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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday April 6, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Johnston
Enterprises!
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-- Freeze Damage in 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop Confirmed- And Even
COLDER Temps Are Coming.
-- Kicking off today- The International Imported Fire Ant
Conference
-- NCBA Cheers Non-Binding Senate Vote to Deal With Death tax
-- We Need A Few GOOD Horses (and a couple of BAD ones, too)
-- Don't Mess With the 2008 Farm Law- Except to Implement It- John
Maguire of the National Cotton Council
-- The Lady Who Has Dried Out Oklahoma- La Niña.
-- Oklahoma 4-H Day at the Capitol
-- 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. 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. 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. | |
Freeze Damage in 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop Confirmed- And Even COLDER Temps Are Coming. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Jeff
Edwards of OSU says the four day period from 26 March to 30 March 2009 was
rough for Oklahoma wheat growers. Temperatures dipped below freezing over
most of the state and there are maps in the latest OSU Plant and Soil
Science Newsletter that we have on our website that show how cold it got
and how long it stayed there. The cold snap resulted various levels of
injury from cosmetic damage to total sterility. Reports from northwest
Oklahoma indicate a lot of leaf burn and tissue damage but reports thus
far indicate that the wheat growing point may have survived the freeze.
Reports from southwest Oklahoma indicate that some low lying portions of
fields may be a complete loss while more upland portions of fields show
only moderate to slight injury.
Dr. Edwards says in the latest Newsletter that "As with any freeze injury event, it takes a good week to ten days to be able to properly assess damage. Growers will need to carefully evaluate wheat fields over the coming week to determine to what extent their fields have been damaged. It is important that wheat growers split stems to assess damage. A severely injured field might still have a lush green appearance on the surface; conversely, a field with severe tissue injury might have viable heads that will push through the burn foliage in the coming days." We are not out of the woods yet- As we write this Monday morning- it is down into the 20s all along the northern tier of counties from Kay County west into the Panhandle- and it is down into the mid 20s in the Panhandle. Those 20s are also found further south in northwestern Oklahoma in Ellis, Woodward, Roger Mills, Dewey, Major, Garfield, Custer and even north Caddo County. In the northeast, Craig County is also in the 20s this morning. Click here for the Mesonet map that provides current temperatures a little over four feet above the ground. It will likely be EVEN colder tomorrow morning- with temperatures in northcentral Oklahoma around Enid expected to drop to 20 (or lower) and those below freezing temperatures expected to go all the way to the Red River and across it into north Texas. Wheat that dodged the bullet last weekend may be facing the prospect of wheat head death by early tomorrow morning. | |
Kicking off today- The International Imported Fire Ant Conference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma is
hosting the 2009 Imported Fire Ant and Invasive Ant Conference in Oklahoma
City this week, April 6-9. State agriculture officials say researchers,
regulatory officials, extension personnel and other industry stakeholders
from across the nation, Taiwan and Australia will attend.
Imported Fire Ants are a growing problem in our state- as we reported to you last week that the quarantine area for these pests has grown by a dozen counties based on the word given by the USDA Animal Health Plant Inspection Service. The new counties include: Atoka, Coal, Cotton, Garvin, Jackson, Jefferson, LeFlore, Murray, Pontotoc, Pushmataha, Stephens, and Tillman. Counties previously included in the quarantine include Bryan, Jefferson, McCurtain, Marshall, Carter, Choctaw, Comanche, Johnston and Love. Topics to be discussed include: Impact of IFA on animals, birds and reptiles; new possible insecticides and treatments; organic pest management; biological management; and protecting harvested hay. The conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Oklahoma City. | |
NCBA Cheers Non-Binding Senate Vote to Deal With Death tax ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National
Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) applauds members of the Senate for
passing Death Tax relief in a vote on the budget resolution at the end of
this past week. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to pass an amendment sponsored
by Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jon Kyl of Arizona. "This is a
huge victory for America's farmers and ranchers," said Gary Voogt, NCBA
President and rancher from Marne, Mich. "Nearly half of NCBA's members
have operations that have been in their families for more than one
generation, and they should have the right and the ability to pass these
operations on to their children and grandchildren."
The Lincoln-Kyl amendment would raise the death tax exemption to $5 million per individual and $10 million per couple, indexed for inflation. Under this amendment, the maximum tax rate is reduced to 35%. Currently, estates valued at more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for a couple, are taxed at a 45% rate. President Obama has proposed freezing it at this level so it can be dealt with at a later date. But if Congress doesn't act to freeze or reduce the estate tax, in 2011, it will revert to a staggering 55% tax on estates worth only $1 million or more. "This vote was a recognition of the extraordinary burden the death tax places on average Americans trying to pass on family cattle operations," said NCBA Manager of Legislative Affairs Jill Davidsaver. "The amendments don't have the force of law, but they are important guidelines for committees that have jurisdiction over the policies in the amendments." | |
We Need A Few GOOD Horses (and a couple of BAD ones, too) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are just a
little more than two weeks away from the start of the 2009 Southern Plains
Farm Show- and we are wanting to find some horses that can be used in the
training sessions with Scott Daily at this year's show. Scott does a great
job in working with younger horses that are halter broke and that's about
it- BUT we could also use a horse or two that is a little older and
perhaps has a couple of bad habits that up to now- the horse is winning
and you are losing on.
