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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The latest report we have seen is that Harkin has chosen to go a similar route as his House counterpart, Collin Peterson went in not having his Committee actually mark up the relevent ag portions of the legislation. Instead, Harkin will apparently negotiate what he thinks is needed for agriculture directly with the Chairlady of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Barbara Boxer of California. This move was found lacking by many lawmakers and farm groups alike.

Boxer indicated in the "Ag" hearing her committee held last week that she will use the House passed Waxman-Markey bill as the starting point for her proposal. Senator Jim Inhofe continues to believe that the Democratic leaders who want this bill to become law are far short of the number of votes needed to get it through the Senate.

I have linked the Senate Ag Committee website below- specifically, I have linked the details of the Climate Change hearing that is scheduled for tomorrow.

Click here for more on the Climate Change hearing planned by the Senate Ag Committee on Wednesday.

The report tells us that row crop conditions continue to roll downhill. "Excessive heat and continued dry weather have further stressed summer crops. Mid- week showers were a benefit in some areas, although most of the State is still in need of additional rainfall to revive summer crops. Nearly two-thirds of the State's corn crop was silking by week's end, up six points from last week but 11 points behind the five- year average. Thirty-four percent of the corn acres reached the dough stage of development, seven points behind normal. Corn silage harvest is underway in some areas of the State. Sorghum emerged reached 77 percent, while sorghum headed reached 12 percent, eight points behind the five-year average. Virtually all of the State's soybeans had emerged by Sunday, 11 points ahead of normal. By week's end, 38 percent of the soybeans had reached the blooming stage of development, one percentage point ahead of the five-year average. Peanuts pegging reached 63 percent, 22 points behind normal. A small portion of the State's peanut crop began setting pods by Sunday. Cotton squaring reached 66 percent, four points behind the five-year average, while a small portion of the State's cotton acres began setting bolls."

Hot weather also has hit Oklahoma pastures. "Extreme heat and dry weather continues to have an adverse effect on the State's pastures and range. Conditions again declined, but remained mostly in the good to fair range. Most areas are still in dire need of moisture."

Click here for the complete Oklahoma Crop Weather Update as of Monday afternoon July 20

The fundamental question of the entire study is - is the beef checkoff a demand driver. Dr. Ward says they measured both attracting consumers to the market and increasing consumption. "What we find is that it has a positive impact on both," he said.

The study determined that the 78.8 percent of U.S. households which purchased beef in any given two- week shopping period would have been about three percentage points lower between 2003 and 2008 without beef checkoff-funded programs.
We talked at length with Dr. Ward about the study- and we have that interview on our website- plus the link to the full report that is on the Beef Board website. Click on the link below to jump to those pages.

Click here for more on the value of the beef checkoff back to producers as detailed at the Summer Cattle Industry Conference

Dana writes "Ag in the Classroom is heading out Tuesday morning for far southeast Oklahoma. Sponsored by the Oklahoma Beef Council, the trip will take 45 teachers to the a working cattle ranch, Lane Research Center in Atoka to look at watermelon and organic research,Tyson hatchery, Kiamichi Forest Research Station, Museum of the Red River, Beaver's Bend Forest Heritage Center, and a driving tour of several area wheat and soybean farms. Along the way teachers will be introduced to Ag in the Classroom lessons and resources and ways to integrate agriculture into regular math, science, social studies, and language arts classes as well as physical education and visual arts."

Dana says that she and the other ladies that lead the Ag in the Classroom effort in our state will keep us up to date on what these teachers will be seeing and doing the next few days. And she reminds us of the state Ag in the Classroom Conference that happens July 31. We already have details of that on our website on our calendar page- click on the link below to learn more about that statewide gathering.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming Ag in the Classroom Conference on July 31

This follows a string of recent research into the benefits of pork for diabetics - including a study where researchers found that lean trimmed pork is just as lean as skinless chicken breast. The report concluded that pork is lean and loaded with essential vitamins such as B12, B6, thiamine, niacin, minerals such as zinc and selenium and nutrients that include iron and magnesium.

As you could tell from the groups that help sponsor this study- this data comes from "down under" and we have a link below that offers more details about this study.

Click here for more on how lean pork can be a positive part managing Type 2 Diabetes.

Nitrates - are a huge issue. Acres were fertilized for high yielding corn and the weather stress has created the likelihood that the plant is high in nitrates. How high the levels and what feeding rate is planned are key points as to whether the crop is usable at all.

Moisture content - the state of how much the plant is wilted and leaves are burned is a key factor to what options you have for harvesting. For silage, the percent moisture should be between 65 and 60 percent. The small immature plants could have too much moisture content since much of the water is stored in the stem. On the other end of the spectrum, severely burned corn could lack needed moisture for ensiling. If haying, the large stem size may not allow adequate crimping to dry the product for hay storage.

Silage - some have the capability to ensile. Smaller chop length is recommended for better packing of low moisture product. Nitrates are reduced by ensiling (25 to 45 percent) but the level could still be limiting depending upon feeding amount. Also if there is not enough carbohydrate to get good product fermentation, pH drop, then - in addition to spoilage, the nitrate level would not be reduced. If putting up for silage - an inoculant product would be highly recommended to ensure proper fermentation under less than ideal conditions.

Pricing - cattle producers are being offered corn forage for sale. The amount of corn in the field in question will help determine the value of the forage harvested. With small amounts of corn grain, the product will have a feeding value closer to forage sorghum than corn silage.

Grazing - would require large numbers of cattle for efficient utilization. High ADG would be expected. Nitrate concentration is the key issue.

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.