From: Ron Hays [ron@oklahomafarmreport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 07:00
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 Wednesday June 11, 2008!
A service of National Livestock Credit, American Farmers & Ranchers and Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Harvest Remains Stalled By Wet Conditions on Tuesday- Even as USDA Ups Estimate of Oklahoma Crop.
-- We Talk World Pork Expo with Roy Lee Lindsay of the Oklahoma Pork Council!
-- More Calendar Stuff Added as June Offers Lots of Opportunities to Check Out!
-- New Ag Weather Website is Coming July First!
-- AG Drew Edmondson Demands Scrutiny of JBS Swift Intended Purchase of Major Beef Assets!
-- What About that Cattle Market???- Derrell Peel Tells All!
-- Ag Secretary Schafer Declares US Beef Safe- and the South Korean Blockage of our Beef Products Purely Political.
-- Let's Check 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 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.

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 AFR web site to learn more about their efforts to serve rural America!
And our email this morning is also a service of Midwest Farm Shows, producer of the annual Tulsa Farm Show held each December, as well as the springtime Southern Plains Farm Show in Oklahoma City. 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.


Harvest Remains Stalled By Wet Conditions on Tuesday- Even as USDA Ups Estimate of Oklahoma Crop.
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We checked in with Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission in the early evening hours of Tuesday- and he told us that his staff had made multiple calls through the afternoon- and found no elevators across the state where harvest had resumed. That included at least a few calls to the Panhandle.

The hope is that warm conditions will allow the moisture levels to come down enough to see those combines rolling again by middle of the day on Wednesday. There are likely places where that will occur. Meanwhile, Tuesday morning, USDA raised the number of bushels they are predicting will be harvested across Oklahoma here in 2008- jumping from 148.5 million bushels to 157.5 million bushels. The increase came on a two bushel per acre increase of the predicted yield.

USDA left the Kansas crop unchanged from the May estimate at 357.2 million bushels. They did raise the Texas crop slightly to 102 million bushels- as they increased the average bushels per acre by one to 30 bushels per acre yield.
Speaking of Kansas, the folks in the Kiowa area have harvested a little bit of wheat before this latest round of showers shut them down the last couple of days. Alan Meyers of the OK Coop in Kiowa says they have taken about 70,000 bushels in thus far- quality and yields have been good although meyers says the protein is on the low side in the 10 to 11 percnet range- consistent with what we have heard all the way from the Red River north across Oklahoma.

Where are you on wheat harvest??? We need to hear from you- have you cut any wheat as of yet? Will you try cutting wheat today? If you have finished harvest, are you thinking about a double crop this season? If so, what's the crop you plan to follow wheat with? Drop us an email as we would love to hear your take on the 2008 Wheat Harvest Season- and check from time to time on our Wheat Harvest Webpage- as we get info in- we will share it with our Cyberspace family.

Click here for the Wheat Harvest Webpage found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


We Talk World Pork Expo with Roy Lee Lindsay of the Oklahoma Pork Council!
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We had the opportunity to sit down in the downtown Oklahoma City offices of the Oklahoma Pork Council and talk ethanol and high input costs for the hog producers in this country with Roy Lee Lindsay- Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pork Council.

Lindsay says that the overriding concern at the just concluded World Pork Expo is how independent producers will survive the current wave of high input costs. He cited comments from Dr. Glen Grimes of the University of Missouri who told producers that "if you plan on staying in the pork industry for the long haul- you better figure out how to survive the next twelve months." Lindsay said that Grimes talked about minimizing losses- with nothing being said about having any opportunity to make money right now in the business of raising hogs.

We got beyond the high input cost issue with Roy Lee- and you can take a listen to our conversation by clicking on the link we have provided below- check it out!

Click here to listen to Ron and Roy Lee talk World Pork Expo!


More Calendar Stuff Added as June Offers Lots of Opportunities to Check Out!
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Several of you offered items yesterday for the Calendar page we are maintaining on our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com. We appreciate that and we encourage one and all to make a stop today to check the latest of what is happening across the world of agriculture that matters to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers.

Our friend Will Cubbage of Osage County sent us information about the 55th annual Osage County Cattlemen's Convention that happens this weekend in the Pawhuska- this event features a Saturday morning ranch tour and the annual Ben Johnston Roping Competition on Sunday- we have details on the calendar page which we have linked below.

As Will dropped us an email and sent that material to us- we invite you to send us items that we need to include on our calendar. Send those emails to my address that you can find elsewhere on this daily report- you are my eyes and ears across the agricultural spectrum- and I appreciate your help in helping communicate what's going on in our neck of the woods in the world of agriculture.

Click here for the Calendar page on our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com


New Ag Weather Website is Coming July First!
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The latest issue of AgWeather Connection is out- and the Mesonet folks are busy telling us how to use their brand new web site that will be turned on officially July first.

I received a tutorial of the new site back at the state FFA convention from Laura Martin and Al Sutherland- and it is a most impressive new interface that they will be using to deliver the great information that is available from the local weather reporting points found in all 77 counties across the state.

