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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday January 18,
2008! A
service of Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma, KIS Futures & Midwest
Farm Shows
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-- Wheat Soars Higher as Beef Cattle Prices Bomb.
-- What's the State of the Oklahoma Wheat Crop???
-- CREP Reaches the One Million Acre Mark.
-- Mandated Caps on Greenhouse Emissions- A BAD Idea according to
AFR's Ray Wulf.
-- At the Prather Ranch- the "cash cow" is all about the bones-
steaks are a byproduct!
-- We spotlight OSU's biofuels Research and Dr. Ray Huhnke "In the
Field" on Saturday!
-- MLK Day on Monday
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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We welcome back 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! 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 Soars Higher as Beef Cattle Prices Bomb. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While we have
a variety of crops and livestock enterprises here in the state of
Oklahoma, the two that we are most identified with are hard red winter
wheat and beef cattle. And, these two enterprises are going different
directions on price as we begin 2008.
We had our conversation with Dr. Kim Anderson yesterday linked here in the daily email- and he spoke of the fear factor of those wanting our wheat on a global basis- and then the continuing wild competition for acres that the market is holding- as prices of one commodity goes up against another in hopes of enticing the farmer who has the flexibility of switching from one crop to another to do so. Well, we go more up yesterday on the wheat futures market- especially the Kansas City Hard Red Winter futures market as the trade sorts out the fewer acres we have planted than what everybody was expecting. Using Weatherford as an example, cash wheat prices have jumped at that location from $8.28 the first Monday of December to $9.07 a bushel as of yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, cattle prices have plunged from the latter days of 2007 through the holidays into the first few weeks of 2008. With corn now in $5 territory well into 2009 on the Chicago Board of Trade, yearling and calf prices have tumbled. Using the Oklahoma National Stockyards as a reference point- five to six hundred pound calves sold for $114 to $129.25 the first week of December- this week they brought $107 to $118.25. Yearling prices are just as weak- in December we had 700 to 800 steer yearlings priced from $107 to $111.25- this week, the range was $93 to $100.25. We have several links that can help you track the markets important to you on a regular basis on our website, WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. That includes a couple of our market reports that we offer daily on the Radio Oklahoma Network, plus links to cash grain in Oklahoma, cattle prices of our auction barns reported by USDA and we have just included a link to the Market News Summaries issued by the Oklahoma Department of Ag- a perfect way to research grain and livestock prices from 2007 and previous years. We have that market page linked for you below. Click here for the MARKETS page of WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
What's the State of the Oklahoma Wheat Crop??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everybody's
worried about the state of the economy- and we will soon be hearing from
Governor Henry about the state of the state and from President Bush the
State of the Union, but what about the state of the Wheat Crop in
Oklahoma???
The man to help us sort that out is Dr. Jeff Edwards- state wheat specialist at Oklahoma State University. Based on current conditions, he sees our best case scenario as an average crop- based on our long term averages. The crop that is up to stand and got established last fall is in decent shape. However, we have many acres that have just come up or have poor stands. Those acres might make fifteen bushels an acre and that's about it. He does say that NOW is the time to move on topdressing the 2008 wheat crop- nitrogen is the single input you can use that will give you the most bang for the buck in terms of more and better quality wheat. You can hear all of our conversation with Dr. Edwards by going to the link below. Click here to listen to Ron and Jeff talk current wheat crop prospects... | |
CREP Reaches the One Million Acre Mark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acting
Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner says USDA has enrolled the one
millionth acre in its nationwide Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
The one millionth acre is owned by Steve and Margaret Lange of Pipestone,
Minnesota. Its part of the 60 acres the enrolled in CREP and Its part of a
120- thousand acre CREP project in parts of northwest, southeast and
southwestern Minnesota.
The first CREP program in Oklahoma was announced last spring by then number two man at USDA- Chuck Conner- as the conservation efforts to improve a couple of the watersheds in Eastern Oklahoma was unveiled at that time. Another conservation announcement is coming. This weekend Mr. Conner will unveil more than 40 habitat restoration projects under the Conservation Reserve Program. According to USDA - the projects are designed to increase and improve a quarter-million acres of wildlife habitat for threatened, endangered and other high-priority species in more than a dozen states. | |
Mandated Caps on Greenhouse Emissions- A BAD Idea according to AFR's Ray Wulf. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Opposed" is
how Ray L. Wulf, American Farmers & Ranchers President & CEO,
describes his organizations' position on S.2191 as it is today,
legislation which mandates caps on greenhouse gas emissions. Wulf has
concerns that the increased cost to industry to meet the objectives of the
bill may result in additional input costs to all agriculture producers and
the general public. Fertilizer costs have approximately doubled over the
last five years as natural gas prices have tripled. If greenhouse gas
emissions are capped driving companies toward using more natural gas we
could expect even higher prices to consumers.
Given the historical record of compliance by other nations on trade agreements on issues relative to environment, it appears this bill could place U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage to other companies internationally. AFR's membership-driven policy adopted annually by convention delegates' states: "We oppose additional government regulations without having a proven scientific basis, and unless their cost effectiveness is proven, as well." Should S.2191 or any subsequent version cap greenhouse gas emissions, American Farmers & Ranchers policy states "we support payments from private industry to agriculture for storing carbon in the soil." | |
At the Prather Ranch- the "cash cow" is all about the bones- steaks are a byproduct! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With thanks to
the folks at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, we have a ranch
operation out in California that has found a way to prosper by adapting to
their area and selling everything but the "moo."
It's the story of Prather Ranch in California, who has a closed herd, have jumped through all the hoops to certify they are free of BSE and just about every other disease and/or health concern out there- and as a result are able to sell cow bones and a lot more to the medical industry. "The most valuable parts of its cows are the inedible parts: pituitary glands, bones, heart muscles and hides. Medical companies covet them for making surgical glue, bone screws, collagen and artificial skin. "In most years, these things are more valuable than the meat," said Jim Rickert, a fifth-generation farmer." Due to economic conditions, the Rickerts closed their herd back in 1975 and have not introduced any animals into their herd since that time- which means they have no animals that could have any ties with BSE, which surfaced in the 1980s in England. They have been able to develop a business of selling the hides, the bones and more to pharmaceutical and medical companies- as they pay big money for the privilege doing business with this unique cattle family. We have the link to the story below- check it out! | |
We spotlight OSU's biofuels Research and Dr. Ray Huhnke "In the Field" on Saturday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We reported to
you earlier this week on the part that OSU has played in the story of GM
investing into a cellulosic ethanol company by the name of Coskata. OSU
licensed technology they have developed in gasifying organic waste and
turning it into ethanol by allowing microorganisms to feast on the gas-
and leave a product that can be degasified to become ethanol.
We report on this cutting edge technology as Dr. Ray Huhnke of OSU joins us tomorrow morning on our In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City. This video story will be a part of the regular Saturday morning news block that News9 offers between 6 AM and 8 AM. Our segment usually airs around 6:40 AM- and is often replayed at 7:40 AM as well. We will put this video report on our website over the weekend- go to our main page and you will find a link to it there. And- first of the week- we will have Dr. Huhnke featured on our radio reports heard around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network. | |
MLK Day on Monday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The country
will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. this coming Monday- and
that commodity markets in Chicago, Kansas City and New York all take the
day off- our cash markets will operate and we will have our normal radio
reports available on great radio stations across the country on the Radio
Oklahoma Network.
We will also have a daily email update for you as well- it may be a little shorted than normal- but we will have several news items to pass along to you. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, KIS Futures and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahomafor 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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