|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday April 10,
2008! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, KIS Futures and American
Farmers & Ranchers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Congressman Lucas and Other Conferees Named by House- First
Meeting is Today at 9:15 AM Central!!!
-- Some Disease Starting to Show in Oklahoma Wheat Fields- No Leaf
Rust (yet)
-- As the Time Window Swings Open- we talk Fungicide Applications for
Winter Wheat.
-- Spring Time Storms and the Cow Herd.
-- The Finger of Blame Pointed Towards Agriculture over "Harmfully
Over-Enriched Ecosystems"
-- Beef, Pork and Poultry Compete With High Fuel Prices for the
Consumer Dollar
-- Heavy Rains From Altus to Miami- With Freezing Temps Possible
Sunday Morning!
-- Let's Take a Look at 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 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 "new look" website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual
Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click
here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts
to serve rural America! 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. | |
Congressman Lucas and Other Conferees Named by House- First Meeting is Today at 9:15 AM Central!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congressman
Frank Lucas will finally have a chance to offer direct input into the
2007-2008 Farm Bill at the Conference Committee level as Conferees were
named last night by the House. The list includes Democrats Colin Peterson-
Mn., Tim Holden- Pa, Mike McIntyre- NC, Bob Etheridge-NC, Leonard Boswell-
Ia, Joe Baca- Ca, Dennis Cardoza- Ca. and David Scott- Ga. The Republicans
include Bob Goodlatte- Va, Frank Lucas-Ok, Jerry Moran- Ks, Robin Hayes-
NC, Marilyn Musgrave- Co. and Randy Neugebauer- Tx. There were also two
leadership appointees: Rosa DeLauro- NJ and Adam Putnam, Republican from
Florida.
There was a high level meeting between House and Senate Democratic Leadership- including Senator Harry Reid of Nevada- the Senate Leader and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi- along with House and Senate Ag Leadership and key players from the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. It does not appear that the Republicans were included. The House is now apparently pushing a bill that would score $6 billion over the budget baseline that includes no Permanent Disaster program and is stripped of the tax credits called for by the Senate. Senator Baucus apparently flatly said "no." With that the meeting broke up- and Congressman Rangel told reporters staked out there would be a Farm Bill Conference Committee Meeting Thursday Morning at 10:15 AM Eastern. Reports also talked briefly with Republican Bob Goodlatte, who called this House push a bi-partisan effort and that "things are stirring." We talked early this morning with Terry Detrick of American Farmers & Ranchers who is in Washington this week- and he tells us that he is "not optimistic" about escaping this latest push on the Farm Bill without seeing cuts in the Direct Payments within the Commodity Title, as well as cuts in Crop Insurance. These are two areas where wheat farmers in the southern Great Plains will take a bigger hit compared to farmers in the Corn and Soybean belt. Detrick says that he plans on being at the initial Conference Committee meeting planned for this morning. Here's the News Release from the Majority side of the House Ag Committee regarding Conferees. | |
Some Disease Starting to Show in Oklahoma Wheat Fields- No Leaf Rust (yet) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Wheat Disease Update that comes from the desk of Dr. Bob Hunger of
Oklahoma State University reports scouting for disease in at least a
couple of venues over the last few days- including right around
Stillwater.
Dr. Hunger reports "Dr. Art Klatt spent much of Monday walking through plots around Stillwater and reported that powdery mildew was quite heavy in certain areas. He also saw symptoms indicative of barley yellow dwarf in various fields, but still did not see any leaf rust. The one report I have of leaf rust in Oklahoma was a low number of pustules on Jagger near Burlington, in north central Oklahoma." Dr. Hunger adds "Stan Fimple is Extension Educator for Ottawa County in the northeastern corner of the state, indicated that powdery mildew is on the increase in his area, with extremely heavy powdery mildew found in one field. Over this past week, the OSU Diagnostic Lab in Stillwater has run about 10 samples for wheat streak mosaic virus, high plains virus, and barley yellow dwarf virus. Four samples tested positive for BYDV; three were from southwestern parts of the state and one was from northeastern Oklahoma." Dr. Hunger does have reports of some low levels of leaf rust now being found in northern Texas, north of Dallas. There are only trace amounts being found at this point in four Texas counties that border Oklahoma along the Red River across from areas in our state that raise little wheat- Red River County, Lamar County, Fannin County and Grayson County. No reports of leaf rust over in the hard red winter wheat areas in the Rolling Plains or up into the High Plains areas of our neighbor to the south have been indicated as of right now. | |
As the Time Window Swings Open- we talk Fungicide Applications for Winter Wheat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the damp
conditions we have experienced in recent weeks here in the body of the
state of Oklahoma, there may well be a lot of disease lurking in our
Oklahoma wheat fields. As a result, this may be the perfect time to be
ready to spray wheat fields that have good yield potential with a
fungicide.
