From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 5:15 AM
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 Friday November 21, 2008!
A service of Johnston Enterprises, KIS Futures and American Farmers & Ranchers!
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-- Greetings from California
-- Mark Hodges to Step Down from Oklahoma Wheat Commission December 31.
-- OSU's Livestock Judging Team in Louisville Saw Several Team Members Excel
-- Sorghum Checkoff Board Organizes and Meets in Washington
-- Top Angus Bull at North American in Lousville Shown by Oklahoma Angus Breeder
-- Safe Quality Food Training Headed for Stillwater Next Month
-- The Fall to Winter Weather Transition Time Often Brings BRD to Cattle Herds- Todd Firkins of Bayer Animal Health Says Don't Delay Your Response.
-- 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 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!

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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

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.


Greetings from California
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My lovely bride and I are in California this morning as you read this- and hugging on a couple of granddaughters. So, today's email will be a "lite" version- still several farm news items to pass along today and we get to that in just a moment.

A couple of notes and reminders. First, today is a Cattle on Feed day- and we will have comments from Tom Leffler later today on the website and coverage Monday morning as well in our daily email.
Second, we have Thanksgiving less than a week away now- and we will not have an email next Thursday and then the next day- Friday- we will have a"lite" edition with any news that we need to deliver that won't keep until Monday.

Finally- as we periodically do- we wanted to remind you to let us know when you have events going on- we are glad to include them in our Calendar on our website at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. AND- if you have a purebred production sale coming up- we have several ways we can help you publicize that event and get people's attention for you about the cattle you will be selling. Drop me an email and we'll get you the information.


Mark Hodges to Step Down from Oklahoma Wheat Commission December 31.
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At the November Board meeting of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, the long time Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Mark Hodges, made official his decision to leave the Commission at the end of this year. In talking with Mark on the phone from where we are here in California yesterday afternoon- he indicated that it was time to move on and that he is hopeful that the Commissioners will be successful in finding a candidate that will take the checkoff body to a higher level in the days ahead.

Hodges, a Forgan, Okla., native, began his tenure as Executive Director with the Oklahoma Wheat Commission in 1996 and has held that position for the last 13 years with the exception of two years in the same position with the Oregon Wheat Commission. Throughout his career he has authored numerous research papers, made presentations across the country, and currently sits on, or chairs 6 state or national boards. A few of the honors Hodges has received include the Oklahoma Wheat Growers "Mr. Wheat" award, a "Distinguished Achievement Award" from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, was OSU's "Grain Man of the Year", and received an "Innovative Leadership Award" from the High Plains Resource Conservation and Development Council. Hodges was instrumental in the development of the current quality based marketing plan adopted by the Commission in 2001 and now utilized by the 5 Southern Great Plains States of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.

While Mark Hodges is leaving his role at the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- it is anticipated that he will stay within the wheat industry. He told industry officials in an email on Thursday that " One of the major factors was the ability to develop my efforts on a private basis to include a greatly expanded area that will be multistate in nature. I want you to be reassured the information you have received in the past and the issues we have worked on will continue to be a priority for me, but will be greatly expanded in scope."
We will be sharing with you details of where he will be landing sometime in the near future once all the details are finalized- but it appears that he will continue to be working on bettering the wheat industry in 2009 and beyond.


OSU's Livestock Judging Team in Louisville Saw Several Team Members Excel
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We mentioned in our Thursday email that the Oklahoma State University Livestock Judging Team placed fifth overall in the National Collegiate Livestock Judging contest in Louisville, Ky earlier this week at the North American International Livestock Exposition.

We got an email after we mentioned that from Coach Mark Johnson of the OSU- and he asked that we might consider bragging about some of the indivdual efforts offered by the OSU team. Those efforts include:

Brent Wellings was the 2nd High Individual Overall (3rd in sheep, 2nd in cattle, and tied for 3rd in oral reasons)
Erin Way was 8th high in Swine and 8th in oral reasons
We also had three students named to the 2008 All American team: Jason Zwilling, Erin Way and Cassie Bacon. Mark adds that only ten students earn the "All American" honors on a national basis- so three from OSU is a huge acknowledgement of the quality young people that are a part of the livestock judging efforts at the Stillwater school.


