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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday January 14,
2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Electronic ID of Cattle- Still Looking for Traction
-- Let's Try It Again- Nominations Needed for Commissioners to Serve
on Oklahoma Oilseed Commission
-- California Board Approves Low Carbon Fuels Standard
-- R-CALF Submits Information for Investigation
-- Four Days- Nine Meetings Talking Grain Sorghum
-- A Half Mllion Genetic Samples and Counting- the National Animal
Germplasm Program
-- 2010 State 4-H Horse Leaders, Parents and Educators
Conference
-- 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. 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. | |
Electronic ID of Cattle- Still Looking for Traction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Five years
ago, electronic animal ID was very much in the news. The federal
government had put it on a fast track in the wake of the discovery of BSE
14 months earlier. The Joplin Regional Stockyards was at the cutting edge
of the effort to figure out ways to ID cattle at the speed of commerce and
had already installed the equipment that could read electronic ID tags as
cattle were unloaded at the sale barn - and then loaded out after the sale
- and they were holding special sales for those cattle.
As we begin 2010, Joplin Regional Livestock Auction Co-owner Jackie Moore says the Joplin market is still holding those special sales for electronically ID'd cattle, but the premiums are disappointing to many producers. We look at this then and now story on today's Beef Buzz- and we include some of the latest scuttlebutt about the NAIS. Colleague Stewart Doan and Agri-Pulse reports that major farm and cattle groups - including Farm Bureau, NFU, NCBA and R-CALF - along with the Livestock Marketing Association recently sent a letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack highlighting the importance of a workable ID program for the beef cattle industry. Their letter, which has not been made public, is said to contain a common set of principles for how such a program might be structured. | |
Let's Try It Again- Nominations Needed for Commissioners to Serve on Oklahoma Oilseed Commission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nomination
process continues for a new five-member commission to represent and
promote Oklahoma oilseed production. The Oklahoma Oilseed Commission was
authorized by the state legislature and the election is being developed
through the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. The
initial election is scheduled to begin February 8 and end February 22.
Nomination forms must be received by January 22.
Much like other producer-funded industry commissions, the Oklahoma
Oilseed Commission will collect an assessment from producers to fund
research, market development, education, and enhance oilseed production.
Nomination forms are available from the ODAFF, OSU County Extension
offices, and many grain elevators and coops. District 3 will elect one person for a four-year term from one of the
following counties: Woods, Alfalfa, Major, Blaine, Kingfisher, Canadian,
Grant, Kay, Garfield, Noble, Logan, Payne, Oklahoma, or
Lincoln. | |
California Board Approves Low Carbon Fuels Standard ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The state of
California's Air Resources Board has approved the Low Carbon Fuels
Standard for implementation. Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels
Association says, - serious and substantial concerns remain about the
methodology and motives of ARB staff in drafting this standard. According
to Dinneen, - ARB failed to fulfill its statutory obligations under
California law.
Bob Dinneen explained further, - in more than one instance, ARB staff failed to fully and appropriately address the valid concerns and comments provided by stakeholders, including the RFA. These failures are in direct violation of California statute and should have prompted OAL to reject the standard. Also, Dinneen says - pursuing this strategy runs counter to the stated goals of Governor Schwarzenegger and the State Assembly to reduce carbon emissions from motor vehicles. As crafted, the LCFS would virtually eliminate domestic ethanol, the only viable low-carbon alternative to gasoline, from the California marketplace in favor of imported ethanol and futuristic fuel technologies such as hydrogen and the electric car. | |
R-CALF Submits Information for Investigation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ R-CALF USA has
submitted its overview of the current state of the U.S. cattle industry to
the U.S. Departments of Justice and Agriculture. Justice and Agriculture
are jointly investigating the current state of competition in U.S.
livestock markets and other agricultural markets. This overview: 1)
identifies the industry's unique susceptibilities to abusive market power;
2) demonstrates with empirical evidence that there is systemic market
failure in the U.S. cattle market; and, 3) provides specific examples of
ongoing, abusive practices perpetrated by U.S. beef packers within the
U.S. cattle industry.
R-CALF USA asserts that its submission provides Justice and USDA with ample justification - to take immediate and decisive action to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act and halt the beef packers' anticompetitive use of captive supply cattle to manipulate and control the U.S. cattle market. According to R-CALF USA, the level of concentration that is disrupting the cattle industry's competitiveness is not limited to the high concentration in the beef packing industry, where the four largest beef packers now control over 85 percent of the fed cattle market. R-CALF's report points to 4 additional areas the Department should study closely. According to R-CALF, - this multi-faceted industry concentration has left the U.S. cattle industry in a precarious position, which R-CALF USA calls - a serious crisis. | |
Four Days- Nine Meetings Talking Grain Sorghum ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the last
several years, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service has provided
producers with a series of educational programs to improve grain sorghum
production, management and marketing. This year's educational series will
be held in several counties in northwest Oklahoma during the first week of
February. There are 9 different locations for the series and producers
have the chance to listen to a variety of speakers on grain sorghum.
Maybe the most important topic for 2010 is the addition of 2 new herbicide options for weed control in grain sorghum. Both have different modes of action to control weeds and are using new families of herbicides to protect the 2010 grain sorghum crop. Dr. Joe Armstrong, OCES Weed Control Specialist, will be coving this topic. This past crop season was the first year for the Grain Sorghum
Producers Check-off Program. We have invited Dr. Jeff Dahlberg, Research
Director for the National Sorghum Producers Association, to review the
program and directions for the check-off program and how it relates to
Oklahoma producers. | |
A Half Mllion Genetic Samples and Counting- the National Animal Germplasm Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When the
National Animal Germplasm Program opened its doors a decade ago, it
started out with genetic material from 40 lines of chicken. Today, the
center operated by the Agricultural Research Service in Fort Collins,
Colorado,, has grown into one of the largest repositories of its kind in
the world, housing more than half a million genetic samples from
12-thousand animals. This collection assures genetic diversity of
agriculturally significant animals such as dairy and beef cattle, chicken,
sheep and swine, in addition to bison, elk and fish.
Harvey Blackburn, animal geneticist, is the program's coordinator. Providing vital genetic material for scientific research has become a primary function for Blackburn and other program specialists, who distribute animal samples to university researchers, private laboratories and others who work to improve the genetic makeup of animals. The collection has been useful in many ways. For example, ARS
researchers have used frozen bull semen to genotype prominent bulls that
have sired dairy cattle. This information, combined with milk production
data gathered from those cows, has been used to improve dairy cattle
breeding programs. Click here for more on Germplasm collection efforts centered in Ft. Collins, Colorado. | |
2010 State 4-H Horse Leaders, Parents and Educators Conference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
equine enthusiasts with an interest in helping youth learn and grow
through horse programs should register now to attend the 2010 State 4-H
Horse Leaders, Parents and Educators Conference. Conducted by Oklahoma
State University's Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources, the conference will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday,
Jan. 23 at the OSU Animal Science Building in Stillwater. Cost is $10, to
be paid at arrival.
You do need to preregister and that deadline is tomorrow, January 15. "The goal of the Oklahoma Horse Project is to assist our youth in becoming 'better hands' on and off their horses," said Dave Freeman, OSU Cooperative Extension equine specialist. "Involvement in 4-H helps them to develop and improve key life skills that stay with them their entire lives, helping to lead to success in further education and employment." Click here for more information on the Conference and info on getting signed up for the event. | |
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We've had
requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will
be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $7.55 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.80 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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