~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday January 16,
2009! A
service of Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Chili Today- Hot Tamale?
-- Sell Old Crop Wheat- Hold Off Early Marketing of New Crop
-- Federal Aid for Pecan Growers in Oklahoma Announced and Now in the
Pipeline
-- COOL Rules- Looking at the Details with Dr. Derrell Peel
-- Dam Inspections Are Happening in the State
-- Oklahoma Watching the Fever Tick Situation in Texas With Great
Interest
-- On the Agenda- Beef Cookoff, Panhandle Ag Appreciation and
Fairview Chamber!
-- Checking the Apache Livestock Market and More
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! 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. | |
Chili Today- Hot Tamale? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's not
exactly the weather forecast- but we continue to bounce up and down with
our temperature ranges as we hit the middle of January- as we start in the
single digits when it comes to overnight temperatures in many locations
around the state- we are due now for a couple of days of somewhat warmer
readings. In fact, as we get ready to drive to Guymon later today for the
Panhandle Ag Appreciation Days- the highs in the Panhandle today and
tomorrow are expected to be into the low 60s.
About every two days, another front is expected to roll through our region- keeping temperatures up one day- and down the next. 50s and 60s are now being predicted in the main body of the state this weekend and early next week. It will likely remain dry and windy for the next few days. However, the party may be interrupted by about Thursday of next week as Arctic air may arrive in Oklahoma. According to the Weather Discussion that is up on the National Weather
Service site coming out of Oklahoma City- there may be a chance for
precipitation in some form by next weekend. The discussion reads "SOUTHERN
STREAM SYSTEMS TO APPROACH REGION LATE NEXT WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND MAY
YIELD OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME MUCH NEEDED PRECIPITATION." The forecasters in
Norman seem to think we could have the current ridge of High Pressure
start to break down by the middle of next week, which would allow moisture
to get back into the mix for our state. | |
Sell Old Crop Wheat- Hold Off Early Marketing of New Crop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU Extension
Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson believes that current price
pressure on our US wheat market is all about the market believing that we
have plenty of wheat in the pipeline. Anderson is talking about that and
his latest thoughts on marketing that crop- old crop as well as new crop-
as he appears for his regular wheat market shot on the weekly OSU ag
information TV show, SUNUP.
From the link below- you can jump to our webpage that has more on what Kim is thinking right now about the wheat marketplace. You can click and hear his conversation with Clinton Griffiths about the current "why" of the market- and how wheat producers should be reacting. On that same page- we have details of what is going to be featured on the weekly TV show SUNUP as seen on OETA each Saturday morning. | |
Federal Aid for Pecan Growers in Oklahoma Announced and Now in the Pipeline ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
Governor Brad Henry announced Thursday that the federal government has
approved federal aid for many Oklahoma pecan farmers who were hard hit by
inclement weather over the last year.
The governor originally requested a disaster declaration in November, citing the impact of the 2007 ice storm, cold weather in April and October of 2008, and heavy rains from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike last September. "Our pecan farmers were hit by just about every weather challenge imaginable and suffered losses accordingly," said Gov. Henry. "The federal aid won't solve all of their problems, but it is a step in the right direction." The U.S. Agriculture Secretary approved disaster declarations for 40
counties: Alfalfa, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Cleveland, Coal, Cotton,
Craig, Creek, Garvin, Haskell, Hughes, Jefferson, Johnston, Lincoln, Love,
McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Marshall, Mayes, Murray, Muskogee, Nowata,
Okfuskee, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Pittsburg, Pontotoc,
Pottawatomie, Rogers, Seminole, Stephens, Tulsa, Wagoner and
Washington. | |
COOL Rules- Looking at the Details with Dr. Derrell Peel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Friday
Beef Buzz features some of the conversation that we had earlier this week
while in Denver with Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU. Dr. Peel was there at the
International Livestock Congress talking COOL during their afternoon
session- and we chatted with him before his presentation about the final
Rule as issued by USDA and published in the Federal Register as of
yesterday.
Our Beef Buzz today focuses on how the Final Rule alters how we will certify which country cattle come from as they reach the packing plants. The so called visual inspection of cattle just before slaughter changes the dynamics of how much hassle COOL will be for cow calf operators as well as stocker producers. Dr. Peel also talks with us about the mixed origin label- and how it has been tightened some by the writers of the rule- which could cause some headaches for packers, processors and retailers in the days to come. The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on great radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and can also be heard at your convenience as we post them on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We have today's Beef Buzz linked below- but you can access many of our Beef Buzz shows going back to the fall of 2006 by going to any of our website pages- looking on the left hand side of the page- and clicking on the Beef Buzz button. That takes you to the current Beef Buzz and a listing of older shows as well. Click here for the Friday Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network | |
Dam Inspections Are Happening in the State ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While Oklahoma
is one of the lowest states in the nation in funding for dam safety, it
does not mean all the dams are going without inspection. An article
distributed by the Associated Press in January 2009 points out that
Oklahoma is one of the lowest states in the nation for dam safety funding,
with a budget of $395,336 for 2006. That is the budget for the dam safety
activities of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and not for the Oklahoma
Conservation Commission or the state's 88 local conservation districts.
