~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest
farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron
Hays of RON for Thursday February 25, 2010 A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Like Don Quixote, the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program Class 14
Continues to Journey Across Spain
-- Constantly Control Costs- A Key to Success on Today's Beef Cattle
Ranch
-- Oklahoma Department of Ag Announces Oilseed Commission Election
Results
-- The 2010 Oklahoma Youth Expo Just Two Weeks Away.
-- Despite Tough Economy, U.S. Pork, Beef Faring Very Well in
Japan
-- Signup is Open for April Sessions of Oklahoma Beef Quality
Summit
-- Check the Calendar- lots of stuff coming in March
-- 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. | |
Like Don Quixote, the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program Class 14 Continues to Journey Across Spain ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Several of the
Class 14 Members of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program have offered their
thoughts on what they are seeing as they continue their travels in the
south of Spain this week. AND, we have more pictures- a bakers dozen to be
exact- for you to see- click
here for out Flickr page with all of the pictures we have gotten from
the class to date.
Here's what several of the class members are saying about the trip:
Scott Neufeld from Fairview- "Water is still king and issues about who has
it, and how much they can have, are priority here too. Market access and
competition are the biggest issues to profitability. We heard this as we
visited a wholesaler, vegetable auction and packaging for distribution
center today. Allen Entz: "The acres upon acres of greenhouses are obviously
impressive. The marketing method of the vast amounts of produce is what
got my attention. Some produce is sold through cooperatives with
approximately 50 percent being sold by auction. Brandon Winters with PCOM took special interest in the Olive oil processing seen by the group- having as his point of reference the cottonseed, canol and sunflower seed processing done by the organization he works for. "While in Spain we visited an olive oil processing plant producing virgin olive oil. I was really amazed at the way the producers brought their olives into the processing plant. They used small single Axel trailers with manual hand pumps. "We learned that olives can have between 18 and 24 percent oil and that the remains or meal is sold as a burning agent and cannot be feed to any animals due to toxicity issues. I learned that they can mechanically press around 850metric ton per day. I learned that their vergin oil sells at what I would call a premium to most food grade oil. They run some of the same equipment as American processor's however in a little different fashion." | |
Constantly Control Costs- A Key to Success on Today's Beef Cattle Ranch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Barry Dunn
of the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management joins us for this Beef
Buzz, as we talk with him about being successful in today's beef cattle
industry. Dr. Dunn was a presenter at the recent Cattle Industry
Conference- and we caught up with him there, and we talked with him about
some of the tools that help today's full time ranch operator survive and
prosper.
Dunn says that probably the number one, two and three things to do are one and the same- constantly control costs. We also talked with him about arbitrage- and how that can increase the pace at which your money will turn and allow you to accept smaller profit margins, and simply turn over your money more times in the course of a year, allowing those small returns to mount up. We also talked about the future of the beef cattle business- and Dr. Dunn is optimistic about where the future will take progressive operators. You can click on the link below and learn more about his thoughts on where the beef business now stands and where he sees it going. Click here for more on the future of the Beef Cattle Industry. | |
Oklahoma Department of Ag Announces Oilseed Commission Election Results ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's new
Oilseed Commission election results were confirmed Wednesday. State
Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach, confirmed the following new oilseed
commission board members.
District 1, Kelly Chain, Canton; District 2, Alan Mindemann, Apache; District 3, Lee Leeper, Alva; and District 4, Brent Rendel, Miami. There were no nominations for District 5 and Peach will appoint someone to that board position in the near future. The Oklahoma Oilseed Commission will collect an assessment from producers to fund research, market development, education, and enhance oilseed production. | |
The 2010 Oklahoma Youth Expo Just Two Weeks Away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The final
preparations for the "World's Largest Junior Livestock Show" are in full
swing- and Executive Director for the Show, Jeramy Rich, expects another
great celebration for rural youth March 12-22 at State Fair Park in
Oklahoma City.
