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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday October 26, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Oklahoma FFA Members Excel in Indianapolis
-- Slade Nightengale of Cordell Wins the Granddaddy of the them all-
Star Farmer of America
-- Green Eggs and Ham Carries McKenzie Walta All the Way to the Top
in Indy
-- Eleven Oklahoma FFA Members Claim National Titles in their
Proficiency Award Area
-- Don't Send Those Cull Beef Cows to Market Until Later- If You
Can
-- Voluntary, Locally-led Water Quality Efforts to be Celebrated in
Jay on Tuesday
-- The Next Set of Auctions of Oklahoma School Land Leases Begin
Monday
-- 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. 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. PLEASE NOTE- WE ARE SENDING THIS EMAIL A LITTLE EARLIER THAN
NORMAL- IT HAS GONE OUT SUNDAY EVENING INSTEAD OF EARLY MONDAY AM- WE ARE
DOING SO IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT GONE TO OUR WEBSITE AND REVIEWED THE
TREMENDOUS RESULTS OF LAST FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT THE NATIONAL FFA
CONVENTION. THIS EMAIL HIGHLIGHTS THE LANDSLIDE OF AWARDS THAT OKLAHOMA
FFA MEMBERS HAVE BROUGHT HOME. | |
Oklahoma FFA Members Excel in Indianapolis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have been
covering the annual National FFA Convention since the late 1970s- having
followed the exploits of Oklahoma FFA members in Kansas City, Louisville
and now Indianapolis. It's been exciting to see the achievements of those
that wear the Blue and Gold Jackets with Oklahoma across the back- but
2009 was the most incredible Convention I have ever been a part of.
Oklahoma went to Indianapolis with high expectations because the large
numbers of those members that had qualified to be at the 82nd Annual
Convention as a participant. I think it's safe to say that those
expectations were met or exceeded in almost all areas.
We have stories below on several of these high fliers that represented Oklahoma so well this year. For example, last year we had 21 finalists in the National Proficiency Categories- the most of any state heading for Indy- and brought back to Oklahoma six national Proficiency awards in 2008. That was the most of any state in the country. 2009 saw Oklahoma raise the bar as the state had 27 National Proficiency Award finalists out of the 47 categories available at the national level. On Friday afternoon, as we sat in the radio media room right behind the stage in Conseco Fieldhouse, things started slow- California quickly got three of the early awards and several of our Oklahoma members were beaten by other outstanding programs. But as the names continued to be read- more and more names from Oklahoma were shouted out- and Oklahoma stood at nine national awards with about seven Oklahoma members in categories yet to take the stage. Oklahoma FFA State President Amy Peel was there in the media room, helping me take pictures for our website of the Oklahoma winners- and as our ten award winner was named- we cheered double digits, and then saw Amber Allen of Burlington getting the 11th National Proficiency Award of the afternoon for the state to almost double last year's production- and again outpace all other states in the country in this show of strength in the supervised agricultural enterprises that are at the heart of the FFA experience. We have links to all eleven members from Oklahoma that won a National
Proficiency award in a story further down- and we also invite you to go
and check out our website where we posted a total of some 30 stories from
Tuesday through Saturday from Indianapolis. The link where those 30
stories reside is right below here- as they are all found on our Blue
Green Gazette section of our website. | |
Slade Nightengale of Cordell Wins the Granddaddy of the them all- Star Farmer of America ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When my Dad
was teaching Vo-Ag back in the 1950s and early 1960s, the ONLY Star that
was picked annually in Kansas City was the Star Farmer of America. It is
still the award that bats clean up even here in 2009 as the premiere
national award handed out to a member of the FFA organization. It is the
highest of the high when it comes to those that apply for the annual
American Farmer Degree (at least, that was what that degree was once
called- now it's just the American Degree)
On Saturday morning, Slade Nightengale of Cordell FFA was the latest Oklahoma success story as he was named the Star Farmer of America award from the National FFA organization. Nightengale runs the prototype of an Oklahoma stocker cattle operation in southwest Oklahoma.He runs cattle on wheat pasture in the fall and winter, will sometimes graze the wheat out- some years he will harvest the wheat for grain. He also has about 1,200 acres of permanent grass for summer grazing. The pick of Slade Nightengale as the 2009 Star Farmer of America means
that Oklahoma is home of the last two Stars in this category. In 2008,
Travis Schnaithman of Garber brought home the same honor- if you want to
go back and review that honor as we reported it in 2008 from the national
convention, click
here for coverage of Travis as the 2008 Star Farmer of America.
Click here for more with Slade Nightengale- Star Farmer of America | |
Green Eggs and Ham Carries McKenzie Walta All the Way to the Top in Indy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma has a
National Champion in Prepared Public Speaking. McKenzie Walta, who has
been in the finals in two other national FFA contests in Indianapolis the
past two years, served up Green Eggs and Ham and the judges thought it was
the tastiest speech of the day in the Final Four of the Prepared Speech
category. She heard her name called out Saturday night on the main
convention stage in Conseco Fieldhouse.
