~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday January 5, 2010
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind
Energy and American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance
Company!
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-- USDA Forum on Job and Economic Growth
-- NFU President Roger Johnson Looking Forward to Livestock
Competitiveness Hearings in 2010
-- Consumer Spending Uptick is Key to Beef Demand in 2010
-- Horse Nutrition- You Gotta Pay Attention to Keep Your Horses Happy
and Contented.
-- Vilsack: Look Again at Climate Models
-- Consumers Continue to Look for Value
-- Livestock Auctions Are Back in the New Year
-- 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 an annual sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
USDA Forum on Job and Economic Growth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The USDA Forum
on Job and Economic Growth was held on Monday in Muskogee- and it was co-
sponsored by the Oklahoma FSA and the Oklahoma Rural Development offices.
Ryan McMullen did a good job of social networking comments from the event-
and we thought we would share several of them with you that he posted on
Facebook and Twitter.
Ryan reported that Mike Spradling of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau told the
forum that "80% of farm income comes from off farm sources; jobs must be
created to help agriculture and promote viable rural communities."
On leadership development- Ben Robinson offered a comment that a lot of people responded to on Facebook- McMullen says that Robinson offered "Every kid should go through 4-H and FFA, great programs turning out great kids! Send more kids through those programs." To that I would echo a hearty amen- when you really equip a young person with the skills these organizations offer- tough times can be handled a lot easier by the individuals who have had this type of preparation. One other subject that caught my eye that was reported by State
Director for Rural Development Ryan McMullen came from State
Representative Mike Brown - "banks have pulled back so businesses have
pulled back. The money needs to be moved back to support job creation."
And Ryan also quoted a bank VP who was at the forum- "New regs stipulate a
7 year calculation that has tied the bank's hands. Okla banks didn't
create the problems but are suffering." | |
NFU President Roger Johnson Looking Forward to Livestock Competitiveness Hearings in 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Department of Justice, Antitrust Division and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) will hold a series of joint public workshops to explore
competition issues affecting the agricultural sector in the 21st century
and the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in that
industry. The first workshop will be held this coming March in Iowa.
Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are cooperating in putting these hearings on over the course of 2010. The workshops will provide an opportunity for farmers, ranchers, consumer groups, processors, the agribusinesses, and other interested parties to provide examples of potentially anticompetitive conduct. The workshops will also provide an opportunity for discussion for any concerns about the application of the antitrust laws to the agricultural industry. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson believes it is vital to
the nation's producers to address these concerns, and asks USDA and DOJ to
establish a constant dialogue concerning market control and antitrust
concerns in the agriculture industry. Click here for the DOJ website and details of the ag competiveness hearings. | |
Consumer Spending Uptick is Key to Beef Demand in 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Improving beef
demand is critical to seeing better cattle prices, from the slaughter
cattle market back up the chain to the calf markets. So says Dr. Derrell
Peel, OSU Livestock Market Economist, who adds that economic recovery will
drive better beef demand
However, any economic recovery will need to include a uptick in consumer spending in order to see beef demand improve. On today's Beef Buzz, we feature Dr. Peel's thoughts on beef demand and how it interacts with consumer spending and the push to get the general US economy back on track. Of course, the domestic market is key to improving cattle prices- but moving larger amounts of US beef into the international market will have a positive impact on those prices in our live mark Click on the link below for the Tuesday Beef Buzz looking at beef demand for the new year- and a link back to our Monday Beef Buzz- also with Dr. Peel on 2010 prospects for live cattle markets (slaughter and feeder). Click here for our Beef Buzz with Derrell Peel as we consider beef demand for this new year, | |
Horse Nutrition- You Gotta Pay Attention to Keep Your Horses Happy and Contented. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eating well is
not always eating safely; horse managers who ignore that lesson when
feeding their animals may be creating digestive problems for their horses.
