From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 06:52
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
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 Thursday November 30, 2006
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Winter Weather arrives as we end November.
-- State Representative Don Armes talks Rural Priorities for 2007.
-- Congressman Frank Lucas traveling with Bob Goodlatte in Brazil
-- Oklahoma Farmers Union's Policy Committee meeting in Oklahoma City.
-- Weather hitting the last day of the Amarillo Farm Show.
-- Tyson says to expect higher prices for beef, pork and chicken because of the "battle for grain"
-- The Inside the Beltway Line on Animal ID- It Stays Voluntary.

Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. Our email this morning is a service of Midwest Farm Shows, featuring the Tulsa Farm Show December 7-9, 2006 and the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007. Check out details of both of these exciting shows at the official website of Midwest Farm Shows 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.


Winter Weather arrives as we end November.
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As we write this at 6 am on Thursday morning- it appears that a significant snow event is setting up for central and western Oklahoma- with temperatures mostly in the 20s in the northwestern half of the state and snow falling in many southwestern counties. The heaviest snow will apparently fall in northcentral Oklahoma- and as that blanket of snow ends up on our wheat fields- if it will stay in place and not blow off of the fields- we are setting up for some most welcome moisture as we bounce back to more normal temperatures this weekend into the first of the week.

Our advice- listen to one of our Radio Oklahoma Network Radio stations in your area for the latest weather information- or if you are watching TV, the best choice is News9 in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa- it's the News on 6- KOTV.

We have linked below the latest National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning from this morning.

Click here to read the National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning for much of the state.


State Representative Don Armes talks Rural Priorities for 2007.
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State Representative Don Armes was one of the Wednesday speakers for the seminar on this week for the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program Class 13. Armes is likely going to be one of the key players for agricultural issues in the State House in 2007. He told the OALP group that water will be a hot topic once again in the upcoming session. He says it's a real balancing act between protecting private property rights versus protecting water supplies for future generations of Oklahomans.

After his comments- we visited with the lawmaker and he tells us that we should know the names of those who will be chairing various Committees in the State House as early as next week, and that's hopeful to be key player in the new Natural Resources Committee- which will be a "super' committee with several subcommittees that will reside under it. Agriculture will be one of those subcommittees under Natural Resources, which he says he understands will have both a policy function as well as a budget function within that specific area, which is different than in years past.

We have a link below for you to hear our conversation with Don Armes as we also talk about the large animal vet issue and educating lawmakers and Regents about the importance of a strong Extension service out across the state.

Click here to listen to Ron talk with Don Armes about the upcoming State Legislature for 2007.


Congressman Frank Lucas traveling with Bob Goodlatte in Brazil
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Bob Goodlatte is still Chairman of the House Ag Committee for a few more weeks- and the Virginia Republican is leading a group of his colleagues in Brazil this week. Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas who sits on the House Ag Committee is one of about 10 lawmakers on that trip.

Committee Spokeswoman Alise Kowalski says "the delegation will be meeting with various business and government officials in the region to discuss agricultural trade- specifically focusing on expanding U.S. agricultural exports." I would imagine that they will also be talking with Brazilian government leaders about their continued unhappiness with our farm subsidies- as there has been talk that Brazil plans on going back to the WTO and bring a second case against our farm program payments in crops beyond cotton- saying they are harming their farmers.

We have a time lined up with Congressman Lucas when he gets back to the states to talk with him about his travel and what he learned that could help in writing the 2007 farm bill in the new session of Congress.


Oklahoma Farmers Union's Policy Committee meeting in Oklahoma City.
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The group met yesterday and is scheduled to continue those meetings today- hoping to set policy priorities for the new year for the general farm organization. That's the word from the President of OFU, Ray Wulf. Wulf was another of the speakers for the OALP Seminar in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Wulf made the prediction that the 2007 Farm Bill will happen- we won't get a simple extension of the 2002 farm law- and that he thinks it will be a lot "greener" which translates into the idea that we will see more spending for conservation.


Weather hitting the last day of the Amarillo Farm Show.
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One of the hazards of running an event at this time of year- you never know about the weather- and it looks like the Amarillo Farm Show is getting caught this year with snowy conditions. Some snow has been reported overnight in the Amarillo area while the eastern Texas Panhandle is included in the Winter Storm warning that much of Oklahoma finds it self under.

While the show is in place and ready for their final day of operation- foot traffic may be very light.

Meanwhile, next week's Tulsa Farm Show looks like it may be okay- although temperatures may be somewhat below normal.


Tyson says to expect higher prices for beef, pork and chicken because of the "battle for grain"
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Tyson Foods expects meat prices in all three species that they work with will be more expensive in the days ahead- as they blame the battle of fuel versus feed for higher grain prices- which will push meat prices higher as a result.

James Lochner presented this outlook to a J.P. Morgan securities conference in New York that was also available via webcast. Tyson indicates they are cutting back on poultry production, partly because of an increase in input costs. Lochner says that value added processors like Tyson have an advantage when poultry supplies shrink as that usually means there will be fewer pounds of commodity packaged chicken in the meat case.

Tyson also cited that they have an advantage with their regional distribution of meat processing facilities in the pork and cattle arenas. Tyson says that being close to the livestock they process is important, as "beef is a dime per head per mile to move, so regional capacity utilization is critical."


The Inside the Beltway Line on Animal ID- It Stays Voluntary.
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USDA Secretary Mike Johanns says the national livestock identification system will remain voluntary rather than mandatory. The notion of a required animal ID plan faced resistance from many producers concerned about privacy issues, extra government controls, and the task of giving each animal an extra ear tag. "We're headed down the road of getting people to think in terms of animal ID, albeit voluntary in the first instance and then if there's a greater public need through a spread of disease to go further we can make that decision at a later point," says Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

The animal ID program is aimed at controlling disease among animals, especially bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also called 'mad cow disease.' USDA says market demands will give farmers incentive to sign up for the animal ID program, and Grassley questions the applicability of a mandatory program. "I still have doubts about how it would work, who was going to pay for it because I didn't think farmers should pay for it entirely and it could be very costly, and to make sure that it's something that would be workable and would not be an undue burden especially on small farmers," Grassley says.


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows for their support of our daily Farm News Update. Go to their website at the link at the top of today's email for more information on either the Tulsa Farm Show or the Southern Plains Farm Show.

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



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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