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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Friday May 20, 2011 A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- Drought- AND HEAVY Rain (Perhaps a Drought BUSTER)
-- Kim Anderson of OSU Sees Wheat Prices Holding Strong as Harvest
Cranks Up
-- More Wheat Harvest/Pre Harvest Updates
-- R-Calf Leaders Go Ballistic Over Congressional Letter to USDA
Secretary Tom Vilsack- They Say Take It Back!
-- Violation of the Clean Water Act leaves Texas-Oklahoma Egg
Producer with a $1.9 million penalty
-- Fuel Up to Play 60- Cashion Style
-- Altus Irony, Lindsay Hill Tragedy and Mike Schulte Preview
-- 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! 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. | |
Drought- AND HEAVY Rain (Perhaps a Drought BUSTER) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainfall has
arrived in western Oklahoma in amounts not seen for months in many
locations, a fact that is proven by the latest US Drought Monitor that was
released yesterday morning that shows an expanded area of western Oklahoma
in the Extreme Drought category.According to Gary McManus, Associate State Climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, we went from D2 to D1 along the eastern edge of the I35 corridor and also have a notch of D2 extending down into the southwest, all courtesy of last week's weird rainfall patterns. Unfortunately, extreme (D3) drought has expanded in western Oklahoma up through the Kansas state line. Click here for our story that includes the Drought Monitor map that reflects the conditions before this current system arrived in the state. The weather that arrived into Oklahoma yesterday afternoon has brought
heavy rainfall amounts to mostly the southwestern quarter of the state- at
least as of early this Friday morning. A couple of locations have topped
four inches of rain in the last 24 hours (based on the Oklahoma Mesonet
reporting stations) and others are north of three inches- Weatherford has
had more than three inches since midnight (as of about 5 AM). Fort Cobb in
Caddo County is close to five inches of rain since the current storm
system pulled into the state. West Central and Northwest Oklahoma have received smaller amounts to this point (although Garfield County has had over two inches of rain thus far as well)- and while there are chances of rain in northwestern Oklahoma (40% in Woodward and Alva) the heaviest amounts have tracked southwest Oklahoma now into the central part of the state with north central Oklahoma getting significant amounts before this system winds down. There are more chances of rain in the state next week- which coincides
with the wheat crop being about ready for harvest in much of the state.
Click here for our Weather Page at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Kim Anderson of OSU Sees Wheat Prices Holding Strong as Harvest Cranks Up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma State
University Extension Grain Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says the
yields for this year are higher than expected and test weights are holding
strong with a good quality wheat, which is good news for this crop season.
Of course, the problem is that fields that have enough wheat to make it
worthwhile to pull a combine into the field are few and far between.
Dr. Anderson's comments come in the segment he will have on SUNUP
tomorrow morning (Saturday) on the weekly program that is produced by OSU
Ag Communications. We have the conversation that Kim had with Austin Moore this week available for you to hear now- as a preview to the full SUNUP program that will be seen on OETA on Saturday morning. We also have the full lineup for this week's show in our webstory- just click on the LINK below. | |
More Wheat Harvest/Pre Harvest Updates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive
Director of Plains Grains, Inc, Mark Hodges, has released his second
"weekly" report of the 2011 harvest season for the HRW wheat belt. His
report is consistent with Kim Anderson's comments about quality being
pretty good at this point- but the problem is quantity. Hodges writes "The
2011 HRW wheat harvest in north Texas and southwest Oklahoma grinds on
after isolated scattered showers and moderating temperatures slowed
cutting over the area last weekend. However, moderating temperatures are
positive for areas north of where active harvesting is occurring, allowing
continued kernel development." The rains falling this morning will
obviously mean a shutdown of any harvest activity in the western half of
the state for several days.
Hodges also reports that "One privately owned elevator system in far southwestern Oklahoma currently reports their worst wheat year since the family business began in the 1920's." It's the lack of rainfall in the last six months that has brought us to this point- and apparently is in the process of being changed with this storm system in many locations. To see the Plains Grains report for the entire HRW belt- click here. Meanwhile, Kansas Wheat Industry Leaders see, in almost every part of their state, smaller yields this year versus 2010. One of the leaders is Scott Van Allen, a Kansas Wheat Commissioner from Clearwater, who says harvest should begin the first week of June. Hot, dry winds when the crop was entering the pivotal reproductive stage will restrict yields; he expects a 30-bushel per acre average, well below his long-term average of more than 50 bushels per acre. Van Allen says south central Kansas farmers have abandoned about 10% of the crop due to dry conditions. | |
R-Calf Leaders Go Ballistic Over Congressional Letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack- They Say Take It Back! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In reaction to
the bipartisan letter sent by 147 members of the U.S. House
Representatives to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, R-CALF USA President/RegionIX
Director George Chambers, of Carrolton, Georgia, called for the -
retraction of this congressional letter as it is an affront to U.S.
