From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.ccsend.com] on behalf of Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 7:33 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 Friday March 25, 2011
A service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company!
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-- OKlahoma Pork Industry Honors Key Player Who Helped Bring Commercial Hog Production to Southern Great Plains
-- Boxed Beef Spread Remains Narrow- Jim Robb Explains It All
-- Oklahoma State House and Senate Working on Measures Passed on Other Side of the Capitol Building
-- Wheat Market Strategy With Kim Anderson and Your SUNUP Lineup for the Weekend
-- Taiwan Confirms FMD Outbreak
-- Jeff Krehbiel Update
-- Mark your Calendar for April 2nd Ratcliff Ranch Bull and Female Sale
-- 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 a longstanding sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. One of the great success stories of the Johnston brand is Wrangler Bermudagrass- the most widely planted true cold-tolerant seeded forage bermudagrass in the United States. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website that features their grain, ports and seed business!

And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as one of our regular sponsors of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with ten locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

We invite you to listen to us on great radio stations across the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network weekdays- if you missed this morning's Farm News - or you are in an area where you can't hear it- click here for this morning's Farm news from Ron Hays on RON.

If you have received this email by someone forwarding it to you, you are welcome to subscribe and get this weekday update sent to you directly by clicking here.


OKlahoma Pork Industry Honors Key Player Who Helped Bring Commercial Hog Production to Southern Great Plains
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The Oklahoma Pork Council presented their highest award that can be given to a member of the organization- Hall of Fame membership- to Rod Brenneman who currently serves as the President and CEO of Seaboard Foods. The award was presented to Brenneman at the 2011 Oklahoma Pork Congress in Midwest City on Thursday.

After the presentation, we talked with Brenneman about the honor and how Seaboard has established itself as a world class processor of pork in the Oklahoma Panhandle. We also discussed the current status of the Japanese market- and Brenneman expressed the company's concern for the well being of the Japanese people impacted by the earthquake and tsunami, but also predicted that little disruption would be seen in shipping fresh pork into Japan by the company.

In the video presentation produced by the OPC for the Hall of Fame award, Brenneman told the lunch audience that "on a fresh pork basis to Japan, we export more fresh pork out of this plant in Guymon, Oklahoma than virtually any other company in the United States with all of their plants combined."

Our top ag story of the morning on our website has a lot more on Rod Brenneman and how he influenced the selection of Guymon as the location for the Pork Processing Plant that cranked up production in the mid 1990s. We have our audio conversation about that decision and also about the export picture to Japan and other countries going forward from the Guymon facility. We also have the YouTube from the Oklahoma Pork Congress that was shown on Thursday about their Hall of Fame inductee.

Click here for more on Rod Brenneman of Seaboard Foods


Boxed Beef Spread Remains Narrow- Jim Robb Explains It All
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The difference in the price of the estimated boxed beef cut-out values for choice and for select carcasses is a lot less than it was just a few years ago. We discuss that narrowing of what is often called the "Choice-Select Spread" on today's Beef Buzz, as Jim Robb of the Livestock Market Information Center joins us.

At this time of the year, a normal spread might be seven to ten dollars per hundred. However, it has been much closer in recent months. As of the close of business on Thursday, March 24, Choice Boxed Beef Prices stood at $186.82 and Select at $185.56- a difference of only $1.25 per hundred.

Jim Robb offers his theory on why the differences have gone so low- and in fact- have actually had select at a premium over choice a couple of times thus far in 2011. Click on the LINK below to hear more about that on today's Beef Buzz- as heard on great radio stations across the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network.

Click here for our Beef Buzz with comments from Jim Robb on the Choice-Select Spread.


Oklahoma State House and Senate Working on Measures Passed on Other Side of the Capitol Building
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Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association talked with us on Thursday afternoon about the status of legislative activity here in 2011 at the State Capitol. Dewald tells us that at this point the Senate has 386 bills which will advance to the House. The House has 522 bill which it will advance to the Senate. As you will recall we began this session with over 5,000 measures being introduced and at this point the number has been whittled down to 908 pieces of legislation that includes bills, simple resolutions and joint resolutions.

Over the last few days, the House and Senate have returned to Committee meetings, starting to hear measures passed in the other body. Dewald says one of the positives that will come of the lawmaking process this year is a compromise on what animal husbandry practices are- and whether they are to be regulated by the State Veterinary Board or not. That board's makeup will likely be changed in legislation that be finalized before the current session is done.

