~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday November 6,
2008! A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Farm Credit Associations of
Oklahoma and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- How Will President Elect Obama Treat US Agriculture?
-- The Ag Secretary Sweepstakes- Who's in the race?
-- GROW Conference Set for Next Wednesday and Thursday
-- Cleveland County 4-Hers Headed for National 4-H Livestock Judging
Contest
-- As the Bush Era Winds Down- Tom Dorr Plans Exit
-- FCC Opens up Spectrum for Wireless Devices
-- OSU Beef Cattle Specialist Says Time for a "Bull Check"
-- Let's Check the Markets!
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show scheduled for December 11-13 here in 2008, as well as the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows by clicking here. It's also great to have the Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma
with us regularly as an Email Sponsor- Financing Oklahoma is their
business! Check out their website which shows their locations statewide 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. | |
How Will President Elect Obama Treat US Agriculture? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As various
Farm Leaders congratulate President Elect Barack Obama- the talk in
agricultural circles is what will come out of this new administration,
with the first hint of that likely to be who is named to various posts of
importance to rural America. The National Farmers Union President
congratulated President-elect Obama and offered to help him address
looming agricultural challenges. NFU President Tom Buis says he'll ask
Obama to convene a national agriculture summit to highlight the challenges
that farmers and ranchers are facing. "The farm economy went from the
strongest sector of America's economy to changing virtually overnight with
declining commodity prices, high input costs and uncertainty about
interest rates clouding the ag outlook for 2009."
Meanwhile, others who follow agriculture believe that farm policy issues will be on the backburner compared to regulatory decisions and directions that could impact agriculture to a greater degree. Watching the Obama's picks to run departments and agencies other than USDA will perhaps be more important to farmers and ranchers, according to American Farm Bureau director of public policy Mary Kay Thatcher. And long time ag lobbyist Randy Russell says that budget reconciliation is almost a certainty for the new administration and Congress to face in 2009. And then there is who might be the next Secretary of Agriculture. This is one of the favorite games among ag policy junkies and those involved in agricultural issues inside the Washington beltway. I'll list who we are hearing and what we have heard in our next story below. Keep in mind that this is not a top level Cabinet pick like the ones being talked about in the general media- those top three are clearly Treasury, State and Defense. We have an audio overview of where we are in the Obama and ag issues question- with audio comments from NFU's Tom Buis, American farm Bureau's Mary Kay Thatcher and ag lobbyists Randy Russell and Mike Torrey. Click on the link below to jump to our website and take a listen to this report. Click here for more on how farm observers see the Obama ag plans shaping up. | |
The Ag Secretary Sweepstakes- Who's in the race? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are
several names floating within ag circles that are possibles when it comes
to who Barack Obama may choose to be his Secretary of Agriculture. Beyond
the list below- there is the chance that he could pull someone from his
dealings with ag folks in Illinois during his relatively short tenure as a
Senator in Washington- or earlier in the Statehouse in Springfield. He may
also want to reward a Governor that supported him early and has some
knowledge of the ag industry as well as how to administer a huge agency.
People on this part of the list are the wild cards that may well be
played- and are not a part of the list of names that we do know.
Here's some of the names we have heard and a thought or two: Former Texas Lawmaker Charles Stenholm- Steve Kopperud told the
TCFA earlier this week that he prays regularly that the Obama choice will
be the Blue Dog Stenholm. Stenholm would be an incredibly popular choice
among ag groups as the new Ag Secretary- but he has two strikes- he
supported Hilary early on and it remains to be seen if the Obama people
will forgive and forget- and he is now a lobbyist, and last year on the
campaign trail- Obama promised to use no lobbyists in his Cabinet. | |
GROW Conference Set for Next Wednesday and Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 2008 GROW
Conference is set for November 12 and 13 in downtown Oklahoma City at the
Hilton Skirvin. This two-day event takes an in-depth look at the latest
regulatory, agricultural and technical developments impacting the biofuels
industry in Oklahoma.
