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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday November 1,
2006 A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Pasture Insurance Pilot Program signup continues all of this
month.
-- Ron Berryhill honored by RMA for three decades of service!
-- Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission to hold Special Business Meeting
Tonight.
-- Something else to worry about- H5N1 has apparently mutated.
-- Later this week- the OCA Fall Cattle Drive!
-- Mid Month- an All Star Lineup for the Cattle Industry will come to
Oklahoma City
-- Heather heading to SLO
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows 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. | |
Pasture Insurance Pilot Program signup continues all of this month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma is
one of several states involved in a Pilot Program from the Risk Management
Agency of the USDA that will pay ranchers a claim if hurt by a
predetermined level of drought. There are two measurements that USDA is
working on- one using a rainfall index based on the National Drought
Monitor from the Weather Service people- and the other(and this is the one
that Oklahoma is a guinea pig on) is based on a vegetative index.
Eldon Gould, the Administrator of the Risk Management Agency of the USDA was in Oklahoma yesterday visiting with the Oklahoma City in the agency's regional office that serves Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas- and Gould says this is one of several exciting ideas that are being worked on by the agency to provide a better safety net through risk management for farmers and ranchers. Forty Six Oklahoma counties are in the Pilot Project, stretching from Beaver County in the Panhandle south and east to Choctaw County(Hugo) and everything south and west of that line. You sign up and then on an almost weekly basis, there would be a satellite check of those pastures to see how "dry" they look- you hit a predetermined level and a claim would be paid. We have attached a link to the USDA web site pages on this new program- current signup continues until November 30th. Click here to be taken to USDA's Web site on the Pasture Insurance Program | |
Ron Berryhill honored by RMA for three decades of service! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the
things that Eldon Gould did while in town yesterday was to present a
certificate of appreciation for 31 years of service to Ron Berryhill, the
Regional Director for the Risk Management Agency. Berryhill has served
farmers and ranchers in working in USDA on Crop Insurance and other Risk
Management strategies in three states- Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Berryhill was cited for his "innovative" work in providing leadership in this area of USDA work. Ron gave me one of his new business cards- which he says may be one of the first with an expiration date on it- it expires on January 3, 2007 when he officially retires from the RMA and USDA. Back to Eldon Gould- we talked with him about a variety of Crop Insurance and Risk Management issues- and wanted to share his comments with you- click below to hear our conversation with Eldon Gould, a farmer up to about a year ago turned Administrator of RMA. Click here to listen to Ron and Eldon Gould talk Risk Management | |
Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission to hold Special Business Meeting Tonight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The agenda for
that meeting shows they are looking at approving the purchase of several
tracts of land that have river frontage on the Illinois River. It's our
understanding these purchases are being made possible because of the funds
provided over the last several months as a contribution from several
poultry companies who are under attack by the Attorney General of
Oklahoma- who wants the companies to seize control of the chicken litter
from farmers who currently claim ownership of the product- and then treat
it as a hazardous waste and dispose of it accordingly. And, of course, he
is looking for a major cash prize from the companies as well. The AG has
not specified how his office might spend the money to improve water
quality along the Illinois River if he is successful in his efforts.
We hope to talk with Rick Stubblefield and others associated with the OSRC to find out more about how this meeting unfolds this evening at the headquarters of the Commission just outside of Tahlequah. | |
Something else to worry about- H5N1 has apparently mutated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Experts are
saying that a new strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza identified
in Southeast Asia has spread through the region rapidly. They believe that
this "subtype" of H5N1, the strain that everyone has been worrying about
because of the implications of "Bird Flu", may have evolved due to farm
flock vaccination programs. Apparently , poultry in China, Hong Kong,
Laos, Malaysia and Thailand have been infected by this new strain.
The good news at this point is that like H5N1, this new high-path subtype does not seem to pass easily to humans. WHO officials say they are not surprised at the mutation- saying that this is pretty much what they expected of such an unstable virus. | |
Later this week- the OCA Fall Cattle Drive! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Friday,
the OCA Fall Cattle Drive rolls into OKC- West in El Reno, and it looks
like it should be a replacement female sale that just about any cattle
producer will be able to find some genetics that will help his cow herd.
The sale begins at 1 pm- and A.J. Smith is the man to contact at
405-235-4391. We do have the info on the event linked below.
Also this Friday- the fall Board of Directors Meeting for the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association will be held, beginning at 10 am. The Oklahoma Cattle Women also plan a meeting this Friday as well. Click here for the sale bill that describes the OCA Fall Cattle Drive | |
Mid Month- an All Star Lineup for the Cattle Industry will come to Oklahoma City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's a
confusing name for Oklahoma, as the Oklahoma Beef Council and Oklahoma
State University have run a Beef Quality Summit for several years with
great success at a couple of venues- most recently at the Food and Ag
Processing Center on campus in Stillwater. But nonetheless- Beef Magazine
has decided that they like the name as well- and have used it to promote a
meeting they have put together for November 14th and 15th at the Clarion
Hotel in Oklahoma City.
They have some top notch cattle producers that will be on the program, as well as representatives from companies like McDonalds, Cargill, Smithfield as well as academic types like Dr. Brad Morgan of OSU and Dr. Gary Smith of Colorado State. It's a fairly pricey registration that they are asking- but it will be a most interesting program. If you want more info- you can call the folks putting this program together and let them know that Ron Hays sent you- the person to contact is Susan Rowland and her number is 800-722-5334. | |
Heather heading to SLO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive
Director of the Oklahoma Beef Council, Heather Buckmaster, will be making
a trip to the West Coast this week to dialogue with the California Beef
Council during one of their regular meetings that will be held in San Luis
Obispo.
Heather says that the folks in California asked that she come out and tell them more about our beef industry here in Oklahoma, some of our success stories when it comes to promoting beef, working with "influencers" like Doctors and Dieticians here in the state and educating folks within the beef chain through the Beef Quality Summit that just finished another pair of sessions in Stillwater just this past week. One of the reasons that Oklahoma has interest in spending some time with the California Beef Council is that while they have a fair amount of checkoff dollars- they have many more consumers than cattle in their state- and when you can start a trend in a state like California- it will often sweep across the rest of the country. OBC helped fund a very successful Hispanic Supermarket Promotion that the California Beef Council ran- and Buckmaster sees the potential for more "homeruns" like that one in the days ahead. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show. 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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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