~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday July 30, 2009
A
service of Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Midwest Farm Shows and KIS
Futures!
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-- Democrats Stumble on Suspension Vote- Plan to Run Food Safety Bill
Again Today and Expect Passage
-- The Cattle Cycle Matters Less- Short Term Factors Matter More for
Today's Cattle Producer
-- Rain Piling Up This Final Week of July
-- USDA's Farm Service Agency to Begin Accepting Applications for New
Biomass Crop Assistance Program
-- Obama Administration Backs Brazil Tariff
-- Coming Up this Weekend- the Shorthorn University- and Going On
Today and Tomorrow- the Oklahoma 4-H Congress
-- Thoughts About AJ
-- 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 KIS Futures as a regular sponsor of our daily email update. KIS Futures provides Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers with futures & options hedging services in the livestock and grain markets- Click here for the free market quote page they provide us for our website or call them at 1-800-256-2555. We are also excited to have as one of our sponsors for the daily email
Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, with 64 years of progress through
producer ownership. Call Brandon Winters at 405-232-7555 for more
information on the oilseed crops they handle, including sunflowers and
canola- and remember they post closing market prices for canola and
sunflowers on the PCOM
website- go there 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. | |
Democrats Stumble on Suspension Vote- Plan to Run Food Safety Bill Again Today and Expect Passage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a
surprising and embarrassing vote for the Democratic leadership, the so
called Food Safety bill failed to garner the needed 290 votes and failed
under the Suspension calendar to pass. The final vote on the measure was
280 to 150. H.R. 2479 would ramp up the powers given to the Food and Drug
Administration- critics say at the expense of the USDA.
Oklahoma Third District Congressman Frank Lucas was one who was vocal
in his opposition to the measure on the floor, offered this statement
quickly after the vote: "Today the House rejected rushing a major piece of
legislation through Congress. However, that may not be the case as apparently the Democratic
leadership will attempt to bring the bill up under regular rules today and
get it passed, as it has far more than the 50% needed that voted in favor
of it on Wednesday. The Rules Committee has vetted the bill and will
report it as a "closed bill" which means there will still be no amendments
permitted and this time, there will be one hour of debate before the vote.
Also, proposed legislation that would ban the use of non-therapeutic
antimicrobials in food-producing animals was not included in this food
safety bill. Meat industry groups sent a letter a week ago to House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), asking the antibiotic legislation be kept
out of this broader food safety bill. | |
The Cattle Cycle Matters Less- Short Term Factors Matter More for Today's Cattle Producer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is no
longer in the best interests of cattle producers to do a lot of long term
planning for their cattle herd- a two to three year window is really too
long of a view in the current cattle market, according to Jim Robb of the
Livestock Market Information Center. Robb says that today's market
conditions call for a strategy that is constantly being evaluated with a
two to three month window in mind.
On today's Beef Buzz, Robb gives us ideas about how cattle producers can accomplish this. He says to expand your thinking and consider more options in producing and marketing your cattle. He says that southern plains producers have a built in advantage over other parts of the country with the ability to run cattle on wheat pasture, when it is available. He adds that on the marketing side of things- it makes good sense to consider one of the many value added marketing programs that will return more dollars to your operation, if you are willing to invest the time required for the extra management needed for these programs to work. Jim Robb adds that the market continues to pay producers to take calves
to heavier weights, which is a result of higher feed grain costs of the
last couple of years. If we do harvest a bumper corn crop, some of that
incentive to put pounds of gain on with grass may be gone- but that for
now, it remains in place. Click here for more on beef cattle herd management as we Beef Buzz with Jim Robb of the LMIC | |
Rain Piling Up This Final Week of July ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This week has
been a week of rain and cooler weather for Oklahoma's farmers and
ranchers- helping our spring planted crops that were able to make it
through the string of 100 degree days earlier in the month, as well as to
spark mid summer growth of our pastures.
Over the last four days, the Oklahoma Mesonet shows much of the southern two thirds of the state has received at least an inch of rain, with locations in southern Grady County being clocked at more than five inches of precipitation, McCurtain County in far southeastern Oklahoma has over three inches at its reporing stations- the Oklahoma City area has in excess of four inches, much of southwestern Oklahoma has one to just over two inches reported and even the Panhandle has checked in at the one inch plus mark. Missing the rain this week thus far are the east central and northeastern counties of the state, as well as the northern tier of counties on the Kansas line- they have received little to no rain from this system. Our meterologists from News9 tell me that we are in what they call a "northwestern flow" which allows these systems to sweep down and bring us summertime rain. By this evening, we will be getting drier- Friday lloks dry and then Saturday, another pulse in this flow may bring us more rain. Click on the link below for the 96 hour accumulation of rain from the Oklahoma Mesonet- it shows you exactly who has gotten how much. Click here for the four day accumulation rainfall totals from the Oklahoma Mesonet. | |
USDA's Farm Service Agency to Begin Accepting Applications for New Biomass Crop Assistance Program ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ USDA Farm
Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess announced on Wednesday that
biomass conversion facilities can begin signing up to participate in the
Biomass Crop Assistance Program, which will help increase production of
renewable energy. The program, authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, provides
financial assistance to producers who deliver eligible material to biomass
conversion facilities and FSA will provide financial assistance to
collect, harvest, store and transport eligible materials.
