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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 27, 2007!
A
service of Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Small Oklahoma Hog Herd to be destroyed because of tainted
feed.
-- Twice the Wheat Crop of a Year Ago- and maybe a lot more is the
2007 Potential!
-- Economic Impact for Oklahoma this wheat harvest could be a BILLION
dollars more than in 2006!!!!
-- Next week is Stewardship Week- and Monsanto and Chesapeake step up
in supporting Conservation Efforts here in Oklahoma!
-- Water Water Water- a BIG topic in multiple venues for Oklahoma
Agriculture!
-- Coming up tomorrow- Replacements Heifers can be found in Clinton-
and a BIG Field Day in Ardmore!
-- NEXT WEEK- Wheat Tours, Land Judging and we report from
Washington!
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 just concluded Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City, 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. | |
Small Oklahoma Hog Herd to be destroyed because of tainted feed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A small
Oklahoma hog operation has had the misfortune of buying some of the
tainted feed that had been salvaged pet food, contaminated with melamine
from China. Now it appears the 14 sows and 40 weanling pigs will be
"Depopulated" with the owner to be compensated by Uncle Sam. The herd was
described to us as a "show pig" operation.
According to last night's USDA and FDA News Release, "The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today notified State authorities that swine fed adulterated product will not be approved to enter the food supply. Based on information currently available, FDA and USDA believe the likelihood of illness after eating pork from swine fed the adulterated product would be very low; however, the agencies believe it is prudent to take this measure." None of the commercial hog operations in Oklahoma have apparently purchased any of the left over pet food for their hog operations. Nationally, it appears that about 6000 hogs will be depopulated by USDA because of being fed this feed, with hogs in eight states, including the one small hog operation discovered in Oklahoma. Here is the full joint news release from USDA and FDA on the Adulterated Feed Situation | |
Twice the Wheat Crop of a Year Ago- and maybe a lot more is the 2007 Potential! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It appears
that Oklahoma is on track to produce an outstanding wheat crop in 2007, if
Mother Nature cooperates and we are able to dodge too many losses from
several diseases that are showing up in abundance in many wheat fields
across much of the state. Scouts reported on nine different territories
that make up the entire state of Oklahoma, and their raw guess, added
together, comes up with a 2007 Oklahoma Wheat Crop of over 191 million
bushels on some 5.4 million harvested acres. When the farmers and elevator
operators in attendance at the 2007 Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association
offered their thoughts on the size of the overall crop- they were
considerably more conservative in what they see as a 2007 wheat crop-
predicting we would be looking at a 164 million bushel wheat crop, still a
little more than double the crop of last year.
There were some common themes in all of the reports provided Thursday morning. There is a lot of variability as to the maturity of the 2007 crop- we could see some early wheat ready for the combine in about two to three weeks, while many other fields have been slow in moving into heading out. All of the reporters spoke of lots of leaf rust being seen- and lots of head scratching as to how many bushels it could steal from our harvest tally. The northeastern quadrant of Oklahoma got slammed by the Easter Freeze, and will produce a lot less than in 2006- it appears that the Eastern half of North Central Oklahoma (which includes Garfield, Grant, Kay and Noble Counties) will be pushed to match last year's harvest number- some freeze damage and rust are the worries- and the western half of the North Central region will likely beat a year ago- but how much remains to be seen. The other districts around the state will be well above 2006- and one Panhandle observer called the 2007 crop "the crop he has seen" and he is a veteran farmer from the Keyes area. It does seen almost certain that Texas County could be the leading wheat producing county in Oklahoma in 2007- and that Washita County could give the traditional leader Garfield County a run for their money for second place. We talked after the report session with a man who has seen a lot of the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to wheat crops- Dale Fain- and you can hear our conversation with Dale by clicking below. Click here to listen to Ron talk with Dale Fain about the Oklahoma Wheat Crop Numbers! | |
Economic Impact for Oklahoma this wheat harvest could be a BILLION dollars more than in 2006!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's a lot
of economic impact- and there are several unknowns that make it less than
certainty as to how many dollars of net benefit comes when he combines
roll in late May and June this year. But based on the size of the 2006
wheat crop of just 80 million bushels at an average farmgate of around
$4.50 per bushel (a price that we were all around the first week of June
last year)- you get an estimated value of the 2006 wheat crop of around
$360 million dollars based on selling the crop off the combine. It's hard
to say what wheat prices may be this harvest, but it appears we could be
crowding $5.00 per bushel this season- so let's try using $4.90 per bushel
for an average- and with the 164 million bushels that was the "official"
crop estimate reported out on Thursday- we could see a farmgate value of
the 2007 crop around $803 million, an astounding $443 million dollars more
in the pockets of Oklahoma wheat producers this year versus a year ago.
Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU says that a fair "multiplier" of wealth that you
get when you create value from a crop like wheat is a factor of two- you
double that $443 million and you are pushing $900 million worth of "extra"
economic benefit for the Oklahoma Economy compared to 2006. That's not
chopped liver!