Sorghum Checkoff Board Organizes and Meets in Washington
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The United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) Board of Directors met for the first time this week in Washington, D.C. The Board accomplished many tasks that will allow the checkoff program to efficiently move forward. The Board was sworn in by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer on Tuesday morning and immediately began their meeting, including orientation by USDA's Agriculture Marketing Service and election of officers.

Officers are President, Bill Greving of Prairie View, Kansas; Vice President, Bill Kubecka of Palacios, Texas; Secretary, Jeff Casten of Quenemo, Kansas; and Treasurer, Dale Artho of Wilderado, Texas.

Besides electing officers, the Board also officially named the program the United Sorghum Checkoff Program. They approved a Request for Proposal process that will enable sorghum research projects to get underway this winter and deliver new technology to sorghum growers' fields as quickly as possible. The Board also approved bylaws and an initial budget. Other members of the USCP Board include Gary Kilgore of Chanute, Kansas; Earl Roemer of Healy, Kansas; Greg Shelor of Minneola, Kansas; Billy Bob Brown of Panhandle, Texas; James Vorderstrasse of Hebron, Nebraska; Troy Skarke of Claude, Texas; Louise Rigdon of Blackwell, Oklahoma; Stewart Weaver of Edmonson, Arkansas; and Jerry Van Zee of Platte, South Dakota.


Top Angus Bull at North American in Lousville Shown by Oklahoma Angus Breeder
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Angus breeders led 179 entries while competing for top honors at the 2008 North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) Super Point Roll of Victory (ROV) Angus Show, Nov. 17-18 in Louisville, Ky. Charles Boyd II and Charles Boyd Sr., both of Mayslick, Ky., served as the judge and associate judge while evaluating the 141 females, 34 bulls and four cow-calf pairs before selecting the winning animals at the 2008-09 National Angus Show.

EXAR Titleist T011 claimed grand champion and junior champion bull honors. Rolling RRR Ranch LLC, Wellston, Okla., owns the January 2007 son of BR Midland.


Safe Quality Food Training Headed for Stillwater Next Month
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The Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center, located on the Oklahoma State University campus, in conjunction with the Food Marketing Institute will offer a Safe Quality Food (SQF) training on Dec. 18-19 in room 201 of the FAPC. "The objective of the course is to provide a common approach to implementing SQF Systems," said Jason Young, FAPC quality management specialist. "Upon completion, participants will have a full understanding of the SQF Program and meet the SQF training requirements to be designated as an SQF Practitioner." The Food Marketing Institute owns the SQF Program and established the SQF Institute to manage the program.

"The SQF Program is a fully integrated food safety and quality management protocol designed specifically for the food sector," according to the SQF Institute Web site. "It has been the culmination of 10 years development and is designed specifically for the food industry with application at all links in the food supply chain." SQF Certification provides an independent external validation that a product, process or service complies with international, regulatory and other specified standards. It also enables a food supplier to give assurance that food has been produced, prepared and handled according to the highest possible standards.

The registration fee is $500. To register for the training or for more information, visit the Food and Ag Products website link we have provided below or call Young at 405-744-6071.

Click here for more information on this professional food safety workshop at OSU in December


The Fall to Winter Weather Transition Time Often Brings BRD to Cattle Herds- Todd Firkins of Bayer Animal Health Says Don't Delay Your Response.
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Our end of the week Beef Buzz takes a look at the changing weather that we face at this time of year and how that impacts the health and well being of the cattle we have in our operations in the southern great plains. We talk with Todd Firkins of Bayer Animal Health about why it is important to move quickly when respiratory problems pop up in your herd. And, Todd talks about one of the options that cattle producers have to help battle what can be a very costly disease problem, Bovine Respiratory Disease, Baytril 100.

Firkins tells us that research indicates that when you delay your treatment of BRD for even a day- you are losing valuable lung tissue in especially younger animals- so bouncing back from BRD will be even harder. That's a key reason why using an antibiotic like Baytril 100 when you spot BRD as quick as you can help the animal pull out of the sick spell quicker and have fewer residual problems from respiratory problems.

The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and is a regular audio feature found on our website as well. Click on the link below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.

Click here for our Friday Beef Buzz with Todd Firkins on BRD.


Our thanks to KIS Futures, American Farmers & Ranchers and Johnston Enterprises 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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Looking at our Agricultural Markets...
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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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