Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are excited to have as one of our new sponsors for the daily email Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more information on growing Nu-Sun Sunflowers this year- and check out the full story on PCOM on their website 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!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show held each December, 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.

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.

Corn silking reached 59 percent, an increase of 4 percentage points from last week but 20 points behind normal. Thirty-seven percent of the corn crop had reached the dough stage, up eight points from the previous week but four points behind the five-year average. Thirteen percent of the corn crop was beginning to dent. Sorghum planting was virtually completed by week's end. Sorghum emerged was at 76 percent, a 13 point jump from the previous week, but 19 points behind normal. Twenty-two percent of the State's sorghum had headed, an increase of 11 points from the previous week. A small percentage of the State's sorghum acreage was coloring by Sunday. Soybean planting was nearly completed by week's end. Soybeans emerged were at 92 percent, an increase of seven points from the previous week and two points ahead of the five-year average. Soybeans blooming were at 46 percent by the end of the week, a large increase of 22 points from the previous week and 10 points ahead of normal. Peanuts pegging increased seven points from the previous week to reach 81 percent, while peanuts setting pods were at 54 percent, seven points ahead of normal. Cotton squaring increased 15 points to reach 64 percent, 12 points behind normal, and 17 percent of the State's cotton acreage was setting bolls by week's end.

Pasture and range conditions were rated in the good to fair categories in 81% of the state's rangeland. The poorest ratings- poor to very poor- were found in 10% of the state.

For the full report- we have it linked from the NASS website below. Check it out.

Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Crop Conditions.

In the top corn-producing state of Iowa, only 14 percent of the crop was silking, far behind the five-year average of 53 percent and last year's 66 percent. Silking also lagged behind normal in Illinois, where 55 percent of the crop was silking compared to the five-year average of 85 percent, and in Indiana, where 38 percent of corn was silking compared to 67 percent for the five-year average. Sixty-five percent of the nation's corn crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition, up just 1 percentage point from the previous week.

Forty-five percent of the U.S. soybean crop was blooming Sunday compared to the five-year average of 65 percent and last year's 70 percent. The percentage of soybean acres rated in good-to- excellent condition increased to 61 percent, up 2 percentage points from the previous week's 59 percent.
Both the improvement in the corn and the soybean crops is pretty much in line with what analysts were expecting- so there should not be much price impact.

To view the full national Crop Progress Report from USDA- Click here.

In looking over the results, we noticed a couple of varieties that yielded extremely well in multiple locations. OSU bred variety Duster scored above 70 bushels per acre in seven of the listed trials, while Agripro's Jackpot hit above 70 bushels six times. Jackpot scored a 96 bushel per acre computation in the Lahoma Fungicide trial, while Duster's best performance came in the El Reno no-till DP.

We have the complete report linked on our website- and we have the webpage to go and get that link for you below. This is data that can help you make a decision about possible new varieties to try in your wheat fields this coming fall.

Click here for more on the 2008 Oklahoma Wheat Variety Trial.

Dana tells us "Ag in the Classroom is going "On the Road" sponsored by Oklahoma Beef Council to southwest Oklahoma today with 54 teachers from across the state . This is a 3-day professional development opportunity to immerse educators in Oklahoma agriculture and prepare them to integrate agriculture in their classrooms.

"We're starting out at the Department of Agriculture, heading to the Oklahoma Beef Council and the Stockyards. Then we'll be heading to Alfadale Feedlot, Whitley's with the Sheep and Wool Commission and Mt. Scott. Chisholm Trail Farm Credit is providing lots of water....we've heard the temperature is going to be hottest so far this season. We'll chow down at the Old Plantation in Medicine Park and hitting the hay in Lawton."
Dana promises that she will keep us updated as the tour unfolds this week.

In today's Beef Buzz, we talk about the current cash cattle market- as Randy tells us he expects a rebound later in the year as available supplies of market ready cattle will likely tighten. We also discuss the profitability of the beef packers at this time- and how that was long overdue- but is not expected to last a lot longer.

Our Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and can also be heard on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We have today's Beef Buzz linked below, we invite you to check it out.

Click here for the latest Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network.

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

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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- One Pager From Country Hedging- looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.