The conference will discuss biofuels and competing interests, with speakers from GTL Resources of Chicago and Adcock Ranch of Dustin, Okla., who will debate corn ethanol and its impact on rising grocery and feedlot costs, the strain on water resources and other related topics. Industry experts from OU, OSU , the Noble Foundation, Texas A&M, USDA and more will tackle a wide range of subjects over the two days. We have the link below for more information- it's important that you register right away for this conference that is now less than a week away. At this Calendar link- you can go and get the full agenda as well as conference registration and more. | |
Cleveland County 4-Hers Headed for National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Cleveland
County 4-H livestock judging team will be representing Oklahoma at the
national 4-H livestock judging contest November 18, 2008 at the North
American Livestock Exposition in Louisville, KY. The team qualified for
the national contest in April at the Oklahoma state 4-H livestock judging
contest where they were the high team.
Members of the team include: Along with the win at the state contest in April, the team has been extremely successful in 2008 with wins at several contests. The 4-H squad has judged and won at the NEO A&M College, Clarendon College, Oklahoma State Fair, Tulsa State Fair and the Texoma Beef Judging Contest. They were the reserve team at the Eastern Oklahoma State College, The OSU Animal Science Big 3 field Days in Stillwater and the National Junior Swine Association southwest regional contest in Wichita. Falls,TX. | |
As the Bush Era Winds Down- Tom Dorr Plans Exit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When President
George W. Bush recommended Thomas Dorr to become Under Secretary for Rural
Development at U.S.D.A., there was a long concerted effort to get Dorr
confirmed. But, now that there is a new leader coming to town, Dorr is
leaving town.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced Dorr's resignation,
effective December 1, 2008. In making the announcement, Secretary Schafer
confirmed that he expects more senior leaders to move on. Prior to joining USDA, Dorr managed a family farming and agribusiness holding company in Northwest Iowa, served on the Board of Directors of the 7th District Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, was a member of the Iowa Board of Regents overseeing the state university system, and was active in many state, local, and national farm and community development organizations. | |
FCC Opens up Spectrum for Wireless Devices ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Underserved
areas of rural America will likely benefit by action taken by the Federal
Communications Commission. The FCC has approved the use of the "white
space" between TV channels for a variety of unlicensed wireless devices.
This would open the rural market for Internet broadband access.
Commissioner Michael Copps says this move - should be of enormous benefit in solving the broadband deficit in many rural areas. Critics say this use could interfere with the use of wireless microphones in theaters and concerts - even in local churches. | |
OSU Beef Cattle Specialist Says Time for a "Bull Check" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Thursday
with Glen segment is back this week on our Radio Oklahoma Network show,
the Beef Buzz, and today we talk about getting your bull checked out ahead
of the upcoming breeding season. Dr. Selk says that right now is the time
to have your local Vet do a breeding soundness exam as you will want to
start turning bulls out by late this month or early in December for a fall
calf crop.
It's important that you do this check as soon as you can, so you can locate a herd bull backup if the Vet indicates a problem that might hinder your bovine Romeo from being fully functional when he is turned out into the field with your mama cows. Our Beef Buzz is heard on great radio stations all across the state of Oklahoma on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and can also be heard via the internet on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. Click on the link below for our Beef Buzz with Glen Selk today- and look for the Beef Buzz link on the left had side of any of our webpages to see a full list of recent Beef Buzz shows that you may want to check out. Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Ron and Glen talking "Bull" | |
Our thanks to Farm Credit Associations of Oklahoma, Producers Cooperative Oil Mill and Midwest Farm Shows 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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Cash Cattle
Trade has happened this week as of yesterday afternoon- feedlot operators
are looking for higher money compared to the $92 to $93 levels we saw last
week.Meanwhile, prices were stronger at OKC West in El Reno on Wednesday, with 7,332 cattle sold. Yearling steers were $2 to $4 higher, while steer and heifer calves were steady to $2 higher with very good demand. Five hundred to six hundred pound steer calves brought $$100 to $120.50, while seven to nine hundred steers were ranging from $96 to $102. For the full report- it should be up and available after eight AM Thursday morning, click here. Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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