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 Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as one of our great sponsors of the daily Email. Their next auction is Wednesday, February 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.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the recent Tulsa Farm Show.. Click here for the Midwest Farm Show main website to learn more about their lineup of shows around the country, including the Southern Plains Farm Show coming April 7-9, 2011 in Oklahoma City.

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.

The Oklahoma Weather Lab Facebook page focuses on Norman- but really the wording holds true across a lot of Central, North Central and Northeast Oklahoma. They offer this play by play of Monday late night into Tuesday "Around midnight, precipitation should begin across the Norman area. Initial precipitation will likely be a mix of rain, freezing rain, and sleet. Over the next six hours, precipitation should transition first to sleet followed by a complete changeover to snow by 6 am Tuesday. Snow is expected to continue through the afternoon on Tuesday. Blowing and drifting snow is likely throughout the entirety of the event, with sustained northwest winds at 20 to 25 mph expected to accompany the snowfall. Travel is expected to become impossible due to low visibilities and deteriorating road conditions."

The National Weather Service in Norman seems to be saying a winter storm is pretty much a done deal, adding a Blizzard Warning may be needed in some parts of Central or North Central Oklahoma. They add in their forecast discussion of Sunday evening that "THE EMPHASIS AT THIS TIME IS ON GETTING EVERYONE TO TAKE PROPER STEPS NOW BY OBTAINING NECESSARY PROVISIONS- AND NOT PLANNING ON GOING ANYWHERE FROM LATE MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY."

We have our WEATHER page at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com linked below- from there you can go to the official National Weather Service national map where you can click on the weather service office you want to look at closer- we also have the LINK to the Oklahoma Mesonet there- and the LINKs to the News9 weather site and the News on 6 Weather site.

Clcik here for multiple weather links found on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Through CRP, eligible landowners receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. Land can be enrolled for a period of up to 15 years. Current CRP participants with contracts expiring this fall may make new contract offers. Contracts awarded under this signup are scheduled to become effective October 1, 2011.

The Secretary noted, - not only has CRP contributed to the national effort to improve water and air quality, it has preserved habitat for wildlife, and prevented soil erosion by protecting the most sensitive areas including those prone to flash flooding and runoff. In addition to the general sign-up, CRP's continuous sign-up program will be ongoing.

Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess spoke with reporters by phone from Omaha- we have the audio of his comments- click on the LINK below for that plus more details of the announcement from USDA and their website.

Click here for more details on the CRP General Signup Coming in Mid March

All cattle and calves in the United States as of January 1, 2011, totaled 92.6 million head, 1 percent below the 93.9 million on January 1, 2010. This is the lowest January 1 inventory of all cattle and calves since the 91.2 million on hand in 1958.

The Oklahoma cattle herd is pegged at 5.1 million head, a drop of seven percent from just a year ago. As this is based on January first data, the dry conditions that forced many calves off wheat pasture made a difference in the year to year numbers. Oklahoma is the fourth largest state in terms of beef cattle numbers- and fifth in the overall cattle herd numbers. Texas is easily the top cattle state in the US- with 13.3 million head of cattle as of January first. Other beef cattle states ahead of Oklahoma include Kansas with 6.3 million head and Nebraska with 6.2 million head.

Click here for more details of the Oklahoma Cattle Herd as well as the full report from USDA as issued Friday afternoon.

The Texhoma operations house 20,000 sows and contain 71,000 nursery and 172,000 finishing spaces.

"Although vertical integration continues to be a key point of difference for Smithfield, these farms do not supply any of the company's pork processing plants," said C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer.

"The sale of these operations demonstrates our continuing commitment to shed non-core businesses with a greater focus on return on invested capital. This divestiture is another example of how we have altered our strategy to deliver better returns to our shareholders," he concluded.

According to Scott Dewald, there are three issues that are critical to him as the top hired hand for the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association as he helps represent Oklahoma interests at this year's policy setting meetings. At the top of Dewald's list is the problem with the Eastern Livestock debacle of millions of dollars of hot checks that were given to cattle producers with those involved with the company knowing full well those checks would not be honored. Dewald says we need to try to minimize the economic damage done to those producers caught holding those checks that had no funds attached to them. At the same time, he wonders why GIPSA should be allowed to move forward with their rules that could change the way we market livestock in the country when they could not adequately protect producers from a situation that many believe they knew was going to happen and did nothing to stop Eastern Livestock from doing so much harm to so many people. Dewald says its fair to ask GIPSA what they knew and when they knew it- and he believes that USDA needs to be transparent with their answers.

Dewald is excited about the beef export results of the first eleven months of 2010- and feels that the overall results for 2010 as well as the early results we will be getting in a few days for 2011 will continue tell a great story for US cattle producers. A third issue that Dewald believes will be talked about a lot in Denver is the victory scored by small business owners and farmers and ranchers regarding Estate Tax reform.

We have an extensive conversation with Scott Dewald about all of these subjects and lots more on the annual convention- plus a look at the upcoming State Legislative Session from an Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association point of view. Click on the LINK below to hear our visit with Scott Dewald about the NCBA meeting and a whole lot more.

Click here to Look Ahead to the 2011 Cattle Industry Convention in Denver with Scott Dewald of OCA

You can click on the LINK below for the full report- but I wanted to give you a couple of the keys from their conclusions- "GIPSA now faces the decision of implementing the rule as currently proposed, modifying it, or "going back to the drawing board." If enacted as written, the rule will doubtless cause changes in the industry. The question, of course, is what specific changes will occur. That question may be answered in a clarified final rule; if not, it will be resolved through what will likely be a torrent of litigation."

One of the themes that Ferrell and Runley say has emerged is the battle between producers which many of us have noticed as GIPSA went through the comment period. "the traditional "party lines" in the landscape of agricultural policy debate are shifting. Many livestock and poultry disputes come down to the "us versus them" paradigm of producers versus integrators, but some of the loudest voices both for and against the proposed regulations come from livestock and poultry producers themselves. Producer-proponents of the rule hold that it will bring balance, transparency, and fairness to the livestock and poultry markets, while producer-opponents say it will scuttle years of their efforts to differentiate their product from other producers and in so doing reduce their ability to capture a bigger portion of the food dollar."

If you have interest in the GIPSA Makreting Rule Debate- this is a worthwhile read- courtesy of OSU Ag Law Professor Shannon Ferrell

Dr. Peel says this is fundamental change because for "two generations, our beef cattle business was a grain intensive user." That was because we had relatively cheap grain available to feed in order to put on most of our pounds of gain. Now, Peel says the world has changed, with feed grain acres being bid away for other uses of that land.

Click on our LINK below for more on this aspect of where the cattle industry is when it comes to how we put pounds of gain on our animals here in 2011- as well as the links to our other Beef Buzzes from this past week with OSU Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel.

Click here for our Beef Buzz with OSU Livestock Marketing Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel.

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.