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.

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Many farmers have taken the forage route, baling the wheat for hay. Others have put cattle in the wheat fields, hoping for some grazing gains. Others have applied Roundup and have either already moved in with a summer crop or plan to do so, if they have enough moisture. One producer emailed us that "Our crop was a total loss due to drought then freeze then hail, first time in my 39 years of farming not to harvest a bushel of wheat."

Another assessment comes from a long time producer in the north central part of the state. He tells of one way that traditionally you might measure the wheat crop as it ripens and nears harvest. "You can throw your hat out on a good crop and it will stay on top. This year it will probably fall to the ground."

To be honest, there is little fresh news on the harvest scene- but we did chat with Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission about what he had heard as of Monday afternoon around 5 PM. Click on the link below for that update of the prospects for the 2009 harvest here in the state.

Click here for more on current harvest conditions with Ron and Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission

For the spring planted crops: "Fieldwork continued with the warm, dry weather, as producers neared completion of summer crop planting. As of Sunday, nearly all of the State's corn had been planted, while corn emerged increased to 91 percent, up five points from the previous week. Sorghum seedbed prepared was at 75 percent, ten points behind the five-year average. One-third of the State's sorghum crop had been planted by week's end and 19 percent had emerged. Seedbed preparations for soybeans reached 77 percent, five points behind the previous year while soybeans planted reached 43 percent, nine percentage points behind normal. Peanuts seedbed preparations were completed by week's end and peanuts planted reached 81 percent, five points behind the five-year average. Cotton seedbed preparations were virtually complete while 40 percent of the crop had been planted, 28 percentage points behind normal."

NASS continues to talk about the traditional crops- and says nothing about any of the other crops that farmers are planting this spring- crops like sunflowers and sesame. Those crops are also going into the ground this spring, in many cases after wheat has been zeroed out by the insurance.
To review the full Oklahoma Crop Weather Update- click on the link below.

Click here for the June 1 Oklahoma Crop Weather Update from NASS of the USDA

First of all, the corn planting numbers are starting to catch up as we hit the first of June. The open weather of the last two weeks have allowed Illinois and Indiana farmers to catch up- not totally, but pretty well. The rating of emergence- or the corn that is now "up to stand" remains low in those states versus normal, with Indiana some 30 percentage points behind normal and Illinois 40 points behind that five year standard. The expectation is that the corn crop yield come harvest will be lower in those states- but you never know what the weather patterns of summer along with the ever improving genetics will finally produce.

The other category that really tells the tale of the 2009 wheat crop. Oklahoma and Texas got nailed by the combination of dry winter weather and the early freeze of this growing season- Kansas was the transition state that looks like it can produce an average crop- perhaps a few bushels short of that- and then you have Colorado and Nebraska. Oklahoma and Texas are 64 to 71% poor to very poor, while Colorado and Nebraska are rated 74 to 76 % good to excellent on their wheat crops. The north south differential this year is HUGE!

Click here for the Crop Progress Summary from USDA

First place pen of steers went to Cactus Feedyard at Cactus, Texas with a total score of 304.04. Heritage Feeders at Happy, Texas took second place with a pen of steers totaling 301.89. Third place went to Hansford County Feeders at Spearman, Texas with a total score of 297.49.
In the heifer division, Hansford County Feeders claimed first place with a pen total of 304. Second place honors went to Tri-State Feeders, Inc. at Turpin, Okla. with a total score of 301.47. Kirkland Feedyard at Vega, Texas rounded out the heifer division in third with a total score of 295.02.

In the Collegiate Evaluation Contest, more than 65 college students competed for scholarships. Corey Smith of Clarendon College claimed first place, followed by classmate Darren Koller in second. Lance Waugh of Oklahoma Panhandle State University at Goodwell rounded out the contest in third.
In the Public Evaluation Contest, Laban Tubbs of Clarendon, Texas made his mark by placing first. Ty Lawrence of Canyon, Texas earned second place and Daren Stephens of Goodwell, Okla. took third.

At the request of five Texas lawmakers - FAPRI examined the impacts of E15 and 10 other scenarios - including ending U.S. support for corn-based ethanol while retaining the federal mandate to use advanced biofuels. If livestock groups got their way and government support for ethanol was totally ended- corn prices would likely fall significantly. The study says "With no tax credits, tariffs or mandates supporting corn ethanol use, average ethanol production declines by 5.5 billion gallons and corn prices fall by 13.1%."

However, it's unlikely that Congress has enough support from livestock influenced lawmakers- and the chances of Congress eliminating all levels of ethanol is nil, at best. With some level of support very likely, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis is delighted with the work, as he says the study further reinforces that America's farmers can produce enough corn to meet food and fuel needs without using additional land or disrupting the global food supply.

Click here for the complete report as found on the FAPRI website

Under former OIE standards, beef exports and imports had been restricted to boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months old. The resolution allows exports and imports of boneless beef from cattle of all ages.

Of course, the hope is that a move like this will knock Japan off high center and move them away from the 20 month of age restriction they have placed on US beef since shortly after December 2003 when we had the "Cow that Stole Christmas" incident. Japanese officials decided that they wanted no beef not tested for BSE from animals that were older than 20 months of age. They then tried to work their science to back up their manufactured age level- and have failed miserably. The US cattle industry estimates that if the Japanese would even allow beef from US cattle 30 months of age or younger- it could be worth a billion dollars to the US beef industry due to increased sales that would likely result.

Don Butler, 2009 President of the NPPC says "World Pork Expo has always been a place where producers and allied industry can get together to find new ways to improve pork production and to learn about what's going on in the industry from a global standpoint. Given the unprecedented global economic instability, this year's World Pork Expo will be an especially important opportunity to come together as an industry."

Click on the link below for our calendar and info on the World Pork Expo, as well as several other things on the immediate horizon that you may want to check out and get more information on. AND, if you have calendar items we need to add to our calendar listing, please email them to me- we would love to get them added for you.

Click here for the Calendar page found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

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.