From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 21:51
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday February 23, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- First Hollow Stem found in early maturity wheat variety this week in Stillwater!
-- Cattlemen turning out for OCA District meetings.
-- Speaking of the Manure Bill- Can it become law???
-- Cotton goes public in a curious way to declare they don't want cotton singled out in the WTO.
-- Farm Bureau Economists talk Crops- Ethanol and Livestock in their latest Update.
-- This weekend- Oklahoma Conservation District Leaders head to Oklahoma City.
-- Set your button on the right side of the dial for Ron Hays on KOKC Radio!

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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. 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.


First Hollow Stem found in early maturity wheat variety this week in Stillwater!
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What's the variety??? It is Fannin and it was measured at 1.9 cm on Tuesday at the wheat plots operated by Oklahoma State University. Dr. Jeff Edwards, our state wheat specialist, tells us that when we reach 1.5 cm, you can say that you have reached "first hollow stem" and if you were grazing that wheat- the cattle should be removed from that field THAT DAY! If you delay- you are possibly costing yourself more than a bushel a day in reduced grain yields by keeping the cattle on that pasture.

There are currently two locations in the state that are being checked closely by OSU Extension folks- Stillwater and with the help of County Extension agent Brad Tipton in Canadian County, El Reno. In fact, there was a special grant from USDA that has allowed Brad to operate both conventional and no-till plots and observe what's the difference between the two.

Stillwater probably represents those areas that have had decent moisture from the start (It was planted September 15) while El Reno plots were slow starting even though they were planted September 12- slow because of dry conditions that held back plant growth early. Besides Fannin, you have Protection CL at 1.1 cm, Jagger at 1.0 cm and Cutter at 1.0 cm in Stillwater. In the conventional tillage plots in El Reno, Cutter and Fannin are both at 1.0 cm as of February 20th. We have linked below the latest Wheat Production Newsletter that has come out from Jeff Edwards- and you can check the varieties you have in your operation for this critical growing stage.

Click here for the February 22 Wheat Production Newsletter.


Cattlemen turning out for OCA District meetings.
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It's three down and three to go for the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association annual road show known as their District Meetings. In talking to Scott Dewald yesterday afternoon as he drove to Claremore for final meeting of this week, he told us they were fixing steaks for 250 for the northeast District meeting- usually one of the biggest district meetings each year- if not the largest.

He reported that they about 130 in Lawton on Tuesday and 115 or so in Chandler for the first of the meetings on Monday, President's Day. We asked Scott what was on the mind of the producer's thus far- and he mentioned three or four issues that have floated to the top as these meetings are unfolding. There is a lot of concern about the probable run by those who want to ban Horse Slaughter for human consumption in the United States. Similar legislation passed the U.S. House last fall- but opponents were able to stall the measure out in the waning days of the 109th Congress in the U.S. Senate. Producers are also very interested in the progress of the Manure Definition measure in the Oklahoma legislature- as well the measure that would offer debt forgiveness to young men and women willing to come to rural Oklahoma and operate a large animal vet practice.

OCA has three more meetings planned for next week-
Southeast District on Monday at Southeast Expo Center, McAlester
South Central District on Tuesday at Murray County Fairgrounds, Sulphur
Northwest District on Thursday at the Woodward County Fairgrounds, Woodward
You can call the OCA for more information at 405-235- 4391.


Speaking of the Manure Bill- Can it become law???
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The measure in question is Senate Bill 709, authored by Senator Ron Justice, Republican from Chickasha. With good bi-partisan support, it passed the Senate Rules Committee this week and now faces possible full Senate consideration. In a nutshell, the bill would define manure as not being a hazardous substance. Of course, the drive for the bill comes out of the lawsuit filed against the poultry firms from northwest Arkansas by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Keep in mind that Edmondson is a Democrat.

The next hurdle for the bill will be for the co-leaders in the Senate, Democrat Mike Morgan and Republican Glenn Coffee to agree that it will allowed to come to the floor for debate and a vote. Will that happen? They have several weeks before that decision has to be made. IF the Senate votes on the measure, it will be sent to the House and it could take as long as six weeks for it go through that process. There are similar measures in the House as well that could move forward in the meantime. However, the language is very similar for both bills.

Let's say it is debated and passes the Senate. It is pretty safe to say that the Republican majority will move this measure in the House and it will likely pass. That sends it to the Governor. Governor Brad Henry is a Democrat. Will he be swayed by a fellow Democrat on this measure or will there be enough bi- partisan support in the Legislature that he won't even consider a veto? The timeline suggests that we could know the fate of this measure by sometime late April- or sooner if the wheels come off before it reaches the desk of the Governor. Most of the ag groups that have livestock as a part of their membership are strongly in favor of this bill and promise a full court press to get this over all the hurdles and across the finish line. Time will tell.


