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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Tuesday June 17, 2008!
A
service of National Livestock Credit, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- Harvest Moves Past Sixty Percent Done- Biggest Trouble Spot- Kay
County!
-- Latest Crop Weather Update Shows Wheat Harvest Right on Schedule-
while some Spring Planting Lags.
-- Cotton Farmers In Southwest Oklahoma Face Replant Decisions.
-- What the Koreans are Reading- "A Lot of Americans" Have Died from
BSE.
-- Arkansas River Traffic Likely to be Affected as Mississippi
Flooding Moves Southward.
-- Heavy Rains This Morning Across Portions of Oklahoma.
-- Environmental Working Group Calls BioFuels a "Bad Gamble"
-- 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! 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 Moves Past Sixty Percent Done- Biggest Trouble Spot- Kay County! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Truly the
problem child for the 2008 Winter Wheat Harvest is Kay County- which has
faced a tremendous amount of rain since we were about ready to harvest in
this north central Oklahoma county. Both Blackwell and Newkirk have
received more than seven inches of rain in the last fourteen days- as has
Medford in neighboring Grant County to the west and Pawnee to the south.
We got an email from the County Extension Ag Agent in Kay County
yesterday- and Ryan Sprout writes us "There is not much to report from
here in Kay County, other than it is still wet, and with the clouds and
few drops of rain falling, it might be several more days until harvest can
kick off. There has been some wheat cut around Tonkawa and Blackwell in
between the storms. I would guess that no more than 1,500 acres have been
cut. It is too bad, as this year we have had a mild year as far as disease
and insects go. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, and we can get
going."
Statewide- it's a lot more of an optimistic picture as many many farmers have exceeded their hopes and dreams on this 2008 harvest- yields larger than they had expected and prices in the seven to eight dollar range all during harvest. Mark Hodges of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission reports today (we have the audio report on our Wheat Harvest Webpage) the following percentages complete based on reports he has gathered: Statewide- 60 to 65% Harvested Continue to let us hear from you. We would love to hear about your harvest experience here in 2008- whether you are done or are just getting started! Drop us a note at the email address at the bottom of this daily news update- and it will be greatly appreciated! Click here for the Wheat Harvest Webpage found on WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Latest Crop Weather Update Shows Wheat Harvest Right on Schedule- while some Spring Planting Lags. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Crop Weather Update is close to the predictions made by Mark Hodges this
morning- although they are slightly behind at 59% completed on this year's
harvest. It is important to note that the NASS number is based on data
through Sunday evening- with Mark adding in Monday harvest in and around
the thunderstorms of yesterday. Beyond Oklahoma- the Texas wheat harvest
is being called 51% complete and the Kansas harvest has just begun at 2%
done.
We are still planting a couple of our key spring planted crops- with soybeans now 55% planted for 2008 while the grain sorghum crop is 44% planted- with many of the acres expected to go into Milo to be double cropped behind wheat. The condition of three other spring planted crops- corn, peanuts and cotton- are in mostly good condition. For watermelon lovers- the 2008 crop is now 95% planted, 53% of the plants are now running versus 94% by this date a year ago and the five year average of 82%. Eleven percent of the crop is now setting fruit- and that is also well behind last year's number of 60% by this date- and the five year average of 45%. Click here for the full Oklahoma Crop Weather Update Issued on Monday Afternoon. | |
Cotton Farmers In Southwest Oklahoma Face Replant Decisions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The latest
word from State Cotton Specialist Dr. J.C. Banks via our friends at NTOK
is that some cotton producers are trying to decide if they keep what they
have or go in and replant here at this relatively late date. Dr. Banks
reports "Localized wind and hail storms, too much rainfall in some areas
and not enough rain in others have been the reasons for most of the calls
this week. I have observed a lot of fourth and fifth leaf cotton that has
been damaged by the storms. Even though moisture came with the storms, it
came so fast and the dry wind in following days was so severe, some
producers do not have enough moisture to replant."
Dr. Banks adds "This is late enough in the planting season that, if at all possible, we need to keep the stand we.have. When evaluating damage, we need to try to look at the terminal for initiation of new growth and the plant needs to have a root free of seedling disease to be able to recover. If the terminal is lost, the plant will utilize vegetative branches to build the plant. Cotton with four true leaves will have the potential to produce three vegetative branches below the terminal. Each of these branches will essentially develop into a cotton plant, causing the plant to be more 'bushy' than a normal plant. "Cotton in the cotyledon stage that loses its terminal will not develop
into a plant. If you observe plants with extremely large cotyledon leaves
with absence of terminal growth, the plant has lost its terminal and will
not survive. It is best to wait a few days following a storm to evaluate
the cotton to allow the plant to start initiation of new terminal growth.
