From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 06:55
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 Thursday October 18, 2007!
A service of Cusack Meats, Farm Credit of East Central Oklahoma & Midwest Farm Shows
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-- Sorghum Could be a Super Star in the Biofuels Arena!
-- Harkin claims a Deal Has Been Struck- Expects Passage in Senate Ag Committee of "the deal"
-- Grape Growers Gathering this Sunday Afternoon at OSU-OKC
-- Governor's Water Conference Slated for Next Week.
-- State Court to Decide Animal Rights Issue
-- THIS Sunday- Star Lake Herefords have Two Sales on One Day with Outstanding Hereford Genetics!
-- Koreans Reminded Again- Beef can be a Free Trade Dealbreaker!

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.


Sorghum Could be a Super Star in the Biofuels Arena!
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Dr. Jeff Dahlberg of the National Sorghum Producers believes that is a realistic statement- telling us at the second annual Oklahoma Biofuels Conference that there are a lot of ways that sorghum can mesh with ethanol production- as grain in our traditional ethanol plants, as a wet biomass to help make cellulosic ethanol and even sweet sorghum offers promise- matching up well with what Brazil is doing with sugar cane in their ethanol production efforts.

We talked with Dr. Dahlberg about these possibilities- and about the rebound in sorghum acres across the country in 2007. You can check out our conversation with Jeff by going to the link we have provided below.

Click here to listen to Ron and Jeff Dahlberg talk grain sorghum at the Oklahoma Biofuels Conference.


Harkin claims a Deal Has Been Struck- Expects Passage in Senate Ag Committee of "the deal"
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Senator Tom Harkin, the Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and longtime Democratic Senator from Iowa, was sounding very pleased about a deal he detailed to the news media in a teleconference yesterday. We told you yesterday morning in our email update that Harkin had agreed to a package of farm policy initiatives with Democrat Kent Conrad and Republican Saxby Chambliss.

Harkin says that they have found money for higher spending levels in conservation, nutrition and biofuels. He claims they have done this with no cut in direct payments- but rather offering a revenue component to the farm safety net, which CBO scored as a three billion dollar savings.

Harkin told reporters that he thinks he has the upperhand over the House members that will come to the Conference to negotiate a final farm bill- as he claims the Senate version will be funded with real money, while the House version is based on "funny" money.
We have linked below the audio from Senator Harkin's news briefing below- click and take a listen.

Click here for the Senator Harkin overview of what he will offer as a Chairman's Mark next week in Washington for farm policy.


Grape Growers Gathering this Sunday Afternoon at OSU-OKC
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We got an email from our friend Angela Williams out of Pauls Valley about a meeting this weekend for grape growers and wine makers here in Oklahoma. An open meeting for all to attend in the business is being planned by the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Wine Makers Association. Below is the information that we were provided.

Please plan to attend this open...no membership required fall meeting. You can help strengthen the only statewide organization for Vineyards and Wineries by providing your input for the legislative agenda and to learn about and perhaps suggest changes for the organization. This meeting is a non voting meeting and is open to all interested parties. It does not matter if you are a member of OGGWMA. We will be discussing changes in the by-laws that include dues, alignment of the three districts, meeting and voting requirements along with other enjoyable topics. Also, we will have an update on the legislative process and plan from the McSpadden Group and an update on the plans for a wine festival from Persuasive Strategies.

If you are interested in finding out more details about this meeting- you can contact Tom Knotts- his phone number is 405-306-9492.


Governor's Water Conference Slated for Next Week.
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The 28th Annual Oklahoma Governor's Water Conference, "Water for Life," will be held October 23- 25 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.

Agriculture will be a key part of this conference that will be held next week, with folks like State Secretary of Agriculture Terry Peach, Tom Buchanan from the Altus- Lugert Irrigation District and USDA Under Secretary Gary Mast all on the agenda- just to name a few.

We have a link to their website that can give you more information on the upcoming event- click to learn more.

Click here to get an overview of the Governor's Conference on Water planned for next week.


State Court to Decide Animal Rights Issue
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In New Jersey, animal rights activists have sued the New Jersey Department of Agriculture over the state's first-in-the-nation standards for humane care of farm animals. While farming experts defend the standards, animal rights activists say the rules actually do more to protect farmers than their livestock. The debate will be decided by the New jersey Supreme Court.

Larry Katz, the chairman of Rutgers University's Department of Animal Sciences, points out that the guidelines are minimums and not recommended best practices. New Jersey State Veterinarian Dr. Nancy Halpern is more blunt with her assessment of the state regulations. Halpern says the goal was to stop animal rights activists from "harassing" farmers over practices that don't harm animals.

The main debate is over castration. Industry experts say practices like these boost productivity, hold down costs, protect animals from predators, and ensures that each gets adequate food and improved sanitation. Activists say they fear other states will look at New Jersey's guidelines as they adopt their own farm animal standards.


THIS Sunday- Star Lake Herefords have Two Sales on One Day with Outstanding Hereford Genetics!
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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.

Click here to check out the Star Lake Fall Sale October 21st at the Ranch east of Skiatook, Oklahoma.


Koreans Reminded Again- Beef can be a Free Trade Dealbreaker!
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Wendy Cutler with the US Trade Rep's office had a reminder for Korean business executives earlier this week- that unless we can get the South Korean beef market fully reopened to US beef, the US Congress will not pass the US- Korean Free Trade Agreement.

Cutler, speaking in Seoul, "``Congress made it clear that it is necessary to reopen the beef market in order to consider the free trade agreement (FTA). The sooner we resolve this issue, the faster the ratification." She estimates that if the Koreans will act on the beef trade issue- we should see the Congress ratify the US-Korean FTA the first half of 2008.

At this point, US Beef interests continue to wait on South Korea to begin to accept US beef once again- after they shut down all trade again a little more than a week ago because of additional backbones found in one box from an approved exporter. Before life with BSE, South Korea was the third largest importer of US Beef.

Click here to read one of the latest stories on this ongoing jawboning between the US and the Koreans.


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.

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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