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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday September 13,
2007! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and
Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Record Corn Crop in the US and more...
-- FMD Confirmed AGAIN in southern England.
-- Best Milo in Nine Years of Field Tests!
-- Senate Ag Committee to Mark up Farm Bill "week after next"
-- NRCS Grant Being Used to Upgrade Water Quality Plans
-- A Look at the "Good Old Days" comes middle of next month!
-- Oklahoma Angus Breeder Jot Hartley will call the American Angus
Association Meeting to Order in Louisville this November.
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! 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. | |
Record Corn Crop in the US and more... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2007 Corn
Crop is one for the ages- as USDA now predicts a 13.3 billion bushel corn
crop, up some 254 million bushels from the August prediction for the US
corn harvest. In concert with that- USDA also predicted less use of the
crop by the ethanol industry than had earlier been predicted- which you
would think would weigh on prices. But at he end of the day- corn turned
into a follower of soybean values, which headed higher and both of these
crops posted big gains on the day.
That was also the case for cotton, which had a prediction of 17.8 million bales nationally, above even the range of guesses by traders- and piled on top of that, we had a reduction in the expected imports of cotton by China. All of that had to be bearish, right? Wrong- at least for a day as cotton futures also posted solid gains in the Wednesday trading session. Then there was wheat. The first impression was that wheat got bullish numbers from the supply demand estimates and the world production numbers. But traders said there was no shocking bullish news- the market was overbought badly and came tumbling down like a quarterback blindsided from behind (OUCH!) The wheat markets, including Kansas City, tumbled as much as the thirty cent trading limit- and elevator prices in the state dipped back below that $8 plateau that we saw established at a few locations on Tuesday. We have linked below the Oklahoma Crop Production numbers- no big surprises from the spring planted crops here in the state. Click here for the Oklahoma Crop Production numbers from the September Crop Production Report. | |
FMD Confirmed AGAIN in southern England. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A case of Foot
and Mouth Disease has been confirmed in the Surrey area of southern
England, about thirty miles away from the outbreak that caused quite a
furor in August as we saw organisms escape through a drainage pipe from a
supposedly biosecure lab nearby.
The fear now is that the FMD has been incubating in some animals that did not show the disease- and is surfacing again from that August outbreak. Officials have set a quarantine in place- and are killing all the animals in that herd to try to stop the disease. Their Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has pledged whatever it takes to get this outbreak of FMD "contained." The British have banned livestock movement nationwide and hope they can get to the endgame on this quickly. We have linked a recent story from this morning on the outbreak- and of course, you can google this story and get additional details as they unfold later in the day. You can also go to our web site and we will be posting updated stories as they become available. | |
Best Milo in Nine Years of Field Tests! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's the
assessment of Rick Kochenower, Area Agronomist for the Panhandle who also
comes downstate to run yield trials on grain sorghum and has for the last
several years. Earlier, we had reported to you outstanding yield results
in the north central part of the state. Rick now has sent us his results
for the southwestern part of the state- and they were excellent as well.
Rick reports "Altus had 15 to 20 % bird damage but trial averaged 85 bushels per acre with the highest yielding hybrid having a yield of 108.7 bushels per acre. The Tipton trial averaged 110 bushels per acre with the highest yielding hybrid having a yield of 126.6 bushels per acre. The moisture as we tried to harvest wheat badly hurt that major crop here in the state- but it did open up the floodgates of opportunity with some of our spring planted crops- and grain sorghum was definitely in that category. | |
Senate Ag Committee to Mark up Farm Bill "week after next" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That was the
word earlier this week from the Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee Tom
Harkin as he met with reporters on a teleconference. Senator Harkin
complained of not enough money to do everything he wants to do- and admits
that he may have to write something close to a "budget baseline bill." He
did indicate that his Committee would push on the week of September 24 to
write new policy- but has really no idea when it might be debated on the
floor- assuming he can get a draft of the measure out of Committee.
He is still looking for money to expand his favorite Conservation Project, the Conservation Security Program, as well as for Rural Development and also for a Revenue based counter cyclical commodity program. He wants NO PART of a Permanent Disaster Program- he says it might make sense in two or three states- but not for the whole country. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baccus has indicated that he has about $8 to $10 billion in "found" money that he can provide to Harkin to write a new farm bill, but it comes with strings- he wants the money to go to the Permanent Disaster Program concept that Harkin hates as well as to conservation easement programs. | |
NRCS Grant Being Used to Upgrade Water Quality Plans ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma State
University's Dr. Chad Penn is up to his elbows in studying agricultural
drainage in the eastern part of the country- with the research expected to
have impact not just in the Chesapeake Bay, but back home here in the
southern Great Plains as well.