We talk about the strategy of this management decision with Randy Myers, who is with Bayer Crop Science- the makers of one of the fungicide choices for winter wheat- Stratego. You can click below to listen to get a better idea if this management practice will work for your situation here in 2008- we have this interview on the front page of our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- as well as being linked directly below. Click here to listen to Ron and Randy about Fungicide Decisions. | |
Spring Time Storms and the Cow Herd. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some timely
words from the Beef Cow Specialist in the Animal Science Department at
Oklahoma State University, Dr. Glen Selk- "Spring time is thunderstorm
season across the Plains. Spring storms occasionally bring severe winds or
even tornadoes. Cleaning up after a severe storm is difficult enough.
Losing valuable cattle brings additional financial hardship to the
situation. Cattle loss can occur in several scenarios. Livestock may be
killed, lost, or stolen during a stormy situation. An accurate accounting
of livestock and property is essential to a cattle operation's storm
preparedness. Keep a CURRENT inventory of all animals and the pastures
where they are located. Individual animal ID tags on all animals have
several other purposes, but can become extremely valuable if cattle become
scattered or even stolen. If these records are computer based, consider
having a "back-up" copy stored at a neighbor's or a relative's house."
Dr. Selk is pointing us today to a fact sheet put out by David Smith of Texas A&M on dealing with your cattle herd after a severe round of weather- Here's five things to consider that are right at the top of the list "after the storm"- 1. Gather and dispose of trash, limbs, wire, and damaged equipment that
could harm livestock. Clear and repair damaged fences. Click here for the TAMU factsheet on farmstead preparedness and care after a storm. | |
The Finger of Blame Pointed Towards Agriculture over "Harmfully Over-Enriched Ecosystems" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group known
as the World Resources Institute is claiming that between agriculture and
industrial wastes, many of the coastal waters around the world are already
dead- or will be dying shortly. The group points the finger of blame
mostly at agriculture when it comes to the water of North America and
Europe.
A news release from this group states "The sources of pollution vary by region. In the United States and Europe, agricultural sources such as animal manure and commercial fertilizers are typically the main causes of eutrophication. Sewage and industrial discharges, which usually receive some treatment, are a secondary source. However, elsewhere in the world, wastewater from sewage and industry is often untreated and a primary contributor to eutrophication. Only 35 percent of wastewater in Asia is treated, 14 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and less than 1 percent in Africa." We have a link to the news release- which in turn has a link to the study that they cite as proof that production agriculture is causing massive problems downstream at a point where rivers are dumping into the ocean. Click here for the charges against crop and animal agriculture by WRI. | |
Beef, Pork and Poultry Compete With High Fuel Prices for the Consumer Dollar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We complete
our conversation today with Gregg Doud, Chief Economist of the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association, and we talk on this Beef Buzz with Gregg
about the large supplies of pork and poultry that beef must compete with
here in 2008. Doud is especially amazed at how slowly the hog business is
responding to the huge supplies of pork that has developed in this
country.
We also talk about the structure of the beef business- and the fact that feedlots have been bleeding red ink for a lot of months- and that there is little relief in sight- which could mean that we could see some feedlots either have unused pens- or that some will be sold or shut down. Doud says that at the end of the day- cow-calf and stocker operators are facing the prospect of cheaper prices for their calves, stockers and yearlings with high price corn($5 or more) apparently here to stay. Doud's comments are showcased in our Thursday Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network- heard on great radio stations around the state- and linked below as well as on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com on the Beef Buzz page. | |
Heavy Rains From Altus to Miami- With Freezing Temps Possible Sunday Morning! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Over the last
two days, we have seen rains from one to four inches total in a band
across the middle of the state from the southwest to the northeast. Some
of the heaviest amounts have fallen in and around the Tulsa area- amounts
over four inches of rain.
The Precipitation will be sliding east as we go towards the weekend- and as things clear out- right now the coldest air will settle in early Sunday morning, and is predicted right now to go down to 30 degrees north of Oklahoma City into Logan and Kingfisher up into Garfield County and Enid. Right now, the early Monday morning temps bounce back into overnight lows down to just the forties. Right now, we have a warming trend that will enter the state at the first of this coming week. Temperatures down to just 29 or 30 degrees- assuming they bounce higher as the sun comes up on Sunday morning should not be too damaging on the 2008 Winter Wheat Crop- but we will have to wait and see what the more exact forecast may yield as we get closer to the weekend. | |
Our thanks to American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma 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 Take a Look at the Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Soybean
futures were the big leader on Wednesday as nearby contracts jumped more
than 60 cents per bushel. Cotton picked up more than a penny per pound,
while corn had more modest gains of thirteen cents on the old crop months.
Wholesale Boxed beef trade continued to rise, giving hope that cash cattle trade this week will jump two dollars or more back into the $88 ballpark- after we hit $85 to $86 on slaughter steers and heifers last week in the southern plains. 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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
