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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday January 31,
2007! A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Ag Disaster Legislative Efforts are a DISASTER!
-- Governor Henry wants to build a world class Bioenergy Center in
Oklahoma.
-- Johanns to unveil the USDA Farm Bill Proposal this morning in
Washington- Tom Dorr will make an in-state visit to Oklahoma to explain
the USDA Plan.
-- Meat Goat Production to be featured in May.
-- A "Grape" way to get a Grade! (and some valuable knowledge to
boot)
-- Roger Mills County Cattlemen will auction 95 bulls this
Saturday!
-- Bovine BLOG is up and running!
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. | |
Ag Disaster Legislative Efforts are a DISASTER! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So says Jay
Truitt, who heads up the Washington office of the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association as cattle producers are arriving in frigid Nashville for
the 2007 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show. We talked with Jay
about a variety of subjects and he told us when it comes to disaster
assistance that there are six or seven bills now dropped in on both sides
of Capitol Hill- and the problem is he's doesn't see any easy answers as
to how their supporters are going to come up with a way to pay for them.
Truitt says he has not idea what the NCBA's policy will be on ethanol- he does expect the group to could up with some language on the issue before the end of the week. That may include calling on the federal government not to subsidize corn production for ethanol at the expense of feed grain needs in the domestic livestock sector. We also talked with Jay about South Korea and he says it is a good thing that our government has refused to talk with them the last couple of times that Korean officials have claimed that meetings were set up to discuss the problem with bone chips and how we get to commercially viable trade. Truitt thinks that the South Koreans are beginning to understand that if they really want a Free Trade Agreement with the United States- they really will have to solve the beef trade issue first- or the FTA is going to sink and will rest in very deep political waters. | |
Governor Henry wants to build a world class Bioenergy Center in Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Governor Brad
Henry signaled his desire to build a world class Bioenergy Center
somewhere in Oklahoma and will be asking the Legislature to come up with
some dollars to begin the project this session. The Governor says that
Oklahoma has strong roots in both energy and agriculture- and that the key
players early on would include the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
University and the Noble Foundation.
He believes that we have a head start over most people with the research that has already been done by OSU and the Noble Foundation in the Cellulosic Ethanol arena- and that we can use a Bioenergy Center to take that research advantage and help Oklahoma stay a leader in energy. The Governor says he will be asking for $40 million from the lawmakers over a four year period. The Republican Co-leader of the State Senate, Glenn Coffee, says the Governor's proposal is "worthy of serious study and consideration." Meanwhile, the top Democrat in the Senate, Mike Morgan, gushed quite a bit more than his Republican co-leader in saying "I applaud the Governor for coming forward with a bold initiative to keep Oklahoma among the world leaders in energy." | |
Johanns to unveil the USDA Farm Bill Proposal this morning in Washington- Tom Dorr will make an in-state visit to Oklahoma to explain the USDA Plan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secretary of
Agriculture Mike Johanns will be making his farm bill proposal known in a
much ballyhooed media briefing this morning- and then will make a couple
of stops out across the fruited plain later in the day to promote his
ideas. And- he will keep on pitching his plan on both Thursday and Friday
as well. In addition, he will have Undersecretaries making a similar pitch
the next several days- including Tom Dorr, who will be making a stop in
Oklahoma City next Tuesday.
USDA's media advisory states "Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr will report back to the people on the Bush Administration's farm bill proposals. These proposals address the issues and take into account the many views heard during the past 52 farm bill forums." USDA has asked me to moderate the Tuesday afternoon session in the State House Chamber at the Capitol starting at 12:30 pm. It's my understanding that Undersecretary Dorr will offer some highlights of the proposal- and then have time for questions. Here in Nashville, one respected Washington watcher says that he believes that the Secretary understands he has a very small window of opportunity to be relevant in the farm bill debate as he makes this announcement- and that only if the media as well as constituents bring up elements of the Administration's farm bill repeatedly to members of Congress- it will forgotten by those members who will be doing the writing of the 2007 farm bill as they pull policy together into a total package. | |
Meat Goat Production to be featured in May. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had one of
our e-mail subscribers drop me a note recently, saying that I needed to
offer some stories that relate to the goat industry here in the state.
Well, we just an early flier on an upcoming Meat Goat Conference that will
be held in Norman at the Cleveland County fairgrounds on the 5th of May.
They will be talking about the economic impact of Meat Goats here in the state, modifying your farm or ranch to handle goats, parasite control, nutritional considerations and meat goat selection as just a few of the topics that will be dealt with. No word on a speaker lineup as of yet- so we'll pass that along to you as the date comes closer. For pre- registration information, contact Justin Rogers in Norman at the Extension office at 405-321-4774. | |
A "Grape" way to get a Grade! (and some valuable knowledge to boot) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grape
production is rapidly becoming an established industry within Oklahoma,
said Eric Stafne, fruit and nut crop specialist with the Oklahoma State
University Cooperative Extension Service. In an effort to familiarize
potential grape growers with what it takes to become a successful grape
producer, OSU is offering the Oklahoma Grape Management course. The course
begins March 8 and will run through Sept. 27. Participants will meet once
during the months of March, April, May, June, July, August and September.
This schedule coincides with the grape growing season.
“The classes will cover topics such as vineyard establishment, site selection, weed control, pruning and training, disease management, propagation, irrigation, business management, wine quality evaluation, pest control, equipment and grape varieties,” he said. “We’ll also discuss important issues such as money investment, risks and the commitment required to establish a prosperous business.” The course is limited to 70 participants. Registration is $250 per person. For more information, call Stephanie Larimer at 405-744-5404, or email her at stephanie.larimer@okstate.edu. | |
Roger Mills County Cattlemen will auction 95 bulls this Saturday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the 29th
annual Roger Mills Cattlemen's Association annual bull sale is set for
this Saturday, Feb. 3rd at the Roger Mills County Ag Pavilion just outside
of Cheyenne, Oklahoma. They have 95 outstanding bulls from some of the
leading cattle producers in Western Oklahoma.
If you would like more information on the sale, give Lynda Lucas a call at 580-983-2773 or Earl Bottom at 580-821-0633. | |
Bovine BLOG is up and running! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have
already posted several times at our Blog site on
www.oklahomafarmreport.com. Among the things we have discussed and linked
is a large hunk of an extensive interview that had with Jay Truitt, head
of the Washington office of the NCBA, my thoughts on Monte Reese retiring
from the Cattlemen's Beef Board and an interesting take on the survey
result from the Beef Checkoff survey that showed three fourths of the
cattlemen polled by USDA say leave the amount of the beef checkoff alone.
We will post several times today on our BOVINE BLOG- so go to the link and check in from time to time all this week. We have linked straight to the Blog below. Click here for the BOVINE BLOG from the Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show. | |
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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