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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Monday November 2, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Small Vermont Packing Plant Latest to Be Spotlighted by HSUS
-- Oklahoma Farm Bureau Convention Set for End of This Week
-- Issue 2 to be Voted on Tomorrow in Ohio
-- It's Time to Increase Wheat Seeding Rates
-- Will Cotton Harvest Resume This Week?
-- Today and Tomorrow Will Conclude the 2009 School Land Commission
Lease Auctions
-- E Coli Rears Its Ugly Head- Calendar Reminders and Congrats to
Clay and Sarah
-- 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 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! It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
Small Vermont Packing Plant Latest to Be Spotlighted by HSUS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Operations at
Bushway Packing, Inc. of Grande Isle, Vt., were suspended by the USDA
Friday morning, pending a continuing investigation. In response to the
events at Bushway Packing Inc. in Grand Isle, Vt., Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack said: "The deplorable scenes recorded in the video released by
the Humane Society of the United States are unequivocally unacceptable.
The callous behavior and attitudes displayed in the video clearly appear
to be violations of USDA's humane handling regulations." Vilsack adds that
a USDA investigation is now underway.
In a report from a Vermont TV station, one of the owners of the packing plant questioned the HSUS's methods. "It's not unusual for any slaughterhouse to prod animals. They have to be standing on all four legs or else they're condemned. I think they took video clips and doctored them up," he said. The report adds that "The Vermont Agriculture Agency also has questions about the humane society investigation, specifically why the humane society waited another month to notify the state." We have more from Secretary Vilsack, as well as the News Release from the HSUS, the audio from a News teleconference they held midday Friday and a statement from the American Veal Association. Click on our link below to jump to our story that includes these elements about this latest HSUS undercover effort of infiltrating a private business and video taping what they say is going on. Click here for more on the Bushway Packing Plant Closure by USDA | |
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Convention Set for End of This Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma Farm
Bureau's 68th Annual Meeting will be held November 6-8 at the Cox
Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City. The theme for this year's
convention is "Our Brand - Our Future." "When you see the FB brand, the
words integrity, tradition, hard work and the spirit of agriculture come
to mind," said Monica Wilke, OFB & affiliated companies executive
director. "As we look toward the future, we will build upon that strength
of character for a future OFB leaders will continue to be proud of."
The true grassroots nature of the farm organization will be evident during the business session as voting delegates will decide policy issues with input from all 77 county Farm Bureaus. The policies will then guide the organization during the coming year. OFB President Mike Spradling tells us that about 100 new resolutions will be considered by delegates on the Convention floor this coming weekend. These policies, some of state significance and others with a more national nature will be the policy direction of the organization in the coming year. Spradling will be running for reelection to what would be his second term as President of the general farm organization. There appears to be no opposition for the rancher and Pecan farmer from Tulsa County, although he tells me that until you hear the nominations close at the convention during the business session- you never know. We talked with Mike this past Friday and have the audio of our conversation with him linked below. Besides the convention, we talked about one of the big pushes that Oklahoma Farm Bureau is doing in convert with American Farm Bureau- and that is the "Don't Cap Our Future" campaign. Jump over to our website and take a listen to learn more about this opposition to the Climate Change legislation that is on the move in the US Senate at this time. Click here for our story on the upcoming Oklahoma Farm Bureau Convention that starts Friday. | |
Issue 2 to be Voted on Tomorrow in Ohio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 2 is a
constitutional amendment in Ohio that would create the Ohio Livestock Care
Standards Board (the Board), which will establish guidelines for food
animal care under the expertise of Ohio-based experts. The Board, which
was placed on the ballot through a bipartisan resolution passed in July
2009 by the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate, will enable
Ohio livestock and poultry farmers to continue to provide excellent care
to their animals, while also protecting our food supply and keeping
affordable, locally-raised food available for consumers.
Our friend and farm broadcaster colleague Andy Vance has a regular Blog about agriculture in his state- and he has a special guest column on it this weekend from the Republican Minority leader in the US House- John Boehner of Ohio. Boehner is a former member of the House Ag Committee before rising to the Republican Leader position in the House. He writes about Issue 2 "I'm proud to join Ohio leaders in endorsing State Issue 2 to amend Ohio's Constitution and create a state Livestock Care Standards Board made up of Ohio farmers, veterinarians, and food safety experts. This board will protect the availability of affordable and nutritious locally produced food, and guarantee that Ohioans can rest assured that the livestock and poultry in our state is cared for in a manner that is safe and humane. No out of state group has the right to target our way of life by hijacking Ohio's debate on animal care. State Issue 2 is good for farmers, consumers and livestock. It deserves your vote on Tuesday." HSUS has poured money into Ohio to call for a NO vote, but supporters of this proposal are cautiously optimistic that voters will support this approach to animal care- letting local professionals within the animal and welfare communities set the standards. Many states are looking at this model- and if Ohio sees Issue 2 pass- other states may push for similar Boards in the days to come. To read the full guest column from Republican Minority Leader John Boehner on Issue 2- Click here. | |
It's Time to Increase Wheat Seeding Rates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU Extension
State Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards says that it's time to change the
settings on your grain drills as you get to the last acres of wheat that
you still need to plant. Wheat sown the first couple of weeks of November
will need to be sown at 90 pounds per acre or more. Larger-seeded
varieties such as Overley, or varieties that do not tiller well should be
sown at 120 pounds per acre. Once we reach mid-November, all varieties
should be sown at 120 pounds per acre.
