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.

Meanwhile in the Sunflower State, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky announced today that embargoes on 20 wheat fields and three grain elevators in south-central Kansas will be lifted based on test results that show no detectible traces of fungicide residue on wheat. "This is good news for the affected farmers and for the Kansas wheat industry," Polansky said.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment had issued embargoes for wheat fields in Butler, Cowley, Harper, Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick and Sumner counties late Monday at the request of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. KDHE later embargoed wheat at three elevators after Department of Agriculture employees traced grain to them from three fields that were harvested before the embargoes could be delivered.

Back to Oklahoma- we would love to hear from you and where you are with harvest- if you are finished- you might let us know how things stacked up versus last year.
One other note- we checked in with Mark Hodges who spent almost all of yesterday in Stillwater with the Wheat millers team from South Africa- he tells us that meetings with these industry folks went very well.

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

"The cattle producers that make up the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) are excited to once again be providing beef to consumers in Korea. The mutual decision by Korea's importers and U.S. exporters to limit U.S. beef exports to Korea to beef from cattle under 30 months of age is somewhat disappointing to cattlemen, because all U.S. beef is safe from BSE. This well-established and long- standing safety record is due to interlocking safeguards that protect the health of the U.S. cattle herd, and the safety of the food supply. But we believe this arrangement will help regain the confidence Korean consumers have in the quality and safety of U.S. beef, which is the very same beef we feed to our own families.

"NCBA is proud of the measures the United States has taken toward control and eradication of BSE, which are the foundation for this nation's "controlled risk" designation for BSE by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Our members look forward to the day when all trading partners recognize and accept OIE trading guidelines for beef exported by the United States - which include beef from cattle of any age, provided that appropriate specific risk materials are removed. However, the vast majority of U.S. beef enjoyed by Korean consumers has historically been from cattle under 30 months of age. So this age restriction should not significantly reduce the volume of safe and great-tasting U.S. beef available to Korean consumers, and we look forward to regaining their trust and confidence by providing them with a product of the highest quality."

Approximately $450,000 is available through the program. Applications are accepted quarterly and nine were approved last quarter. Six diversification grants were awarded and ranged from $3,800 to $5,000. Two Marketing and Utilization Loans were awarded for stimulating beef and bakery product sales. One Basic and Applied Research Loan was also awarded. Loans may not be used to purchase land, buildings or equipment. Eligible expenses include feasibility studies, business plans, legal expenses, consultant fees, product development and marketing.

Applications are available online from the ODAFF at the link below which takes you to their "Loans" tab. For more information contact Jason Harvey at (405) 522- 5563.

Click here for the details of the Application Process for these grants from the ODAFF

"Sites like YouTube allow messages to spread around the world faster than you can blink," says Steve Weaver, vice president of the National Pork Board, who owns a 60-sow farrow-to-feeder pig operation near Elk Grove, Calif. "I'm extremely proud of the YouTube videos the Pork Checkoff has created to help us tell our story." In a proactive step, the Checkoff recently released three new videos on YouTube to answer consumers' questions about animal care, feeding, transport and more. The videos, which run approximately one to two minutes each, feature pork producers and industry experts answering consumer questions on animal care issues.

We have the YouTube pork site linked below. One of the three videos is what we have in our title above- Pigs Are Hungry, too. It addresses pigs' nutritional needs and requirements for optimum care.
The Pork Producers are looking for some help. Teresa Roof, public relations manager for the Pork Checkoff says "The more people who view these videos and rate them, the higher the videos will appear in the online search. This is viral marketing, and it will help us spread the message that pork producers are doing the right thing." So click below and enjoy!

Click here to jump to YouTube and the Pork Checkoff Videos.

"On May 20th, I announced a proposed rule to initiate a complete ban on the slaughter of non-ambulatory cattle that go down after initial inspection. Of the nearly 34 million cattle that were slaughtered last year, under 1,000 cattle that were re-inspected were actually approved by the veterinarian for slaughter. This represents less than 0.003 percent of cattle slaughtered annually. However, to eliminate further misunderstanding of the rule and, ultimately, to make a positive impact on the humane handling of cattle, it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of downer cattle that go down after initial inspection.

"I have asked the cattle and beef packing industry to voluntarily abide by this ban, which many are already doing, while the proposed rule is going through its final phases of approval and implementation. "

DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred announced that it has identified and incorporated new proprietary molecular markers into its soybean research program. The new markers significantly enhance the company's ability to bring to market soybeans resistant to three common destructive soybean pests - - Asian Soybean Rust, soybean aphids and frogeye leaf spot.

"These molecular markers will help us boost soybean yields by 40 percent within the next 10 years," said William S. Niebur, vice president, DuPont Crop Genetics Research and Development. "These markers are part of our industry leading Accelerated Yield Technology (AYT) that harnesses the power of our germplasm collection, strong bioassays, computing power and molecular breeding tools to drive genetic gain at unprecedented rates."

The markers are non-transgenic and are not subject to additional regulatory approvals. Pioneer is seeking patent protection on resulting improved soybean varieties, as well as the tools and techniques used to develop them.
Molecular markers act as genetic road signs, indicating where scientists should look on a segment of DNA for genes related to a specific trait. Once molecular markers are identified, researchers can use DNA analysis early in product development to screen for the presence of these specific traits.

Click here for the full news release and more details on the DuPont and Pioneer Announcement

Triple Play Sports updates the part of their audience that is interested in agricultural news and markets five times a day- including morning farm news at 7:02 AM, Opening Markets at 10:02 AM, a Mid day Market Update at 12:02 PM, Closing Markets at 2:02 PM and our Market Wrap at 4:02 PM.

Triple Play Sports are three of the great radio stations that make up the Radio Oklahoma Network- and we invite you to give them a listen. If you are not sure which radio station in your area is carrying Ron and Ed on RON- drop me an email at ron@oklahomafarmreport.com.
As we develop our new website, we are working on a more interactive way to share with you the stations in your area that carry RON programming- and the times you can tune in.

For more on Triple Play Sports- here's a link to their website.

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

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.