Biomass conversion facilities and material owners or producers should contact their FSA state offices for more information. FSA will begin accepting applications from biomass facilities interested in participating in the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Once an agreement is signed between FSA and a facility and funding
through the program is provided, the facilities can begin accepting
materials. Producers who sell these materials can apply for matching
payments under the collection, harvest, storage and transportation (CHST)
component of BCAP. Click here for more on this program to help jumpstart the cellulosic ethanol industry. | |
Obama Administration Backs Brazil Tariff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The riff over
the Administration's stance on the tariff on Brazilian ethanol may have
come to an end. In a statement, the Obama administration says it has no
plans to change the current policy. The policy came into question when
Thomas Shannon, the President's nominee for Ambassador to Brazil, called
removal of the tariff - beneficial. The Administration says - it has no
plans to change it. The Obama Administration says it is - committed - to
developing our domestic biofuels industry and to help the international
market for biofuels grow.
The CEO of Growth Energy applauded the Administration for reinforcing its commitment to homegrown ethanol. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said - keeping the tariff on Brazilian ethanol will ensure the development of a domestic renewable fuel industry, which creates green collar jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, strengthens our national security, and improves the environment. Specifically- here is the what the Obama Administration said in regards
to the "Brazilian Tariff." | |
Coming Up this Weekend- the Shorthorn University- and Going On Today and Tomorrow- the Oklahoma 4-H Congress ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's a three
day program for Shorthorn breeders and others in the beef cattle business
that want to get some cutting edge information about the business today.
During their opening session on Friday, Dr. Ted McCollum, area beef cattle
specialist, is organizing a panel of beef industry speakers in the Texas
Panhandle. Topics will include cow efficiency, residual feed intake,
by-product feedstuffs, animal genomics, and general agriculture in the
Panhandle region of Texas. Ross Wilson, Texas Cattle Feeders Association
President will address "Policy Issues Facing Agriculture." For details on
this- go to the link below for our calendar page and click on the
Shorthorn University link.
Also underway today and continuing through midday on Friday is the 2009 Oklahoma 4-H Congress. This is the 88th annual renewal of this event- and hundreds of 4-Hers from all 77 Oklahoma Counties are involved. For these end of the month events- as well as a ton of August events that are coming up- click on the link below and check out our calendar page listings. AND- please send us info on events that we don't have listed that your group has coming up in the days to come. We would love to include them for you. Click here for the Calendar Section of our website- WWW.OklahomaFarmReport.Com | |
Thoughts About AJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Memorial
Service to celebrate the life of AJ Smith will be this afternoon at 2 PM
at the Express Ranch Sale and Show Barn just north of Yukon- and we wanted
to share with you a couple of more thoughts about A.J. Smith from those
who worked with him, knew him and respected him.
Former President of the OCA John Kane writes "He was a friend to everyone and an excellent example of everything that is good and real about people, the cattle business and Oklahoma." Rancher Chet Purvine also tells us about AJ by writing "A.J. was one in a million. It was obvious that he loved the cattle industry and the people who comprise it. He was so kind and always had time for anyone who needed him." Joe Bogard adds "A.J. Smith demonstrated the kind of person that the world needs more of. He knew how to make you feel like you belonged and he was so easy to talk to and visit with. He was so knowledgeable and shared that knowledge without hesitation. He was someone that you could rely on without hesitation. I will miss his assistance at sales and I will miss even more his friendship." | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farms Shows, PCOM, P & K Equipment/ P & K Wind Energy, Johnston Enterprises, AFR and KIS Futures for their support of our daily Farm News Update. For your convenience, we have our sponsors' websites linked here- just click on their name to jump to their website- check their sites 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OKC West in El
Reno reported a total of 5,934 cattle for their Wednesday sale, with
yearlings $1 to $2 lower- and steer calves called steady to $2 higher. The
five to six weight steer calves sold for $101 to $108.50 , while yearlings
weighing seven to eight hundred pounds cleared from $100.75 to $103.75. Click
here for the complete OKC West report from our USDA Market Reporters.
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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