From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:12 AM
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
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Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday January 20, 2010
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS Futures!
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-- Weed Resistance Getting Worse Because of the Success of the Best Herbicide in Our Lifetime- Roundup
-- R Calf Spotlights Hitch Deal with National Beef- Calls It Bad for Competition
-- Be the Low Cost Producer- Good Advice Anytime- But Especially Good Advice for 2010 from Derrell Peel for Cow Calf Producers
-- More the National Western in Denver as Judging Teams from Oklahoma Excel
-- No Till Meetings Ahead
-- AND- One More No Till Meeting For North Central Oklahoma.
-- Sorghum Buyers Visit U.S. This Month
-- 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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555.

We are also 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.

And we salute our longest running email sponsor- Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show, as well as the recently concluded Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more information on the Southern Plains Farm Show, coming up April 15,16 and 17, 2010.

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.


Weed Resistance Getting Worse Because of the Success of the Best Herbicide in Our Lifetime- Roundup
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In the war between ag chemicals and the weeds- the weeds will win- eventually. That's one of the conclusions from the opening plenary session keynoter, Dr. Stephen Powles of the University of Western Australia, at the first ever Pan America Weed Resistance Conference. Dr. Powles is a huge fan of Glyphosate, but offered a gloomy outlook regarding its eventual fate as a useful herbicide. Powles told the gathering that it is unlikely that most people in the room will ever see as good of a herbicide as Glyphosate again in their lifetime- it truly is a "one year in a hundred years" kind of a product.

In his written presentation handed out to paricipants at the conference being held in Miami Beach, Dr. Powles says that "Herbicide resistance in plants is a stark example of rapid evolution occuring in large weed populations under persistent herbicide selection. In the 1970's the first wave of resistance evolution was widespread triazine herbicide resistance in maize growing regions of USA and Western Europe repeatedly treated with atrazine.."

In our conversation with him, he said that it's actually far worst to use only one herbicide over and over as opposed to planting the same crop on the same ground year after year. He mentioned that one farmer in the US had proudly told him that he rotated Roundup Ready Corn, Roundup Ready Soybeans and then Roundup Ready cotton in his southern farm operation. The farmer was proud of his diversity and Dr. Powles says that's the tragedy- we have not educated that farmer and many others of the resistance problem that is building on his farm because of continuous use of Glyphosate.

You can click on our link below and read more from Stephen Powles- as well as hear our conversation with him. This first ever Pan America Weed Resistance Conference has been planned by Bayer Crop Science- who's leadership believes that ag chemicals with new modes of action are one answer- the problem is finding them.
We'll have more from this conference that we are attending here in south Florida over the next couple of days.

Click here for more from Stephen Powles on the Weed Resistance Battle that is being fought on multiple fronts around the world.


R Calf Spotlights Hitch Deal with National Beef- Calls It Bad for Competition
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In a memorandum to the U.S. Department of Justice (Justice) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), R-CALF USA informed the agencies that the agreement disclosed Jan. 12, 2010, by Thomson Reuters between National Beef Packing Co. (National Beef) and Hitch Enterprises (Hitch) "demonstrates the rapidity with which beef packers and concentrated feedlots are eliminating competition in the U.S. fed cattle market."

What has gotten R-Calf out of sorts is a repor from Reuters that Hitch entered into an agreement in January to sell National Beef 100 percent of the cattle fed in Hitch's feedlots.

"The effect of this agreement is that the hundreds of thousands of cattle fed each year by Hitch will give National Beef the same anticompetitive market leverage that National Beef would have if all these cattle were owned and fed outright by National Beef," said R-CALF USA Marketing Committee Chair Dennis Thornsberry. "Because National Beef knows that all of Hitch's cattle are solely committed to it, National Beef will be able to further restrict the timely access to the marketplace by the remaining independent cattle feeders whose marketing options already are severely limited.

Click on the link below for more on this story- and a link to the complete letter that R-Calf has fired off to the DOJ and USDA.

Click here for more on R-Calf crying foul over marketing agreement made by Hitch Enterprises of Guymon.


Be the Low Cost Producer- Good Advice Anytime- But Especially Good Advice for 2010 from Derrell Peel for Cow Calf Producers
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Better cattle prices are likely in 2010 for cattle prices- as compared to what the market offered in 2009- so says OSU Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel. As we wrap up our conversation with Dr. Peel, we ask him about what strategy cow calf and stocker producers need to be following.

For Cow- Calf producers, Peel says that while we will probably get more money for our calves- an improvement in the economy may heat up the cost of things that ranchers need to get operating- so he says that it will be very important to watch costs to make sure they don't eat away higher returns as the year unfolds.

For Stocker operators, Peel believes the key is to stay "flexible" in your business plan. And, of course, you have to buy any stockers purchased at the right price. Paying too much for calves you place on pasture will end up being a very costly mistake if the market zigs when you expected it to "zag."