Cotton goes public in a curious way to declare they don't want cotton singled out in the WTO.
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The news teleconference held by the cotton industry and coordinated by the National Cotton Council was rather devoid of a lot of fresh information on the concerns of the cotton industry with the Doha WTO process- and what they want to see happen. It was all volunteer leaders that spoke and answered questions. One of those was Colorado City, Texas cotton producer Woody Anderson. We have linked Woody's opening statement below to give you a feel of what was being said during the course of the forty minute briefing.

With just the volunteers taking the questions, there were a lot of "We are not sures" and "we don't know the answer to that question" replies. It was most certainly strange to me that you did not have the President of the NCC, Mark Lange or lead lobbyist John Mcguire helping handle the questions- because these gentlemen KNOW the answers to what USTR and USDA are saying to the industry and what the cotton industry fears is the gameplan.

It was almost an unspoken fear that cotton believes that the Bush Administration may go along with the WTO on special consultations in March on cotton issues- and allow the emotions of poor versus rich to be paraded around by OxFam and other groups. If you take a moment and listen to Woody Anderson, you will understand their frustration over this argument that the big bad US cotton subsidies are destroying poor people by the bushel. They contend there are lots of factors pushing farm gate prices down in west Africa- and the US commodity program doesn't even make the top ten. We asked them what they were really after in this news conference- and Anderson told us that the US hopes and expects the USTR to demand a single undertaking in the ag negotiations- no separating cotton off from the other commodities and throwing the US cotton program to the international wolves. With lots of folks beginning to think we are close to a possible Doha Deal, this news teleconference was a low key warning to the US government to not throw agriculture under the bus- we will see if it has any impact.

Click here to listen to Woody Anderson of the National Cotton Council describe their unhappiness with the international pressure on the US Cotton Subsidy program.


Farm Bureau Economists talk Crops- Ethanol and Livestock in their latest Update.
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The surge continues for ethanol, according to Farm Bureau Economist Terry Francl in the AFBF monthly Economic Update. Francl says "The construction of ethanol plants continues to surge ahead as do announcements of planned future plants. Clearly it is a challenge to try and keep track of who is planning to build what plant, when and where. "

Francl goes on to lay out his case for a fifteen billion gallon ethanol capacity over the next three years or so: "There are about 27 billion gallons that are in the planning stage. That can be broken down into probable and possible. Assuming a high percentage of the probable will be built suggests production of about 15 billion gallons of ethanol using 7.7 billion bushels of corn."

Meanwhile, AFBF Livestock Economist Jim Sartwell believes that the winter weather of 2006-2007 will impact our production for months to come: "Bottom line, if you expected supplies of market-ready cattle to instantly evaporate in the face of severe weather, you were wrong. Numbers of cattle slaughtered were actually up year-to-year for the first several weeks of 2007. That being said, with the seasonal reduction in carcass weights coming down faster this year than the recent pattern, we believe we are just starting to see the effects of sloppy conditions and expect to see more evidence of decreased animal performance in the weeks and months ahead." We have linked the full report below- it's some interesting reading but be advised it is a Word Document.

Click here for the American Farm Bureau February Economic Update.


This weekend- Oklahoma Conservation District Leaders head to Oklahoma City.
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It will be the 69th annual meeting of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts as they celebrate the beginning of conservation efforts in the late 1930s in response to the Dust Bowl conditions here in the middle of the United States.

It's a new day for Conservation Districts- as they will be talking about not just working with traditional landowners- farmers and ranchers- but also with "green" groups like the Nature Conservancy. The group will be hearing from Immediate Past President Bill Wilson of Kinta, Lt. Governor Jari Askins and will be celebrating with a big banquet on Monday evening. The meeting begins on Sunday and runs through next Tuesday. We have linked the 2007 agenda for those of you that want to check out the events.

Click here for the agenda of the OACD annual meeting to be held at the Biltmore in OKC


Set your button on the right side of the dial for Ron Hays on KOKC Radio!
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We are proud to have a great radio station in Oklahoma City that carries several reports every day from the Radio Oklahoma Network. KOKC is that radio station, with a strong 50,000 watt signal that covers a good bit of the western United States at night. During the day, you can hear KOKC in all directions from Oklahoma City- and they offer at least four ag reports a day- and we're working on adding a couple of more.

You can hear Ron Hays with morning farm news at about 6:35 am weekdays, followed by Sam Knipp with his Farm Bureau Perspective Program at around 6:55 am. During the noon hour, we are proud to have a farm news update with Ron Hays, just before the Paul Harvey midday news- our farm update comes on at 12:12 pm. Finally, we have an agri futures wrapup that airs at around 3:20 in the afternoon, with settlement prices from Chicago, Kansas City and New York.

Tune in daily to the best farm and ranch news you can find on Oklahoma City radio on KOKC, 1520 AM! And, if you want to know about stations in your area that carry Ron Hays farm news and markets, drop us an email and we will be happy to provide you with details of the radio stations to check out!


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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