Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website that features their grain, ports and seed business!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.

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"The overall situation is dire, and at this time, substantial rainfall is necessary to allow the establishment of the 2011 cotton crop. Many producers with center pivots ground water have opted for pre-irrigation in order to provide timely stand establishment. If irrigation capacity diminishes during the growing season, this means that rainfall will be required to carry the crop forward once that occurs."

Dr. Boman also offers us an update on water levels in Lake Altus. "The Lugert Reservoir is currently about 47% of capacity. There is little if any water flowing into the reservoir at this time. Based on discussions at a meeting earlier in the week, there is concern about how the irrigation water "run" will be executed. Most likely, the system will be turned on near the end of May. Producers will be able to irrigate cotton land during the next two weeks or so. The amount of water available will be expended on the "up front irrigation run." Therefore, sizable rainfall and runoff into the North Fork watershed will be necessary to provide additional in-season irrigation. From the crop insurance perspective, three components were emphasized: 1) plant the crop, 2) water the crop, and 3) don't sell your water allocation. Now is a good time to discuss crop insurance issues with your insurance provider representative to make sure all are on the same page."

Click on the LINK below for the other articles that are a part of Randy Boman and Shane Osborne's weekly cotton industry update from the OSU Southwest Research and Extension Center in Altus.

Click here for the latest Cotton Comments Newsletter from Dr. Randy Boman.

Mark and his group, Plains Grains, Inc released their first weekly winter wheat crop report of the season this past Friday- and we have the full report available on our website.

Click on the LINK below to get all the details from this first report of the season.

Click here for report one of the 2011 season from Plains Grains on the 2011 Hard Red Winter Wheat Harvest.

The agreement, known formally as the Wheat Workers' Material Transfer Agreement (WWMTA), lays out the procedure for universities to share materials and the conditions under which they can be shared. Central to the agreement is the procedure for completing an "implementation letter", a contract between the donor and recipient institutions.

Among other things, the agreement specifies that the material shared remains the property of the original owner and that progeny of the material may not be transferred immediately to a third party. It also specifies that transfers under the agreements will come with no cost beyond processing costs.

"This agreement represents a cooperative effort dating back to January 2010, when public wheat breeders from the hard red winter wheat region realized that the uninterrupted flow of wheat germplasm would require a more formalized approach than afforded by the Wheat Workers Code of Ethics," said Dr. Brett Carver, the wheat breeder at Oklahoma State and a leader in the National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC). "Protection was needed to ensure sustainability of individual breeding programs fueled by long-term grower investments, while sharing was considered essential to sustainability of the wheat breeding community. One of the beauties of the WWMTA is that signatory parties will continue to have the freedom to interact with other breeding programs outside the region or in the private domain."

Click here to see the full agreement that has been signed off on by Oklahoma State University and three other key land grants in HRW country.

"We are pleased to offer the Aging Cows 101 Field Days across the state to help producers understand the importance of maintaining vitality in their herd," said Jeff Jaronek, director of industry relations for the Oklahoma Beef Council. "The information we will share with them will certainly help boost their bottom line."

One of the Aging Cow Field Days has already occurred this past week-with a second field day planned for today in Durant. Others that are planned include:
Beaver River Livestock Auction - May 18, 2011
Elk City Livestock Auction - May 21, 2011
Blackwell Livestock Auction - May 25, 2011
Stilwell Livestock Auction - May 27, 2011

Click here for more details about the Aging Cows 101 Field Days- offering excellent BQA training for producers.

According to the USDA website, the framework will provide the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability in the United States. USDA says that these efforts will:

Only apply to animals moved interstate;
Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility;
Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and
Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.

The top Democrat on the House Ag Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, has long been a proponent of a mandatory animal ID system in this country- contending that anything less will be a detriment in assuring our foreign customers that we can respond quickly to a disease outbreak in our livestock herds.
On today's Beef Buzz, we hear the dialogue between Peterson and Ag Secretary Vilsack on this issue that was a part of last week's House Ag Committee hearing on Ag Trade.
The Beef Buzz is a regular radio feature that is heard on great radio stations that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- and we have today's Beef Buzz on our website- as well as previous Beef Buzz shows for you to listen to as well- just click on the Beef Buzz button you find on the left hand side of any page on our website- www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Click here for today's Beef Buzz featuring a look at the Animal Disease Traceback plans of USDA

Reese explains his position this way in a post on Facebook- "I have now found that many of these acres already have the flooding easements. Therefore, the real reason for the government condemnation of these private taxpaying, revenue producing lands is for a wildlife preserve. Since pecan groves produce pretty significant wildlife habitat regardless of who owns them, it seems a poor use of condemnation."

Secretary Reese, in his letter, calls on the GRDA to stop the condemnation proceedings and negotiate with the land owners that currently have not offered a flooding easement to the Authority- Reese says that's a better and a more fair approach to the issue.
We have the full letter linked below- click and take a look at the arguments laid out by Secretary Jim Reese.

Click here to see the letter sent by Oklahoma Ag Secretary Jim Reese to Kevin Easley of GRDA

The current price limit is $0.30 per bushel per day for corn futures and option contracts, expandable to $0.45 and then to $0.70 when at least two contracts close at limit bid or limit offer on the previous trading day. Under the new proposal, price limits would be $0.40 per bushel per day with a max of one increase to $0.60 per bushel.

In recent months, corn futures prices and volatility have increased significantly. In the first quarter of 2011 alone, 36 corn contract months settled at limit bid or limit offer, compared with 36 corn contract months settling at limit bid or limit offer in all of 2010.

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.