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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 25, 2008!
A
service of National Livestock Credit, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Promising there has been progress- House and Senate Give Ag
Conference Committee Another One Week Extension.
-- Field Day At Marshall Wheat Pasture Research Unit Happens Midday
Today!
-- Oklahoma FFA Begins Their Most Exciting Seven Days of the
Year!
-- Oklahoma Stewardship Week Begins Sunday- and Ends on the Eve of
the 2008 National Land Judging Contest.
-- Don't Look Now- But Here Comes the "Colombia Tariff Ticker!"
-- These are Not Your Grandfather's Cows- so Says Dr. Glen
Selk!
-- Express Ranches Extra Value Grass Time Sale Set For May Second-
High Noon.
-- Taking 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 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. 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 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. | |
Promising there has been progress- House and Senate Give Ag Conference Committee Another One Week Extension. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both the
Senate and the House have granted another one-week extension through May 2
to allow the Senate-House farm bill conference to work out funding
problems for the new farm bill. The measure passed by a voice vote in both
bodies.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin reported during floor discussion on the extension that major progress had been made Wednesday behind closed doors on thorny tax issues that have plagued an agreement on the farm bill. Both Harkin and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the committee's Republican leader, reported that the $2.5 billion, bipartisan tax package sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee was the major sticking point for the negotiations. Both the House and Senate agriculture committees had to look for additional funding from their respective tax committees to fund the priorities of the farm bill. Two- thirds of the total bill funding goes toward domestic food stamp and nutrition programs. Harkin originally asked for a two-week extension but Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, objected, saying lawmakers have taken too long to write the legislation. Congress has now extended the law two times in as many weeks. This would be the fifth extension since the law originally expired in September. In a statement Tuesday, Bush called for a one-year extension and said proposals being discussed by negotiators would "would fail several important tests that I have set forth." He did not say whether he would sign another extension. | |
Field Day At Marshall Wheat Pasture Research Unit Happens Midday Today! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the
corporate world- I guess you call it synergy. In farm country- we call it
common sense. The Oklahoma Grain and Stocker Producers are piggybacking
off of the Wheat Pasture Field Day today as they have a spring gathering
in conjunction with the tour after lunch planned by the OSU researchers-
led by Station Director Gerald Horn.
There is a free hamburger feed being sponsored by Farm Credit of Enid- to be followed in the afternoon by the several presentations on current research efforts at the wheat pasture facility. We have details of the Event linked on the Calendar page of our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and we have that calendar page linked below so you can jump right over to it. | |
Oklahoma FFA Begins Their Most Exciting Seven Days of the Year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Top FFA
speakers from across the state gather later today for the state
Interscholastics competition on the campus of Oklahoma State University.
Several of these contests are elimination preliminaries for the finals of
those categories that will be judged this coming week at the State FFA
Convention in downtown Oklahoma City. For example, the State Creed
Contest, the Prepared Public Speaking and the Extemporaneous Public
Speaking Contests will see the field trimmed today- then the finals will
be held at the Cox Convention Center during the Annual State Convention.
On Saturday, there will be multiple Judging contests held- again at OSU in Stillwater- setting state winners in contests that range from the Livestock Judging Competition to Horticulture. Many of these winning teams will qualify to represent the state at the national level later in 2008. The first FFA members to actually hit Oklahoma City for the 82nd Annual Convention will be Chorus members- who begin to practice on Sunday afternoon- other setup and preparation begins on Monday with the first session on Tuesday morning at the Cox Convention Center- and it's non stop then until Wednesday evening with the final session and the announcement of the new State FFA Officer Team for 2008-2009. This year's convention theme is Blue Jackets Bright Futures. | |
Oklahoma Stewardship Week Begins Sunday- and Ends on the Eve of the 2008 National Land Judging Contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As part of
their continuing commitment to help farmers, ranchers and other landowners
protect and conserve our natural resources, the Oklahoma Association of
Conservation Districts (OACD), and Monsanto today announced that they will
again partner in celebrating Stewardship Week in Oklahoma, April 27
through May 4, 2008.
