From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 07:28
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 Friday June 8, 2007!
A service of Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Fate of Hooker Beef Plant Still Up in the Air.
-- Wheat Harvest Continues to Look Ugly to Fair in Spots.
-- Peterson tells Reporters- COOL will happen no later than September 2008.
-- House Ag Committee Farm Bill Timeline Unveiled.
-- Chairman Peterson- our goal is to "make everyone equally unhappy!"
-- Pecan Confab Set for Lawton June 17-19
-- Check out the Cream of the Crop TOMORROW at the Kris Black Sale at the Ranch!

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 recently 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.


Fate of Hooker Beef Plant Still Up in the Air.
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Smithfield Foods remains uncertain about the fate of that proposed beef processing plant they announced with great fanfare last fall would be built at a site just outside of Hooker in the Oklahoma Panhandle. In a teleconference following their latest earnings report, the Chief Executive Officer of Smithfield, Larry Pope told reporters that "we are going to do something in the next 90 days. We re going to make some decisions."

Pope acknowledged that one of the reasons that the groundbreaking for the Hooker beef plant had been into a holding pattern was the interest that Smithfield had in buying Swift and Company. However, that opportunity has gone by the wayside with the announcement that a major Brazilian meat packer has bought the assets of Swift.

Pope says that Smithfield is not unhappy about not being the new owner of Swift- at least not at the price reported. He said that price was above the level at which Smithfield had been interested in buying Swift. If Smithfield decides to break ground in Oklahoma and build the Panhandle facility- it will be a state of the art plant, with a 5000 head per day capacity and the ability to cut those carcasses into the exact specifications demanded by both domestic and foreign customers.


Wheat Harvest Continues to Look Ugly to Fair in Spots.
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We received several reports yesterday from our request for you to update us and everyone else on what you have hit as you begin the 2007 wheat harvest. I would call the reports as being from fair to awful. Here's a quick rundown of what we got back from several folks:

I Think the first report we got back yesterday morning came from the Chattanooga area of Jagger wheat coming in 55 to 57 pounds test weight with a yield per acre of 30 bushels- wheat that this farmer was thinking had 40 to 50 bushel per acre potential.
The Apache Farmers Coop report that they started cutting wheat late Monday. Test weights are mostly 54 to 57 and guesses on yields are 15 to 28 bushels per acre.
Moving to a location west of Fairview, we are told of Jagger wheat that is 49 pounds test weight with a guess of 21 bushels per acre. The comment by the folks here is that you have to be careful and not run the fan too fast or you blow all the wheat out the back- it is that light!

In Alva- we get a report of starting yesterday and the fact it is really ugly- tests weights there at 53 pounds- the comment is that it is Jagger and that there is a lot more freeze damage than folks were first thinking.
We also got a report from the Miami area in far northeast Oklahoma which was not too bad- the producer there saying it was some of his better wheat this spring- a seventy acre field of 2174 that had a test weight of 54-56 pounds per bushel and he is guessing the yield at 25 bushels per acre. We also have a report from Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission who was out and about again yesterday- and in fact, Mark will be our guest on our Saturday morning TV update, In the Field with Ron Hays on News9. In the meantime, you can listen to our audio report by clicking below as summarize all the stuff we are hearing as harvest unfolds here in 2007.

Click here for our audio harvest update- and remember we will have further updates over the weekend at our website, www.oklahomafarmreport.com!


Peterson tells Reporters- COOL will happen no later than September 2008.
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In today's Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network, we report on the fact that Smithfield is trying to make up its mind on the Beef Processing plant in Hooker- and we have comments from Colin Peterson on the issue of COOL. In his regular teleconference with reporters yesterday, I had the chance to ask the Chairman of the House Ag Committee about the letter that he helped write to stakeholders that will be impacted by Country of Origin labeling- telling them that it is going to happen and that if you want a final shot at making any changes- you better come up with a plan NOW.

Peterson tells us that there are not enought votes to repeal COOL- or delay it again- so it will absoultely happen on or before September 30, 2008. He adds "deal with it."

