Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. It is wonderful to have as a regular 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!

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.
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AS WE FINISH WRITING THIS MORNING'S EMAIL- HEAVY RAINS ARE ROLLING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TWO THIRDS OF OKLAHOMA- SO IF WE GET ANY WORD ON CHANGES IN EITHER THE WHEAT FIELD DAYS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY OR THE OALP GOLF TOURNAMENT- WE WILL HAVE THAT ON OUR WEBSITE ON OUR FRONT PAGE AS IT IS RECEIVED.

Quickly, there was fear in some quarters over this named virus, and with groups like the Humane Society of the US adding to the hysteria, foreign countries fanned the flames by banning pork product from the US, market prices dove fourteen to fifteen dollars on the Lean Hog futures and even as the Pork Industry and Government assured everyone that pigs had nothing to do with this disease, pork was (and is) safe- the damage to a fragile pork industry was done.

We talked on Friday morning with Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council about this current economic and public relations mess for the hog industry- and the fact that some producers may not survive this latest hit to their bottom line.

Our audio interview with Roy Lee is one of our regular Perspectives Podcasts as found on our website, www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click on the link below to jump there and take a listen to this update on the status of several key issues for the pork industry.

Click here for our conversation with Roy Lee Lindsey of the Oklahoma Pork Council.

However, Gail Martell with the website Storm Exchange believes that the Kansas crop could yield a lot more than the 40.8 bushels per acre predicted the by consensus of the Wheat Tour participants. She sees a potential yield in the Sunflower state of 46 bushels per acre, adding "Wheat potential has been steadily improving on increasing spring rainfall and is following the same path as 2003, when the yield reached 48 bushels per acre."

She points out both the 2003 and 2009 crops were hurt by winter drought, but "Copious spring rainfall rescued the 2003 crop from drought, boosting yields during the important tillering and jointing stages. Rainfall continued generous through the end of May, while wheat was heading and filling kernels. Kansas rainfall in on the same improving track this year, but drought-relieving rainfall arrived later in March, arguing for a lower yield, compared with 2003. In addition, more rain is needed in May to optimize yields, while kernels are filling. A 46 bushel per acre yield is within reach, but has not yet been secured."
We have a link to Gail's article on StormX which includes charts helping to illustrate the similarities between 2003 and 2009- that link is below.

Click here for more on the argument that the Kansas wheat crop will climb higher than currently estimated from this past week's Crop Tour

Also on the program today will be Dr. Jeff Edwards, OSU Small Grains Specialist, who will be discussing our crop's condition, harvest outlook statewide, First Hollow Stem and forage production data from Bornemann Farm's OSU Replicated Wheat Variety Trial.
Dr. Brett Carver, OSU Wheat Breeding and Genetics, has several new varieties he plans to release for the upcoming fall planting season. The new varieties Dr. Carver will elaborate on are OK Rising (a white wheat adapted to our area), Pete, Billings and OK05526 (a varietal improvement on Endurance).

We will be covering the event today and will have several updates for you on our website, on the radio and here tomorrow morning on our daily email visit with you. Depending on cell phone coverage, we will offer a few Twitter updates live from the field day as well.

To follow us on Twitter, click here for our Twitter info

Mark Hodges, Executive Director of Oklahoma Genetics, Inc. will discuss the legalities of obtaining and planting PVP wheat varieties later today at the Canadian County Wheat Field Day. Mark has agreed to briefly highlight the PVP laws and answer questions folks have concerning what constitutes illegal violations. Oklahoma Genetics, Inc. (OGI) owns the rights to OKField, OK Bullet, Duster, Centerfield and Guymon. Kansas Wheat Alliance (KWA) owns Overly, Fuller, Jagger, Danby and RonL. Are you planting any of these varieties? Did you know that it is illegal to sell any seed of these varieties from fields which were not grown under the seed certification program? In other words, any PVP variety seed must be 'certified seed' or it is illegal to sell it.

