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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday August 20,
2009 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Pork Industry Bleeding Red Ink- We Talk with Roy Lee Lindsey of
the Oklahoma Pork Council
-- Top Republican on House Ag Committee Will be Speaking at Wheatland
Stocker Conference Tomorrow
-- A Fall Gameplan for Wheat Fertilization- and more from the latest
PASS Newsletter
-- Death Tax Time Bomb Keeps on Ticking
-- Veterinary Association Questions Pew Report
-- USDA Releases Loans to Electric Utilities- $78 million to Coops
with Oklahoma ties
-- Corn and Soybean Farmers Embrace New Media
-- 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 pleased 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! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
Pork Industry Bleeding Red Ink- We Talk with Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the
unfolding stories of this summer is the bloodbath that the pork industry
continues to take. We are up to 22 consecutive months of losing money on
the hogs being sold and processed. The average loss per pig is around $21-
and Steve Meyer of Paragon says that could actually be steeper this fall-
more like $50 per head, even with cheaper corn prices than a year ago.
We sat down and talked at length on Wednesday afternoon with Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr. about the situation from an Oklahoma viewpoint. Click on the link below to hear his comments- we have it on our website as one of our Ag Perspectives Podcasts- which is one of three regular Podcasts that you can subscribe to on Itunes from the Radio Oklahoma Network and www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. | |
Top Republican on House Ag Committee Will be Speaking at Wheatland Stocker Conference Tomorrow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congressman
Frank Lucas will update cattle producers on issues affecting agriculture
at the 2009 Wheatland Stocker Conference which will be held Friday, August
21, in the Cherokee Strip Conference Center in Enid, OK. The first
conference speaker begins at 8:30 a.m. with Congressman Lucas scheduled to
speak at 9:15 a.m.
Cattle handling experts Dawn Hnatow, Bowie Texas, and Dr. Lynn
Locatelli, Wolf Creek, Montana, will team up to present a seminar on
Reducing Cattle Stress during Weaning, Receiving, Processing, and Grazing
to Maximize Stocker Production Efficiency. These ladies have been featured
speakers at cattle conferences across the nation. After lunch, yours truly will be offering an overview of policy issues of importance to cattle and wheat producers- with Scott Dewald, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cattleman's Association, moderating the afternoon program and weighing in with us on state issues that need to be followed. It's always an excellent program- and this year, it's better than ever- so come be a part of the Wheatland Stocker Conference on Friday in downtown Enid at the Cherokee Strip Conference Center. Click here for more info on the Wheatland Stocker Conference in Enid | |
A Fall Gameplan for Wheat Fertilization- and more from the latest PASS Newsletter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Oklahoma State University Plant and Soil Science Newsletter is out, and
offers several articles from the department that cover some key late
summer topics.
The lead article is "Nitrogen decisions for the 2009-2010 wheat crop" as Dr. Brian Arnall explains the importance of getting your gameplan in place for fall fertilization for this year's wheat crop. Other articles include Aflatoxin in corn and how to best ID weeds found in and around your crops. Click on the link below and we will take you the latest newsletter in PDF form as found on our website. Click here for the latest PASS Newsletter from OSU in Stillwater | |
Death Tax Time Bomb Keeps on Ticking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The hope a few
years ago was that we would see a total repeal of the so called Death Tax.
That hope was shared by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the
American Farm Bureau within the ag community- and numerous other groups
that represent small business in our nation's capitol. However, after
getting the legislation that is currently increasing the exemption- and
will for one year- eliminate the Death Tax at the federal level
altogether- nothing has been done. And if nothing further is done- that
one year elimination will then be followed with the Death Tax returning at
a very low threshold- and will be devastating to a family's ability to
pass along the family farming operation.
Enter a bill providing death tax relief has been introduced in the House of Representatives, and it has the support of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The bill would exempt farmers and ranchers as long as the land is kept in production agriculture. The bill provides estate tax relief for land under qualified conservation easements as well. NCBA Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall says he's glad to see H.R. 3524 - introduced by California Congressmen Mike Thompson and Colorado Congressman John Salazar. We hear from Woodall on today's Beef Buzz- and offer comments also from a pair of odd bedfellowsthat are joining together to applaud this bill. Click on the link below to jump to our page with all of this surrounding our Thursday Beef Buzz, a program that is heard daily on our radio stations across the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click here to listen to Ron and Colin Woodall talking Death Tax on today's Beef Buzz | |
Veterinary Association Questions Pew Report ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The American
Veterinary Medical Association has issued a report that questions the
conclusions and recommendations made last year by the Pew Commission on
industrial farm animal production. The Association's CEO, Ron DeHaven,
wrote in a cover letter to U.S. House and Senate members of his concerns
about the Pew report. The report is being used to advocate for H.R. 1549
and S. 619, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act.
DeHaven urged legislators to vote against the bill. Click
here to view the full analysis of the AVMA on the Pew report.
The AVMA questions the Pew Commission's process for gaining technical expertise. AVMA says the Pew technical reports were biased and did not incorporate the findings and suggestions of a significant number of academicians. Concerning antimicrobial resistance, the environment and animal welfare
determined to be most pertinent to veterinary medicine, AVMA asserts that
many of the Pew Commission's sub-points have significant shortfalls and
lack information as to how the commission would execute a new plan or
program. | |
USDA Releases Loans to Electric Utilities- $78 million to Coops with Oklahoma ties ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 46 rural
utilities and cooperatives in 30 states have been selected to receive a
combined 1.16-billion dollars in loans to build and repair 11,249 miles of
distribution and transmission lines and make system improvements that will
benefit 109,250 rural customers.
Among the Coops that are receiving bucks from USDA- several have Oklahoma ties. They include the Verdigris Valley Electric Cooperative receiving a $15 million loan, Northwest Oklahoma Electric Cooperative getting a $19 million loan, Southwest Rural Electric Association (serving Texas and Oklahoma customers) will be on the receiving end of a $4.6 million loan and the Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative (with customers in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas) getting a forty million dollar loan. "Our rural communities need reliable, affordable electric service to support business expansion and broaden economic opportunities, and President Obama is delivering on his commitment to invest in America's infrastructure and create jobs," Vilsack said. "These loans will spur growth in rural America by helping cooperatives and rural utilities deliver improved service to more customers." | |
Corn and Soybean Farmers Embrace New Media ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sixty-two
percent of large acreage, U.S. corn and soybean growers have sent or
received text messages during the past year, according to the newly
released Agriculture New Media Usage Study.
n addition to the percentage of growers sending or receiving text messages, the study reveals the high degree of frequency of texting, as well as other mobile phone activities such as taking photos, e-mailing, downloading ring tones, accessing GPS and more. Forty-eight percent of those texting send five or more texts per day, and 63 percent of respondents indicated they have taken pictures with their mobile phones. The 35-page study also explores in detail the Internet usage of these
growers, including how they are accessing their Internet and for what
topics they search: Click here to read more about New Media being embraced by many farmers | |
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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With 82% over
600 pounds, there were 5232 head of cattle at OKC West on Wednesday.
Market Reporter Tina Colby write "Feeder steers and heifers steady to 2.00
lower. Demand moderate to good for feeder cattle. Steer and heifer calves
steady. Feeder cattle showing a few signs of stress after a couple nights
of hard rains. Some areas received up to 5 inches." Click
here to see the full rundown on actual steer and heifer prices as reported
by USDA.
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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