From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 6:52 AM
To: Hays, Ron
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 Thursday June 17, 2010
A service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and Big Iron Online Auctions!
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-- Early Analysis of 2010 HRW Wheat Shows a Surprisingly Functional Crop- Mark Hodges
-- NCBA Has Few Friends in Governance Battle
-- USDA Secretary Vilsack Declares that Conservation Works!
-- Oklahoma Pork Industry Well Represented by New Pork Board Appointees
-- America's Farmers and Ethanol Producers Ready for President's Call
-- This Saturday- Join up with the 76th Annual Osage County Ranch Tour- Plus the Ben Johnson Roping Event Sunday
-- USDA's Vilsack Expects Japanese to Honor Agreement to Start Talks that Could Lead to More Access into Japan for US Beef
-- 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 welcome Big Iron Unreserved Online Auctions as our newest sponsor of the daily Email. Their next auction is this next Wednesday, June 23- featuring Low Hour, Farmer Owned Equipment. Click here for their website to learn more about their Online Farm Equipment Auctions.

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 Tulsa Farm Show. Click here for more on the December 2010 Tulsa Farm Show, including information on how you can be an exhibitor.

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.


Early Analysis of 2010 HRW Wheat Shows a Surprisingly Functional Crop- Mark Hodges
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The first numbers for the 2010 Hard Red Winter wheat being harvested in the southern Great Plains are in- and they show wheat berries that, when turned into flour, will get the job done when baking a loaf of bread. Mark Hodges, Executive Director of Plains Grains, tells us that some of the aspects of how functional this crop is turns out to be a pleasant surprise.

The biggest problem that remains is that the export trade continues to talk about the need for protein higher than 12%- and the first couple of grainsheds that have come in don't suggest much help in that area. Industry officials have pointed out we have millions of bushels of wheat in storage from the last couple of years that is 11% protein- and the crop harvested thus far adds to that stockpile.

Mark Hodges tells us "Early testing indicates the northern Texas crop has very good kernel data and resulting flour yield reminiscent of very good climatic conditions (cool temperatures with sufficient soil moisture in the profile) during grainfill, even more so than in southwest Oklahoma. Unfortunately, these conditions are not conducive to accumulation of protein in the grain and as you know there are usually tradeoffs with good yields and outstanding kernel characteristics."

He adds that ""The bottom line is that- with all things considered, functionality is good. Wheat proteins under 11.5% will probably require some type of "improver" (add gluten) or blending with wheat of higher protein."

Click here for more on this first quality report released by Plains Grains- with a link at our story to a PDF of the details of the quality tests for both regions.


NCBA Has Few Friends in Governance Battle
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A meeting in person and via teleconference was held on Wednesday by USDA officials and representatives of the groups that sent a letter to USDA expressing their worries about policy mingling with checkoff issues within the new NCBA structure. At the meeting or on the phone were USDA officials, NCBA leadership, Cattlemen's Beef Board Leadership, American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union, US Cattlemen's Association, National Milk Producers Federation and the Livestock Marketing Association.

One of those that was on the teleconference with USDA was Nancy Robinson, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Livestock Marketing Association. We talked with her as she and other staff of the LMA prepare for their annual meeting the next three days in Oklahoma City. Robinson has been involved in the concerns that LMA has had with how the checkoff is run for many years- and she mentions that as we talked with her on Wednesday evening.
Robinson tells us that it's "always a good thing" when you are able to meet and discuss difficult issues- and she acknowledged that the NCBA's recent modifications to their plans address "some of the concerns" of the groups that raised the red flag and caught the attention of Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA.

However, she believes the only acceptable conclusion would be for a strong separation out of the checkoff side of the NCBA- which is the Federation of State Beef Councils- having it separate from NCBA altogether. When we asked if that would look a lot like the Federation when it was under the National Livestock and Meat Board- she indicated that yes, that would be the best solution in LMA's opinion.

Click here to listen to our conversation with Nancy Robinson, who has strong opinions about the Federation of State Beef Councils under the wing of the NCBA.


USDA Secretary Vilsack Declares that Conservation Works!
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Conservation practices installed and applied by agricultural producers on cropland are reducing sediment, nutrient and pesticide losses from farm fields, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today as he announced the release of a comprehensive study on the effects of conservation practices on environmental quality in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

"This important new report confirms that farmers and ranchers are stepping up and implementing conservation practices that can and do have a significant impact on the health of America's soil and water," Vilsack said. "The information gathered for this study will make it possible to quantify the effectiveness of conservation practices for the first time and enable USDA to design and implement conservation programs that will not only better meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, but also help ensure that taxpayers' conservation dollars are used as effectively as possible."

A couple of the findings in this study can apply to really anywhere conservation practices are utilized, including the concept of targeting your conservation efforts on the most vulnerable acres gets you a lot more bang for the conservation buck. USDA has also learned that if you stack a series of relevant conservation practices on top of each other- the sum of the whole is more than just the single practices.

