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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday June 7, 2010
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Big Iron
OnLine Auctions!
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-- Is Winter Canola Turning into Black Gold for Oklahoma Wheat
Farmers This Harvest?
-- Kass Pfeiffer of Orlando Selected to Represent Oklahoma in
National Beef Ambassador Contest This Fall
-- Can Blanche Survive?
-- Congrats to Jamey Allen
-- Heavy Test Weights and Good to Excellent Yields Tell Only Half of
the Story of the 2010 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest
-- Understanding and Avoiding Heat Stress in Cattle
-- Tahlequah to Host USDA Rural Development State Training
-- 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 welcome Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as our newest sponsor of the daily Email. Their next auction is this Wednesday, June 9- featuring Low Hour, Farmer Owned Equipment. Click here for their website to learn more about their Online Farm Equipment Auctions. 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. | |
Is Winter Canola Turning into Black Gold for Oklahoma Wheat Farmers This Harvest? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As farmers
harvest the 80,000 acres of Winter Canola planted across Oklahoma last
fall, it's with mixed feelings. They are delighted with the yields and
potential net returns of the crop as canola prices remain above $7.00 a
bushel while local cash wheat prices sink ever closer to $3.50 a bushel.
They are a little unhappy- wishing they had a few more acres of winter
canola and few less acres of winter wheat here in 2010.
Canadian County Extension Educator Brad Tipton has been working with several farmers in his county as they have included winter canola on some of their wheat acres in the cycle that is coming to a close with this harvest season. Tipton offers the following thoughts about canola harvest in his county: "Wheat producers in Canadian County are finding gold on those red clay hillsides. McDowell Farms south of Banner direct cutting two fields of winter canola yielding 30 and 40.3 bushels respectively. The crop grossed them $288.74 per acre after a 1.80 % dockage for foreign material. The crop was hauled directly to Producers Oil in OKC and had moisture averaging 7.5% (10% is the maximum moisture accepted). According to OSU Extension Enterprise Budgets, the average total operating expenses for winter canola is around $108 per acre. Assuming no land expense, this year's winter canola crop has netted the farm approximately $180.74 per acre after expenses with their 35 bushel per acre harvest average. "Zum Mallen Farms of El Reno 'pushed' their winter canola and thrashed
out 39.77 bushel per acre on a quarter section yesterday, leaving another
160 acres to cut today. They delivered directly to Producers Oil in OKC
and grossed $330.28 per acre after dockage of 1.00% dockage for foreign
material. Average moisture on four and a half loads was 8.2%. Using $192
per acre for their total operating expenses they would have netted
approximately $210.28 per acre in profit on this year's canola crop. Zum
Mallen Farms planted a Cropland Roundup Ready variety called HyClass 115W.
Click on the link below to read more- but importantly- go and take a look at a whole series of Winter Canola Harvest Pictures that Brad Tipton has helped us with at the Zum Mallen Farms location- this is from the Pushed field of canola we showed you last week. | |
Kass Pfeiffer of Orlando Selected to Represent Oklahoma in National Beef Ambassador Contest This Fall ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the last
two senior division winners in the Oklahoma Beef Ambassador Contest going
on to be selected to be a part of the National Beef Ambassador team, Kass
Pfeiffer of Orlando was getting plenty of advice from Sierra Simpson and
Jackson Alexander on how to approach the national Beef Ambassador
competition this coming fall in South Dakota. Pfeiffer won the 2010
Oklahoma Beef Ambassador Contest's Senior Division this past Thursday at
the Payne County Expo Center in Stillwater, earning the right to travel to
South Dakota to represent Oklahoma at the national level.
Winners of the 2010 competition included Click on the link below to read more about the contest and a chance to hear the interview that we did with Kass during the contest which was being judged by three judges- and helped earn her the right to represent Oklahoma in the National Beef Ambassador Contest later this year. Click here for more on the Oklahoma Beef Ambassador Contest from Stillwater this past Thursday. | |
Can Blanche Survive? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the Senate Ag Committee, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, was
forced into a runoff for the Democratic nomination for her US Senate seat-
just ahead of her nearest rival by a 45% to 43% margin. Since she did not
get fifty percent of the vote, that means a runoff tomorrow across
Arkansas- and the Senator, who lost many key agricultural counties in the
primary- is fighting back as she has paid lots of attention to farm
interests since she was forced into this runoff.
Salon.Com says that Senator Lincoln is in real trouble. "The first
round of voting last month left Lincoln short of the 50 percent threshold
needed to win the nod outright -- as a surprising 13 percent of votes went
to D.C. Morrison, seen as a protest candidate -- and set up Tuesday's
election. Turnout could be far lower than in the first round, though,
which probably doesn't bode well for Lincoln. The most committed voters
are likely to be the ones who want a change; that probably means they're
backing Halter. Colleague Stewart Doan lives in Little Rock- knows agriculture there very well and has followed the political career of Senator Lincoln as she has moved to the top spot on the Senate Ag Committee. He files an audio report on the website Agri-Pulse.Com and you can listen to his read on how the Chairman has tried to rally rural voters here in the 11th hour of her Senate campaign. Go to the Link below- look over to the Left Column and then look for the following lead- Senate Ag Chair Lincoln targets rural voters in final days of runoff campaign. Click on the audio arrow right there to listen to Stewart's report. | |
Congrats to Jamey Allen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rick Maloney
is retiring from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture as of the end of
this month- having served the State of Oklahoma as the head of the Market
Development Department at the State Department of Agriculture as well as
serving in recent years as the Assistant Commissioner.
