From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 09:21
To: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
Subject: Oklahoma's Farm News Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Wednesday December 26, 2007!
A service of Cusack Meats, National Livestock Credit Corporation & Midwest Farm Shows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Quiet on the Farm and Ranch Front...
-- Canola Price is Just Like that Wind-up Rabbit- it keeps going and going...
-- Cattle Futures Get Pounded by Feedlot Numbers Issued by USDA last Friday.
-- Disaster Payments- Have you gotten yours???
-- Rust is Lurking!
-- Feed by Twilight- Calve by Day!!!
-- A Salute to one of our great radio stations on RON- K101 in Woodward!

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 National Livestock Credit Corporation as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. National Livestock Credit Corporation works diligently to provide unsurpassed service to their customers in the area of livestock financing. Check out the National Livestock Family of Services website by clicking here.

Another of our sponsors 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 just concluded Tulsa Farm Show, 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.


Quiet on the Farm and Ranch Front...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unlike 2003, when we faced the ordeal of daily briefings over the discovery of BSE in this country in Washington State just before Christmas, it does appear that 2007 may go out quietly on the farm and ranch news scene.

We have staff level meetings happening between now and mid January on the 2007-08 Farm Bill- as a Conference Report is hoped for by all sooner rather than later. The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Colin Peterson, told Agritalk this past week that he and his minority leader on the House Ag Committee, Bob Goodlatte, have met with their Senate counterparts on the Conference process- and he continues to claim they are not that far apart on various policy issues.

On the market front- I know of no auction barns open this week here in the southern great plains- with the earliest that we will see feeder cattle auctions open for business once again next Wednesday- January 2, 2008. The futures markets operate the rest of this week on a normal schedule- but will be back to a half day of trade on New Year's Eve- and closed next Tuesday for the first day of 2008.


Canola Price is Just Like that Wind-up Rabbit- it keeps going and going...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The price of New Crop Winter Canola has increased to:
$.19 per Pound
$19.00 per hundredweight
$9.50 per Bushel
This is Delivered to an Approved Delivery Point. Producers Cooperative Oil Mill will pay Handling, Storage and Freight to their crush plant located just south of Bricktown in Oklahoma City.

This is the latest adjustment upward for winter canola being grown now- to be harvested next June. For more information on Plains Oilseed Producers Coop- we have a link below which tells more about the winter canola efforts here in the state. You can also call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more info on either POP or PCOM.

One note on Canola from Gene Neuens who is with POP- he advises "Make sure that you watch your canola for insects."

Click here for the Plains Oilseeds Products Coop website.


Cattle Futures Get Pounded by Feedlot Numbers Issued by USDA last Friday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The latest Cattle on Feed report from USDA proved to be a bear- as it showed higher feedlot numbers from a year ago- lower marketings than had been hoped for and higher placements than anyone expected.

OSU Livestock Market Specialist Dr. Derrell Peel says of the COF numbers "The combination of higher than expected placements and lower than expected marketings make for a surprisingly large on-feed total that leaves the fed market on a bearish note at the end of the year. However, it probably won't mean much in a month or two. Large November placements is mostly a reflection of expected supplies of yearling cattle combined with the extremely limited wheat pasture that resulted in unexpectedly large numbers of lightweight feeders moving into feedlots. The final factor is a relatively large number of Canadian feeders imported this fall. However, placements will likely be lower in the first few months of 2008 and feedlots inventories will promptly drop back below year earlier levels."

As to where the market stands as we end 2007- Dr. Peel believes "Several short-run factors have combined to create a weak tone to fed markets before Christmas. Demand is still a concern but fundamentally tight supplies and current feedlots should reassert stronger fed prices after the holidays. Fed prices should recover to the mid-$90s and move toward the upper $90s by the end of the first quarter of 2008. Feeder markets will likely recover as well, as there seems little prospect for sizable March wheat pasture runs and May grazeout runs. Many of the feeder cattle being backgrounded this winter will likely remain on low gain programs through the winter and move into summer grazing next year. Feeder supplies available for placements will likely remain very tight through the first half of 2008."