Click on our link below- and you will jump to our midweek Beef Buzz with Dr. Derrell Peel of OSU- talking strategy for our cow calf as well our stocker producers.

Click here for the Wednesday Beef Buzz with OSU's Dr. Derrell Peel.


More the National Western in Denver as Judging Teams from Oklahoma Excel
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Two more reports have come in to us via email on Oklahoma teams bringing home some hardware from the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

The Oklahoma State University Livestock Judging Team finished as the Reserve Champion Team in the Collegiate Livestock Judging Contest and was Champion Team in the Carload Judging Contest last weekend at the National Western in Denver, Colorado.
OSU had three students in the Top Ten Individuals Overall in the Livestock contest with Kaylee Kerbs finishing 5th, Garret Knebel finishing 6th and Chase Reed finishing 7th Overall. OSU had two students finish in the Top Ten of the Carload contest with Clint Mefford finishing 3rd and Garret Knebel finishing 5th Overall. The next competition for the team is February 13th at the Dixie National in Jackson Mississippi.

The Harper County 4-H Meat Judging Team represented Oklahoma at the National Western Round-up Meat Judging Contest. The contest was held at the CSU Campus in Ft. Collins.
Oklahoma was 3rd in the contest. The team placed 3rd in the Meat ID, 4th in Placing and 4th in Reasons.
Brandi Blasdel: 9th in the contest. 7th Reasons, 8th placing, 10th ID.
Bonnie Murphy: 10th in the contest. 8th ID.
Garrett Quinby: 2nd in Placing
Robert Harden: 11th in ID.
The team is coached by Kandi Blasdel. Harper County OSU Extension Agent, Darrell McBee is sponsor.


No Till Meetings Ahead
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Next week is the largest no till conference held in North America- No Till on the Plains- set for Salina, Kansas. Click here for our calendar listing for this conference as found on our website.

Also on the No Till radar is the Oklahoma No Till- a conference planned for February 8-9 in Norman. No- till Oklahoma is a conference designed to bring the latest developments in No-till cropping systems to interested farmers and ranchers from Oklahoma and surrounding states.

We have details regarding No Till Oklahoma on our website in the calendar section- deadline for early registration is today- January 20- so get registered today and you can save a few bucks. Click on the link below to jump to our listing at www.OklahomaFarmReport.Com.

Click here for more information on No Till Oklahoma.


AND- One More No Till Meeting For North Central Oklahoma.
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The Garfield County Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with the Garfield County Soil Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service will again be conducting the 5th annual Conservation Tillage 101 Workshop at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday January 28, 2010. The Workshop will be held at the Chisholm Trail Pavilion located on the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid.

This program will focus on a variety of timely agronomic topics involving Conservation Tillage Practices. Agriculture producers, Certified Crop Advisors (CCA's) and Commercial Applicators should all find benefits from attending this year's Workshop. CCA's may obtain up to 6 CEU's free of charge just for attending the Conservation Tillage Workshop. Commercial Applicators will obtain 1 CEU credit through the ODAFF by attending this workshop as well.

Topics that will be addressed include OSU State Weed Science Specialist, Dr. Joe Armstrong's presentation on Weed Management. Dr. Armstrong will share some tactics producers should keep in mind to prevent Weed Resistance to Selective Herbicides. On a similar topic, Dr. Randy Taylor, OSU Extension Ag Engineering Specialist will share ideas and technologies available to better manage spraying applications with drift management tools.
To check out the entire lineup- click on the link below for details from our calendar on this no till event.

Click here for more on the No till workshop planned for next week in Enid.


Sorghum Buyers Visit U.S. This Month
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Jay O'Neil, Senior Agricultural Economist with the International Grains Program at Kansas State University says - there is a misconception among many foreign buyers that sorghum is a low quality feed in livestock diets. O'Neil says - this is a false assumption. That assumption will be addressed when sorghum buying teams from Morocco, Saud Arabia and Egypt visit the United States during the week of January 25th.

The Teams will attend high level nutrition training sessions at the International Grains Program at Kansas State University, before traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, for the International Poultry Expo. Experts will give presentations on the quality of U.S. sorghum and the value of sorghum in feed rations for poultry and dairy production. A second Moroccan team will attend a course in New Orleans, Louisiana, to learn U.S. Federal Grain Inspection Standards before traveling to the International Poultry and Feeds Expo in Atlanta.

The United Sorghum Checkoff Program and the U.S. Grains Council are sponsoring these visits. The two organizations have coordinated several buyer missions from the Middle East and North Africa, many of which resulted in the purchase of U.S. sorghum by foreign buyers. USCP Marketing Director, Florentino Lopez, says - this gives us a great opportunity to share the advantages of using sorghum and allows us to maintain existing markets and open new ones


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.

Click here to check out WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


Let's Check the Markets!
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We've had requests to include Canola prices for your convenience here- and we will be doing so on a regular basis. Current cash price for Canola is $7.20 per bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $7.40 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:
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.



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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