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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday October 7,
2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- It's a Cotton Pickin Good Crop Here in 2010
-- Burns Hargis Worries About the Impact on Oklahoma's Land Grant
University if SQ744 Passes
-- DuPont Advisory Committee to Tackle Challenge of Feeding Global
Population of 9 Billion
-- Winter Wheat Grazing Update: Problems and Potential
-- I Believe in Oklahoma Agriculture- AFR Plans Annual Fall Speech
Contests
-- HSUS Holds the High Ground Versus Livestock Producers in Minds of
Consumers
-- We Get Our First 1000 Peeps
-- 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. 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. | |
It's a Cotton Pickin Good Crop Here in 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Early Cotton
Harvest reports from Oklahoma cotton gins show the potential is still
there for a good crop and a 95 cent per pound of lint price is making
cotton farmers happy across the Rollling Plains of Oklahoma. At the Tilllman Producers Cooperative gin south of Frederick, gin manager David Lingle has ginned 300 bales of cotton to date and is waiting for more to come. "If the producer waits until his cotton is ready to harvest, the yield really looks good," Lingle says. "If they have gotten in a hurry to harvest and bring it to us a little green, the situation isn't quite so good. With a 95 cent price waiting for them, farmers are going to be stripping a lot of cotton and getting it in quickly. "These cold nights are not helping us right now. If temperatures will get back into the high 80s with plenty of sunshine, we will see some really good cotton in two to three weeks. We still have plenty of time to get the harvest started." In Jackson County, Mike Berry, manager of the Cotton Growers
Cooperative gin at Altus, explained his gin has processed 2,100 bales of
irrigated cotton to date. "There is a lot of our irrigated cotton that is
still green," he said. "We are ginning with two eight hour shifts right
now. It will pick up soon. This will be a good crop. We will see plenty of
two plus bale cotton this season." North of those counties that border the Red River- cotton harvest is just getting underway and the Gins are ready for action. Ryan Sawatzky, manager of the Burns Flat Cooperative Assn. Gin in Washita County, reports cotton should be coming there in the next few days. He expects a dryland crop yielding one and a half to one and three-quarters a bale per acre. "We ginned 6,300 bales last year and 2010 should be better," he said. Click on the LINK below to read more about cotton crop prospects for 2010- our thanks to Vic Schoonover of NTOK for keeping us up to date about cotton crop prospects as harvest arrives. | |
Burns Hargis Worries About the Impact on Oklahoma's Land Grant University if SQ744 Passes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU President
Burns Hargis agrees with his counterpart in Norman at the University of
Oklahoma- David Boren. They both believe that State Question 744 is a bad
choice for Oklahoma- saying there are better ways to fund common education
in Oklahoma.State Question 744 is about making education a mandatory and forced budget priority in Oklahoma. It would amend the state constitution, so that lawmakers would be forced to raise Oklahoma's per-pupil spending average to at least the same level as the regional average. A few days back, Burns Hargis and David Boren issued a joint statement that spoke of their concerns with State Question 744: "Passage could lead to damaging cuts in courses and programs. We strongly support improved funding for K through 12 education, however, State Question 744 provides no revenue sources to pay for its mandates. Without new revenue sources, it would cause destructive cuts in other vital state services, like higher education, vocational-technical education, highways, law enforcement and medical services. We do not recommend how anyone should vote, but we feel a responsibility to inform Oklahomans about the potential impact of this proposal." Click on the LINK below to hear our conversation with Burns Hargis about State Question 744- and his thoughts on likely tuition hikes for Higher Education that would follow. And he acknowledges that the Extension and Experiment Station that is a part of the Division of Agriculture that Dean Bob Whitson oversees would be hit especially hard, since there are no tuitions to hike for that part of the University. | |
DuPont Advisory Committee to Tackle Challenge of Feeding Global Population of 9 Billion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DuPont
announced on Wednesday the full membership of its advisory committee on
Agricultural Innovation & Productivity for the 21st Century. The
committee, which is chaired by former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Daschle, will
examine the best public policy mechanisms and business practices to
increase global agricultural production and unleash agricultural
innovation. Daschle will be joined by committee members Charlotte
Hebebrand, Jo Luck, J.B. Penn and Pedro Sanchez.
