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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday June 24, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, P & K Equipment/ P & K
Wind Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Climate Change Vote May Go Forward Before Fourth of July
Break
-- NRECA Also Cuts Deal with Waxman to Pave the Way for Climate
Change Measure
-- McDonalds Rapidly is Grabbing Top Spot as Fluid Milk User Away
From Home
-- Oklahoma Hay Directory Still Current for Buyers and Sellers
-- What's the better choice for the environment- grass fed or grain
fed fat cattle?
-- The Oklahoma Beef Quality Network- More Than Auctions- It's an
Educational Effort About Value Added Programs
-- 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 are proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click here to go to their AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America! We are also proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy as our newest regular sponsor of our daily email update. P
& K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with nine locations
to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind
Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click
here for more from the P&K website. And we are excited to have as
one of our 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 the oilseed crops
they handle, including sunflowers and canola- and remember they post
closing market prices for canola and sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there 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. | |
Climate Change Vote May Go Forward Before Fourth of July Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Democrats in
the U.S. House of Representatives working on climate change bill said on
Tuesday that they had reached a deal on difficult agriculture issues that
will clear the way for a vote, and probable passage, in the chamber this
week.
"We have an agreement finally," said House Agriculture Committee
chairman Collin Peterson whose support has been widely sought by House
Democratic leaders. Representative Henry Waxman, a main proponent for
legislation to reduce industrial emissions of carbon dioxide told
reporters the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the Environmental
Protection Agency, will be put in charge of overseeing some carbon
reductions efforts by farmers, a major demand of farm- state Democrats in
the House. Earlier this week- and as late as midday Tuesday- it seemed that no deal had been made as of yet. Then, the announcement has come and it looks like House Speaker Pelosi will get her vote before lawmakers go home to hear from constiuents over the holiday break before they come back to Washington in July. We have a full rundown of the breakthrough linked below- click on the link we have provided. | |
NRECA Also Cuts Deal with Waxman to Pave the Way for Climate Change Measure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glenn English,
CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), on
Tuesday praised Committee Chairmen Henry Waxman, Chairman Markey and
Chairman Peterson for their willingness to address the concerns of rural
electric cooperatives in proposed climate change legislation.
In a letter to Chairman Waxman, English said "Electric cooperatives want to thank you and the House leadership for addressing the 'fairness' issue. Providing language that no utility should receive allowances in excess of 100% of their needs deals with an inequity that would have cost consumers." Click on our link below for more on the Climate Change deal of the NRECA with Congressman Waxman- which eliminates another hurdle that rural interests had raised regarding passage of this proposal. Click here for more on the NRECA deal with Congressman Waxman on his Climate Change bill | |
McDonalds Rapidly is Grabbing Top Spot as Fluid Milk User Away From Home ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Dairy
checkoff is taking their partnership with McDonald's in a new direction
this summer as this large chain of fast food restaurants now offers McCafe
coffees, the new specialty coffee beverages that are 80% milk. The
specialty coffee business relies heavily on the dairy industry so dairy
producers, through their investment in the dairy checkoff, and McDonald's
will work together to increase milk sales in the United States.
McDonald's has nearly completed the remodeling process of some of their nearly 14,000 locations across the United States. Each location has invested approximately $100,000-plus per store to install the new coffeehouse bars along with specialty equipment that will grind freshly roasted espresso beans, brew the coffee under pressure and mix it with the delicious, steamed milk. Susan Allen with Dairymax says that each McCafe will provide a consumer
with a serving or more of dairy and will likely make McDonalds one of the
biggest customers of the US dairy farmer in the country, almost overnight.
She pointed to one McDonalds outlet close to where she lives in Edmond
that is already using six to twelve gallons of milk daily, with that
number almost certain to grow as the promotion continues. | |
Oklahoma Hay Directory Still Current for Buyers and Sellers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hay buyers and
sellers are reminded that the online hay directory maintained by the
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry is available. The
agency is receiving numerous calls from both buyers and sellers who do not
know about the directory.
"Since we began deleting entries after 60 days unless the sellers tell us they still have hay for sale we haven't had complaints about our directory being out of date," said Glen Schickedanz, Market News Coordinator with ODAFF. "This is an excellent tool for locating supplies or letting people know you have hay for sale." His office is receiving about an equal number of calls from both buyers and sellers, he said. The Oklahoma hay directory is online by clicking on the link below and the hay hotline is active and open at 1-800-580-6543. Schickedanz can be contacted through the hay hotline number. Click here for the ODA website- once there look for the Hay Directory Link on the right side column | |
What's the better choice for the environment- grass fed or grain fed fat cattle? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group known
as GET IT says the answer is what you might call a conventional feedlot
critter. The Economic And Environmental Benefits Of Conventional Beef
Production are the focus of a marketing program launched by the Growth
Enhancement Technology Information Team (GET IT).
One of the key campaign messages is conventional beef production is environmentally friendly compared to grass-only beef-production systems. An Iowa State University study comparing conventional, grain-fed beef production with grass-only production showed conventional beef production decreases the amount of land required to produce a pound of beef by two- thirds. More than five acre-days are needed to produce a pound of beef from grass-fed cattle compared to just 1.7 acre-days for conventionally raised, grain-fed beef using growth-enhancing technologies. In addition, conventional beef production results in a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef compared to grass-fed beef production. "There always will be a niche market for organic and natural beef.
Grass-fed beef is environmentally friendly but not as much as conventional
beef production, and it's certainly not as sustainable because of higher
production costs and use of land resources," GET IT Chairman Paul Parker
said. "GET IT supports consumer choice at the meat counter but wants
people to know beef from grain-fed cattle receiving growth-enhancing
technologies is the best environmental choice." A recent analysis by Iowa
State University agricultural economists shows if conventional beef
production practices were replaced by "natural-only" practices, retail
beef prices would increase by about 11%, causing consumer demand to
decrease by 8.6%. | |
The Oklahoma Beef Quality Network- More Than Auctions- It's an Educational Effort About Value Added Programs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We continue
our Beef Buzz conversation today with Doug McKinney, the Value Added Beef
Cattle Specialist at Oklahoma State University. McKinney is actively
beating the drum to any beef cattle producer that will listen in Oklahoma
about the advantages of participating in a value added program or regimen
with your calves.
McKinney says they have transformed the Oklahoma Beef Quality Network from a series of auctions to more of an educational effort, designed to introduce cattle producers to various age and source verified type programs. OBQN will continue to work with several cattle auctions around the state on VAC-45 sales this year, with events already planned for the Red River Livestock Market south of Ardmore as well as OKC West in El Reno. We also talk with McKinney about the challenge of getting smaller cow
calf producers engaged in a value enhancement program. He suggests that
you work with neighbors who have similar cattle in forming load lots which
help you get the most money in many of the value added programs. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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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