|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday September 25,
2007! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, American Farmers and
Ranchers & Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Wheat Seeding Lags Last Year and the Five Year Average.
-- Acting Secretary Conner Talks Farm Bill and More with Media.
-- Latest Wheat Production Newsletter is Out- Help for Figuring Wheat
Pasture Budgets Included!
-- Cotton Harvest Virtually Here in Oklahoma- so Says J.C.
Banks
-- How will Conservation interests fare when the dust settles on the
2007 Farm Bill?
-- More Details on the Decisions to be Made about Crop Insurance THIS
WEEK!
-- Memorial Services Later this Week for Anita Kouplen
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. | |
Wheat Seeding Lags Last Year and the Five Year Average. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the three
Southern Plains Winter Wheat states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the
pace of putting wheat seed into the ground has been well behind 2006 and
the five year average. The Oklahoma update said "Wheat seedings were
running behind normal at 25 percent, but the pace is expected to increase
significantly over the next few weeks." Specifically, we are much closer
to last year's 31% seeding number but still lagging significantly the 38%
five year average.
The Texas and Kansas numbers show wheat farmers in those states are also behind with Kansas checking in at 17% planted versus 22% last year and the 26% five year average- Texas farmers have been slow to pull the trigger with just 19% planted versus 38% done by last fall and the 42% five year average. On the harvest side of the ledger- we have started on a limited basis the peanut and soybean harvests here in the state of Oklahoma- no numbers are actually given in this latest report while 11% of the grain sorghum has been combined and 73% of the corn crop is now out of the field. Back to soybeans, there is worry about Asian Soybean Rust- it is causing problems in several counties across the state. You can read the full Oklahoma update by clicking below. | |
Acting Secretary Conner Talks Farm Bill and More with Media. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A number of
issues were raised by the Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner as
he met with reporters via teleconference yesterday afternoon. Conner was
able to give his opening statement- then USDA had technical difficulties
and had to have reporters call back later in the afternoon to do some
Q&A with the interim chief of USDA.
Among the topics brought up by Conner- the need to get the Senate moving on the Farm Bill, the need to get Congress to bless the Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Panama, Columbia and Korea; the need for a WTO deal and the need for stronger oversight when it comes to Food Safety. We have linked these comments from Chuck Conner on our Featured Audio page on our web site- and you can take a listen to them by clicking on the link below. Click here for the Priorities Talked about by the Acting Secretary of Ag- Chuck Conner | |
Latest Wheat Production Newsletter is Out- Help for Figuring Wheat Pasture Budgets Included! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Jeff
Edwards, OSU State Wheat Specialist, has released his latest Wheat
Production Newsletter- and it includes an excellent overview of wheat
pasture issues, as well as a look at Fall Armyworms from Dr. Tom Royer-
now's the time to start scouting for these destructive pests.
On the wheat pasture portion of the newsletter, Edwards says there are three types of wheat pasture producers, the Cowboys, the Opportunists and the Optimizers. Edwards says that Cowboys are ranchers first, and wheat producers second. Opportunists are primarily wheat farmers who every once in a while will wake up in mid fall and realize they have a great deal of wheat pasture forage- and decide that they should take advantage. Dr. Edwards says the true dual purpose wheat producer is that third category, the "Optimizer." The "Optimizer" is the producer who will run the numbers, have a sharp pencil and will determine which direction to go based on potential profits. One tool that OSU has developed those who want to runt he numbers is an Excel spreadsheet that is called the Wheat Stocker Planner- click on the name to download this excel file and follow our link below to learn more about wheat pasture strategies as well as the skinny on fall armyworms. Click here for the latest Wheat Production Newsletter from OSU's Jeff Edwards. | |
Cotton Harvest Virtually Here in Oklahoma- so Says J.C. Banks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cotton harvest
is literally just around the corner- and now is the time to utilize cotton
harvest aids to maximize your crop's potential- that according to OSU
State Cotton Specialist Dr. J C Banks.