"The concepts being examined represent what could become an integral part of the way we approach agricultural nutrient management across the country, including Oklahoma," said Penn, co-investigator of a nearly $1 million research project studying agricultural drainage. The project, funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is a 3-year study that will collect data at a variety of sites around the Chesapeake Bay, with the intent of designing filtration systems that will curb the flow of contaminants into the bay. "Loss of nutrients, particularly phosphorus, in agricultural drainage waters is a priority conservation concern across the United States," Penn said. "Open drainage ditches concentrate runoff and therefore offer opportunities for capturing phosphorus and other contaminants in runoff from large areas of land." In other words, development of effective filter technology potentially could dramatically reduce a major source of non-point source pollution into the Chesapeake Bay, one of America's most important and widely used water resources. And the science behind the development of the filter technology is likely to have real-world applications closer to home. "Oklahoma has homeowners who improperly apply fertilizers on their
lawns, wastewater treatment discharges into rivers and streams, and runoff
from agricultural, horticulture and turf industry sources; all of which
potentially contribute to surface water eutrophication," Penn said. Penn
said most currently used "best management practices" (BMPs) fail to do an
adequate job of removing dissolved phosphorus. "Oklahoma has soils that
test very high in phosphorus content," Penn said. "If we stopped applying
phosphorus fertilizer to those soils and implemented current BMPs, we
would still have an uncontrolled loss of dissolved phosphorus in those
areas for 10 years to 20 years." The new technology being developed as
part of the $999,683 NRCS grant has the potential to capture the dissolved
phosphorus that is currently entering state surface waters. | |
A Look at the "Good Old Days" comes middle of next month! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get into the
spirit of the Oklahoma centennial during Fall Farm-Fest on Saturday,
October 13, from 9-4, held at the Overstreet-Kerr Historical Farm, ten
miles south of Sallisaw on highway 59. The hands-on skills it took to run
an Oklahoma farm one hundred years ago will be demonstrated at this
award-winning event noted for its friendly, down-home atmosphere and
opportunities to visit with exhibitors. "At Farm-Fest, visitors enjoy a
relaxed day in the country as well as a chance to experience a little bit
of old-time farm life," says Jim Combs, manager of the farm.
Visitors to farm-fest will see rare turkeys and heritage breeds of farm animals and watch "pioneers" mill sorghum cane and cook sorghum syrup (similar to molasses). Neighbors joining together to cook sorghum was once a regular fall event in Oklahoma. Other demonstrations will include making soap, rope and brooms, churning butter, hooking rugs, quilting, spinning cotton and wool, weaving Cherokee baskets, flint knapping (making arrowheads), cross-cut sawing, woodcarving, and blacksmithing. Admission to Farm-Fest is five dollars for adults and three dollars for school-age youth, under six free. Groups of ten or more seniors can get in for $3 each. Senior groups should make reservations by calling 918.647.9125. Proceeds support free educational programs for school children at the farm. To learn more about the historical farm and Farm-Fest, you can go to our calendar page and scroll down to the October events- we have a link there for more information on this nostalgic event. Click here for the Calendar Page of the OklahomaFarmReport.Com. | |
Oklahoma Angus Breeder Jot Hartley will call the American Angus Association Meeting to Order in Louisville this November. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Members of the
American Angus Association and Angus enthusiasts from across the nation
will gather at the 2007 North American International Livestock Exposition
(NAILE), Nov. 10-13 in Louisville, Ky. A full schedule of events is
planned for attendees to the American Angus Association's 124th Annual
Convention of Delegates and the 2007 Super Point Roll of Victory (ROV)
Angus Show.
The Annual Meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m., on Monday, November 12, at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (KFEC), and is open to all American Angus Association members. President Jot Hartley, Vinita, Okla., will preside over the meeting. A total of 407 delegates from 46 states, the District of Columbia and Canada will conduct the business of the Association, including electing officers and five new directors. Oklahoma is well represented in that number, having over ten percent of the delegates that will be eligible to attend the 2007 meeting. During the Annual Meeting, the Association's Annual Report will be presented and distributed to the membership. In addition, reports will be given on the activities of Angus Productions Inc. (API), Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) and the Angus Foundation. Click here for more on that annual Angus gathering coming up November 12 in Louisville, Ky. | |
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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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