Stewardship Week is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. Since 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and OACD have sponsored the national Stewardship Week program. During this week, Local Conservation Districts will work with media outlets, communities, faith based groups and local schools to promote the concept of Stewardship. "Oklahoma farmers and ranchers have long understood the importance of good stewardship of our natural resources," said Barry Knight, Southwest regional business director of Monsanto's Delta and Pine Land business. "As farmers, our customers frequently take actions on a daily basis that have benefits on the farm well into the future. We wanted to join OACD in celebrating those actions and sharing some of the successes with others to extend our successes in conserving and preserving more natural resources both on the farm and in the city." At the conclusion of this year's Stewardship Week Celebration, Oklahoma's Conservation Leaders will be gearing up for the 2008 Edition of the National Land and Range Judging Contest- set this year for May 5-7. We'll be sharing details on that event in the days to come. | |
Don't Look Now- But Here Comes the "Colombia Tariff Ticker!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Bush
Administration has launched a web ticker to display just how much money is
being paid to Colombia in tariffs for U.S. products going into their
country, while the Colombian products continue to arrive on our shores
duty free.
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer is helping to promote the "ticker" as he argues "At a time when Americans are living and working in a strained economy, why is it that Congress has voted to allow Colombian goods to arrive on our shores duty free, but will not vote to give our agricultural products shipped to that country the same status. Apparently Congress' priorities are not with the American people." Since the Colombia FTA was signed, nearly $1 billion in tariffs have been assessed to U.S. products being exported to Colombia. If Congress were to pass the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, tariffs on more than 70 percent of U.S. agricultural products destined to Colombia would be eliminated immediately. If you want to see the Colombia Trade Ticker for yourself- click here and take a look! | |
These are Not Your Grandfather's Cows- so Says Dr. Glen Selk! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mature weight
and milk production of MANY commercial beef cows are both greater than
they were 30 to 40 years ago- that's according to OSU Beef Cow Extension
Specialist Dr. Glen Selk. Dr. Selk tells us "many ranchers have not
recently weighed the adult cows in their herd to know what average mature
weight to expect. Therefore most commercial ranchers would underestimate
the mature size of their cows. To expect large, heavy-milking cows to be
in moderate body condition at calving and maintain condition through
breeding, they must receive more feed than smaller lighter-milking cows."
Selk adds "The larger heavier-milking cow requires about 34% more energy on the average for an entire year. Consequently, an operation that was carrying 100 of the smaller cows must carry only 66 of the larger cows in order to utilize the same quantity of forage from that farm or ranch. She also will need 34% more winter hay and supplement to maintain body condition. "Because we have very high feed and fertilizer prices, this is a time to re-consider herd size to better fit the stocking rates required. Reduced stocking rates will be necessary on improved pastures if lower amounts of fertilizer are applied. The larger mature cow size also impacts the principle of percent body weight needed for heifers to reach puberty. Many ranchers underestimate the target weight for replacement heifers. If the cow eventually will be 1000 pounds, the target for heifers is 650 pounds; if she is going to be the 1250 pound cow in the preceding graph, then she needs to weigh 812 pounds going into her first breeding season to expect a high cycling and pregnancy rate." | |
Express Ranches Extra Value Grass Time Sale Set For May Second- High Noon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Express
Ranch Family have a new sale they are adding into their annual cycle-
their first "Extra Value Grass Time Sale." It's set for Friday May second
at the ranch in Yukon, Oklahoma- and they will be offering over 600 head
of Angus and Limousin cattle. The sale happens on Friday, May 2 at 12:00
PM Central time. (please note the time is at twelve noon straight up-
there have been a couple of other times mentioned- this is the correct
one!)
Bob Funk and Jarold Callahan mention in their "welcome" in the sale catalog that "Included in our Grass Time Sale will be both Angus and Limousin pairs, 50 commercial pairs, 110 fall bred commercial females, and 130 fancy, commercial heifers bred to Northern Improvement, 263C and 1407. We also will be selling over 100 Angus bulls with a select few of these being 2-year-olds." We have a link to the Express Ranch site on our calendar page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com- or you can jump straight to their site with the link we are providing below. If you prefer to call for a catalog- the best number to use is 405-350-0044 or toll free 1- 800-664-3977. Click here for Information on the Express Ranch Extra Value Grass Time Sale. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance and National Livestock Creditfor 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. | |
Taking a Look at the Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We sold
slaughter cattle two to three dollars higher on Thursday afternoon in
feedlot country- with most sales completed at $92 with some reports of $93
up in Nebraska. Good movement was reported at the higher money this week-
even as feedlots are still losing money on their closeouts. The general
belief is that it will take $95 for most feedlots to breakeven for most
current pens of cattle.The weakness in the wheat market continued- with Kansas City wheat futures dropping during the day session on Thursday- and weaker in the overnight electronic trade by as much as 11 cents- basis the July futures. 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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