Stepping into his Market Development shoes is Jamey Allen, who has been a key driver in the Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom efforts. Jamey writes us in an email about these new duties for her "I go to work July 1 as director of market development for ODAFF, facilitating promotion of Oklahoma agriculture through the market division programs. Ag in the Classroom will keep moving forward under the leadership of Dana Bessinger and Judy Ferrell. I am humbled and EXCITED with the challenging opportunity to serve our great State in a different role. Rick's retirement plans include fishing and grandkidding. He will be missed." Besides her service to the school kids of our state through Ag in the Classroom- Jamey Allen has also invested herself into the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program- as she is a graduate of Class Eleven. | |
Heavy Test Weights and Good to Excellent Yields Tell Only Half of the Story of the 2010 Oklahoma Wheat Harvest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most things in
life have tradeoffs- and the 2010 Oklahoma wheat crop is no exception.
Mark Hodges, Executive Director of Plains Grains says that while farmers
are thrilled with a much better looking wheat crop in 2010 than a year
ago, the heavy test weights and good to excellent yields are offset by
lower protein levels than were hoped for coming into the 2010 harvest
season.
Hodges tells us the first in depth reports on protein and other quality factors from this year's wheat crop may be available as early as this coming Wednesday for southwestern Oklahoma- and it's likely that the average protein level may not be much more than 11%. We talked with Hodges about the protein concerns, as well as dockage issues that are a major issue for the 2010 crop- and you can hear our full conversation on this and a lot more by clicking on the LINK below. Click here for more on the 2010 Wheat Crop through the Plains Grains Perspective of Mark Hodges | |
Understanding and Avoiding Heat Stress in Cattle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU Mama Cow
Specialist Dr. Glenn Selk offes the following information about what to be
watching for this time of year when it comes to heat stress in your cattle
herd. "Understanding and avoiding heat stress in cattle can be a valuable
management tool for summertime in Oklahoma. According to the 1997 Oklahoma
Climatological Survey most areas of Oklahoma have 10 or more days each
year above 100 degrees and 70 or more days with high temperatures above 90
degrees Fahrenheit. This means that most cow calf operations will be
working cattle on days when heat stress to cattle is possible. Cattle have
an upper critical temperature approximately 20 degrees cooler than humans.
When humans are uncomfortable at 80 degrees and feel hot at 90 degrees,
cattle may well be in the danger zone for extreme heat stress. Humidity is
an additional stressor that intensifies the heat by making body heat
dissipation more difficult.
Over heating is sporadically encountered in cattle, but is really a rare problem. High humidity contributes to the likelihood of heat stroke or prostration because water evaporation from the oral and nasal cavities is decreased, in spite of rapid panting. At an environmental temperature of about 88 degrees, heat dissipation mechanisms such as sweating and evaporative cooling must take place to prevent a rise in body temperature. Sweat gland activity in cattle increases as the temperature goes above the thermoneutral zone. Panting is an important heat regulatory device in cattle. Click on the link below to read more about hear stress in your cattle herd- some timely info from Dr. Selk as temps continue to hit upper 90s in most parts of the state. | |
Tahlequah to Host USDA Rural Development State Training ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryan McMullen,
State Director for USDA Rural Development, has confirmed that Tahlequah
will be the site of USDA Rural Development's state-wide employee
development and training meeting this week. The event is a rare
opportunity to have community development specialists from across the
state in rural, northeast Oklahoma. USDA Rural Development is charged with
administering over 40 federal programs, assisting rural communities in
addressing needs that range from housing to utilities to business
development to community infrastructure. Investments in rural Oklahoma
through these programs total hundreds of millions of dollars annually and
have increased to unprecedented levels with President Obama's signature of
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Mike Becker, General Field Representative for USDA Rural Development,
will be on hand to discuss Rural Development's efforts to expand broadband
coverage throughout rural areas of Oklahoma. These efforts include recent
announcements for four major projects, bringing broadband coverage to some
of the most remote areas of Southeast Oklahoma, Northeast Oklahoma, and
far western Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma Panhandle. "For these reasons, we insisted on a conference location other than the typical convention center in Oklahoma City or Tulsa. It only makes sense to have our rural development meeting in a rural community," said McMullen. "Aside from our normal loans and grants to rural communities, we are happy to be able to contribute to the rural northeast Oklahoma economy in this way as well." | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions 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- FREE! 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 do so
on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $7.05 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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