Howdy Neighbors!

Here's your morning farm news headlines from the Director of Farm Programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, Ron Hays. We are pleased 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!

It is also great to have as an annual sponsor on our daily email Johnston Enterprises- proud to be serving agriculture across Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston Enterprises- click here for their website!
And we are proud to have P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy as our newest regular sponsor of our daily email update. P & K is the premiere John Deere dealer in Oklahoma, with nine locations to serve you, and the P & K team are excited about their new Wind Power program, as they offer Endurance Wind Power wind turbines. Click here for more from the P&K website.

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Colleen talked with Bill Barnhart of OKC West in El Reno- and they talked about the loss of appetite with weather this hot. Barnhart says that this could mean the difference between profit and loss for many cattle producers this season.

Click here to take a look at the video piece assembled by Chen- she did a nice job of telling about some of the concerns of cattlemen as they work to keep their animals in good and cool condition.

Beyond the current hot conditions, how are we doing on moisture? Well, the latest word from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey is that while we are drier than normal- it's not by a lot, except in the West Central District and then especially in the Panhandle. Click on the link below and you can review some of the latest data for the full year to date on rain and snow received- and how our numbers in 2009 rate in comparision to other years.

Click here for the latest on Drought Data from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey- through the Oklahoma Mesonet.

Specifically here in the Hard Red Winter Wheat belt, the Kansas crop was increased by over twenty million bushels by USDA from June to July, while the Oklahoma crop was increased a modest two million bushels, Texas 1.5 million bushels, Colorado eight million bushels and Nebraska six million bushels.

We have the Winter Wheat Numbers in detail- as well as the Supply Demand date to pass along to you- click here for our review of the Supply Demand data, and click on the link below for the full rundown on the Winter Wheat production as predicted on Friday morning by USDA

Click here for the Winter Wheat Crop Production Data from NASS at the USDA

One of the groups unhappy with these measures is the National Pork Producers Council, who say in their July 10th Capitol Update "NPPC strongly opposes restrictions on livestock antibiotics and is urging lawmakers to vote against H.R. 1549 and S. 619." It's our understanding that testimony will only be heard from those who want to eliminate most antibiotic use for animal agriculture- no groups like the National Pork Producers who have a different view will be heard from in this hearing.

Going to the NPPC website, they cite as their position on antiobiotics use for farm animals the following:
Existing FDA regulations provide adequate safeguards against antibiotic resistance. NPPC actively participates in public discussions on the use of antibiotics. Pork producers stress that animal health products, including antibiotics must be available to maintain the health of their animals. The program developed by the National Pork Board, "Take Care: Use Antibiotics Responsibly," demonstrates the pork industry's intention to provide for both veterinarians and producers the principles and guidelines for guarded antibiotic use. NPPC supports research and educational programs on antibiotic use for pork production. Any regulatory decisions or legislative action on antibiotic use in animals must be transparent and made based on scientific risk analysis. If antibiotic use on farms were stopped, antibiotic resistance in humans would not be eliminated. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria develop from many factors, including human use of antibiotics and routine household use of disinfectants such as antibacterial soap. A recent Institute of Food Technologists' expert panel report stated that correlating the risk of antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance in humans is not possible.

Click here for the NPPC website and more on their positions regarding Animal Health

In order to have a more immediate impact with the new retirement round, CWT is shortening the time frame for producers to submit bids. A maximum bid level is also being announced for this round. "With the ongoing financial pressure on dairy farmers, and because the vast majority of farmers are familiar with CWT's Herd Retirement program and how it works, we shortened the bidding window to two weeks," said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF, which manages CWT. "To expedite and simplify the bidding process, CWT will consider bids up to, but not to exceed $5.25 per hundredweight. However, there is no guarantee that a producer who bids at the maximum level will be selected." Producers must still bid on a per hundredweight basis, and CWT will continue to review and accept bids beginning from the lowest bids received and moving up toward the maximum level. Bids must be postmarked by July 24.

"Carrying out a second herd retirement right on the heels of the largest-ever herd retirement should give us a double-barreled attack on milk production in a very short period of time, resulting in a farm level price recovery several months sooner than would otherwise occur," Kozak said. As has been the case in recent herd retirements, in addition to submitting bids for their milk herds, participating farmers will have the option of offering all of their bred heifers at a flat price of $700 per animal. CWT did not announce how many cows it hopes to remove in the new round.

In the just concluded herd retirement round, CWT said it removed 101,040 cows that produced almost 2 billion lbs. of milk. Altogether, CWT's buyout encompassed 367 herds in 41 states. These figures reflect the final number of dairies that were successfully audited in the herd retirement process in May and June. CWT had received 538 bids from 41 states during the bidding process in April. As has been the case with its previous herd retirement rounds, most of the cows removed were in the western regions of the country. This round also removed 818 bred heifers.

Click here for the CWT website to learn more about the buyout and the group.

Senator Inhofe is convinced that as more voters are informed about the crushing tax burden that Climate Change legislation could bring with it little or no benefit to the environment- it is more likely that they will be voicing concerns to their Senator- which would make it even tougher for Senate majority leader Harry Reid to come up with 60 votes to get the measure through the Senate.

Senator Inhofe says that the one negative to the additional time is that President Obama will be able to cut deals with individual Senators- perhaps with lucrative carrots in their home state- to get a "no" vote reversed. He says that the President has yet to put a full court press on the Senate on this issue.
You can hear the full conversation that Stewart Doan had with Senator Jim Inhofe at the end of this past week by clicking ont he link we have provided to the Agri-Pulse website below- look on the right hand column for Senator Inhofe's picture- and follow the directions to listen to the interview.

Click here for the Jim Inhofe interview with Agri-Pulse on the Climate Change issue.

Also today, we have the Northern Oklahoma College hosting a Sheep Judging Event, in advance to the Sheep Day activities that are a part of the Big Three Field Days at OSU in Stillwater.

Later this week is the mid year meeting of the Cattle Industry- we are headed to Denver Wednesday for those deliberations.
All of these events and more are listed on our calendar pages- click on the link below to jump to that section of our website.

Click here for the Calendar Page found at WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com

Winners for the tickets included Charles Hodges of Stigler, William Payne of Saint Louis, Charley Hunter of Oakwood and Dan Elsner of Tipton.

Our thanks to all who participated- and our thanks also go to Genuity Seed Genetics, a part of the Monsanto family.

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- Two Pager From The Kansas City Board of Trade looks at all three US Wheat Futures Exchanges with extra info on Hard Red Winter Wheat and the why of that day's market.
Daily Oklahoma Cash Grain Prices- As Reported by the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture. <
The National Daily Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
The National Daily Slaughter Cattle Summary- as prepared by USDA.
Finally, Here is the Daily Volume and Price Summary from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.