Many times when looking across a field of damaged cotton, you can observe
the light green color of new terminal growth. Count plants with new
terminal growth and if you can count 16,000 plants on dryland or 20,000
plants per acre on irrigated land and if there are not too many skips over
three feet on adjacent rows, the crop is normally worth taking to
harvest." Click here to jump to the OSU Southwest Research Facility in Altus | |
What the Koreans are Reading- "A Lot of Americans" Have Died from BSE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In checking on
the latest news on the Korea- US talks on resumiong beef shipments into
Korea- we ran across an editorial that was published in the Korean Times-
we have it linked below- which is almost certain to make the blood boil of
most cattle producers here in this country.
The write, who apparently is an American now teaching in Seoul- is fanning the flames of US Beef hatred in that country as he claims "However, the protest's touchstone was hardly irrational- opposition to U.S. beef. Probably a lot of Americans ¯ and many others worldwide ¯ have been killed due to American beef infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). It may have been classified as Alzheimer's disease (that is exploding in the United States) instead of CJD." He goes on to claim that the US meat lobby somehow buried the results
of the second cow found in the United States that was classified as
positive for BSE- found in Alabama. The title of his editorial- "Test
every Cow for Mad Cow Disease" raises the same issue that Creekstone Beef
out of Arkansas City, Kansas has called for since BSE was discovered in
this country back in 2003. Click here for the Editorial on US Beef Safety Seen this Week in the Korea Times. | |
Arkansas River Traffic Likely to be Affected as Mississippi Flooding Moves Southward. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Mighty
Mississippi is the next river on the flood watch list as waters from
flooding tributaries head south. The big river is expected to crest today
or Wednesday. Iowa has already seen the damage from rising waters with 83
of its 99 counties declared disaster areas by the state's governor.
Now the Mississippi is next target as those flood waters continue their trip into the river. Record crests. Officials fear that as many as 26 levees along the river could break as flood waters push into the river. Sandbags are being put up along the river in the hopes of shoring up those levees. Most of Illinois' sandbagging was along a 300-mile stretch from the Quad Cities south past Quincy, according to a Fox News report. Barge traffic is already closed on 300 miles of the most flooded parts of the river, further hampering grain trade. And the Chicago Board of Trade saw December Corn top $7.90 in Monday's trade. | |
Heavy Rains This Morning Across Portions of Oklahoma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The areas of
the state that still have a lot of wheat acres to cut are getting more
rain this morning- especially from Hennessey northward into Enid and
points north and west as we write this. There has been more than an inch
of rain since midnight from the OKlahoma-Kansa line in Woods County
through Alva- over to Medford and then southward through Lahoma and Enid
into Logan County. Our colleague, Ed Richards, has been battling street
flooding in Hennessey as he has been making his way to work this morning.
On Monday- the heaviest rains were centered around Tulsa County- with at least two locations-on ein Tulsa County and the other in Rogers County getting almost four inches of rain while multiple locations clocked in with more than two inches of the wet stuff. You can watch the rainfall totals pile up today with the link that we have provided below- it's the Mesonet's rainfall totals for today since Midnight- hit "F5" from time to time when it is up for regular updates. | |
Environmental Working Group Calls BioFuels a "Bad Gamble" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new report
from the Environmental Working Group stated that although ethanol policies
are not the only reason behind higher food prices, it is a factor that can
be controlled. Weather as well as global food and fuel demand cannot be
controlled. "Our ethanol policy requires perfect weather, and not
surprisingly, we aren't getting it," said EWG Senior Agriculture Analyst
Michelle Perez.
The report is a conclusion of EWG analysts after interviews with top agriculture economists and climatologists. Keith Collins, the former top economist at USDA for 15 years, during an EWG-sponsored call with reporters late last month, said, "We did not anticipate these soaring prices. No one forecasted $5.50 to $6.30 per bushel corn prices. We were in the $3.70 per bushel range." Corn prices closed at $7.65 per bushel yesterday (Monday June 16). In Iowa, 1.13 million acres of corn, nearly ten percent of the state's
total, already have been lost, and 4 million more are currently
underwater. Across the Midwest millions more acres are likely to suffer
significant yield loss because fields have been too wet to plant or are
too wet to apply fertilizer or control weeds. Click here for the EWG study on Biofuels and Bad Weather and the Bad Things They Say are Happening. | |
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. | |
Let's Check the Markets! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
National Stockyards had a total run of 7800 cattle on Monday of this week-
calf prices were cheaper- as much as four to five dollars on some unweaned
calves. Yearling prices were also cheaper- with lots of concern over corn
prices and feeder cattle futures early in the auction day. Here's
the link to the Monday report from the Oklahoma City market.
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
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