From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 07:01
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 Wednesday December 20, 2006
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Christmas Gift Number ONE!!! Driest areas of the Oklahoma Wheat Belt FINALLY get substantial rains!
-- Christmas Gift Number TWO!!! Japanese restaurants need more U.S. beef and are demanding their government ease off the left over restrictions!
-- Cattle on Feed numbers due out on Friday- Prereport guesses expect two percent more cattle on feed than last December first.
-- Wheat Industry claims $21 Billion in benefit to U.S. Economy.
-- Countdown to Christmas- Five Days to Go!
-- American Farm Bureau will hear both ends of the political spectrum in Salt Lake City come January.

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 Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City April 19-21, 2007, as well as the Tulsa Farm Show held each December. 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.


Christmas Gift Number ONE!!! Driest areas of the Oklahoma Wheat Belt FINALLY get substantial rains!
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While there are many fields that simply never got enough rain to germinate- many of our wheat acres in northwestern Oklahoma will be helped tremendously with the steady rains of the last twenty four to thirty hours. As we write this on Wednesday morning, the precipitation totals for the very driest counties from this fall all seem to be registering with an at least an inch of rain- and mostly two inches or more since Monday evening.

Butler in Custer County is the Mesonet location that has recorded the most rainfall through this morning- three inches. On the down side- Garfield and Grant Counties have received some rain- but are on the light side of the amounts received to this point. And, we don't have any real precipitation totals from the Panhandle as they are getting the white stuff and it will have to melt and get into the soil moisture profile before we can gauge the impact for those folks.

There were also some very nice rainfall amounts recorded in the south central counties of the state- so this has been a significant and very welcome rain event in many of the counties of our state- and for many of our farmers and ranchers- make it a little easier to smile and say Merry Christmas here at the end of 2006.


Christmas Gift Number TWO!!! Japanese restaurants need more U.S. beef and are demanding their government ease off the left over restrictions!
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While it's not a Christmas present where you can hold the box, shake it and wonder what is inside- the word from the Japanese Food Service Association and several other Japanese restaurant operators has the potential to be as handy a gift as a crowbar that can end up helping you pull down the barriers that are in place against U.S. beef in Asia.

Kunio Chiba with the Japanese Food Service Association says his group and others will be submitting a petition as early as this Friday to their government- demanding access to more U.S. beef. Chiba has told reporters that "Wherever U.S. beef is served, it has been very popular" adding that "Tender U.S. beef has long been loved by the Japanese. The current import restrictions are hurting beef restaurants all over Japan."

If the Japanese government will adjust their standards to that which has been set forward by the international body that governs animal disease control globally, the OIE, the trade restriction dam would be burst and U.S. beef would have the opportunity to fight for a substantial place in what was once our largest beef export market once again. Through October, we had sold only $20 million worth of U.S. beef into Japan this year in a little over three months, compared to $1.4 billion we sold to Japan in 2003, BEFORE the Cow that stole Christmas. So, as you can see, this might turn out to be a REALLY EXCELLENT Christmas gift to the beef cattle industry here in Oklahoma and across the country if the market place pressures work.


Cattle on Feed numbers due out on Friday- Prereport guesses expect two percent more cattle on feed than last December first.
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Joe Victor of Allendale is telling us that we will likely end the string of several months of record large cattle on feed numbers in the next USDA Cattle on Feed report that is due out on Friday after the markets close for the week and just ahead of the long holiday weekend.

Victor tells us "Lower placements are expected for the third month in a row. Sharply higher corn costs are seen as the primary driver. Lower placements and stronger marketings are expected to lower the total Cattle on Feed as of Dec 1 to 1.4% higher than last year at this time. That is the largest Dec 1 estimate since 2000. This ends the three straight months of record COF levels."

Pre report guesses that we have seen range from one to two and half percent more cattle on feed compared to last December first. The number of placements into feedlots November of this year versus last year ranges from five percent less to sixteen percent less than in 2005. Marketing numbers are pegged from one to six percent more than last November.


Wheat Industry claims $21 Billion in benefit to U.S. Economy.
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A new study on the economic impact of wheat shows that the crop contributed an average of $21.5 billion per year to the U.S. economy from 2003 to 2005. The study also showed that an average of 206,000 jobs were available over that time due to wheat production and use. “This study points out something most wheat growers already knew, that wheat growing and the income it allows to flow through the economy are important to local communities and the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Dale Schuler, National Association of Wheat Growers president and a wheat grower in Carter, Mont.

“Keeping wheat growers on the ground isn’t just important for the sake of food security – it’s a $21 billion decision that affects the economy as well as people’s jobs,” he said. “We are proud to represent this important sector of the economy and will continue to work to ensure that growers can stay on the land.”

The Impact Analyses and Planning (IMPLAN) software package and database of technical coefficients were used to make the study’s estimates. The study looked at direct, indirect and induced economic impact on the state and national levels. It was commissioned by NAWG and done by James W. Richardson, Joe L. Outlaw and J. Marc Raulston at the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.


Countdown to Christmas- Five Days to Go!
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Most of our Livestock Auction barns are winding down and won't be reopening until 2007 rolls around. Usually, for those sale barns that operate on the day of Christmas and New Years, that means a two week halt in operations. However, I see from the latest market report from the Joplin Regional Stockyards that they just can't wait for the 2007 marketing year to begin- as they plan to take Christmas off next Monday, but will hold a cattle sale on Monday, January 1, 2007.

In the case of our agricultural futures, the Chicago, Kansas City and New York (Cotton) markets will all close at 12 noon central this coming Friday and reopen on Tuesday, December 26th. The same schedule is planned for the New Year's weekend, markets close at 12 noon Friday the 29th, are closed for three days through January first, and reopen at their normal times on Tuesday, January 2, 2007.


American Farm Bureau will hear both ends of the political spectrum in Salt Lake City come January.
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Key farm policy leaders from both political parties will headline the Monday agenda for the 2007 American Farm Bureau convention, being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns will make a return appearance to the AFBF meeting during their Monday morning session, while the new Democratic Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson of Minnesota will offer his ideas on how Congress may shape new farm policy during their Monday afternoon meetings.

You may recall that we have heard from both AFBF President Bob Stallman as well as lead lobbyist for the group, Mary Kay Thatcher, that the grass roots group is likely to reconsider its current policy position at their annual meeting, which calls now for an extension of current farm policy for at least one year and perhaps two. Both of the Democratic Chairs of the Congressional Ag Committees, as well as the Administration, have signaled their desire to hammer out new farm policy in 2007- so the current AFBF policy position appears to be behind the curve.

Oklahoma will have a good delegation of farm leaders heading for Utah in a couple of weeks- led by current President Steve Kouplen, who will be leading the delegation for the last time as state President. He will not seek reelection next fall, which means that a new Oklahoma Farm Bureau President will be in that role in January 2008.


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



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