Among the key numbers that will help put the in perspective- Rich tells us that he expects more than 7,000 young people to exhibit livestock at this year's event, showing more than 11,000 animals. They expect at least 25,000 people to take part in the show- kids showing, parents supporting, FFA Advisors and 4-H leaders and hundreds of volunteers that make the show a success. Rich expects about $800,000 will be spent on March 22 during the Sale of Champions, rewarding 205 young people for showing the very best in their category at the Oklahoma City show. Beyond that money, there will also be other prize money and lots of scholarship dollars handed out to young people over the ten day run of the Expo- and when you add up all the premium sale dollars, prize money and scholarships- the investment into Oklahoma youth will likely exceed $1.5 million. We have a conversation on our website with Jeramy that goes into a lot more detail about how the show prep is going, how the facilities will be used this year, and even some info for those of you that might want to get involved and support Oklahoma's young people thru the OYE. Click on the link below and you can take a listen to this opening story of the 2010 OYE. (By the way- if you have interest in sponsoring our coverage of this year's Expo- call or email me and I will tell you more.) | |
Despite Tough Economy, U.S. Pork, Beef Faring Very Well in Japan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Japan
reinforced its position as a key trading partner for the U.S. beef and
pork industries in 2009, clearly outperforming the market and either
maintaining or increasing U.S. beef and pork imports even as total retail
and foodservice spending in Japan slumped in the global economic slowdown.
In calendar year 2009, U.S. pork sales in Japan, our top market for pork export value, nearly matched the all-time value record set one year ago ($1.54 billion verses $1.545 billion in 2008). While that fact may not seem astonishing, consider that the global pork industry slumped 15 percent in 2009 versus the year prior, and Japan's supermarket sales dropped 4.3 percent, reaching a 21-year low of 12.83 trillion yen (about $142.6 billion). At the same time, Japan's foodservice sales dropped 1.5 percent, the first decline in the past six years. In this same environment, sales of U.S. beef in Japan ended the year 23 percent higher than the previous year in both volume and value while the global market for all beef exporters fell 16 percent "Because of its strong currency and financial stability, there has been a tendency to think of Japan as an oasis in the global economic downturn," said Philip Seng, president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). "But make no mistake about it, Japan's retail and food service sectors have faced serious challenges in recent months. One of the keys to growing market share for U.S. beef and pork in this economic environment has been to meet these challenges with products that deliver tremendous versatility and value." USMEF emphasizes the versatility of U.S beef for restaurants that want to attract price-conscious diners. Yakiniku (Korean barbecue) is one of the largest sectors of the Japanese foodservice industry with approximately 20,000 outlets across the country. To increase penetration for U.S. beef in these popular restaurants, USMEF is promoting alternative beef cuts such as chuck rib, boneless short rib, chuck eye roll, brisket, outside skirt and tongue. With support from the Beef Checkoff and MAP, these cuts were recently featured by USMEF at the Yakiniku Business Fair in Tokyo, where many key buyers from Yakiniku restaurant chains were among the 13,000 attendees. USMEF demonstrated several new menu ideas at the event, including sal ted beef tartar, beef roll rice ball, beef and gelatin noodle salad and beef meat ball. Click here for more about the Japanese Success Story for US Pork and Beef | |
Signup is Open for April Sessions of Oklahoma Beef Quality Summit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next
Oklahoma Beef Quality Summit classes are scheduled for Monday – Wednesday,
April 5-7, and Wednesday – Friday, April 7-9 at the Oklahoma State
University campus in Stillwater. (The program begins at 4:00 pm on the
first day and concludes at 1:00 pm the last day.) Using the National Beef
Quality Audit as the foundation, the Beef Quality Summit course offers
participants the opportunity to see the causes and results of quality
challenges facing the beef industry. Summit attendees from ranchers to
processors evaluate live cattle in an effort to predict quality and yield
then follow the cattle through the harvest and grading process. As an
attendee you will actually fabricate a beef carcass into wholesale meat
cuts.
Oklahoma Beef Council Executive Director Heather Buckmaster tells us that "If you haven't been to this outstanding educational event hosted by the Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma State University, and the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agriculture Product Center, now is the time to do so." It is free to participants with a $250 refundable deposit. Please register by March 22. You can call the Oklahoma Beef Council at 800-235-5403 for information on signing up and you can go to our calendar listing for this registration on our website by clicking on the link below. Click here for more on the Oklahoma Beef Quality Summit Coming in April. | |
Check the Calendar- lots of stuff coming in March ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are down to
one calendar item left for February- the OCA District Meeting in Woodward
this evening. But in March, the list of events going on during the month
keeps piling up.
Events include the huge Commodity Classic in southern California next week, the Oklahoma Youth Expo starting March 12 and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Annual Convention on March 19 thru the 21st. You can check details of these items and a whole lot more by going to our calendar page as found at www.OklahomaFarmReport.com. You can also click on the link below and we will jump you to what we believe is the most comprehensive listing of rural and ag events important to Oklahoma you will find anywhere on the world wide web. | |
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 $7.55 per
bushel, while the 2010 New Crop contracts for Canola are now available are
$7.70 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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