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.

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Here's the report that Dr. Hunger mentioned from south Texas and Dr. Roy French- "Last week, I did some traveling along the southern Texas Coastal Bend and more specifically, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (although more accurately a delta or floodplain).
"Leaf rust was present in wheat at trace levels in Hidalgo County.
"Leaf rust was also observed in other cereals in Hidalgo and Willacy Counties.
"Except for two fields, the wheat and other cereals (ie. spelt, triticale) observed were those grown as wind barriers in vegetable production (ie. watermelon). Not all locations had leaf rust.
"Growth stages observed varied from Feekes scale 2 through 9 (tillering to almost boot).
"The Lower Rio Grande Valley includes the southernmost four counties in the state.
"Hidalgo County is the second southernmost county in Texas. Willacy is the fourth southernmost county in Texas.
"Freezes in early December and early to mid-January in this area could potentially cost some vegetable growers up to 50% of their vegetable production but might have helped keep the rust in check early on in January.

For the 2010 wheat crop that will be harvested in June- what's a wheat farmer to do? Well, Dr. Anderson says the market is offering a local cash price of around $4.10 to $4.20 per bushel for that wheat to be harvested- probably not enough to forward contract much if any wheat. At harvest time, if you want some cash for immediate bills- you may want to sell 25% to 33% of the bushels you have come in from the fields- and then hold the bulk of the new crop for possible rallies later summer or into the fall.

We have Kim's comments from this weekend's SUNUP on our website for you to get an early listen to as the markets trade here at the end of this week. And- also on this story linked below- we have details of the rest of the SUNUP show from this weekend as will be seen on OETA.

Click here for the wheat market outlook with Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU- Courtesy of SUNUP(and click to check out the proigram contents of SUNUP for this weekend)

The suspects are accused of targeting rural residences, barns and farms and stole primarily items such as four-wheel ATVs, vehicles, zero-turn mowers, tractors and trailers. The initial suspects were Julie Lawton, 22; Mark Palmer 34; and Mathew Shrum, 34. All three are Oklahoma City residents.

Seven more people were arrested with the assistance of the OCPD Santa Fe IMPACT Unit during the investigation. Grimes said a variety of charges including possession of stolen vehicles and methamphetamine were filed against the seven. The crimes were spread over a wide area of central Oklahoma.

Wise cited population growth and increasing average income in China as prime factors for agriculture's strength. "Demand for American agricultural products is only going to increase," explained Wise. "Rising incomes in Asia are allowing millions of people to move from poverty to the middle class, increasing demand for protein."

Wise believes agriculture investors and farmers have a bright outlook despite recent volatility and uncertainty from the economic downturn. Wise urged his audience to look beyond the dollar figures of 2009. "Although farm income is lower than in recent years, it remains near historic highs. Plus, today's farmer is carrying much less debt than ever before, the current average in Iowa is $9 debt per every $100 of equity compared to 30 years ago when it was $22."

Wise touched on several other influencers of global agriculture during his presentation, including: on-farm efficiencies and technology adoption, water consumption and utilization, ethanol and biofuels, and increased farmland investments by state governmental pension funds.

Tim Bierman, a Larrabee, Iowa, pork producer and president of the National Pork Board says - the theme mirrors the vision statement of the National Pork Board's new five-year strategic plan that will be presented to the delegates. Bierman says - we are eager to get the delegates' reaction to the board's vision for the role the Pork Checkoff will play in our future.

According to Bierman, - among the issues on the table this year are some new ideas about our marketing efforts as well as a progress report on programs that are helping to demonstrate producers' long-term commitment to socially responsible pork production. In addition, Delegates will address issues related to the Pork Checkoff program, including the rate of the Checkoff and the amount of Checkoff revenue distributed to state pork associations for Checkoff-funded programs.

Click here for more on the Pork Board and the programs they oversee.

An associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University, Grandin has been instrumental in helping to redesign livestock facilities and meat plants, in addition to improving animal welfare worldwide. Diagnosed with autism as a young child, Grandin has used her disorder to understand livestock.

The Beef Cattle industry's Beef Quality Assurance program has evolved due to a lot of the work that Dr. Grandlin has pioneered. "Temple Grandin has been a critical resource to Cargill, which has allowed us to continually improve our animal handling facilities and our animal welfare programs," said John Keating, President, Cargill Beef. Dr. Mike Siemens, Cargill Leader Animal Welfare and Husbandry, added, "Temple's insight and understanding of cattle behavior is truly unique. Her ability and expertise in facility design have been invaluable to the beef industry."
A friend of hers for many years is Dr. Brad Morgan, OSU Meat Scientist- and Brad tells me that he hopes to have Dr. Grandlin on the OSU campus in Stillwater for some functions this fall- we'll let you know if any of those are open to the public to hear this legend in livestock handling.

Click here for more on the movie- and the impact Temple Grandlin has had on the beef cattle business.

There will be more than 50 head of high quality bulls from well-known western Oklahoma cattlemen. Breeds represented will be Angus, Crossbred, Red Angus and Hereford.

Specifics on the bulls that are being offered include 32 Angus bulls, 5 Hereford bulls, 2 Commercial Red Angus bulls, 3 Hereford/Red Angus Cross bulls, one 7/8 Red Angus bull, one 1/16 Santa Gertrudis bull, one 1/16 Shorthorn bull, one Shorthorn Red Maine- Angus cross bull , one 3/4 Maine-1/4 Angus bull, two 3/4 Angus 1/4 Maine bulls, and 3 Simmental/Angus cross bulls.

For last minute questions about this sale- contact Lynda Lucas at 580-497-7366 or Earl Bottom at 580- 821-0633.

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.