It is time to become a member of OGI and KWA if you sell PVP wheat any place other than the elevator! There are no gray areas in PVP and the laws are not ambiguous. Ignorance of the laws have not and will not hold up in a court of law, which was effectively proven by KWA last year. Mark has just assumed the role as Executive Director of OGI and agreed to speak on PVP at our field day. He wants to convey the message that wheat producers need to comply with PVP for the good of the wheat industry. The only way wheat producers are going to see new, improved varieties in the future will be if royalties are collected as an incentive for new variety development.
(Our thanks to Brad Tipton, Canadian County Extension Ag educator for his permission to cut and paste from his newsletter on his great line up at the Canadian County Field Day- including these comments about Mark Hodges talking PVP in El Reno later today)

"Most of the common wheat herbicides that carry over will not affect germination of the cotton, but will start to show up on the first true leaves above the cotyledon leaves. Cotton injury symptoms for most commonly used wheat herbicides are a light green or pea green leaf color in the terminal of the plant, with some pink or red showing up on the veins on the leaf." Dr. Banks said chances of producing a good cotton crop are greatly enhanced if subsoil moisture is replenished. "At this time," he said, "we have had a very dry fall and winter and both topsoil and subsoil moisture are extremely low. We need at least five or six inches of rainfall over a period of time to allow it to soak in instead of run off. Planting on surface moisture alone is risky."

So far as fertilizer is concerned, he said, if the wheat had ample fertilizer. or if it was top dressed, more fertilizer for cotton will likely not be needed. If the wheat acreage has been well fertilized for several years, he said, there might be enough nitrogen available below the normal rooting area of the wheat to support cotton late in the season. "Cotton has a tap root and will utilize deep nitrogen that is unavailable to wheat," he said. "It is better to soil test. A one bale per acre cotton crop will need about 60 pounds of actual nitrogen available. If the wheat has been well fertilized, phosphorus and potassium will probably be adequate." To plant cotton behind failed wheat, Dr. Banks said to use a glyphosate herbicide to kill the wheat as soon as possible. In order to conserve soil moisture, he cautioned against chiseling or disking the ground to prepare the soil surface to plant cotton. "This will dry out the soil to the depth of the plow layer," he said. "With our limited ground cover, the cotton planter will likely not need to be modified with notill attachments. Either plant without disturbing the soil or use the front disks on the planter to clear out an area for the seedbed." With Roundup Ready Flex cotton, Dr. Banks said, Roundup can provide weed control throughout the growing season. If annual weeds and grasses are a problem, Prowl H20 can be tank mixed with the Roundup in the preemergence or the early postemergence stage of the cotton, he said.
(Our thanks to Vic Schoonover of NTOK for his help on these ideas provided by J C Banks)

For more on some of the issues impacting the cotton industry in Oklahoma, north Texas and Kansas, Click here for the NTOK coton website

The resolution says that (as those who knew and loved him) Clem McSpadden loved life and lived it well. There is a partial listing of all of the many achievements of this country boy who made good- and did it with a style and grace that we could all learn from. The Joint Resolution has several authors, including Senator Ron Justice and State Reps Dale DeWitt and Don Armes.

We have the link below of the complete resolution- it makes for a good read about the life of this inspirational native son of Oklahoma. Click and remember Clem McSpadden.

Click here for the language of SCR 29 that calls on the ODAFF to name their facilities north of the Capitol the Clem Rogers McSpadden Agricultural Complex

For our livestock producers, he worries about the relatively cheap prices for livestock versus the cost of inputs. He says we have to find a way to increase prices for the meat we produce to stop the red ink flowing in much of the livestock sector.

We also got some interesting advice from Swanson about how to operate in this economic environment- and that's where his comments about sticking with quality come in- he explains it better than I can write it- so go and take a listen. AND remember that we have several of our ag audio feeds set up as Podcasts that you can subscribe to through services like Itunes. Those reports include our daily morning farm and ranch news, our daily Beef Buzz and our periodic Ag Perspectives feature length interviews of key ag newsmakers.

Click here for our Podcast interview with Michael Swanson of Wells Fargo Bank on current economic factors as they impact agriculture

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

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.