Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased 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!

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Dr. Brewer offered a strong defense for a mandatory program, but in terms of sheer numbers- that view was in the minority at the Austin listening session. The larger number of those who offered up to three minutes of comments- often rambling off the cuff for their allotted time- were anti something- against mandatory Animal ID, against any sort of Animal ID program, against world hunger, against factory farms and several other issues that were packaged into this free for all public comment period.

Dr. Brewer says that the efforts in Oklahoma are a good example of the need to take the step to move to a mandatory program. After four years of encouraging livestock producers to sign up for premise identification which could ONLY be used to contact a livestock owner in the case of a disease outbreak, just 14% of eligible livestock owners have chosen to sign up their premises up within the program.
Click here for our story with Dr. Brewer and her comments made at the Listening Session on Wednesday.

Another set of comments that were made in favor of going beyond a voluntary system to a mandatory level were offered by Josh Winegarner of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. Our story on Josh's comments is linked below- click on that link to jump to his arguments on behalf of feedlot operators in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Click here for the Josh Winegarner comments on Animal ID made in Austin

While there were those like Becky Brewer and Josh Winegarner that spoke in favor of Mandatory Animal ID- and others that wanted Animal ID but more of a Voluntary Approach for now- there was a major part of the audience that was made up of tiny sized livestock operations to even a good number of consumers who have no livestock but fear that NAIS is a government plot to steal away freedoms, or in some way raise the cost of the "local" small operator they like to a point where they will be forced out of business.

We have a most interesting audio overview from that Listening Session on some of the naysayers who got to their point of hating something about animal ID or the way livestock is raised in this country. Click on the link below to go to that story and take a listen. By he way- we want to thank Tony St. James and the KFLP Radio folks for sharing their audio stream of the Session with us here at the Radio Oklahoma Network.

Click here for the Negatives Raised on Wednesday in Austin at the Animal ID Listening Session

The organization, in a letter to House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Rep. Frank Lucas, said that while this bill remains silent on and apparently exempts agriculture from its' own carbon footprint, AFR is specifically opposed to H.R. 2454 because agriculture is not granted credit in this bill for the contributions it already makes and any future contributions to carbon capture.

For more on the group's ideas on where this debate needs to go, click on our link below for the rest of the Climate Change story according to the American Farmers & Ranchers.

Click here for more on the opposition to the Henry Waxman Climate Change bill by AFR

Bud Williams is highly sought after for his two-day seminars on low-stress livestock handling, developed through decades of experience on ranches all over the world. Williams will condense his main principles on that topic, as well as his unique marketing approach, into a single three-hour session covering both marketing and stockmanship.
Donnell Brown will describe how to match cattle to the environment in terms of both genetics and economics. Brown is the seedstock manager, and also handles marketing, for R.A. Brown Ranch in Throckmorton, Texas. Greg Judy will spend Saturday morning covering high stock density grazing and his signature "no-risk ranching" approach. Judy's book, No Risk Ranching: Custom Grazing on Leased Land, explains "how to make a living from the land without owning it." That approach took Judy from 40 stockers to over 1,100 head, and enabled him to pay off his Missouri farm and home loan in three years.

Conference registration costs $200 and includes meals. For more information, call Walker at 918.465.1725 (office) or secondly at 918.448.7300 (cell).

Click here for our calendar listing of the Seeds of Success Grazing Conference at Eastern Oklahoma College in Wilburton

In written comments, Johnson wrote, - the United States is rapidly approaching the point at which we will be able to blend ethanol in 10 percent of all transportation fuels. However, the 10 percent limitation jeopardizes our ability to meet the requirements set by the Renewable Fuels Standard. The Renewable Fuels Standard requires the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022. But, in the near term, the RFS2 requires 13.15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2012.

A recent North Dakota State University study found that increasing the ethanol cap to E15 will directly lead to the creation of 136-thousand new jobs, 24.4-billion dollars in economic activity, and displace seven billion gallons of imported gasoline each year. Johnson said such a boost to the American economy is sorely needed.

Intelligent ballot language utilized by supporters of sow stall bans makes it a simple decision for most people who see little reason not to support a proposed ban, according to Tonsor. "Who wants to say they're against proper animal care? The majority of the public sees little reason not to support these bans," he said. "I don't believe the average person thinks about the unintended consequences of banning a practice such as gestation stalls. It is impulse voting, which we all do on some issues we are less informed or aware of, whether we're willing to admit it or not," Tonsor explained. "For instance, nearly all of us are guilty of having voted on a political issue without fully understanding the issues at hand. No matter how uniformed, our voting participation and the perceptions we held at the time are influential. This closely mimics the dynamics of an average resident's behavior in voting on ballot initiatives concerning animal welfare."

The public isn't willing to invest the time and energy that would be required to bring about full understanding of the issue, according to Tonsor. "It takes a much more in-depth discussion to really get at all the intricate details of this truly complex issue, and most of the public isn't willing to commit that kind of time," Tonsor said.
To read the full article from the Feedstuffs website- click on the link below. This practice is one that the hog industry may be hard pressed to defend- given the ability of groups like HSUS to frame the debate in a way that few members of the general public are willing to question. Perhaps the real question is- what is a more defendable way to care for sows while they are pregnant below they farrow a little of pigs?

Click here for more on the survey that says Gestation Stalls are regarded as bad by the general public.

Click here for the KFB Care and Respect Ads from the Kansas Farm Bureau

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- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat 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.