|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday April 15, 2008!
A
service of National Livestock Credit, KIS Futures and American Farmers
& Ranchers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Not Cold Enough Long Enough- April 14 Freeze & the Oklahoma
Wheat Crop.
-- Where's the Money??? The Farm Bill Conference After Day Two.
-- Dam Worries- Conservation Leaders in the State Continue Call for
Monies for Repair!
-- T Minus Two Days and Counting- The Southern Plains Farm
Show!
-- Value Cuts for the Beef Industry- OSU a BIG Player!
-- No Headway Between South Korea and the US over Beef.
-- Latest Crop Weather Update Reflects Rain and Flood and Hail
Reports...
-- Checking the Markets...
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 have KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily E-Mail. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for their "new look" website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also proud to have American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual
Insurance Company as a regular sponsor of our daily update- click
here to go to their NEW AFR web site to learn more about their efforts
to serve rural America! 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. | |
Not Cold Enough Long Enough- April 14 Freeze & the Oklahoma Wheat Crop. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In talking
with both Jeff Edwards, Wheat Specialist at Oklahoma State University and
Mark Hodges, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, the 2008
Winter Wheat Crop likely dodged the freeze bullet early Monday morning as
it simply did not get cold enough for enough hours in areas where wheat
was advanced enough to really be vulnerable.
These assumptions are all based on weather reports from the Oklahoma Mesonet- and field surveys will have to confirm this analysis- but we had only a small handful of locations where we were under 28 degrees for more than a few minutes in the primary wheat belt of the state- and the areas where we were under 28 for two or three hours- the wheat crop was not fully in the boot stage- probably somewhere between jointing and boot. The magic number is 24 degrees for two hours when wheat is the in the jointing stage for damage- and 28 degrees when you are in the full boot stage. We have a map that Mesonet provided Mark Hodges on our front page of our website- just click on the link elsewhere in this newsletter to see that- and we have the latest newsletter that comes from the Plant and Soil Science Department at OSU that focus on the cold conditions and gives Dr. Edwards' assessment. The link for that is below. | |
Where's the Money??? The Farm Bill Conference After Day Two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We'll know
more about some of the specifics of what the Senate and House apparently
agree upon for the policy portion of the 2008 Farm Bill- but there is
virtually no agreement over how to fund the bill- as the Senate is
questioning even the offsets claimed by the House in their $5.5 Billion
over budget baseline bill.
Terry Detrick and Francie Tolle of American Farmers & Ranchers are two Oklahoma farm leaders in Washington this week- taking the time to be in the room as the lawmakers try to make a deal. Francie writes us in an email "It's a very complicated situation with 5 different groups involved: 1) the House Ag Committee, 2) the Senate Ag Committee, 3) the House Ways and Means Committee 4) the Senate Finance Committee, and 5) the President with veto power. Never before have the agriculture committees been held hostage by so many other powers, some from committees that know nothing about agriculture." This morning, the Conference Committee will reconvene at 8:30 AM central time- and work on what they can- the policy side of things, title by title. Meanwhile, the tax writing committees were charged with finding the money to make it all work. Francie Tolle told us what she expects from the Conference Committee public meeting today "When the agriculture committee conferees start discussion tomorrow morning on the different titles within the farm bill we will get a better idea of proposed cuts and proposed funding. We are deeply concerned about reductions in direct payments and cuts to crop insurance funding for our Oklahoma producers." | |
Dam Worries- Conservation Leaders in the State Continue Call for Monies for Repair! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The near
breach of a flood control dam near Tulsa, Oklahoma last week once again
shows the absolute necessity of state and federal funding for dam
rehabilitation, repair and maintenance- so says Scotty Herriman, President
of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts. The dam was
threatened due to severe damage to the auxiliary spillway as a result of
recent record rains. "This catastrophe shows why we need funding to ensure
that all of our states flood control dams are repaired, rehabilitated and
ready to face major storm events," Herriman said. "This dam was in good
working order but still suffered the effects of this major storm event on
top of heavy rain earlier this spring and the massive amount of rain our
state experienced in 2007."
Herriman said that this dam, designated Kadashan Bottom Site 2, was properly inspected and had received the best maintenance based on available funding from the state of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, record rainfall had increased stream flow to a level that created a headcut (gully) that began to erode the emergency or auxiliary spillway and threatened to release all of the water held by the dam. According to Herriman, a similar situation happened to other flood control structures during the record flooding in 2007. "Last year we had over 25 dams that suffered a fate similar to this site," Herriman said. "Our flood control structures are in desperate need of rehabilitation work, especially in light of this record rainfall." The Conservation Community continues to call on the State Legislature and the Governor to come up with $30 Million in emergency funding to handle a variety of repairs and maintenance on flood control structures around the state- warning that we could see a dam failure at some point that could result in loss of life and major property damage. | |
T Minus Two Days and Counting- The Southern Plains Farm Show! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Thursday
morning, the fourth annual Southern Plains Farm Show will kick off- with
some 300 vendors showing their goods and services to one and all at State
Fair Park in Oklahoma City. Admission and parking are free, and Marketing
Director John Sampson says that they have a special incentive to come
before noon this year any of the three days. They will be registering Farm
Show attendees for a thousand farm show bucks, which can be spent like
money at any of the Southern Plains Farm Show vendors that day- you have
to be present to win and you have to register before noon for the twelve
o'clock drawing for that day.