The reason I mention the Dr. Seuss menu item is that the title of her speech is "Green Eggs and Ham" and in it she discusses the potential of the "enviropig" which is a genetically modified hog that is being developed by Canadian scientists.McKenzie tells us that she has lived with this little fella for almost a year, having first started writing the speech last December and giving it almost daily last spring in leading up to the State FFA Convention, where she won the Prepared Public Speaking category, earning this trip to Indianapolis and the chance to spread the Enviropig message a little further. The story that we have of McKenzie Walta winning the national Prepared Public Speaking title includes a tip of the hat for several other winners from our state as well- click on the link below and go see those names as well as be able to listen to an interview we did with McKenzie about this speech and her journey to Indy for the third time in three years to compete for national honors- the previous two years, she did well- but the third time was a charm as she won it all here in 2009. | |
Eleven Oklahoma FFA Members Claim National Titles in their Proficiency Award Area ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma far
outdistanced the second closest state in the number of national
Proficiency Champions produced in 2009. With Oklahoma grabbing 11 (almost
double our state's output of 2008), we matched the output of the next two
states, California with 6 and Wisconsin with 5 that were announced Friday
afternoon in Indy. We have profiles of all 11 in the Blue Green Gazette
portion of our website- and we list all eleven below- just click on their
name to jump to their profile which includes details of their program, a
picture and a quick audio conversation that we had with the winners after
they were announced on Friday afternoon. By the way, Amy Peel, 2009 State
FFA President, helped me with pictures, did a great job and all of the
pics of these 11 winners were the handiwork of Amy.
Brian
Masters, Drummond- Agricultural Processing | |
Don't Send Those Cull Beef Cows to Market Until Later- If You Can ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU Extension
Beef Cattle Specialist Dr. Glenn Selk believes that you will find it
worthwhile from a dollar and cents point of view if you decide to delay
marketing your cull cows for the next few weeks, assuming you have pasture
to carry those unneeded Mama Cows to around the first of the year.
The reason that Dr. Selk believes that this makes a lot of sense this fall is that the latest Dairy Cow Buy Out has been announced by the dairy group CWT- and thousands of dairy cows being culled will be marketed in the early weeks of November of this year. It is very possible that these extra dairy cows coming to market could disrupt prices for cull beef cows in the short term- for a few weeks at the least. Dr. Glenn Selk of OSU joins us for the Beef Buzz- a program that is heard regularly on great radio stations across the state of Oklahoma and beyond on the Radio Oklahoma Network. We also have these shows on our website- and an archive that stretches back some three years. Click on the link below for this Beef Buzz with Dr. Selk on the Cull Cow decisions to be made this fall. | |
Voluntary, Locally-led Water Quality Efforts to be Celebrated in Jay on Tuesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
producers in northeast Oklahoma are invited to attend a Hog Fry at the
Delaware County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, October 27 at 6pm to help
celebrate the success of voluntary, locally-led water quality efforts in
the Spavinaw Creek, Honey Creek and Illinois River Watersheds.
"We want to invite all agriculture producers and anyone interested in northeast Oklahoma water quality to come out and join us next Tuesday," Shanon Phillips, Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission Water Quality Division said. "We'll have a good meal, enjoy some fellowship and discuss the water quality success stories that have been documented in the Watersheds of north east Oklahoma." According to Phillips, the best management plans developed by the
Conservation Commission in cooperation with local conservation districts
have resulted in sizable reductions in nutrients and bacteria in the
various watersheds where local producers have taken part in various water
quality programs. The program at the dinner Tuesday night will highlight
these practices and celebrate the success they have shown. | |
The Next Set of Auctions of Oklahoma School Land Leases Begin Monday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monday
morning, the first of three auction locations will see bidding on Oklahoma
School Land Leases. At 10 AM, the Oklahoma School Land Commission will
hold a multi county auction at the Western Technology Center in Burns
Flat. Leases will be offered from Caddo, Washita, Kiowa, Greer, Roger
Mills and Custer Counties at the Burns Flat site.
On Tuesday, the auction moves to Lawton and the Great Plains Technology
Center. Start time on Tuesday is 10 AM. Leases in Comanche, Stephens,
Cotton, Grady and Tillman Counties will be offered. Next week, two more auctions are also planned in Enid and Shawnee. We
have the master list by counties of the tracts of land that will be
offered for lease by the Commission at these auctions- click on the link
below and then scroll down to the county you have interest in. Click here for the full list of Counties that have School Land Lease Auctions here in 2009- | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Woodward
Livestock Auction had a total run on Friday of 4,690 cattle, with
yearlings and calves generally steady to $1 up. Five to six hundred pound
steer calves sold from $98 to $114, while seven to eight hundred pound
steer yearlings cleared from $94 to $97.50. Click
here for the complete Woodward market report from USDA's market news
service- it should be up and available at this link by around 8 AM
Monday morning.We are also including Canola prices for your convenience here. Current cash price for Canola is $7.75 per bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $7.95 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are working with PCOM. 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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