From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 6:43 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 August 21, 2009
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS Futures!
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-- Natural Disaster Declaration Blankets the State
-- Wheat Economics 101- Rising Stocks Equals Falling Prices
-- Worse and Worse- Dr. Tom Peeper Worries About Herbicide Resistance in Oklahoma wheat fields
-- Preconditioned Calves Cost Less Than The "Cheaper" Alternatives
-- Corn Growers Urged to Test for Aflatoxin
-- USDA Sets Public Meetings on CRP
-- Cattle on Feed Preview
-- 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 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.

We are also excited to have as one of our 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 on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM website- go there by clicking here.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the December 2009 Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more information on the Tulsa Show, coming up December 10,11 and 12, 2009.

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.


Natural Disaster Declaration Blankets the State
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated 74 counties in Oklahoma as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by the combined effects of extreme weather, including drought, floods, hail, freeze, fire and high winds that occurred from Sept. 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.

The only three counties in the state that are not primary natural disaster counties are Adair, Cherokee and Pushmataha. Farmers in those three counties are also eligible for disaster aide becasue they are adjacent to counties that are primary counties. In addition, there are 45 counties that touch Oklahoma in the surrounding states- and they fall under this designation made by Mr. Vilsack yesterday. That includes 20 counties in Texas, 14 in Kansas, 7 in Arkansas, 2 in Missouri and one each in Colorado and New Mexico.

State FSA Director Francie Tolle tells us that this designation is of greater importance this year than in recent years as it helps the entire state clear the first hurdle for a farmer to be involved in the new SURE disaster program that was a part of the 2008 Farm Law. The final rules and regs for SURE have still not yet been set- and sign up for SURE won't get going until this fall.

Click on the link below- and you can hear our conversation with Francie about this designation by USDA Secretary Vilsack- as well as her comments on the recently closed for signup ACRE program and information on a couple of other programs that producers need to check out.

Click here for more on the Disaster Designation Announcement that came on Thursday from USDA


Wheat Economics 101- Rising Stocks Equals Falling Prices
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Wheat prices are struggling right now- and OSU Ag Economist Dr. Kim Anderson believes it is all about rising stocks both domestically and internationally- and he told the OSU Wheat Review held Thursday on the OSU campus in Stillwater that we are seeing triple digit rises in stock levels- and that has given us a 53% drop in wheat prices over the last year. And he warns that if we produce another good sized crop of wheat in 2010, that our wheat price average could sink back to the $3.40 to $3.50 level, basis cash wheat prices in central Oklahoma.

Dr. Anderson also weighed in on the quality discussion that was a part of the Wheat Review on Thursday, saying that at some point, elevators and their buyers of grain must be willing to reward farmers that bring to town a clean and high quality wheat crop- and get serious about discounts for the junk when it shows up on the scale.

Our link below will take you to our conversation with Kim. And while we are sharing with you our chat with Dr. Anderson- he also spent time with Clinton Griffiths and the SUNUP crew in the afternoon after we talked with him Thursday morning. At this same link- we have the SUNUP program lineup for this weekend- so you can click and review what can be seen with Clinton and his gang on the OSU Ag Communications program on Saturday morning on OETA.

Click here for the latest on the wheat markets with Dr. Kim Anderson


Worse and Worse- Dr. Tom Peeper Worries About Herbicide Resistance in Oklahoma wheat fields
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Dr. Tom Peeper of OSU is VERY concerned as we prepare to plant the 2010 hard red winter wheat crop in Oklahoma in the next couple of months- telling two different audiences this week that we are seeing more and more weed issues on our wheat ground in the state. Dr. Peeper adds that he is especially concerned with the rising incidence of herbicide resistance being seen in a variety of weeds in Oklahoma- adding that one of the big problems this summer has been marestail.

However, he says that will be minor compared to what we could see in resistance problems with ryegrass in our wheat this winter. He says that some of our higher profile chemicals that we have relied on in recent years may prove to be of limited value this season on both rye and ryegrass.

