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.

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Two Oklahoma based groups are among the 138 groups that signed off on the letter- the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association and the Oklahoma Cotton Council. The Texas Cattle Feeders also were signers- and several national groups that represent Oklahoma interests have their name on the letter as well. In the letter to Senator Murkowski, the groups agreed with her intent to enter a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act regarding EPA's decision to move forward on regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Such regulatory actions, the letter stated, "will carry severe consequences for the U.S. economy, including America's farmers and ranchers, through increased input costs and international market disparities."

Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, have agreed to cosponsor the Murkowski resolution and offered their support for legislation to block EPA's attempt to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) also has announced her intention to support the resolution.

Click on our link below for more on this story- and that includes an audio report with comments from Senator Murkowski as she introduced her resolution on the Senate floor on Thursday.

Click here for more on the Bipartisan efforts to stop EPA in regulating Greenhouse Gases.

Dr. Armstrong says that 2009 checks show that where Italian Ryegrass was found in fields in Oklahoma- 50 to 90% of the ryegrass that was checked showed some level of resistance to herbicides that are in the ALS Inhibitor classification. He says that if Italian ryegrass is a significant weed in your wheat- the chemical options you have are limited. He says the strategy of crop rotation on those fields where these weeds are found may be your best option- and using a crop like winter canola- especially the Roundup Ready Canola- gives a wheat grower the best chance to break the weed cycle in that field.

Click on the link to our story below to hear our full interview with Dr. Joe Armstrong of OSU on weed resistance issues in our winter wheat fields across Oklahoma. Armstrong had one of two displays of projects that have been happening in Oklahoma related to weed resistance at the Pan America Weed resistance Conference that was put together this week by Bayer Crop Science.

Click here for more on the weed resistance issue from a Winter Wheat perspective with Dr. Joe Armstrong

The agenda held two items pertaining to future public and private wheat research collaborations. Discussions in recent meetings were about building partnerships between land grant universities and private wheat breeding companies, resulted in the creation of two resolutions, which were also passed later that afternoon by the OWGA board of directors.

The first resolution agreed upon read: "The Oklahoma Wheat Commission strongly urges Oklahoma State University to recognize the investment by Oklahoma Wheat producers in variety development with the Oklahoma State University wheat breeding program."

The second resolution read: "Given the positive role wheat producers can play in fostering collaborations, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission urges Oklahoma State University to include Oklahoma wheat producers in discussions regarding potential partnerships with private parties."

Chairman Don Schieber, Ponca City, said the Wheat Commission wants to protect the interests of Oklahoma's wheat producers. "The Oklahoma Wheat Commission invests lots of producer dollars to research through OSU and we are extremely interested in the path it takes during the many steps of research," he said. "We trust the University and want to ensure that our wheat producers prosper from the outcome."

Click here for more on these resolutions- as well as one additional motion along these lines approved by the Commission at their regular meeting this week.

"China's foodservice and restaurant sectors have expanded at a rate double than that of its already torrid GDP growth," Morgan said. "One can find a plethora of new beef-focused restaurants, ranging from hot pot and Korean barbecue restaurants to the golden arches of McDonalds in primary cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which have 18 million people each, as well as smaller secondary cities as well."

We sat down and talked in recent days with Dr. Morgan about his two recent trips to China- and you can hear some of his thoughts about this educational effort with Chinese meat industry officials on our latest Beef Buzz. Just click on the link below and we will transport you to China- through the description offered by Dr. Morgan. Our link is to the Friday Beef Buzz- and there is a link within that story that will back you up to the Thursday Beef Buzz with Brad Morgan on China as well.

Click here for more on Brad Morgan's trips to China- and how they may translate into sales of US beef into that country.

Based on estimates developed by Allendale- December Placements are expected to be 1.8% smaller than last year. A lower supply of available calves and feeders is the prime reason for this lower number. Cattle placed in December will be marketed from May through September.

Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 2.4% larger than December of 2008. We are now working off those higher placements from July through October. Due to those placements, Marketings will remain over last year through March.
Total Cattle on Feed as of December 1 will be 1.1% smaller than last year.

We will have comments with Tom Leffler after the report is released on Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM central- after the markets close for the week. Those comments will be posted on our website in the section "Top Agricultural News." Click on the link below and that will carry you to our front page, where that information on the results of the cattle on feed report should be available by mid afternoon.

Click here for the main page of our website, OklahomaFarmReport.Com

"Our goal is to help the producers make informed decisions so their business planning is as easy as possible, and this calculator is one of the tools we're making available to do exactly that," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The calculator collects information about farming operations, including planted acreage, actual production, insurance coverage data and other federal disaster payments. This relevant information is used to calculate an estimated payment for crop losses.
Click on the link below for more on this calculator- as well as the SURE program.

Click here for details on this web based calculator developed by USDA for SURE payment calculations.

Meanwhile, the market animal shows have been going on this week- and the 2010 Grand Champions Premium Auction will be held this evening in Denver. While we don't have the market lamb Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion info as of yet, there will be at least two Oklahoma youth with a Grand or a Reserve Grand in that Premium sale tonight.

The Grand Champion Meat Goat for 2010 was the Heavy Weight Division Champion- shown by Mercedes Hardin of Hennessey. Mercedes says the Grand Champion of the Denver show is named Ghost.
The Reserve grand Champion Market Hog is owned and shown by Bray Houston who calls Eldorado, Oklahoma home.Bray's barrow is named Krinkle- and was the Champion Hampshire leading up to being named the second best barrow of the entire show.

We are compiling a full listing of the Oklahoma high achievers at this year's National Western- we will have that on our Blue Green Gazette section later in the day on Friday- click here to jump to the Blue Green Gazette.

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.