The new and improved site will continue to be a free product- paid for by tax dollars as OSU and OU folks actually work together to create this product that is envy of many other states. The AgWeather connection says "Agweather is a free, online tool that keeps you ahead of Oklahoma's changing weather. It uses the power of the Oklahoma Mesonet to deliver the latest weather data, so you have the info you need to meet every weather challenge."
We have a link below to the latest AgWeather Connection- which tells you everything you need to know about this new site. Time will tell if it is truly user friendly- and rural friendly (meaning will it load quickly on slower internet connections???)- but we will see how that works out starting July first.

Click here for the latest AgWeather Connection.


AG Drew Edmondson Demands Scrutiny of JBS Swift Intended Purchase of Major Beef Assets!
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A News release from the R-CALF organization says that R-CALF USA Oklahoma Membership Chair Wayne Foley of Kellyville is pleased to see that Oklahoma Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmondson had joined other state attorneys general in claiming in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice that the proposed transactions by Brazilian-owned JBS to purchase National Beef Packing Co., Smithfield Beef Group, and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding likely would harm not only Oklahoma cattle producers, but beef consumers there as well. However, when you read the Edmondson letter- he says he has "serious concerns" but does not go nearly as far as this group would lead you to believe.

Edmondson's letter to the Justice Department said because Five Rivers is the largest cattle feeder corporation in the United States, with five of its feedlots in southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, that "after the merger, Oklahoma beef producers could face a packing market with only three competitors. However, one of those competitors, JBS, may have a limited need to buy cattle because of the cattle inventories in Five Rivers' feedlots." The letter adds that the Justice Department needs to really look hard at this merger request because of the possibilities of harm to the beef cattle business in our state.

We asked Scott Dewald of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Asssociation for his take on the R-Calf News Release and the Edmondson letter- His email reply says "We agree the Justice Department should carefully and thoroughly review this proposal. We encourage them to evaluate the potential benefits and the potential setbacks of the current proposed merger of JBS Swift with National Beef, Smithfield Beef and Five Rivers feeding. Infusing $3 billion into our infrastructure, increasing our access to critical export markets, and the addition of four delivery points for U.S. Premium Beef producer members, are three examples of potential benefits. The overarching question appears to be, "does this proposal improve or hamper competition?" We expect the Department of Justice to conduct a fact based study to answer that very question." Scott adds that they have been in communication with Edmondson's office and offering their input on this issue.

Click here for the letter send by Attorney General Drew Edmondson on the JBS Swift Proposed Acquisition.


What About that Cattle Market???- Derrell Peel Tells All!
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The latest Beef Buzz features comments with one of the top Livestock Economists in the country- Dr. Derrell Peel of Oklahoma State University. In fact, yesterday's Beef Buzz , Today's Beef Buzz and even tomorrow's Beef Buzz all are featuring the comments from Dr. Peel.

Yesterday's Beef Buzz (click to listen) featured comments on the slaughter cattle market- and where we stand with beef demand that is helping drive those slaughter cattle values. Today's Beef Buzz- linked below- looks at the current yearling cattle market and how we have seen strength in that part of the beef pipeline because there simply are not adequate numbers to keep everybody supplied with as many feeders as they would like.

The Beef Buzz is a regular feature of the Radio Oklahoma Network- being heard on great radio stations around the state. We also have many of our Beef Buzz shows from the last two years archived on our website on the world wide web famous Beef Buzz page! AND- click below to jump to today's report with Derrell Peel!

Click here to go Beef Buzzing with Ron and Derrell on yearling prices!


Ag Secretary Schafer Declares US Beef Safe- and the South Korean Blockage of our Beef Products Purely Political.
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Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer toured two U.S. beef processing plants in Texas on Tuesday, declaring U.S. beef safe to eat and calling South Korean concerns about its safety politically motivated. "I'm convinced the process produces a clean, safe product," he told reporters after touring Sam Kane Beef Processors Inc. in Corpus Christi, Texas and L & H Packing Company in San Antonio.

Schafer says that the current impasse in South Korea is being driven by politics within that country- but continues to stand by his previous statements that our beef is safe and that we claim that with the OIE stamp of approval on our product.

Schafer added that a South Korean delegation is meeting with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week. "They are talking to USTR. It also seems they are working with industry specifically to see if they can get the industry to ship what they see as appropriate products." South Korea has asked the US for assurances that no beef products from animals more than 30 months of age will be shipped to their country- all in hopes of defusing the continuing storm that this issue has stirred up for their inexperienced new President in South Korea.

Here's a link to the latest from South Korea as President Lee struggles to bring this issue under control.


Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance and National Livestock Creditfor 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


Let's Check the Markets!
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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:
Our Daily Market Wrapup from the Radio Oklahoma Network with Ed Richards and Tom Leffler- analyzing the Futures Markets from the previous Day-
Ron on RON Markets as heard on K101 mornings with cash and futures reviewed- includes where the Cash Cattle market stands, the latest Feeder Cattle Markets Etc.
Previous Day's Wheat Market Recap- One Pager From Country Hedging- looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. Previous Day's Energy Market Recap- also from Country Hedging
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.



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