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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday December 26,
2006 A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Oklahoma Senate Ag Committee is set for 2007
-- Great News on Paul Jackson making it home for Christmas
-- Senator Coburn pledges that he will work to help secure Disaster
Aid in January.
-- OALP Alums- An Important End of the Year reminder!
-- Ag Enhancement and Diversification Grant Applications due in a
week.
-- Cattle on Feed a yawner
-- Between the Holidays- generally quiet before the rush of the New
Year.
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. | |
Oklahoma Senate Ag Committee is set for 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Senate is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans as get closer
to the start of the 51st Legislature and as we have mentioned earlier,
there will be Co-Chairs from both parties for each of the standing
committees.
For the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, here is the Committee assignments announced this past Friday. Co-chairs are Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, and Charles Wyrick, D- Fairland. Members are Don Barrington, R-Lawton; Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore; John Ford, R- Bartlesville; Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee; Tom Ivester, D-Sayre; Todd Lamb, R-Edmond; Jeff Rabon, D- Hugo; Mike Schulz, R-Altus; Anthony Sykes, R- Moore; and Jim Wilson, D-Tahlequah. One important rule when it comes to dealing with lawmakers and state government is to know who has the pursestrings. In the case of appropriations pertaining to agriculture measures, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that has oversight is the Sub Committee for Natural Resources and Regulatory Services. Members there include Co- chairs Randy Bass, D-Lawton, and David Myers, R- Ponca City. Members are Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City; Ron Justice, R-Chickasha; Andrew Rice, D- Oklahoma City; Joe Sweeden, D-Pawhuska; Anthony Sykes, R-Moore and Charles Wyrick, D-Fairland. | |
Great News on Paul Jackson making it home for Christmas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Word from Mark
Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission is that Paul Jackson was able to
go home from the hospital this past Thursday before the Christmas holiday
weekend. Paul is a longterm appointed member of the Oklahoma Wheat
Commission and farms just outside Apache.
His wife Dosia told Mark that being home was great medicine for Paul and that he was resting a lot better, his vitals were improving and the state of the art electronics that they have him on at this time are doing great. Paul has been in and out of the hospital for several months now- and it appears to all be linked back to a blood infection that has been very tough to isolate and treat. Keep those prayers going for Paul for a full recovery very early in 2007. | |
Senator Coburn pledges that he will work to help secure Disaster Aid in January. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The junior
Senator from Oklahoma blocked what he called was a symbolic vote on
Disaster Aid at the beginning of this month at the end of the Lame Duck
Session of the old Congress. That vote was to attach $4.9 billion worth of
disaster aid to the Ag Appropriations Bill which had already been declared
as dead before this last minute vote was allowed by the Republican
leadership. Coburn told reporters at the time that he would not allow that
measure to go forward because of the earmarks that infested the entire
bill- as well as the promise of those who supported the Horse Slaughter
bill to attach that measure to the Appropriations measure as well at the
eleventh hour.
All of that is now officially history as we approach next week when the "new" Congress rides into Washington with Harry Reid from Nevada and his team riding herd on the Senate floor- assuming Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota will be fit to serve. And in the midst of all the confusion that comes with a major turnover of power like we are facing in both bodies of Congress- Senator Tom Coburn says that this go round he will be one of those promoting Ag Disaster Aid for farmers to the tune of up to $4 billion. Coburn will be looking for an offset to match up with this spending- something the Democrats have promised to do as they assume power in the new year. The Maverick Senator from Oklahoma talked about his intentions with the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau before Christmas- and V.P. of Communications for Farm Bureau, Sam Knipp, has an audio report on what the Coburn had to say about Disaster Aid- we have the link to that report below. Click to hear Senator Coburn's comments on Disaster Aid possibilities come January 2007. | |
OALP Alums- An Important End of the Year reminder! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are more
than 350 Alums of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program around-dating back to
Class I in the early 1980s- the class that I am a proud member of- and for
each of the Alums- I was asked to deliver a reminder as we hit the final
week of the old year- NOW is the time to get your contribution in support
OALP in order for the program to be able to match the generous support of
the Noble Foundation. In 2006- that match is $15,000. The Noble Foundation
will double each dollar you contribute as an Alum up to that $15,000
level.
While some graduates of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program will undoubtedly give more- if 300 of the graduates would give $50 back to this rural leadership development effort- we would meet the Challenge in full! Such broad based support would really validate the program to the many groups and companies who have been OALP supporters down through the years. To contribute- make your checks payable to the OSU Foundation/OALP.
They can be mailed to the following address: | |
Ag Enhancement and Diversification Grant Applications due in a week. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A week from
today- January 2, 2007, is the deadline to submit applications for the
Oklahoma Agricultural Enhancement and Diversification program. If you have
some innovative ideas you would like to implement into your farm or ranch
operation- or your value-added enterprise- you need to check out the web
site and get moving on the application.
There will be both Grants as well as some interest free loans that will be awarded to successful applicants in three categories: Cooperative Marketing Loans, Marketing and Utilization Loans and Basic and Applied Research Loans. We have linked below the location on the ODA web site where more information is available. Contact person for this program at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture is Jason Harvey- his phone number is 405-522-5563. | |
Cattle on Feed a yawner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There was no
really big surprises coming from Friday afternoon's Cattle on Feed report
from USDA- as the report showed 2% more cattle on feed in the major
feedlot states as of December 1, 2006 compared to one year ago. The
placements number was in the middle of the range of guesses from
pre-report surveys, while the marketings number for November 2006 compared
to last year was pretty strong- up six percent from a year ago and at the
high end of trader's guesses.
Dan Vaught with A.G. Edwards says in his online commentary that the report shows that marketings may support the nearby futures here at the beginning of the week. He called the November placement number as well as the total number of cattle on feed rather unremarkable in that they were pretty well expected by the trade. Vaught says that most traders were expecting the spike in corn prices to "strangle the cattle industry's enthusiasm for buying and placing replacement yearlings." The one bearish note that Vaught brings up is the fact that heavier cattle placements- those cattle weighing over 800 pounds- increased 15% from a year ago. He has the opinion that this might "suggest feedlot operators are planning to feed and market the heavier animals aggressively. That is, they'll probably try to feed them about three months, then move them out to packers." He says that could pressure April Live Cattle Futures today. | |
Between the Holidays- generally quiet before the rush of the New Year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have a lot
on our plate early in 2007- including coverage early on of the 2007
American Farm Bureau Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Between now and
then, it will be fairly quiet as we allow 2006 to expire and greet 2007
next week.
We do remind you virtually all livestock auction barns are closed this week- some will reopen next week- some like those that operate primarily on Mondays will not reopen until January 8, 2007. Check the schedule of the sale barn you frequent if you have plans to hauling cattle anytime soon. Futures will be trading normal hours today through Thursday- then an early close at noon central time on Friday and closed for New Years Day next Monday. | |
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. | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
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