We talked with Dr. Peeper about these issues that are hitting us like a tsunami in the southern great plains- and you can hear that portion of our conversation with him by clicking on the link below. On Monday- we will feature a segment on winter canola with Dr. Peeper.

Click here for more on the weed resistance issues in winter wheat- as we talk with Dr. Tom Peeper of OSU


Preconditioned Calves Cost Less Than The "Cheaper" Alternatives
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We go back to this spring and a conversation we had at that time with John Pendergrass, the National Stocker Cattle Operator of the Year- and we zero in on how his operation acquires the cattle they background and add weight to before they move on to the high plains feedlots.

On today's end of the week Beef Buzz, the Arkansas cattle producer says that several years ago, they made the move from buying calves one or two at a time at local auction barns- and now buy mostly straight from the ranch or farm- and in some cases from video auctions. Buying calves of unknown health and genetics got to the point where the calves were cheaper at the front end- but the hidden costs were costing his operation more and more. Pendergrass says they decided there had to be a better way.

Pendergrass has some excellent ideas about why they made this move within their stocker cattle model- and you can hear his thoughts by clicking on the link below.

Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Stocker Cattle Operator John Pendergrass of western Arkansas


Corn Growers Urged to Test for Aflatoxin
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State corn growers are being advised to test this year's crop before delivering it to elevators. Dry weather during the spring and wet conditions at harvest may mean high levels of aflatoxin in the corn which can limit the ways it can be used or even render it unusable. Aflatoxin is a toxic chemical produced when the mold Aspergillus flavus grows on corn and other crops including peanuts and cottonseed. The chemical is a carcinogen and can be toxic to certain livestock.

"Early samples have shown the presence of aflatoxin in some fields and we are urging producers to take samples as they begin harvest," said State Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach. "Oklahoma State University County Extension offices can provide information on how to take the samples."

By testing early, producers with excessive aflatoxin levels can limit harvest expenses and reduce their loss.
Low levels of aflatoxin can be used in certain livestock and poultry feeds.


USDA Sets Public Meetings on CRP
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The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), today asked the public for comments on the Conservation Reserve Program and scheduled nine public meetings from Sept. 15 through Oct. 8 to solicit comments on the program. "These workshops will be important to receive feedback about how we can make the Conservation Reserve Program more effective for producers as well as increase the environmental benefits of the program," said Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess.

Included in the locations where meetings will be held is Oklahoma City (September 29 from 5 to 7 PM), as well as Manhattan, Ks Sept. 23 and Clovis, New Mexico on October first.

To learn more about these meetings and details on all of the locations where meetings will be held across the country- click on the link below for the FSA news release of Thursday.

Click here for more on CRP meetings coming to Oklahoma and Eight Other States


Cattle on Feed Preview
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We may not see cash cattle trade today until after the monthly Cattle on Feed numbers are released by USDA- which would not be that unusual.

The numbers that will be out later today could signal some rebuilding of feedlot inventories, as the pre report guesses some placements could jump more than 7% above the July placements of July 2008. Marketings, on the other hand, are expected to be almost five percent under that of a year ago at 95.1% of July 2008 marketings. The August first cattle on feed number will still be below that of one year ago- with the average of all of the numbers add up to a guess of 96.6% of the August, 2008 feedlot count.

We will have comments from Tom Leffler on the number later today or early tonight- after today's report is released. We will be in Enid at the Wheatland Stocker Conference- and may catch up with Derrell Peel on the numbers as well. Be watching our front page of out website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com, for reaction from today's report.


Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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


Let's Check the Markets!
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Stockmans Livestock in Apache had a total Thursday run of 2,964 yesterday, with yearly cattle selling steady to a little higher, except for eight weight steers which were a dollar cheaper than last week. The calf trade was $1 to $4 higher. Five to six hundred pound steers sold for $103.75 to $114.25, while eight weight steers were going from $94 to $98. Click here for the complete set of prices from the Apache market as reported by USDA- the actual August 20 report should be up and available on the USDA site at this address by around 8 AM central.

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- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat 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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