman Peterson introduced a substitute amendment
that suspended the entire 10 acre provision for two years. That amendment,
which was adopted by the Committee, provides a temporary, less expensive
solution to the situation and is fully offset in order to meet Paygo
requirements. House sources say it is possible that the bill could be
considered on the floor today in the House. It faces a less certain future
in the Senate. Click here for the Ten Acre Base Rule Committee Meeting Held in DC | |
Curly Calf Concerns Mount at American Angus Association ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It has been an
eventful and historic two weeks for the American Angus Association as they
have worked to pin down the source of a genetic defect that apparently is
within the DNA of one of the most dominant bulls in the Angus breed. On
September 5th, Dr. Jon Beever and the American Angus Association sent a
memo to their membership entitled the "Likely Presence of Lethal Genetic
Defect in a Specific Line of Angus Cattle." Dr. Beever is a Molecular
Genetics Professor in the Animal Science Department at the University of
Illinois. He is considered to be one of the world's best when it comes to
being able to identify quickly specific genes- and the Angus Association
is hoping that he will be able to accomplish that in this real life drama.
The Memo sent on the 5th of September generated several dozen responses of cases where the defect that was described had been seen and experienced by individual Angus producers. Using pedigrees, they have an early identification of the likely bull that has been used so much in the Angus breed since he was born in 1990. That bull is GAR Precision 1680 from the Gardiner Ranch in Ashland, Kansas. The Angus memo out this week says that "Forty-seven of those 48 calves identified to the Association contained "1680"genetics on both sides of the abnormal calves' pedigrees." Mark Gardiner of Gardiner Angus Ranch in Ashland, has an open letter dated September 18 on the Ranch's website that expresses the desire of Gardiner to fully cooperate with the Angus Association in quickly tracking down this gene- and developing a DNA test to be able to identify those animals that are carriers and then to "devise positive breeding strategies to decrease the frequency of the recessive gene." The American Angus Association has identified a timetable that they hope to follow in the immediate future. The Memo states "The search for the actual gene could take as little as 90 days from the date he is satisfied with the number of animals he is looking at to as long as six months." They add "We are hoping that the gene can be located by Thanksgiving and that qualified labs could begin to accept DNA and test potential carriers as early as February 2009. That is our goal." The "he" that they refer to is Dr. Beever. We have a lot more on this story on our website- with links to material from the Angus Association, Gardiner Ranch and even audio from an international expert on this issue- be sure and check this story out on www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. | |
Courtesy of the TSCRA- Ranch Pics of What Hurricane Ike Left Behind ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Texas and
Southwestern Cattle Raisers is one of several groups that have been busy
in relief efforts after Hurricane Ike blew through southeast Texas and
points north.
They have assembled a few pictures of some of the relief work in the
counties that front the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston Bay and the
Louisiana line- and it is not a pretty sight. AND- if you want to help and if you have some pasture and/or hay that you would like to donate- ranchers in those counties are looking for both feed- but also a place to keep their cattle while repairs and cleanup can take place. For our friends that live in southern Oklahoma- you may not be too far for them to haul their cattle if you can help. Figure out what you have got-including what the carrying capacity of the pasture and how long it would be available- then call the Texas Department of Agriculture Hay Hotline at 877-429-1998. Click here for the Ranch Pics from Hurricane Ike Cleanup efforts. | |
The 840 EarTag Stands for USA Born Critters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) is reserving the use of animal identification numbers with the 840
prefix to only animals born in the United States. The number 840 is the
U.S. country code and appears at the beginning of all animal
identification numbers issued in this country.
With this interim rule, animal identification numbers with the 840 prefix will be used only on animals born in the United States. In the event of a disease outbreak, this will enable USDA to use the animal identification number to more quickly determine the animal's origin. While USDA does not require the use of the 840 animal identification number for individual animal identification, producers who do use it will be able to use that 840 number for more than just identification. For example, 840 animal identification numbers also can be used in animal health programs, marketing programs, animal movement records, genetic programs and breed registries. We have more details as released yesterday by USDA- click below to read up on the "840" eartag. Click here for details on the 840 Ear Tag that will Signify USA Born Cattle | |
A Preview of the Biofuels Field Day on Saturday's In the Field ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Coming up on
Saturday morning's In the Field that is seen on KWTV News9 at 6:40 AM
during the morning news block, we will be featuring a preview of the
Biofuels Field Day planned for the SouthCentral Research Station near
Chickasha in Grady County. The Field Day is planned for Monday, October
13.
There will be a lot of information disseminated about the biofuels research underway around the state on various forages and grasses that could content as viable players in producing cellulosic ethanol here in the state. Presenters will include Dr. Carol Jones, Dr. Ray Huhnke and Dr. Dani Bellmer. We feature a look at a recent cutting of forage sorghum at the Research Station in Chickasha- and comments on the potential of this and other types of sorghum to be turned into ethanol from Dr. Carol Jones of OSU's Biosystems Department. Take a look at Ron with Carol Jones on Saturday morning- and later in the day on Saturday- we will add the video to the calendar link for this event found on our website. We have linked the full calendar below- get to our calendar, then scroll down to the October 13 date- and click on the Biofuels Field Day link- and we will have the video of In the Field with Ron and Carol Jones linked there for you to see. Click here for the Calendar page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma and Producers Cooperative Oil Mill 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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