Delayed emergence can be caused by cool, wet soil conditions. Wheat planted in these conditions should be sown no deeper than 1 inch, while resisting the temptation to sow shallower than one-half inch. Late emerging wheat can be more susceptible to winter kill than wheat sown in mid-October. Sowing wheat too shallow will exacerbate any problems with winter kill. Even in cool, wet conditions, wheat sown at threequarters to 1 inch should have adequate time to emerge. Mild open weather seems to be in the cards for this week- so wheat seeding can get back on track in many locations within the next few days. Click on our link below for more on this story- and also a link to the latest OSU PaSS Newsletter, which has even more details on this as well as nutritional needs for our fall wheat now emerging. | |
Will Cotton Harvest Resume This Week? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inclimate
weather, in this case, wet, cold weather, has put the 2009 cotton harvest
on the back burner for several weeks now. Predictions now call for an
extended period of drying weather, allowing farmers to put their cotton
harvesters back to work. Dr. JC Banks, Oklahoma State University Extension
state cotton specialist, has these pertinent words of advice on how to
make the most of a bad situation:
"It seems like our cotton harvest this year has been one step forward and two steps back. Just when the soil dries out enough to support a harvester, we get to harvest one or two days, then more rainfall comes along to keep us out of the field for another week. The continued rainfall and high humidity this fall have not allowed bolls to finish opening and dry down, so we have a lot of hard-lock bolls that when they finally do dry down, they will not fluff out and will be susceptible to falling on the ground before harvesting." Dr. Banks tells us that "Cotton that has been harvested so far has had higher yield and quality than expected. Hopefully, we can be a little patient, get a little cooperation from the weather and somehow pull out of the situation we are in." His thoughts on how to move forward with harvest now that we are in November can be found in a story provided by the folks from NTOK- and we have that linked below. Click here for more on the 2009 Oklahoma Cotton Harvest- Hopefully Resuming This Week | |
Today and Tomorrow Will Conclude the 2009 School Land Commission Lease Auctions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later this
morning, the School Land Lease Auction process continues at 10:00 am- the
auction to be held in the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid. Leases in
Garfield, Grant, Blaine, Kay and Alfalfa Counties will be offered.
The final Lease Auction planned for 2009 occurs tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at the Gordon Cooper Tech Center in Shawnee. Leases in Pottawatomie, Cleveland, Lincoln, Oklahoma and McClain Counties will be offered. Click on the link below and you will be taken to the Master List of
tracts being auctioned off by County. | |
E Coli Rears Its Ugly Head- Calendar Reminders and Congrats to Clay and Sarah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday
brought word of a half million pound ground beef recall from a processor
in New York state. Unfortunately for the beef industry, it's real life
affirmation of the negative press that ground beef has gotten in several
major media outlets, including the major piece on E Coli in ground beef
done by the New York Times in early October- Click
here to jump back to that story. The latest recall involves just over
a half million pounds of ground beef and involves eight different
retailers- this outbreak is also linked to at least one death in the state
of New Hampshire. Click
here for the update we received from USDA over the weekend.
The Deadline for RSVPing to the first two of a total of four Northwest Oklahoma Cattle production meetings is TODAY- with those meetings in Fairview and Woodward happening tomorrow, November 3. Click on the respective town for details of each of those meetings in those communities- and then there are two more meetings that will be similar that are planned for next week in Guthrie and Enid- those meetings are planned for a week from today- November 9. Thursday, November 12, 2009, will find up to a dozen of Oklahoma's top chefs bringing their best, original pork creations to the 2009 Taste of Elegance competition and public tasting at the Express Event Center in Oklahoma City. Tickets are still available for the evening event that benefits the organization Hearts for hearing. Click here to jump to our Taste of Elegance calendar page for more information on this fun and tasty evening coming next week. Finally- Our thanks to Mike Thralls of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission for this update from Friday and the Conservation maternity ward- he writes "I spoke with OACD Executive Director Clay Pope on Friday morning. I am pleased to report that Clay's wife Sarah gave birth to a baby girl, Madeleine Marie, Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Madeleine Marie Pope weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and is 21 inches long." Congrats to Clay and Sarah- and welcome to this world Madeleine! | |
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Woodward
Livestock Auction sold 6,070 cattle on this past Friday- with yearling
steers called steady to a dollar higher, while steer calves- weaned were
steady and others were steady to $4 lower. Five to six hundred pound steer
calves brought from $94 to $110.50, with some fancy calves as much as
$116. Seven to eight hundred pound steer yearlings sold from $94 to $97.
Click
here for the complete Woodward Livestock Auction Report- it should be
up and available on the USDA market news website at this link by around 8
AM Central time on Monday. Current cash price for Canola is $7.35 per bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $7.45 per bushel- delivered to local participating elevators that are working with PCOM. 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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