To be fair, an unknown that would take away some of the value we have lined out for you is the loss that many have faced because of no wheat pasture in 2006-2007. Oklahoma Wheat Grower Association Executive Director Tim Bartram says this was one of the worst wheat pasture seasons in recent memory- and that cost cattlemen and wheat producers who try to raise forage in the form of wheat gazing millions of dollars in and of itself. When I asked Bartram how many millions- he says that is almost impossible to figure and nobody really has a good handle on that- just that there is a very real loss that offsets some of the possible economic spin that wheat farmers will enjoy in 2007. We talked with Dr. Kim Anderson about this current wheat market- and this impact on the 2007 wheat crop valuation that seems to net out a huge boost to the Oklahoma economy. We also talk about the fact that the food industry has bid up the price of wheat right now to make sure they get first chance at the 2007 wheat crop until they are certain there will be enough wheat produced here in the United States. Click below to listen to Ron and Kim! Click here to listen to Ron with Kim Anderson of OSU on wheat prices. | |
Next week is Stewardship Week- and Monsanto and Chesapeake step up in supporting Conservation Efforts here in Oklahoma! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Stewardship
Week is a time when we recognize the hard work of agriculture producers
and other landowners do to conserve our soil, water, air, wildlife
habitats and other natural resources," Scotty Herriman, President of OACD
said. "It's important that we let folks know what we do to protect the
environment as part of our farming and ranching operations. It's also
important that we educate our fellow ag producers and other citizens on
the importance of the stewardship ethic and the need to care for our
environment. "
Partnering with the OACD April 29th through May 6th in spotlighting the
conservation efforts that are ongoing are two major corporate supporters
of conservation, Chesapeake Energy and Monsanto. Michael Marlow with
Monsanto here in Oklahoma says today's conservation practices will yield
long term benefits- "The practices we put in place today ensure the
sustainability of our valuable land and water for the next fifty to one
hundred years. Stewardship Week is an opportunity for Oklahoma's farmers
and ranchers, as well as consumers, to learn more about some of those
practices." Stewardship Week is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. Since 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and OACD have sponsored the national Stewardship Week program. During this week, Local Conservation Districts will work with media outlets, communities, faith based groups and local schools to promote the concept of Stewardship. This concept involves personal and social responsibility, including a duty to learn about and improve natural resources as we use them wisely, leaving a rich legacy for future generations. | |
Water Water Water- a BIG topic in multiple venues for Oklahoma Agriculture! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last night and
today illustrate how important water issues are for Oklahoma agriculture-
and how agricultural groups are interested in the future of water
utilization in our state.
Yesterday, the third in a series of 42 statewide meetings was held by the Oklahoma Water Initiative to gather local grass roots input on what a future Oklahoma Statewide Water Plan should look like. Last night the meeting was held in Woodward- in May, there will be a half dozen locations where these town hall type meetings will be held- go to our website and our calendar section and take a look at where those meetings will be in May and on into the summer. Today, at least two groups will be focusing on water. The Oklahoma Farm and Ranch Summit offers a panel at the end of their Friday session on the future of Oklahoma's Water and the role it plays in Agriculture- our friend Tom Buchanan with the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District will be one of the panelists there- and Class 13 of the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program is looking at water policy here in the state in most of their Friday session as well. By the way, we had a great time in sharing the dinner hour with the class in a meal sponsored by the Oklahoma Pork Council and Rose Rock Bank last night. | |
Coming up tomorrow- Replacements Heifers can be found in Clinton- and a BIG Field Day in Ardmore! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rex Flaming,
of Ranchers and Farmers Livestock Auction in Clinton, Oklahoma, will host
a Commercial Angus Sale on Saturday, April 28, beginning at 12:30 p.m. The
sale will feature 300+ Replacement Heifers 150 Northern First Cow/Calf
Pairs 75 Fall Bred Cows 65 Cow/Calf Paris (5-6 yr.) 30+ Cow/Calf Pairs
(4-5 yr.) 10 Angus Bulls 50 Fall Calving Cows from Express Ranches Buyers
are asked to please pre-register. For more information, Rex can be reached
at 580-331-8547.
Meanwhile in Ardmore, the Noble Foundation has their big spring Field Day planned for tomorrow- starting at 8:30 am as participants will gather at the Ardmore Convention Center and be taken tot he various tour sites from there. This Field Day will feature everything from the latest forage production research to innovative livestock management to wildlife management and discussion about how to stick your toe into Switchgrass production for the expected someday "boom" in cellulosic ethanol production. Our website link above to our calendar section includes a link to the Noble Foundation site for complete information on tomorrows' Field Day- or you can call the Noble Foundation at 580-2224-6501 for last minute registration and information! | |
NEXT WEEK- Wheat Tours, Land Judging and we report from Washington! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next week, the
big Kansas Wheat Quality Council Tour will be happening- and there will be
several Oklahomans participating in that tour, including Mark Hodges of
the Oklahoma Wheat Commission- we hope to get some updates from Mark's
perspective while he is on the scene in Kansas as tour participants debate
how much freeze damage is out there.
Here in Oklahoma, there are several wheat field days planned for next week- including Grady County on May 2, and both Canadian County and Major County on May 3- check with your local Extension agent for details on locations and times. We will have a full listing of the wheat field days and tours that have been given to us available to you on Monday. Next week, the National Land Judging and Soil Judging Competition returns once again to the Oklahoma City area- as teams from a bunch of states will be vying for honors in the premiere land judging contest in America! While all these things are going on- and there are others going on as well- check out our calendar for the Eastern Oklahoma Field Day in Poteau next week for example- we will be in Washington for our annual gathering with other Farm Broadcasters at the Washington Watch event Monday through Wednesday. Top USDA officials, key lawmakers and the lobbyists who represent ag and rural groups are among those we will be meeting with early next week- and we will be reporting on what they tell us on the Radio Oklahoma Network and right here in our morning email. | |
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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