Another new wrinkle for 2008 is Scott Daily as the Horse Trainer in residence. Daily will be working with several horses (mares) with a bit of an attitude- and that should make for some interesting sessions. The big parking lot between the Travel and Transportation Building and the Cox Pavilion(aka- the Bubble Building) is completely full of farm show exhibits this year as all of the old airplanes are now gone. It could be a little wet for Thursday for those outside vendors- but Friday and Saturday look pretty good at this point- we have a conversation about all of these highlights and more with John Sampson on our website- AND linked for you below to get the full scoop of the 2008 Southern Plains Farm Show. Click here to listen to Ron and John on this year's Southern Plains Farm Show. | |
Value Cuts for the Beef Industry- OSU a BIG Player! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Jake
Nelson says that the Kerr Food and Ag Products Center at Oklahoma State
University has made the BIG- Beef Innovations Group of the National
Cattlemen's Beef Association- Cowboy fans. He has been working for them
several years on their work to fully develop the Value Cuts that have come
from the Muscle Profiling Study paid for by the Beef Checkoff about a
decade ago.
The first wave of "Value Cuts" included the Flat Iron Steak and the Petite Tender- both cuts from the Shoulder Clod. Now, the FAPC at OSU is working closely with the Beef Innovations Group on the second wave of "Value Cuts" that are coming from the Chuck- with three of those cuts being worked on this semester by the Food and Ag Products Center in Cooperation with a class at the Culinary Arts Center at OSU-Okmulgee. Dr. Nelson says they are also starting to do some of the early work on the third wave of "Value Cuts" which will be identified out of the Round- another large volume low value part of the beef carcass. You can hear the first part of our conversation with Jake on today's Beef Buzz- our regular look at the beef business on the Radio Oklahoma Network. Click below to jump to today's show! Click here for the Latest Beef Buzz- featuring Ron talking Value Cuts with Jake Nelson of OSU! | |
No Headway Between South Korea and the US over Beef. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Koreans
continue to offer to take boneless and bone-in US beef from animals under
thirty months of age- while the Bush Administration continues to push for
full and complete access to the Korean market for US beef producers. Those
were the positions reiterated on Monday in Seoul as talks between the
countries continue- even as the South Korean President is on his way to
the United States to meet with President George W. Bush.
Assistant Agriculture Minister Min Dong-seok told reporters that they had offered to the United States what they believe is a reasonable solution, until the US can answer their concerns over protein based feed produced and used in the US. ""We told the U.S. side that opening the local market will depend on Washington taking steps to improve monitoring of their protein-based feed distribution system, but they said such a move is opposed by farmers and would cost too much to implement." It's important to remember that beef animals are not fed these products- but we do feed them as part of the ration to poultry- and the Koreans worry about feed being accidently used in beef rations. More talks are planned for Wednesday- but the word breakthrough does not seem to tbe in the vocabulary of the negotiators at this point- even though the new President of South Korea has said several times he wants this issue put behind them. Here's an article with the Korean perspective of these most recent talks. | |
Latest Crop Weather Update Reflects Rain and Flood and Hail Reports... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Topsoil and
Subsoil moisture supplies jumped this last week significantly with the
heavy rains that caused some flooding and damage in parts of the state.
The winter wheat crop generally benefited from the rains with 74% of the
wheat crop now rated in fair to good condition. (The freezing temps of
Monday morning came after most reports from in for this week's update)
For our row crops- the report tell us "Heavy rainfall halted fieldwork last week, including seedbed preparation in many areas. Corn seedbed prepared was up four points from the previous week, but was running slightly behind normal. Corn planted increased nine points from the previous week to reach 29 percent, but was 16 points behind last year. Producers in isolated areas were affected by significant amounts of rainfall and may not get their intended acres planted to corn; some are considering soybeans as an alternative. Sorghum seedbed prepared was at 27 percent, eight points behind normal. Soybeans seedbed prepared, at 41 percent, was running three points behind the five-year average. Peanuts seedbed prepared, at 49 percent, was up two points from the previous week and slightly ahead of normal pace. Cotton seedbed prepared was up five points from the previous week to reach 69 percent and is four points ahead of normal." We have the complete report linked below- click and check it out. | |
Our thanks to American Farmers & Ranchers, KIS Futures and National Livestock Credit 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. | |
Checking the Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Monday
Feeder Markets show Steady to two dollar higher prices for yearling
weights- that at both the Joplin and the Oklahoma National Stockyards-
meanwhile, the market in Oklahoma City saw calf prices weaken a little
more- with a few sales $1.00 to $3.00 lower. If you want to review the
Oklahoma National Stockyards Monday report- Click
here.
Here are some links we will leave in place on an ongoing basis- Click
on the name of the report to go to that link: | |
God Bless! You can reach us at the following: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: ron@oklahomafarmreport.com
phone: 405-473-6144
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