We have linked today's Beef Buzz below from our Beef Buzz page on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and you can click on below to listen.

Click here to listen to Ron with the latest Beef Buzz from the Radio Oklahoma Network


House Ag Committee Farm Bill Timeline Unveiled.
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The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson told reporters yesterday about his planned timeline on running the 2007 farm bill through his committee and onto the floor of the full House.

He expects the mark up of the Commodity Title of the 2007 Farm Bill to happen next Thursday, June 12- with the full committee to consider all the parts of the document the following Tuesday, June 19. I would guess it is possible that we might see that discussion spill over into Wednesday of next week as well. The timing is interesting for the Oklahoma Farmers Union/American Farmers and Ranchers as they have scheduled a lobbying trip to Washington the week of June 18- the week that the full committee will have their focus directly on the final draft of their version of the farm bill. We have been invited to accompany that group to Washington- and will be having the chance to give you a first hand report of the mark up of 2007 farm bill from an inside the beltway perspective.

Peterson also told reporters that the House Leadership has him penciled in for the week of July 17 to run the bill through the full House. That will be the real dog and pony show to watch- as it is expected that Congressman Ron Kind of Wisconsin and likely several others that will have amendments that would basically gut the work of the Committee and radically change farm policy as we now know it.


Chairman Peterson- our goal is to "make everyone equally unhappy!"
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A couple of points on the actual farm policy discussion jumped out at me as we heard from Colin Peterson, Chairman of the House Ag Committee, yesterday in a telephone news conference.

The first point is that Peterson is convinced that the political reality will force some trimming of Direct Payments will be needed to satisfy those urban members of Congress who don't like payments- especially when they perceive that actual farm prices are high.

The second point is that no extra money will be put into the Commodity Title if the Chairman has his way. He believes that you can move some money around within the Commodity Title to improve the safety net for farmers- but that new money is not very doable- in fact, he says it's a no win situation for Committee members, saying tongue in cheek in his deadpan way, "our goal is to make everyone equally unhappy" in this farm bill process- and he adds that we are off to a good start.

Click here and go to our Featured Audio Page where we will have a special report with Ron and Congressman Peterson on these farm bill issues- it should be available by mid morning Friday!


Pecan Confab Set for Lawton June 17-19
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The 77th annual convention of the Oklahoma Pecan Growers Association is set for Sunday through Tuesday- June 17 through 19 at the Best Western and Convention Center in Lawton.

Their Educational meetings will happen on Monday, with a wide variety of topics planned for the day. They will discuss everything from establishing an orchard to fertilizing it with chicken litter to harvest- and will have the National President of the National Pecan Council, Tom Stevenson, on hand with this Crystal Ball to look at the changes ahead for the business.

Tuesday, they have a Field Day planned at the Montz Orchard in Charlie, Texas, just across the state line. You can still get their convention rate at the Best Western through this Sunday- and if you have questions about this event- contact Mike Smith at OSU at 405-744-6463.


Check out the Cream of the Crop TOMORROW at the Kris Black Sale at the Ranch!
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Coming up tomorrow, Saturday, June 9th 12 Noon- make plans to check out the Kris Black's Cream of the Crop Female Sale. This sale will feature over 450 replacement females including Fall bred cows and heifers and spring pairs. This set includes many black baldies and Maine- Simm-Angus composites females. Sale will be held at the ranch 15 minutes north of Cheyenne, OK and just west of Roll on Hwy 33. For more information 800- 975-6313 or 580-309- 0711.

And we have a website link for you to go from Collins Cattle that will give you more information on the entire offering to be sold this Saturday at the Kris Black Cream of the Crop Sale.

Click here for details on the Kris Black Cream of the Crop Sale planned for this Saturday.


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 and make plans to be an exhibitor at either the Tulsa Farm Show this December or the Southern Plains Farm Show next spring!

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



God Bless! You can reach us at the following:
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phone: 405-473-6144
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