Global population is expected to surpass 7 billion in 2011 and 9 billion by 2050. Earlier this year, DuPont announced plans to form the committee to tackle the global challenge to increase agriculture productivity in a sustainable manner. "This is the time when we must be bold and imaginative in creating better public policy and inventing new business practices," said DuPont Executive Vice President James C. Borel. "The global challenge is great, and finding solutions will require a new kind of collaboration. This committee, with its diverse membership and fresh approach, represents such a collaboration. I am confident the committee will make a distinct contribution to addressing the challenge." | |
Winter Wheat Grazing Update: Problems and Potential ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can sum up
the problems and potential of wheat pasture for the fall of 2010 pretty
easily. The problem is dryness- will Mother Nature smile on us and allow
us to grow the wheat pasture we need. The potential is that when you
pencil out the cattle on wheat pasture thing this year- it makes money-
assuming you can deal with the problem we just mentioned. OSU Extension
Livestock Market Economist Derrell Peel offers the following thoughts on
the pros and the cons:
"The rollercoaster world of wheat and winter stockers continues to be volatile. Producers face many decisions about grain only wheat production versus dual-purpose wheat and cattle grazing. In some sense, wheat producers are in the enviable position of having the market bidding for both wheat for grain and wheat for forage, making dual purpose production of both look very attractive. Mother Nature is complicating things a bit with dry conditions across much of Oklahoma and pest problems in some regions making it difficult to establish wheat forage. The one thing that is clear in all of this is that producers, along with their lenders, need to look at all the alternatives before committing to a particular enterprise. If one only looks at the price of wheat it might be easy to dismiss the potential for grazing or vice versa. "This last week, the price of a 525 pound steer in Oklahoma was about
$115/cwt. or $604/head. The March Feeder cattle futures contract price, at
the time of writing, was $112/cwt. With 250 pounds of gain and a zero
basis (OKC, March), a 775 pound steer would have a total value of
$868/head. This results in a gross margin of $264/head or a value of gain
of $1.06/lb. Using a price of $0.50/lb of gain for wheat pasture cost and
typical animal production costs, a stocker budget suggests about $50/head
in net return to the cattle. Additionally, 250 pounds of gain at $0.50/lb
pasture cost generates another $125/head return to the wheat pasture.
Assuming the marginal costs of growing the wheat forage is $0.30/lb of
gain, there is a net return of another $50/head to the wheat. Thus results
in a combined net return to wheat and cattle of $100/head. or roughly
$67/acre. | |
I Believe in Oklahoma Agriculture- AFR Plans Annual Fall Speech Contests ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This event is
held in the fall of each year and is available to members and non-members
of American Farmers and Ranchers. Students in grades 4-12 compete in their
respective category at District contests held around the state. First and
second place winners in each of the categories advance to the State Speech
Contest held in Stillwater on the campus of Oklahoma State University.
While competing in the contest, the top three category winners in each of
the four divisions receive plaques and special recognition. Each
contestant receives a certificate of participation. First, second and
third place state contest winners receive plaques and U.S. Savings Bonds.
The District contests will be held in November- and the state finals are set for the first Saturday in December on the campus of Oklahoma State University. Click on the LINK below to learn more about the speech contests and how you can get involved here in the fall of 2010. Click here for details at the AFR website on their annual statewide speech contests. | |
HSUS Holds the High Ground Versus Livestock Producers in Minds of Consumers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FarmFutures is
reporting that new research from the Center for Food Integrity shows most
consumers as twice as likely to believe the Humane Society of the United
States and People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals over farm
organizations when it comes to humane treatment of farm animals.
After HSUS and PETA, farm animal veterinarians, USDA and university
experts ranked next, followed by state and national farm organizations and
small livestock farmers. Large-scale livestock farmers ranked last in
animal welfare credibility. The research also reveals that consumers favor more laws to ensure the humane treatment of farm animals in their state. That explains why voters have looked favorably on HSUS-driven ballot drives in California, Michigan and Ohio to reform livestock housing rules. | |
We Get Our First 1000 Peeps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yesterday was
a landmark moment for Ron_on_RON, which is our Twitter handle. We reached
1,000 followers yesterday afternoon- and is just one more way that we are
able to get agricultural news and information out to those that have
interest in it. One of the best ways to describe Twitter- is to call it a
huge out in the country party line.
One of the things we have been doing with our Twitter account is to use it as a real time blog from events that we are covering. For example, tomorrow morning, we will be in Tulsa at the 2010 State Fair Premium Auction of the top market animals at their show this year. If you follow us on Twitter, you will be among the first to know- where ever you are, what the Grand Champions in each species sell for- as well as other bits of information that we might be able to pass along. Of course, if you are Twitter challenged- and don't want to mess with
it- you can read out most recent "Tweets" on our website- on the right
hand side of any page toward the bottom- you will see a graphic that
includes the four most recent tweets we have posted. It works out as a
real time"mini blog" that is a stream of consciousness from where we are.
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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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 $8.20 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$8.75 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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