All of the inspections carried out by local conservation districts and the
assistance provided by the Conservation Commission, NRCS and county
Emergency Management Agency staff take place without receiving any funding
from that budget.
Of the 4,477 dams regulated by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) in the state, 2,105 are inspected annually by local conservation districts. These are small watershed upstream flood control dams that were constructed as floodwater retarding structures. And it is not just the high hazard structures that are inspected - conservation districts inspect all of their dams including those designated as low hazard. Of these 2,105, 229 dams are classified as "high hazard" since they
have the potential for loss of life if they should fail. For many of those
the reclassification to high hazard has been a recent development - in
recent years or even months. An upstream flood control dam originally
built as far back as the late 1940s in a rural location becomes high
hazard if the situation changes to where loss of life could occur if the
dam breached - that could be only one residence or business built below a
dam. Click here for more on the Dam Inspection story for the state of Oklahoma | |
Oklahoma Watching the Fever Tick Situation in Texas With Great Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The cattle
industry, including groups like the NCBA, the Texas Cattle Feeders and the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers have all praised USDA for allocating
more money in the battle against the Fever tick in south Texas- as an
additional $4.9 million in emergency funding has been made available to
support the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program
The cattle fever tick eradication program was initiated in 1906 and was initially funded by Congress in 1907 as a cooperative federal/state/industry disease and pest eradication effort. Due to these efforts cattle fever ticks were eradicated from all 14 states that comprised the fever tick's historical range and were pushed across the Rio Grande River by 1943. A permanent quarantine area was established along the Texas side of the Rio Grande River in 1938 to prevent re-establishment of fever ticks from Mexico in Texas. Despite the success of the program, since 2005 the level of tick infestations has been increasingly trending upward. Tick incursions from Mexico are increasing, resulting in a historically high number of infested premises as well as temporary expansions of the permanent quarantine buffer area in Texas. The ticks are vectors for diseases which could cause great economic
hardships to the cattle industry and agriculture, in addition to posing a
threat to foreign trade. The increasing incursions of tick infestations in
Texas, the increasing level of acaracide resistant ticks in Mexico, the
identification of some acaracide resistant ticks in Texas, and the
increasing role of wildlife (especially white-tailed deer, elk, and
nilgai) in the spread and maintenance of fever ticks in Texas are of great
concern. | |
On the Agenda- Beef Cookoff, Panhandle Ag Appreciation and Fairview Chamber! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We will be
spotlighting the Oklahoma Cattlewomen and the 2009 Oklahoma Beef Cookoff
that happens at the Oklahoma City Home and Garden Show on Saturday on our
Saturday morning TV segment, In the Field, as seen on KWTV, News9. We are
excited that we will be able to visit with OCW's Barbara Jacques about
this great promotion for the beef industry- tune in and take a look on
Saturday morning at about 6:40 AM on KWTV, News9.
Meanwhile, we are heading to Guymon later today to help celebrate the Panhandle Ag Appreciation Days being put on by the Guymon Chamber of Commerce. We will be involved as an emcee and moderator of the events, including the dinner and program they have planned for tonight and then their program planned for Saturday morning as well. Finally, we are excited that we get to speak to the Fairview Chamber of Commerce banquet planned for Monday evening in that Major County community. We'll be talking about historic changes both at the state and national levels of government and how they can be impacting agriculture and local main streets like we find in places like Fairview. There are a lot of things that continue to be on the Calendar here in January and February- and we invite you to check them all out by going to our Calendar page as found on our website- click on the link below to be jumped there in a flash of an eye. Click here for more on the Calendar Scene as listed at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, 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. | |
Checking the Apache Livestock Market and More ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Apache
Livestock Market was the latest in our weekly auction markets that had a
big cattle turn this week. A total of 4,252 cattle were on hand at their
Thursday auction, with steer yearlings steady to $2 lower, while calves
sold for $2 to $4 cheaper than last week. Five to six hundred pound steer
calves brought $95 to $106 this week, while seven to eight hundred pound
yearlings came in at just $93 to $95.75. Click
here for the entire market update for Apache- it will probably be
updated to this week's sale after 8 AM this morning.
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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