Click here to read more about this study and some of the other findings- plus we have a link on our webstory for the entire study.


Oklahoma Pork Industry Well Represented by New Pork Board Appointees
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On June 15, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed five members to the National Pork Board. Two of those appointees have pork production in Oklahoma.

Wathina Luthi, from Fargo, Okla., owns a 4,800 sow farrow-to-wean operation along with her husband and sons and markets over 100,000 hogs each year. The Luthi's also raise cattle and 960 acres of hay and wheat pasture.

"With her years of experience, Wathina has exceptional knowledge of pork production and the challenges facing the pork industry," said Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr., Oklahoma Pork Council executive director. "Her knowledge will be an asset to the National Pork Board as they lead the industry's Checkoff funded programs."

The other appointee that has a significant Oklahoma tie is Julie Maschhoff, of Carlyle, Ill. She is co-owner of The Maschhoffs which has pork production in the Hydro and Hinton, Okla., areas as part of their 130,000 sow pork production system with additional locations in Iowa and Illinois. Maschhoff joined the family owned business in 1989 and serves as the vice president of public relations. She has traveled around the country as a speaker on agricultural issues including animal health and welfare, family business planning, environmental responsibility, and food safety.

Click here to read more about these appointees and the other three pork producers also going on the National Pork Board here in the summer of 2010.


America's Farmers and Ethanol Producers Ready for President's Call
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An open letter sent to President Obama Wednesday outlined steps the ethanol industry believes the Administration and Congress should take in order to transition the U.S. away from oil to sustainable and renewable fuel technologies. The letter states America's ethanol producers stand ready to play their part. The steps outlined are for Congress to extend biofuels tax incentives, the EPA to increase ethanol blends to 15-percent and the nation to expand infrastructure needed for renewable fuels.

The nation produced enough ethanol to reduce the nation's need for imported oil by 364-million barrels last year - and the letter states U.S. renewable fuel producers are equipped to reduce the nation's need for oil even more - ultimately eliminating the need. It's stated that it's imperative the Energy Department refines its current renewable energy loan guarantee programs to make them more accessible to next generation ethanol technologies.

The ethanol industry says it's ready to take the full range of American know-how to tackle the challenges posed by the nation's addiction to fossil fuels - saying renewable fuels - like ethanol - and more efficient technologies to convert plants to fuel exist today and can be deployed to begin the process of securing the nation's energy, economic and environmental future.

Click here to see and read the entire "open letter" to the President.


This Saturday- Join up with the 76th Annual Osage County Ranch Tour- Plus the Ben Johnson Roping Event Sunday
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It's that time of year again! The 76th Annual Osage County Ranch Tour is this Saturday, June 19th. The tour will begin at 9am from Pawhuska, and there is a complimentary breakfast at Triangle Serum Co. in Pawhuska (tour will leave from there). This year we will tour The Pershing, Wynona, and Hominy areas. The tour is FREE to attend and the tour stops are:

McPherson Ranch - Beefmaster X Angus first-calf heifers

Hall Ranch - Crossbred steers

Holcombe Ranch - Crossbred steers

Dick Drummond Ranch (Sandra Drummond) - Crossbred Steers

Leslie F. Drummond & Sons Ranch - Angus X bred heifers & Angus X first-calf heifers

The Ranch Rodeo on Saturday night will be followed by the 57th Annual Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping on Sunday, June 20th. Click on the LINK below for more information about all of these events happening in Osage Country this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Click here for more info on the 2010 Osage County Ranch Tour and MORE


USDA's Vilsack Expects Japanese to Honor Agreement to Start Talks that Could Lead to More Access into Japan for US Beef
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Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack hopes that the move by the Japanese in recent days to replace their Prime Minister- who has now announced a replacement for the Minister of Agriculture- will not slow the process of getting dialogue going to widen access into the Japanese market for US Beef.

We have comments with Secretary Vilsack on our program, the Beef Buzz, that we have linked for you below. The Beef Buzz is a daily radio report heard on great radio stations across the state that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Network. One of those stations is KOCD, 103.7 on your FM dial. You can hear the Beef Buzz every morning during their Radio Oklahoma in the Morning Show with Larry Stein at about 7:40 AM. KOCD can be heard over a large area from the eastern side of the OKC metro all the way to east of Henryetta on I-40, south down into the Ada, Sulphur and even McAlester area and northward to the Turner Tunrpike.

Click on the LINK below to hear this Beef Buzz, featuring the comments of Secretary Vilsack.

Click here for more on efforts by the Obama Administration convince the Japanese to go with sound science and increase access to US Beef.


Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Big Iron Online Auctions 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- FREE!

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 $7.45 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:
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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