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.

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.

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. Click here for more information on the Tulsa Show, coming up December 10,11 and 12, 2009.

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.

The bill provides 350-million dollars for Dairy Assistance; and includes language to protect the public's health with respect to poultry products imported from China. Also, funds are provided for the National Animal Identification System; Country of Origin Labeling; carbon inventory and accounting; and a pilot program on reforestation.

Overall, the bill provides for the investment of more than 82-billion dollars for domestic nutrition assistance - most goes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Other funds go to support: food and drug safety; international food aid; agriculture research; rural development; agricultural credit insurance fund; conservation programs; and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In talking with Clinton Griffiths of OSU's weekly TV production SUNUP, Kim Anderson said he had heard from many wheat farmers who were half way or more done wuith planting their 2010 winter wheat crop. He added that some producers were waiting for a little more moisture before heading back to plant any more acres at this point.

We have Kim's comments with Clinton Griffiths that will be heard this weekend on SUNUP on our website this mroning- you can click on the link below and listen to them- as well as preview what other things will be coming up on this weekend's SUNUP program on OETA. By the way, we do say Congrats to Clinton and his team as they begin their second year of serving Oklahoma agriculture with the weekly version of their TV program

Click here for more on the wheat market- plus a look ahead at this Saturday's SUNUP

Last week's total cow slaughter was 26% less than the same week in 2008, and year-to-date cow slaughter was down nine percent. Usually this would mean a much stronger cull cow market--except lean trim and cull cow prices are down more than 10% from year-ago levels. This is in part due to increased lean-beef imports from Australia earlier this year as a result of a stronger U.S. dollar and softer demand for ground beef. However, the decline in the U.S. dollar against its Australian counterpart suggests fewer beef imports for the balance of 2009. This sense of optimism, however, is somewhat muted by today's CWT announcement. If this round of the CWT were to involve a cull of 50,000 cows in a 30-day period, it could result in a $3.00/cwt negative impact on cull cow prices. Cull cow prices could potentially struggle into 2010, depending upon the exact timing of this cull.

As the economy continues to exhibit sluggish signs of growth, beef demand continues to struggle. Our cattle feeding sector alone has seen equity losses of over $7 billion going back to December 2007. At the same time, the beef complex overall is under unrelenting duress due to huge pork supplies and pork prices that seem to give wholesale beef prices no ability to gain altitude, despite seasonal improvement in cattle supplies. In these challenging times, it's more important than ever that all non-market related and policy decisions take into account the seasonal and psychological impacts that they have on the beef and other industries.

Mike Thralls, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, offers some insights to the Governor and Senator from Billings. He calls Bellmon not just a statesman- but also a Conservationist.

"In addition to the significant accomplishments you have read in recent days, you should know Governor Bellmon was also a conservationist. When he returned from WW II one of the first purchases he made was a surplus Caterpillar dozer that he used to build conservation terraces, waterways and ponds both as a contractor and on the family farm. During his tenure as Governor, he signed the bill designating Port Silt Loam as the state soil. He also designated the Commission as the lead agency for section 319 of the Clean Water Act. A longtime supporter of the USDA-NRCS Small Watershed Program, and after reaching the milestone of 80, he wanted to see an additional dam built in the Upper Red Rock Watershed to help prevent the flooding with resulting closing of I 35 in Noble County. So he worked with Congressman Frank Lucas to obtain the funds for construction of Site 52 Upper Red Rock Creek, and attended the groundbreaking in October 2004. This last year I had the opportunity to look at a portion of his land he was offering for lease. As we drove over this half section of grass fenced for rotational grazing and with Henry at the wheel, he talked about the new stand of native grass that he wanted to make sure would not be overgrazed, the pecan orchard that needed continuing care, and how to manage the Bermuda grass along Red Rock Creek by haying rather than grazing. I agree with Governor Henry's statement that Henry Bellmon was more about doing than talking. He is certainly an example of character, ability and perseverance worthy of emulation."

Steer delivery date for the upcoming test is Nov. 16, which makes the 45-day weaning date Sept. 25. Producers may enter five or more steers born after Nov. 1, 2008, in the test. Cost is $25 per producer. The feed bill is removed from the final carcass payment. "Profit potential exists by marketing value-added cattle that meet feed efficiency and carcass merit targets," said Greg Highfill, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension area livestock specialist. "This will be the second year of the revised feedout format."

"Taking part in the OK Steer Feedout is a great way for producers to monitor the genetic progress of their cattle breeding program," Highfill said. "Producers need a baseline to understand where their operation is and what they need to do to improve operational efficiency. This program gives cow-calf producers that information."
We have the link below to go and get the registration form and get more details on the program. Producers also can contact Highfill of the Northwest District at 580-237-7677 or his fellow OSU Cooperative Extension area livestock specialists Bob LeValley of the Southwest District at 580-255-0546, Jack Wallace of the Southeast District at 580-332-7011 or Kent Barnes of the Northeast District at 918-686-7800.

Click here for more on the OK Steer Feedout for this fall.

The Angus folks have posted this video up on YouTube- and we have the link below for you to go and take a look. The link below is for part one- the video is actually posted on YouTube in two parts.

Click here for the American Angus Video on Show Prep for your Beef Cattle as found on YouTube

The Sale begins at 12:00 Noon - Selling 232 Angus Bulls, followed at 2:30 p.m. when they Sell 35 Lim-Flex Bulls & Limousin Bulls; at 3:30 p.m. Express will offer 30 Registered Angus Pairs & 20 Commercial Pairs followed by 700 Commercial Bred Heifers.

Bob Funk and Jarold Callahan write in the sale catalog that "Our objective is to produce balanced trait, problem-free cattle that have moderate birth weights with excellent growth, moderate milk and superior carcass with regard to both marbling and ribeye. With all of us experiencing increased production costs, we realize one of the most important economic decisions you make is your selection of bulls to keep your operation profitable." We have details on the sale- including your chance to download the catalog for the October 5 sale- click on the link below to jump to our listing in our auction section of our website.

Click here for more on the Express Ranches Bull Sale coming October 5,

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.