From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 06:39
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 Tuesday September 11, 2007!
A service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- State Fair of Oklahoma Kicks off Centennial Celebration on Thursday.
-- Mary Kay Says NO Mark Up Next Week Either for the Senate Ag Committee.
-- No Rain Down Under- Wheat Prices Continue Northward Ho!
-- A "Few" Farmers Have Planted Wheat- But Still no Percentages From the Latest Crop Weather Update.
-- September Crop Report Due Out Wednesday Morning- Wheat Acreage Update for Oklahoma Won't Occur Until September 28.
-- Big Bull Sale Slated For October First At Express
-- The Destructive Phytophthora Blight Identified on Watermelon in Southwest Oklahoma.

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 welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here!

We also welcome American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show coming up December 6-8, 2007, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City next spring. 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.


State Fair of Oklahoma Kicks off Centennial Celebration on Thursday.
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The First Fair and Exposition for the state of Oklahoma was held in October, 1907- and this year is the Centennial Edition of the State Fair of Oklahoma, running from September 13 through the the 23rd. While it is not nearly as good an agricultural event as many of the State Fairs seen in the midwest, there is still a lot of agricultural going ons during the event and lots of opportunities for those of us involved in agriculture to showcase what Oklahoma agriculture is all about to thousands of urban customers of the bounty of our land. That, of course, includes the incredible pork chop sandwich that Roy Lee Lindsey and the Oklahoma Pork Council serve up by the thousands each year.

Among the agricultural highlights of this year's State Fair- the Oklahoma Farm Bureau's Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee will be holding their annual Youth Livestock Judging Contest this coming Friday morning, starting early at 7:00 am.

Showing of livestock gets underway on Saturday morning with the Prospect Steer Show in Barn 3 and the Market Barrow Show in Barn 7- both starting at nine am. That afternoon, the Chianina, Charolais, Braunvieh and Gelbvieh Beef Breeds will be showing in Barn 3- that begins at 1:00 pm. As far as the rest of the schedule, we will be highlighting it daily as the fair gets underway later this week- and we have a link below to the official State Fair Website and the Livestock Schedule for the 2007 Fair.

Click here for the Livestock Schedule for the 2007 State Fair of Oklahoma.


Mary Kay Says NO Mark Up Next Week Either for the Senate Ag Committee.
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The Timeline for the Senate Ag Committee to mark up their version of the 2007 farm bill is slipping- badly! Chairman of the Committee, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, has said for several weeks that he expected to mark up his version of farm policy next week, but the Director of Legislative Services for the American Farm Bureau, Mary Kay Thatcher, says that the Senate Finance Committee is not meeting until next week and the Ag Committee needs direction from that body before they will know some key budget numbers to help them mark up their version of farm policy.

Harkin has admitted that there is no time on the Senate floor to debate farm policy this month- and you have to wonder if there is much chance in October either.

We have comments with Mary Kay to share with you- and we have them on our Farm Bill page of our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click below for a direct link to that audio.

Click here for Ron and Mary Kay Thatcher of AFBF on the Farm Bill Timeline


No Rain Down Under- Wheat Prices Continue Northward Ho!
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At one point, the expectation was that the drought in Australia had been broken and that they would be producing as much as 26 million metric tonnes of wheat this growing season- but rains stopped again and the crop is shrinking faster than you can say Down Under.

It now appears that it could be a 15 million metric tonne crop- and it could fall further. Murray Jones of the Grains Council of Australia believes it won't fall to the level of 2006/07 crop- that was a drought produced 9.8 million metric tonnes, but he says the poor production will handicap Australia in their export efforts once again.

