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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday October 2,
2007! A
service of Cusack Meats, Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma &
Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Good Forage Conditions in Oklahoma- Have they Lessened the Need
for Wheat Pasture?
-- Farm Bill Remains Stalled in the Senate
-- Interesting Farm Bill Calculator has been developed by the folks
at the University of Illinois
-- Chelsea Clifton Making History for Oklahoma FFA this month.
-- Star Lake Herefords have Two Sales on One Day with Outstanding
Genetics
-- CRP Payments are out from USDA- About $50 per acre is the national
average.
-- Rural Housing Repair Money Handed Out by Uncle Sam
Howdy Neighbors! Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are proud to welcome Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma has ten branch offices to serve your farm financing needs and is dedicated to being your first choice for farm credit. Check out their website for more information by clicking here! The newest sponsor on our daily email service is Cusack Meats, and Al Cusack wants everyone to know that he APPRECIATES Oklahoma's Farmers and Ranchers! You can go to the Cusack website and select some great gift packs of meat for giving- or for yourself! And, our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the Tulsa Farm Show coming up December 6-8, 2007, as well as the Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City next spring. 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. | |
Good Forage Conditions in Oklahoma- Have they Lessened the Need for Wheat Pasture? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
Crop Weather Update seems to be saying that some wheat producers have
delayed planting of the 2008 winter wheat crop because of the excellent
forage conditions we find in Texas and Oklahoma this fall. The reporter
writes "Producers were holding off planting wheat for pasture in a few
areas due to high seed costs and abundant forage. Armyworm infestations
have been reported, particularly in emerging wheat fields with some fields
experiencing significant damage. Wheat seedbed preparation at 92 percent,
was running slightly behind the five-year average. Wheat seedings
increased 16 points from the previous week to reach 41 percent complete,
but were still 15 percentage points behind normal."
Harvest of our spring crops is starting to pick up speed- with the corn harvest about done at 84% complete, Grain Sorghum now 22% harvested, Soybeans 10% combined and 14% of the 2007 peanut crop is now dug. Oklahoma and Texas pasture and range conditions remain the best in the United States- with Texas at 71% good to excellent condition rating, while Oklahoma checks in at 69% good to excellent. In contrast, both California and Nevada are at 95% poor to very poor on their pasture ratings. And my home state of Kentucky is suffering as well- at 82% poor to very poor on their pasture ratings. Click here for the latest Oklahoma Crop Weather Update report from NASS of USDA | |
Farm Bill Remains Stalled in the Senate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's not
really stalled- since that implies that it had gotten started. If you
consider the Senate Ag Committee meeting and considering the Chairman's
Mark as a starting point- that has not happened and it appears that it may
not happen this week. Senate Ag Committee member and South Dakota Senator
John Thune says he's not making any bets that the farm bill will get
marked up by the Columbus Day Holiday. He says they're still waiting for
the lead of Chairman Tom Harkin who has indicated he would like the
committee to mark up the bill this week - but hasn't scheduled a date.
Senator Thune is one of several members of the Committee from wheat country that does not like what he is hearing when it comes to some of the trial balloons of Chairman Harkin is floating these days- especially the idea of cutting direct payments to fund other priorities that the Chairman has. Senator Thune says several members are waiting for the Chairman's Mark- then they will decide if they want to offer a few amendments or perhaps even a total substitute. Senator Thune also says while he supports a permanent disaster program
- he will oppose any effort to fund it by taking money from the ethanol
blenders credit after the 7.5 billion gallon RFS cap is reached. | |
Interesting Farm Bill Calculator has been developed by the folks at the University of Illinois ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The University
of Illinois has weighed in with a way for farmers to see how different
versions of the bill might impact them financially. They have developed a
simple to use Excel spreadsheet.
