From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 06:13
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 June 1, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Wheat Harvest Remains Stuck in SLOW Motion!
-- Oklahoma's Lone Democrat in the state's Congressional Delegation is on board to get rid of the Death Tax- once and for all!
-- Steve Kouplen joins us for this week's In The Field With Ron hays
-- Humane Society President Didn't Lie to Congress- He Just Didn't Tell the Truth!
-- American Farmers and Ranchers Plan Trek to Washington.
-- Edmondson Describes Discovery- that and more Farm News from the Radio Oklahoma Network!
-- THANK YOU for the opportunity to keep you updated on the latest farm and ranch news!

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 just concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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.


Wheat Harvest Remains Stuck in SLOW Motion!
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With light rains overnight in some of the southwestern counties of our state- it looks like the first day of June will be about like the last several days of May that we have experienced in those counties in the state that are along the Red River from Cotton County west to Harmon County- full of frustrated wheat producers wanting to cut wheat!

We got an email on Thursday afternoon about 5 pm from Mike Cassidy from Frederick who reports to us that they had not received any wheat on Thursday to that point- nothing was done on Wednesday because of wet conditions and that they did have a couple of good days of cutting back on Monday and Tuesday at the start of the week. When it comes to quality- here's how Mike describes the early indicators- "So far, the test weight continues to be a little light, due mainly to rust. Test Weight is averaging 59.5 pounds per bushel, with Moisture from 13-15% and protein is all over the board, hoping to average 12%. Yields are above average, and many are exceptionally above. We will get it out, it will just take a few more days. Now we are on an average harvesting schedule."

Further west from Cassidy Grain in Frederick, another area that we have heard from Mark Hodges that is in the early stages of harvest is Eldorado. The question mark for those folks when it came to rolling combines on Thursday afternoon was the fact that foggy conditions Thursday morning had lingered and it was uncertain that moisture levels would fall enough to allow cutting to crank up. The problem remains rain is being left in the forecast right into the weekend- so accomplishing a lot remains very uncertain.


Oklahoma's Lone Democrat in the state's Congressional Delegation is on board to get rid of the Death Tax- once and for all!
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Oklahoma Democrat Dan Boren is one of eight members of Congress to have joined as a co- sponsor for full and complete repeal of the Death Tax. There are currently two measures in the House on this subject- a bill dropped into the hopper back in March by Mac Thornberry- Republican lawmaker from the Texas Panhandle- that measure is HR 1586 while a more recent version of the repeal concept is gathering several co-sponsors as well- that measure is HR 2380. In fact, Congressman Boren and his colleagues who added their names to the bill did so to HR 2380.

One of the agricultural groups happiest about efforts to bring this proposal forward is the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and they write in their weekly E-mail update "By once again supporting legislation to repeal this onerous tax, these members of Congress have demonstrated an understanding and appreciation for the immense burden this tax places on American cattle producers who are hoping to pass their operation on to the next generation. The Death Tax is detrimental to farming and ranching families who live off the land and run asset-rich, cash poor family operations. These families want to pass successful operations onto future generations. Yet more often than not, the Death Tax prevents that from happening. Reducing the tax burden on ranchers has always been a top priority for NCBA and the cattle industry. For decades, NCBA has urged full and permanent repeal of this tax. NCBA will continue to fight for a permanent repeal, and urges House members to cosponsor both H.R. 2380 and H.R. 1586."


Steve Kouplen joins us for this week's In The Field With Ron hays
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Saturday morning on News9, KWTV in Oklahoma City, we will have the President of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, Steve Kouplen, join us to talk about the outcome of the 2007 Oklahoma Legislative Session.

We talk with Steve about the good and the bad of this legislative cycle from a Farm Bureau perspective. We invite you to take a look if you are in the News9 coverage area or have access to them via cable or satellite- the two minute segment is aired regularly on Saturday mornings between 7:30 and 7:45 am Saturday mornings.

We also talked with Steve for our radio programs that we air on radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network. We have that conversation with Steve linked below. And, we will have a link for the TV segment on our website this weekend, and will share that on our Monday morning e-mail in case you miss our segment on Saturday morning.

Click here to listen to Ron and Steve talk about the outcome of the 2007 State Legislative Session from a Farm Bureau viewpoint.