The dates are April 23-25- Scott will have a couple of sessions all three days of the show. You will need to be able to bring the horse to State Fair Park and Scott will handle the rest. If you have a horse that you would like to nominate- please drop me an email at the address at the bottom of this daily report- or give me a call at 405-841-3675. In the email- or phone call-give me details of what sort of horse you have and how to get a hold of you- phone numbers and email and such. Folks who have nominated their horses in previous years have always enjoyed the experience- we would love to have Scott showcase your horse here in 2009. Let us hear from you right away! | |
Don't Mess With the 2008 Farm Law- Except to Implement It- John Maguire of the National Cotton Council ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
cotton industry says it is clearly communicating to lawmakers that the new
farm law does not need to be re-opened for budget savings. John Maquire,
the senior vice president of Washington Operations for the National Cotton
Council, told the Plains Cotton Growers Association's annual meeting in
Lubbock, Texas, the NCC is aggressively emphasizing to USDA that the
agency should implement the farm bill fairly and according to
Congressional intent. Plains Cotton is headquartered in Lubbock, and
serves cotton producers in Texas, as well as Oklahoma and southern Kansas.
Maguire told the group that after a lengthy and arduous debate, the current farm law introduced significant commodity program changes while maintaining an important safety net for production agriculture along with enhanced conservation and nutrition programs. He said - the 2008 farm law includes the most comprehensive and far-reaching reform to payment limitations since 1987. In addition, Maguire reminded attendees that the cotton program will receive additional attention with the expected conclusion of the arbitration phase of the Brazil-U.S. dispute in the World Trade Organization. Maguire said the U.S. cotton industry believes that Brazil's damage claims are overstated. | |
The Lady Who Has Dried Out Oklahoma- La Niña. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
AgWeather Connection is our from our friends at the Oklahoma Mesonet- and
they are obsessing over a girl that has turned off Mother Nature's water
sprinklers.They report that La Niña conditions returned to the Pacific Ocean late last year, but began weakening in March. La Niña tends to give Oklahoma and the southwestern U.S. warmer and drier weather conditions. "For our part of the world, the effects are more pronounced during winter, especially during stronger events," said Gary McManus, Assistant State Climatologist. La Niña is a climate pattern where the Pacific Ocean near the equator gets colder than usual and affects weather around the world. La Niña, which means "the girl," is the counterpart to El Niño, "the boy," which is the warming of those waters. La Niña conditions recur every few years and can persist for as long as two years. "The current La Niña episode is actually quite weak, so it is difficult to ascribe the winter's dryness and warmth to La Niña alone," said McManus. "However, the winter did behave in the classical sense for La Niña impacts." The warmth and lack of moisture intensified both drought and wildfire
conditions across the state. Drought has strengthened across southern
Oklahoma and spread west from there. Much of these areas are now
experiencing drought conditions classified as either "moderate" or
"severe" by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Oklahoma's wheat belt also was hit
particularly hard by winter's dry conditions. Precipitation became
infrequent soon after planting wheat last fall. The current La Niña
episode is forecast to continue weakening throughout the spring and end
sometime this summer. Click here for today's AgWeather Connection- courtesy of the Oklahoma Mesonet's Ag Experts. | |
Oklahoma 4-H Day at the Capitol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's the 13th
Annual 4-H day at the State Capitol, with 4-Hers from across the state
expected to come and learn more about their state government, as well as
have the chance to meet with their state lawmakers. Many club members hope
to interview their lawmaker to find out in this centennial year of the
program whether or not that lawmaker was ever a member of 4-H, what impact
the program had on their life and what influence that 4-H has had on the
communities that they now serve in the state legislature.
4-Hers will hear from the Chairs of the Senate and House Ag Committees, Senator Ron Justice and Rep Don Armes, from OSU Dean of Agriculture Dr. Bob Whitson as well as from State Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach. Lt. Governor Jari Askins will be presenting the state 4-H officers with a proclamation signed by Governor Henry signaling that today is Oklahoma 4-H Day at the Capitol. It will be a busy legislative day at the Capitol, with a long list of measures on the agenda for both the House and Senate on Monday- so 4-Hers will get a good look at the lawmakers in action. We mentioned that it is the 100th Birthday of 4-H in Oklahoma here in 2009- and you can learn more about the 4-H program by jumping to their OSU based website. We have it linked for you below. By the way- one of the things you will see on the front page of the 4-H website are details about the Eskimo Joe 4-H shirt promotion- they look really cool. Click here for more on Oklahoma 4-H by clicking on the link below. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Woodward
Livestock Auction had a total run of 1950 cattle on Friday, with calves
not well tested- a higher undertone noted- and steer yearlings priced
steady to $3 higher than last week. The five to six hundred pound steers
sold for $107 to $117 while seven weight cattle came in at $93 to
$96.75. For the
full report on the Woodward Friday market- click here- it should be up
on the USDA server by around 8 AM this Monday 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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