"Many feeding management recommendations for horses are related to
supplying energy safely," said Dave Freeman, Oklahoma State University
Cooperative Extension equine specialist. "Most of the energy supplied in
rations comes from carbohydrates. There are two types of carbohydrates,
the 'starchy, sugary' carbs and the 'fibrous' carbs. The two types vary in
how and to what extent they are digested."
One source of energy that horses rely on is fiber. Hays and pastures supply energy in the form of fiber. Typically, horses should have access to pastures, hays or coarsely processed forage at minimum levels of 0.75 percent of body weight per day. These levels guard against feeding too much of the other type, the 'starchy, sugary' compounds. "Incorporation of long-stem forage into rations also increases particle size of substances ingested, thus slowing the rate of intake and the amount of digestible nutrient intake in a single meal," Freeman said. "Slowing the rate of intake and decreasing the digestible energy intake in a single meal may assist digestion in the horse's small intestine." On the other hand, grains are low in fiber. They supply large amounts
of starchy and sugary carbohydrates as compared to forages. If allowed
free access, most horses will consume enough grain to cause digestive
upset. The most common problem with equine overeating is the consumption
of too much starchy or sugary carbohydrate in a single feeding. Click here to read more from Dr. Dave Freeman on horse nutrition for the new year. | |
Vilsack: Look Again at Climate Models ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ag Secretary
Tom Vilsack has requested a review of climate change analysis models being
used to calculate the impacts of climate legislation on agriculture. He is
taking this action out of concern that too many farmers and ranchers would
convert too much crop land into forest land and as a result take too much
land out of food production. The FASOM model, developed at Texas A&M
University, projects that landowners would be incented to convert up to
59-million acres of farmland into forests over the next 40 years.
Vilsack released a statement saying - I am aware the results of the FASOM model have caused considerable concern within the farm and ranch community as a result of the models projections on afforestation over the next several decades. The Secretary continued - if landowners plant trees to the extent the model suggests, this would be disruptive to agriculture in some regions of the country. Other models indicate lesser quantities of farm land being taken out of production. Vilsack believes, - there are opportunities to expand greenhouse gas offsets and biomass energy production without removing significant amounts of land from production; careful design of the offsets program will be important in order to avoid unintended consequences. | |
Consumers Continue to Look for Value ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meatingplace
offers an interesting story they gleaned from the Nielsen people about
trends that appear to be in place here in the new year. They report that
"Consumer thriftiness will likely last in 2010, with 30 percent of
consumers saying they will use credit less even when the economy improves
and 19 percent saying they intend to save more money, according to
research by Nielsen."
Nielsen offers several trend predictions that will have impact on food
purchases and will definitely impact demand back up the chain to the
farmgate. Number Three- Store brand growth continues. Even with year-end 2009
softness in store brand dollar share growth as retailers cut prices across
the store to be more competitive, unit share growth continues, and
retailer focus has never been stronger. | |
Livestock Auctions Are Back in the New Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two auctions
that run on Mondays have had their first sales of the new year and we have
reports from them for us to get a first look at how the yearling and calf
markets will be acting here in the early days of 2010. At the Oklahoma
National Stockyards, they reported 7,500 cattle on Monday- and market
reporters Tina and John offer this overview of the market- "Compared to
the last sale in December: Feeder steers steady to 2.00 higher. Feeder
heifers 1.00-3.00 higher. Steer and heifer calves lightly tested and weak.
Demand good for first sale of the new year as feeder buyers ready to get
back to buying cattle after the two week break. Demand limited for calves
under 500 lbs. Snow remains on the ground from the Christmas eve blizzard
and farmers continue to chop ice." To look at their actual market prices
for the new year, click
here for the Oklahoma CIty cattle market.
Another good market making auction is the Joplin Regional Stockyards, where they kicked off 2010 with a run of 5,000 cattle on Monday. Prices were higher for both steers and heifers- yearlings and calves. Five to six hundred pound steers sold from $96 to $110, while seven to eight hundred pound steer yearlings cleared from $90 to $95.50. Click here for the full USDA summary of the Joplin market and their first sale of the new year. | |
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. | |
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
$8.40 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: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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