Humane Society President Didn't Lie to Congress- He Just Didn't Tell the Truth!
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An interesting story is a part of the latest newsletter from the Animal Agriculture Alliance- it's all about a ridiculous claim by Wayne Pacelle that pigs could catch the porky equivalent of Mad Cow Disease- would you call that Mad Sow Disease??? The Alliance reports:

"In his written testimony to Congress on May 8, 2007 Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) wrote: ''Scientific studies have pointed to the possibility that pigs, whose diet can include ground-up cattle remains, may harbor a porcine form of mad-cow disease.'' Feedstuffs Foodlink noted his irresponsible claim in an article on May 14, 2007. In a letter posted to the HSUS website on May 16, Pacelle foolishly asserted that his Congressional testimony shouldn't be taken at its face value because he used the word ''possibility'' to describe the risk. His essential position is that because his lawyers chose to insert the word ''possibility'', he wasn't actually lying to Congress. Of course, Pacelle certainly isn't telling the whole truth.In his written testimony to Congress on May 8, 2007 Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) wrote: ''Scientific studies have pointed to the possibility that pigs, whose diet can include ground-up cattle remains, may harbor a porcine form of mad-cow disease.'' Feedstuffs Foodlink noted his irresponsible claim in an article on May 14, 2007. In a letter posted to the HSUS website on May 16, Pacelle foolishly asserted that his Congressional testimony shouldn't be taken at its face value because he used the word ''possibility'' to describe the risk. His essential position is that because his lawyers chose to insert the word ''possibility'', he wasn't actually lying to Congress. Of course, Pacelle certainly isn't telling the whole truth."

Pacelle, in his Daily Blog that regularly blasts animal agriculture, claims he has an expert within HSUS that helps validate his claims about pigs and BSE. "Within the walls of The HSUS, I have a great expert to turn to on this matter-Dr. Michael Greger, The HSUS' director of public health and animal agriculture." One of the "proofs" that Greger apparently is pointing Pacelle to is the following comment; "Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director for the U.S. Public Health Service, also expressed concern in 1996 that pigs and poultry could be harboring mad cow disease and passing it on to humans. "It's speculation, but I am perfectly serious," Brown told New Scientist."

Click here to be taken to the Blog Topic by Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS on Mad Pigs.


American Farmers and Ranchers Plan Trek to Washington.
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The week of June 18 will find a delegation of leaders from the Oklahoma Farmers Union and American Farmers and Ranchers flying to Washington for a couple of jam packed days of meetings with both USDA and Congressional figures.

The plans are now to spend time with at least three USDA officials, including the Chief Economist at USDA, Dr. Keith Collins as well as the number two man in the Department, Chuck Connor and then make their way around to all of the Congressional offices of the Oklahoma delegation.

It could prove to be a most exciting week to be in Washington as the House Ag Committee's General Farm Commodities Subcommittee could be marking up the Commodity Title of the bill that week. The decisions made in that subcommittee will give us a first taste of how the commodity programs might be changed slightly or more radically by members of Congress here in 2007. The Chairman of the full Committee, Colin Peterson, has said several times that there will be no extra money available for the Commodity Title and that if you want to change portions of the farm programs in this bill versus what we now have in the 2002 measure- you will have to find the money within the current allocation of money in the baseline for the Commodity Title- as he plans to earmark none of the extra twenty billion dollars that may be available for spending in the 2007 measure in the Commodity Title- that it will go for other priorities.


Edmondson Describes Discovery- that and more Farm News from the Radio Oklahoma Network!
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That's the lead story on this Friday morning from the Radio Oklahoma Network and our farm news- our folks caught up with Attorney General Drew Edmondson while doing a TV interview at News9 and asked him to give us a quick update on how discovery is going from his perspective in the lawsuit that his office has brought against those Northwest Arkansas Poultry Companies.

Besides the comments from the Oklahoma AG, we also hear comments from Steve Kouplen on the just completed State Legislative Session- and we talk wheat harvest progress- or lack thereof- as well.

You can hear our farm news summary for the first day of June as aired on the Radio OKlahoma Network on Friday morning by going to our web site and finding the button that says Listen to RON! When you click on that button, you will be taken to the link that allows you the chance to hear our farm and ranch news of that day at your convenience. For your convenience today- we have it linked on a direct basis below- check out Ron Hays on RON!

Listen to the latest Farm and Ranch News from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ron Hays!


THANK YOU for the opportunity to keep you updated on the latest farm and ranch news!
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It was just a little over a year ago that I began experimenting with the idea of a daily farm news email update- and it has grown almost on a daily basis since that time. As of this morning, we are sending our emails each weekday to more than 1350 email addresses- and the more the merrier!

I want to be able to say "thanks" for your taking a look at this email- and it is our hope that you will find one or more stories each day that will be of interest to you. We also appreciate your recommendation to your neighbors, friends and colleagues about the value of this email update on a daily basis. Pass it along- and if you are able to say a good word about the usefulness of this report- we are appreciative.

Finally, I want to say thanks to those of you that send comments back to us. I am grateful to hear from any and all who are reading what we write daily. I am glad that you keep me on my toes on the direction of stories that we write or need to write about. I welcome your feedback and suggestions- and I especially appreciate story ideas and information on meetings going on in organizations that you are involved in. Never assume that I know about an event. You are my eyes and ears in staying on top of a very large and vibrant industry that we call agriculture here in the state of Oklahoma- and your help is invaluable!!! THANK YOU and let me hear from you!


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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