From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 7:56 AM
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday June 5, 2009
A service of Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Wheat Harvest- Held Up by those Green Sucker Heads!
-- Wheat Prices Have Gotta Fall- Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU
-- 2009 Beef Ambassador Contest Kicks off OJCA Summer Preview
-- Catch Ron on This Week in Agribusiness
-- Oklahoma FFA at 2009 Washington Leadership Conference- We Talk with Jordan Bulling
-- From the World Pork Expo- Frustration for U.S. Pork Producers
-- Looking at our Agricultural 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 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!
And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the December 2009 Tulsa Farm Show. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows 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.


Wheat Harvest- Held Up by those Green Sucker Heads!
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The 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest remains on hold for yet another day, as wet weather and immature green sucker heads on our otherwise mature wheat plants have kept combines from their appointed rounds. OSU Extension Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards says that we could see most of the state ready at about the same time, perhaps by sometime next week, for active harvest.

The problem with the green sucker heads is that while the mature heads of wheat have dried down to an acceptable moisture level, these green heads that have come on late get mixed in when the combines go across the field, and you end up with high moisture pockets in your loads of wheat, unacceptable for most elevators.

We have more on what Edwards sees as the 2009 harvest season slowly unfolds. He is not optimistic about a total production number this season- pointing out to us that virtually every problem you could have has reared its ugly head in Oklahoma wheat fields this season. As a result, he does not see a wheat crop much bigger than 65 to 70 million bushels, far less than half the size of the 2008 crop. Click on the link below to hear our audio conversation with him-

Click here for our story with comments from Dr Jeff Edwards of OSU on the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop


Wheat Prices Have Gotta Fall- Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU
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OSU Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says that harvest delays have been one of the factors that have provided a wild ride on the wheat market over the last couple of weeks. However, he thinks that as we finally get Oklahoma's harvest underway and come closer to what will likely be a decent Kansas wheat crop, wheat prices will almost certainly have to come down. That's based on the reality that we have large wheat stockers compared to a year ago, globally speaking.

We have Kim's comments from this weekend's SUNUP show as produced by the OSU Ag Communications team and seen on OETA Saturday mornings. If you click on the link below, we will jump you to the webstory which has the audio comments from Dr. Anderson, as well as the full rundown of what you can see on SUNUP this weekend.

Click here for a wheat marketing update with Dr. Kim Anderson , Grain Marketing Economist at OSU.


2009 Beef Ambassador Contest Kicks off OJCA Summer Preview
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The 2009 Oklahoma Beef Ambassador Competition was held on Thursday in Stillwater as one of the lead off events of the Oklahoma Junior Cattlemen's Association Summer Preview. About a dozen contestants were at the Payne County Fairgrounds for the event and winners in the three divisions include:

Senior Division
1st Place - Jackson Alexander - Anadarko
2nd Place - Shelby Stidham - Stillwater

Junior Division
1st Place K.C. Barnes - Hulbert
2nd Place - Levi Shelby - Madill
3rd Place Chasey Hull - Poteau

Novice Division
1st Place Vivian Hasenbeck - Elgin
2nd Place Will Shelby - Madill
3rd Place Michelle Helm - Geary

Helping the Oklahoma Cattlewomen with the 2009 contest was 2008 Oklahoma Beef Ambassador Senior winner- and a National Beef Ambassador for 2009- Sierra Simpson of Hillsdale. We talked to Sierra about her year as National Beef Ambassador- and she is our featured guest on our end of the week Beef Buzz. Click on the link below for more on the contest and to hear our conversation with this enthusiastic young lady.

Click here to jump to our Beef Buzz for Friday featuring Sierra Simpson, National Beef Ambassador


Catch Ron on This Week in Agribusiness
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I was asked by fellow farm broadcasters Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong to join them for a segment of their weekly TV show as seen on RFD-TV each weekend, This Week in Agribusiness. We talk mostly about wheat harvest- or the lack of wheat harvest- across Oklahoma and Texas to this point.

This week in Agribusiness is seen several times each weekend on RFD-TV, including at 7 AM Saturday, 5 AM and 8 PM Sunday and then again this coming Monday morning at 8 AM.


Oklahoma FFA at 2009 Washington Leadership Conference- We Talk with Jordan Bulling
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One of the highlights of the FFA experience for many aspiring leaders in the organization is the chance to go and participate in the annual Washington Leadership Conference. About 120 Oklahoma FFA members are there this week in our nation's capitol, seeing history and government come to life before their eyes, as they are challenged to be leaders of their local chapters, as well as at the state level in the immediate future.

Those who lead sessions at this annual gathering come away impressed with the FFA members in attendance. Nick Weber from the Public Affairs department of Monsanto is helping lead some sessions in social media, and wrote on Twitter "The enthusiasm at FFAWLC is amazing and a little intimidating! Great to have young people excited about Ag."

We caught up Thursday evening with Jordan Bulling of the Mulhall-Orlando FFA Chapter, and she said that her expectations of the week were high, but that they have been met. She was especially excited to have the chance to talk and get to know FFA members from at least eight other states that are taking part in this week's Leadership Conference. Click on the link below to check our webstory with Jordan and the interview that we did with her.

Click here for more on the National FFA Washington Leadership Conference and Oklahoma's involvement this week


From the World Pork Expo- Frustration for U.S. Pork Producers
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The fact the H1N1 virus doesn't exist in any U.S. pigs hasn't saved the pork industry from hardship. National Pork Producers Council President Don Butler - speaking at World Pork Expo - notes producers have lost more than 23-dollars a head every month since September of 2007. He says the cost of production was the first culprit - followed by the impact of the H1N1 flu outbreak on demand, exports and prices.

Butler says the frustrating thing is producers were just starting to approach breakevens - with good ham sales over the Easter period and the traditional seasonal spring rally starting when the flu broke out. Now producers are projected to lose over 12-dollars a head through the rest of the year. And lenders say many producers have lost so much money they're near the end of their credit worthiness.

NPPC is doing what it can to help producers. They're working with USDA to negotiate pork purchases for government nutrition programs and to reopen export markets - but Butler says there isn't a silver bullet.


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Looking at our Agricultural Markets...
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We had cash cattle trade on Thursday- two dollars or more cheaper than last week. Trade largely happened at $82. Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association that gives details of the Thursday sales.

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.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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