livestock producers who have watched the multinational meatpackers capture
their respective livestock industries over the past few decades, resulting
in the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of family farmers and ranchers
from our nation's rural landscape.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says - the congressional letter epitomizes how multinational meatpackers are able to manipulate congressional members into doing their bidding, even under false pretenses. Bullard says - the letter itself contains a blatant falsehood. The letter states that both the House and the Senate previously rejected the major provision in the GIPSA rule regarding competitive injury. Bullard claims Congress never voted to reject that provision. We have several stories you may want to review- including the full news
release from R-Calf. First, here
is our Beef Buzz from earlier this week that has NCBA's Colin Woodall
asking cattle producers to demand of Congress and of USDA the chance
to respond to the Economic Analysis of the GIPSA Rule once that analysis
is done. | |
Violation of the Clean Water Act leaves Texas-Oklahoma Egg Producer with a $1.9 million penalty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Justice Department
(DOJ) today announced that Mahard Egg Farm, Inc., a Texas corporation,
will pay a $1.9 million penalty to resolve claims that the company
violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) at its egg production facilities in
Texas and Oklahoma.
The civil penalty is the largest amount to be paid in a federal enforcement action involving a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). The company will also spend approximately $3.5 million on remedial measures to ensure compliance with the law and protect the environment and people's health. The CWA complaint, filed jointly with the settlement by the United States and the states of Texas and Oklahoma, alleges that Mahard operated a facility without a permit and discharged pollutants into area waterways. Mahard also allegedly discharged pollutants or otherwise failed to comply with the terms of its permits at six other facilities, including its newest facility near Vernon, Texas, where it also failed to comply with the Texas Construction Storm Water Permit and to ensure safe drinking water for its employees. The states of Texas and Oklahoma also alleged violations of state laws. | |
Fuel Up to Play 60- Cashion Style ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group of
students from Cashion were awarded a portable Milk Barrel Cooler, Wii and
Wii Fit, NFL Memorabilia, and a special appearance by St. Louis Ram and
Bethany native Chris Chamberlain for their school, which took place on May
17, as Dairy MAX winners of Fuel Up to Play 60's local Show Your Spirit
Challenge.
Fuel Up to Play 60 is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program created in partnership the National Dairy Council, Dairy MAX and the National Football League in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that encourages students to eat healthy, be active and implement positive, healthy changes at school. This program reaches more than 1,000 schools in Oklahoma, and many are funding their efforts through Fuel Up to Play 60 grant funds. The Show your School Spirit Challenge encouraged students to get
everyone excited about making healthy food choices and being physically
active, then upload a video, photo or essay that demonstrated how they
enacted the Challenge. Cousins Jayce Evans, Emilee Evans, and Ashten Evans
created a video "ABCs of Snacks" to highlight that health and wellness are
just as important as ABC's. | |
Altus Irony, Lindsay Hill Tragedy and Mike Schulte Preview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's ironic
that as we have had what some weather watchers are calling a drought
busting rain in southwestern Oklahoma that the Altus Mesonet
weather station is busted and is not reporting. When you look at the
Mesonet weather map for rainfall,
you will see a little red dot in the middle of Jackson County- that
means no data is coming from Altus station. Around that reporting station-
we do have rainfall amounts of several inches of rain in the last 24
hours.
It was a shock to receive a call from a fellow farm broadcaster friend Thursday morning and be told that Lindsay Hill, 31, was killed in a violent auto accident yesterday morning over in Ohio. Lindsay is the President of the professional group that I have been a member of for 35 years- the National Association of Farm Broadcasting and had just joined the AgDay TV team a few months ago as their Agri-Business Director. That means she was working with Clinton Griffiths who we got to know and love as the Host of SUNUP before leaving a year ago to become the anchor for the national daily farm and ranch news show. I chatted with Clinton for just a moment yesterday morning and he and the other folks at Farm Journal, who now own the AgDay show, were and are in shock. Lindsay was a rising star in my little part of the farm and ranch community- and she will be missed. Finally, our guest for this weekend on In the Field will be Mike Schulte, CEO of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. We will get his take on the wheat crop prospects for the 2011 harvest season. In the Field is seen at about 6:40 AM on the KWTV News9 morning news segment that airs from 6 AM to 8 AM Saturday mornings. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and Oklahoma Mineral Buyers 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 $11.47
per bushel- as of the close of business yesterday, while the 2011 New Crop
contracts for Canola are now available are $11.47 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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