Click on the LINK below to jump to our webstory with Scott Dewald and his view of how this year's legislative session is unfolding from an agricultural viewpoint.

Click here for more on the State Legislative Session


Wheat Market Strategy With Kim Anderson and Your SUNUP Lineup for the Weekend
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Weather conditions have hit the potential size of the of the US Hard Red Winter Wheat Crop- and Oklahoma State University Grain Marketing Economist Kim Anderson believes that wheat prices at harvest may be stronger than he was predicting just a few weeks ago.

He contends that weather has jacked up the volatility of the wheat marketplace- and told Dave Deken in this week's SUNUP program that will be seen on OETA stations Saturday morning that he now thinks we could see a seven dollar wheat price on the elevator door in Kingfisher, Oklahoma June 20, 2011.

You can hear all of Dr. Anderson's thoughts on the wheat market for this week on Saturday on OETA and SUNUP- or you can sneak an early listen by clicking on the LINK below and catching up with Dave Deken and Kim.
We also have the program lineup for SUNUP for this Saturday morning as will be seen on OETA- check it out.

Click here for the latest wheat marketing outlook with Kim Anderson and the SUNUP Lineup for this weekend.


Taiwan Confirms FMD Outbreak
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Almost one-thousand pigs in the offshore Taiwan county of Penghu have been culled from one farm because of a confirmed outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Officials are checking other farms in the area, including two neighboring farms. So far, no other farms have been involved. As a result of this discovery of FMD, officials have closed down the auction block at the county's meat market where the blisters were spotted on the mouths of the animals.

Along with the suspension of meat market trade, a ban was put into place on the movement of cloven-hoofed animals throughout the county, pending an investigation of the cause of the outbreak. According to Huang Kuo-ching, deputy director of Taiwan's Council on Agriculture's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, - initial tests on samples collected from the ailing pigs showed they were infected with an O-type FMD virus.

Huang says - unlike ranches in Taiwan proper, the pigs in Penghu County have not received vaccinations against FMD since 2006. Since a serious FMD outbreak in 1997, locally grown pork has been barred from exports. FMD is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease among cloven-hoofed animals. However, transmission to humans is extremely rare.


Jeff Krehbiel Update
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Our friend Jeff Krehbiel has had his challenges in recent weeks- and has just gotten out of the hospital in Weatherford, Oklahoma after some seizures had his wife Karen getting him to the Emergency Room a few days ago for an examination.

The amount of therapy that Jeff is currently needing has gotten beyond what Karen can coordinate at home- so Jeff will be staying for awhile in Maple Lawn Manor in Hydro- not far from their farm.
As you may recall- Jeff has been battling brain cancer for well over a year now- and has had a rough winter. The family is hopeful that the time at Maple Lawn will get him back on track with several therapy sessions on a daily basis.

Jeff is a member of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- and a past President of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association as well as an active member of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. If you would like to drop a card or note to Jeff, I know he can use your encouragement- the address for him right now is Maple Lawn Manor, Attn: Jeff Krehbiel, PO Box 66, Hydro, OK 73048.
We continue to keep Karen, daughter Brittany and Jeff in our prayers- and invite you to do so as well.


Mark your Calendar for April 2nd Ratcliff Ranch Bull and Female Sale
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The Ratcliff Ranch Annual Spring Bull and Commercial Female Sale is happening Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 12 Noon at the Ranch, Vinita, Oklahoma.

Bill Hall, Ranch Manager for Ratcliff Ranchers writes in the Sale Catalog "Today more than ever, we need to make sound breeding and marketing decisions that capitalize on working with proven programs to insure our sustainability. This year the Annual Spring Sale's offering is focused on helping you to do just that. The Ranch is offering roughly 150 service age bulls that are low birth weight, growth-oriented and ranch ready. Bulls are sired by SAV Final Answer, Roundup, Objective, Predestined, Connealy All Around, OCC Prototype, Dream Better, Steel Force S701, Cupid, Raven, Rainmaker and Ambush. In addition, to these sires, we are offering one of the first sets of NLC Upgrade sons to ever be publicly auctioned.
"We are also selling near 500 commercial females, including 300 two year old pairs and a super fancy set of black baldys. Many have a strong influence of Ratcliff Genetics! The commercial female offerings at Ratcliff have become synonymous with quality and volume."

Click on the LINK below for more details- including both the direct PDF catalog download that is available as well as other information you will need leading up to sale day.

Click here for more on the Ratcliff Ranch Spring Bull Sale in Vinita.


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 $9.70 per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are $10.50 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- A 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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