"Most May-planted cotton in Oklahoma is now ready for application of harvest aids," Banks said. "Some producers have been making applications, and we have initiated several harvest aids research and demonstration plots.The best way to determine if the crop is ready for application is by slicing the top harvestable boll on the plant. When the plant is ready for a boll opener, the seeds that have been sliced should have a dry (not gelled) inside and the seed coat should form a dark-colored ring on the outside of the seed. "The most successful treatments are those involving both a boll opener and a defoliant. The boll opener not only opens bolls, but it makes the defoliant work more effectively.The most common treatments at this time of year are Finish plus Def or Ginstar or Prep (or other generic ethephon products) plus Def or Ginstar. Finish works faster than the other ethephon products, but also is more expensive. Def should be used on cotton that has cut out well, and does not have excessive new growth in the top of the plant. If a lot of new growth is on the plant, Ginstar should be used. "In cotton that is to be stripped, a sequential treatment of a desiccant might be considered one to two weeks later to dry the plant and condition it for stripper harvest. The most effective desiccant is a paraquat- based product such as Gramoxone Inteon, but caution should be taken if spraying this product near wheat. If wheat or other small grains are in the vicinity, one of the PPO inhibitor products should be used. The most commonly used PPO products are Aim, ET or Blizzard." Dr. Banks tells us that he has his harvest aid strategies on the NTOK Cotton website. | |
How will Conservation interests fare when the dust settles on the 2007 Farm Bill? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Playa
Lakes Joint Venture is a non-profit partnership of federal and state
wildlife agencies, conservation groups, private industry and landowners
dedicated to conserving bird habitat in the Southern Great Plains. About
the western half of the state of Oklahoma is included in their area they
service- and beyond our state, they stretch over the Texas Panhandle,
Eastern New Mexico and Eastern Colorado, the western half of Kansas and a
portion of southwest Nebraska.
Their communications team leader, Debbie Slobe, regular produces a radio report about conservation and wildlife issues in this region- and her latest effort is very timely as it relates to the writing of the 2007 farm bill. The new Farm Bill is on the horizon. With the 2002 Farm Bill expiring, Congress is currently deliberating the 2007 version. Debbie talked to Barth Crouch, regional wildlife biologist for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever in Kansas, about what the new Bill holds for landowners and conservationists. We have linked her program featuring Barth Crouch from our Featured Audio page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click below to take a listen. | |
More Details on the Decisions to be Made about Crop Insurance THIS WEEK! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
producers have already received from Uncle Sam right at $130 million in
crop insurance pay outs here in 2007, with other claims still to be paid
between now and the end of the year. Scott Bulling with Oklahoma Farm
Bureau tells us that for every forty two cents that a farmer has paid into
the program- he has received over $2 of benefit- mainly because of the
many claims filed and paid on during the spring production and harvest
cycle of the 2007 wheat harvest.
.While the insurance has been mostly at a 70% coverage level, which means it does not make a farmers whole- it has helped pay for many of the expensive inputs associated with this past year's wheat crop. For the 2008 wheat crop- this week is your last chance to get the work done on making all the decisions associated with today's Crop Insurance. We did an audio interview with Scott Bulling about the value of crop insurance and what decisions have to be finalized by next Monday, October first. Click below to listen to the full conversation- to be found on our website on the Featured Audio page. | |
Memorial Services Later this Week for Anita Kouplen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two services
will be held for Anita Kouplen, wife of President Steve Kouplen, who
passed away unexpectedly last Friday. One service will be held, Saturday,
September 29th, 10am at the Forest Hill Christian Church, 2121 N.
MacArthur, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The other service will be held, Saturday, September 29th, 3pm at the Crossroads Baptist Church, 6962 Happy Camp Road, Beggs, Oklahoma. The church is located one mile north of Beggs on Alt 75 Highway. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Anita Kouplen's name to
the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundation, 2501 N. Stiles, Oklahoma City,
OK 73105 or a charity of your choice. Because of this time of grief in the farm community as we lift up Steve Kouplen in our prayers, we will be postponing the airing of our conversations with the two Presidential candidates for the position that Steve Kouplen has held and will step away from this fall as he hits the term limits established by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. We will withhold those interviews with Bob Drake and Mike Spradling out of respect for Steve and share those with you in a couple of weeks in early October. (we had indicated last Friday that we would be airing them this week.) | |
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