According to Extension Ag Economist Gary Schnitkey, the current version of the spreadsheet compares payments between the bill passed by the House and the Durbin-Brown amendment offered in the Senate. Schnitkey says as other bills are developed - those will be added to the tool found on the University of Illinois FarmDOC website. Farmers and others can download the spreadsheet from the FarmDOC website and insert their own numbers for the comparison. It will be updated as new policies are released. We have the link below to take you to the website set up by the Illini aggies- you can plug your numbers in and see how the two policies they have set up at this point might affect your operation. | |
Chelsea Clifton Making History for Oklahoma FFA this month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We talked at
the end of this past week with this most impressive young lady from
Kingfisher FFA who is serving this year as the State Secretary of the
Oklahoma FFA. She will be representing Oklahoma a the National Extemp
Speaking Contest during the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis later
this month.
In the past three years, Chelsea has represented Oklahoma in a national competition each fall- the National Creed Speaking Competition, Prepared Public Speaking and as a member of the winning and dominant Kingfisher FFA Livestock Judging Team. In fact, she was the high individual in the nation last fall in that competition. In talking with Kent Boggs and others in the know when it comes to Oklahoma FFA, she will be the first person to ever compete at the national level in all four of these categories! Chelsea was our guest on our News9 In the Field TV segment this past Saturday morning. In case you missed it, I have the link below for that interview. Take a look- you will agree with me that she is a most impressive representative of the Oklahoma FFA! Click here to see Ron and Chelsea Clifton from the weekend In the Field Segment on KWTV News9. | |
Star Lake Herefords have Two Sales on One Day with Outstanding Genetics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sunday,
October 21st, Star Lake Herefords of Skiatook will sell Females at 11 am,
with the Bull Sale at 1 pm. Star Lake's Female Sale will include 75 lots
featuring embryo weaning age heifer calves. The Ranch Ready Bull Sale at 1
p.m., will feature 18-20 month old Hereford bulls ready to work as well as
the best herd sire prospects from the Star Lake spring bull calf crop
Montie Soules and the Star Lake Hereford team have a great reputation for outstanding herd sire prospects- having won the Denver Show Carload Bull Competition for the past eight years! You can check out their sale catalog on line at the link we have below- or you can give them a call for more information at 918-396-4322. | |
CRP Payments are out from USDA- About $50 per acre is the national average. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acting
Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner announced that USDA will distribute
approximately 1.8 billion dollars in Conservation Reserve Program rental
payments to participants across the country for fiscal year 2008 for
completed performance in the prior fiscal year. Producers holding about
782- thousand contracts on 441-thousand farms will receive an average of
$49.49 per acre.
In making the announcement Conner said - by participating in CRP, producers and other landowners throughout the nation are improving air and water quality, enhancing wildlife habitat and reducing erosion. He said - these practices are making a real difference today and promoting a healthier environment for the next generation." The number of contracts is higher than the number of farms because some producers may have multiple contracts on a single farm. The payments allow producers to earn an average of $4,130 per farm enrolled in the program. | |
Rural Housing Repair Money Handed Out by Uncle Sam ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agriculture
Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas C. Dorr today announced the
selection of recipients of $9.6 million in Housing Preservation grants to
repair or rehabilitate individual housing and rental properties owned or
occupied by very low-and low-income rural citizens. The 149 awards will be
distributed to community organizations in 49 states, Puerto Rico, the
Virgin Islands and the Western Pacific.
Three entities from Oklahoma received a total of almost a quarter of a million dollars of those monies as announced yesterday by USDA. The Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group, Inc., the Freedom West Community Development Corporation and the Little Dixie Community Action Agency, Inc. all received grants from USDA. The grants are being awarded to intermediaries -- such as town or county governments, Indian Tribes or nonprofit organizations -- which, in turn, provide grant funds to homeowners or owners of multi-family rental properties or cooperative dwellings | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Cusack Meats and Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked at the top of the email- check them out and let these folks know you appreciate the support of this daily email, as their sponsorship helps us keep this arriving in your inbox on a regular basis! 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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