Wheat Markets continue to go crazy over the shrinking crop and global wheat stocks that are being fought over by importing countries. We were up twenty cents a bushel yesterday on the Kansas City Board of Trade and in the teens in Chicago- overnight electronic trade was also up at one point by another ten cents per bushel for the December KC Hard red Winter Wheat Contract, but that was trimmed to about a four cent gain by 6 am Oklahoma time. Grain Elevators continue to post record high wheat prices- with the range yesterday across the state's wheat belt from $7.50 to $7.75 per bushel. We have the yesterday's Cash Grain Prices linked below if you want to check specific locations.

Click here for the latest Cash Grain Prices as reported by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.


A "Few" Farmers Have Planted Wheat- But Still no Percentages From the Latest Crop Weather Update.
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The latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update is out-it shows that the rains continue to boost topsoil and subsoil moisture supplies- and that especially the subsoil moisture supplies are in much better shape than last September.

We are approaching half done with the Oklahoma corn harvest. The NASS reporters say that some farmers are planting wheat as they finish harvesting corn, There is still no percentage of wheat planting completed in this latest report. And, no other crops except for corn and watermelons have a percentage of the crop harvested- corn at 44% and watermelons at 98% harvested.

Oklahoma and Texas have the best pasture conditions in the U.S. The Texas ratings are slightly better this week, with 75% of their pasture and rangeland rated in good to excellent condition, while Oklahoma checks in at 73% in good to excellent shape. Worst Pasture and range conditions in the country belong to California, with 95% of their pasture rated in poor to very poor condition.

Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update.


September Crop Report Due Out Wednesday Morning- Wheat Acreage Update for Oklahoma Won't Occur Until September 28.
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Spring planted crops will be updated Wednesday morning at 7:30 am central time, with the record corn crop predicted in August expected to get a little bigger here in September. Pre report guesses reflect a belief that the corn crop may be closer to 13.1 million bushels here in 2007, up from just over 13 billion bushels last month.

The report in the morning will focus on spring planted crops- including corn, grain sorghum, cotton and soybeans- but it doesn't include wheat figures. It is still expected that the Oklahoma harvested acreage number for the 2007 crop may be adjusted downward in the Small Grains Summary report that will be out on September 28 from the USDA. Currently, Oklahoma is still predicted to have produced 116 million bushels- many in the wheat industry don't believe that number saying it is too high. USDA's next shot at squaring that up comes at the end of this month.


Big Bull Sale Slated For October First At Express
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The annual Fall Bull Sale at Express Ranches in Yukon happens Monday, October first at twelve noon at the ranch. They have 250 Angus and 60 Limousin bulls that will be sold that day, offering some of the premiere genetics in both breeds to those who select bulls from this offering.

They will be getting some details on the October first sale online in the near future- in the meantime, you can get a complete sale book and more information on the upcoming bull sale by calling Express in Yukon at 1-800-664-3977.


The Destructive Phytophthora Blight Identified on Watermelon in Southwest Oklahoma.
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Phytophthora blight, caused by Phytophthora capsici, is a devastating disease of cucurbits and peppers in the United States. Phytophthora blight was recently identified in a field of watermelons in southwestern Oklahoma where it caused a severe fruit rot . The disease became readily apparent following the heavy rains from tropical storm Erin, although it first appeared before the storm in a low area of the field. Phytophthora blight is a stubborn disease that has become severe over much of the eastern United States during the last 10 years. On squash and peppers, it causes a crown rot that appears as an elongated, soft lesion that extends above the soil line causing the plants to wilt and die. On watermelons and cucumbers it mainly causes fruit rot.

The bad thing about Phytophthora is that the spores that cause it can stay in the soil for years and come back strong as can be when a susceptible crop is planted in that field. Mixed results are about as good as you get when trying to control with chemical applications- and when you get very wet conditions, there is virtually no way to control the disease.

You can read more about this discovery and how it may affect watermelon and other vegetable production in areas that are unlucky enough to come up with an infection- we have Dr. John Damicone's complete report on the recent findings in southwest Oklahoma linked below.

Click here for the Full Update From OSU Plant Pathologist Dr. John Damicone


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual Insurance and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis!

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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