Disaster Payments- Have you gotten yours???
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are told that for those producers that have applied for a piece of the crop disaster program that was authorized by Congress earlier this year- those checks should start showing up very soon. FSA officials tell us that the regulations were finally published in the Federal Register this past week. That was what was holding up making the payments, but now, as long as the producers have gone in and completed their application, they should be receiving these payments very shortly.

As you read this- take a moment and let us know if you have received a disaster payment as of yet. I got a couple of inquiries this past week when I was out of pocket part of the time- so did not have a chance to research farther- but would be interested to know when we start seeing these checks arrive out in the country.


Rust is Lurking!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As we arrived at the beginning of the holiday weekend this past Friday, OSU Plant Pathologist Dr. Bob Hunger issued a wheat disease update for wheat in our state- as well to provide a couple of updates he had received from colleagues south of us.

As it relates to Oklahoma's hard red winter wheat crop- Dr. Hunger writes "I just finished looking at a seed treatment trial located just west of Stillwater that was planted in mid-September with the variety Jagger. Heavy leaf rust occurred in this trial in later October and November on the lower leaves. However, the colder weather in November and December has killed the lower, heavily rusted lower leaves and there is no sign that rust moved onto the younger leaves. In addition to a few sporulating pustules, the older leaves also are heavily flecked, which indicates that if conditions were favorable for rust development, additional sporulating pustules would quickly appear."

Dr. Hunger also reports that he received this update from his counterpart at the University of Arkansas- Gene Milus: "I visited an early-planted research plot in southeast Arkansas on December 19. Wheat was still actively growing and up to 12 inches tall for some varieties. Leaf rust was the only disease observed. Lower leaves were yellow from leaf rust in some varieties. Most infections were of a resistant infection type. Upper leaves generally were free of infection, indicating that the epidemic has slowed considerably from earlier in the fall. Bird-cherry oat aphids and mosquitos were evident in most every plot."


Feed by Twilight- Calve by Day!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a "best of" Beef Buzz with Dr. Glenn Selk of Oklahoma State University- and it's all about research that has been worked on down through the years of a concept advanced by a cattle rancher who discovered if he fed his cow herd late in the day- around twilight- that it seemed to push the great majority of the mama cows into calving in daylight.

Dr. Selk admits they are not sure why this happens- but it appears that it works- and anything that can lessen the number of times you have to roll out of bed at 12:30 in the morning to check on that critter is worth investigating!

Our Beef Buzz shows are heard on great radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we have many of our Beef Buzz shows archived on our web site on the official Beef Buzz page! You can check that out at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com and in the case of this particular Beef Buzz- we have it linked below for you to take a listen.

Click to listen to Ron and Glenn talk about Twilight Feeding that turns into Daylight Calving- as heard on our daily Beef Buzz!!!


A Salute to one of our great radio stations on RON- K101 in Woodward!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
K101 in Woodward continues to be the most listened to radio station in the state by farmers and ranchers- and we are very proud that those that tune in to their 100,000 watts of power on 101.1 FM hear our Radio Oklahoma Network reports throughout the days that the markets are open.

From our morning farm news to our market updates with Ed Richards and our market wrapup with Ed and Tom Leffler- K101 has got you covered with information important to the farmer and rancher's bottom line all day long!

You can go to the link we have provided below for the complete schedule of when we have our agri information reports on K101- and we invite our friends throughout Red Carpet country to tune in and check us out!

Click here for the times to listen to Ron Hays and Ed Richards with our RON ag reports on K101!!!


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, Cusack Meats and National Livestock Credit Corporationfor 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:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forward email

This email was sent to ronphays@cox.net, by ron@oklahomafarmreport.com

Oklahoma Farm Report | 10700 Whitehall Blvd | Oklahoma City | OK | 73162