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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday February 8,
2007! A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Canada finds Male version of a Mad Cow in Alberta.
-- Key Member of Oklahoma House talks Rural Oklahoma
Priorities.
-- Animal Identification- for personal gain and the greater
good!
-- South Korea offers U.S. Beef Industry some concessions-
sorta.
-- Oklahoma Dairy Days next week in Chickasha and Pryor
-- Oklahoma Department of Ag looking for your Ag Hall of Fame
nomination!
-- Take a listen to Ron on KOKC Radio in Oklahoma City!
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. | |
Canada finds Male version of a Mad Cow in Alberta. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Canadian
Food Inspection Agency is confirming that a mature bull in Alberta has
tested positive for BSE, or Mad Cow Disease. The Bull was apparently
discovered at the farm level by their national surveillance program in
Canada. No part of that carcass has been allowed into the Canadian food
supply.
The agency did not say how old the animal was, but said that based on preliminary information it was "within the age range" of other Canadian cattle found to have have been infected with the disease. "This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of infective material, most likely during its first year of life," CFIA said in a statement. This is the ninth case of BSE found by Canada since 2003- actually case number TEN if you include the Canadian dairy cow that was found in Washington state in December 2003 that has cost the US cattle industry hundreds of millions of dollars. | |
Key Member of Oklahoma House talks Rural Oklahoma Priorities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the full House Committee for Natural Resources, Dale DeWitt of Braman,
visited with us right after the Tom Dorr visit earlier this week- and we
talked about some of the key issues that he sees the Oklahoma legislature
wrestling with here in 2007. Top of mind is developing a comprehensive
water plan for the state- and keeping our Oklahoma water in Oklahoma-
DeWitt says he believes that this will help more arid areas of the state
to continue to develop and that will mean more state revenue for the
entire state- DeWitt contends that translates into a more prosperous
Oklahoma border to border.
DeWitt also tells us that his measure that would declare animal waste as NOT being a hazardous material is being combined with a similar measure offer by Terry Hyman of Leon- and that Representative Hyman will carry that effort in the House. He calls this measure critically important for the future of livestock agriculture. DeWitt also talked with us about directing monies to OSU Extension and Research efforts. A year ago, $2.9 million was allocated that direction by the lawmakers- but the Regents for Higher Education did not honor the wishes of the Legislature in directing the money that direction- DeWitt says they are working on ways to make sure that is not allowed to happen again. You can listen to DeWitt's comments from our conversation with him by clicking below. Click here to listen to Ron talk with Dale DeWitt on State Legislative Issues for 2007. | |
Animal Identification- for personal gain and the greater good! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You never know
who you might run into as you work your way around a massive trade show
like the one that is connected to the Cattle Industry Convention annually.
This year, as we have reported to you- we covered the festivities in
Nashville, and one of the more interesting folks that we talked with with
was Brian Bolton, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Allflex
(you know, the ear tag people).
We talked with Bolton about his companies' role in the electronic ID tag market- he tells us they have been making EID tags for almost a dozen years- have worked with the cattle industry globally in this arena and hopes that the U.S. will catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to Animal ID. We feature our talk with Brian Bolton on today's Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network, and have it linked below. Bolton says that the easy profits of the last few years are now behind us in the cattle business- and now it's time for cattle producers to examine source verification as a way to preserve identity of your cattle and receive a premium for date of birth information and more. That's the personal side of Animal ID where it can be profitable. He says there is a bigger picture reason for Animal ID- the ability to quickly track disease outbreaks when and if they occur- which will assure consumers that we have their safety in mind as we produce the beef they enjoy. He says he hopes that the US industry will embrace a National Animal ID program to address that second area- the big picture of the industry's best interests. Click here for today's Beef Buzz with Ron and Brian Bolton of Allflex. | |
South Korea offers U.S. Beef Industry some concessions- sorta. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The second day
of technical talks in Seoul between the U.S. and South Korea was delayed
by several hours because of farmers that were protesting any U.S. beef
allowed into their country- because it could force them to lower the
prices that consumers pay for their beef. The farmers blocked the road to
the location of the talks- and egged the van that carried Dr. Chuck
Lambert and rest of the US team.
The Korea Times is reporting that once the talks got underway on Thursday- South Korea did offer the idea that they might be willing to just reject individual boxes of beef in which they found any traces of bone instead of an entire shipment. There is no indication if they are willing to just sample a few boxes from each shipment- or if they stick to their plan from last fall of inspecting every box- and there is not word on any U.S. reaction to these trial balloons being floated by the Koreans. | |
Oklahoma Dairy Days next week in Chickasha and Pryor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma
Cooperative Extension is sponsoring a Dairy Days event starting at 9:30 on
February 12th at the Grady County Fairgrounds in Chickasha- and will
repeat the program two days later on February 14th in Pryor at the
Northeast Vo-Tech Center. The goal of these meetings is to help focus
dairy producer sights on efficiency and sustainability of their
enterprise. This year’s guest speaker is the University of Minnesota’s Dr.
Les Hansen, who is one of the World’s leading authorities on cow fertility
and the genetic effects of selecting for reproductive traits. Dr. Hansen
will discuss breeding high- producing dairy cows that are healthy and
fertile.
Also on the program in both locations will be Noah Litherland, OSU Extension Dairy Specialist, OSU's livestock market economist Dr. Derrell Peel and Oklahoma Department of Ag Vet Dr. Mike Pruitt. To get more information, or to let them know you are planning on attending, call Dr. Noah Litherland in Stillwater at 405-744-6058. | |
Oklahoma Department of Ag looking for your Ag Hall of Fame nomination! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nominations
are being accepted for this year’s recipient of the Governor’s Outstanding
Achievement Award in Agriculture. The person selected will become the 2007
inductee into the Oklahoma Agricultural Hall of Fame. Nominations will be
accepted until close of business March 15. The Oklahoma Department of
Agriculture distributes nomination forms and accepts the completed
applications. An independent selection committee comprised of leaders from
various agricultural organizations chooses each year’s inductee.
Nomination forms are available from the ODA by calling Jason Harvey, (405) 522-5563, or at the agency web page which we have linked below. Any living person who derives the bulk of their income, or has retired from an agricultural enterprise, is eligible for nomination. Candidates for consideration are agricultural leaders who have exemplified personal values, dedication to community service, excelled in production and performance and who have provided a strong role model for the state’s youth. “This is the most prestigious award in Oklahoma agriculture and I think it’s even more special this year due to our centennial celebration,” said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture, Terry Peach. “Our state was opened for settlement by farmers and ranchers so the award will probably get even more attention than ever this year.” Last year’s inductee into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame was Murray Williams, Altus, OK cotton grower and livestock producer. | |
Take a listen to Ron on KOKC Radio in Oklahoma City! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As we continue
to spotlight our radio affiliates on the Radio Oklahoma Network- we are
excited about being on one of the biggest signals of any radio station in
the state! Three times a day, you can hear Ron Hays and Ed Richards on
KOKC on the AM dial at 1520.
Weekday mornings- morning farm news with Ron Hays is heard at 6:35 am- midday more farm news with Ron is heard at approximately 12:12 pm just before the midday Paul Harvey news and at just after 3:30 pm- we have an afternoon market update with Ed Richards to recap the futures markets from that day's trading. The early morning signal of Talk Radio 1520 KOKC covers the entire western half of the state- while the reports heard at midday and the afternoon can be heard in about a ninety mile radius of OKC. Give us a listen on KOKC- another of our GREAT radio partners that blanket the state many times each day with agricultural reports! | |
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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