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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Friday April 17, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
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-- More Conservation Bucks for Oklahoma
-- Secretary Tom Vilsack Looking for Viable, Workable Animal ID
Program- and Wants a Plan to Proceed With in 2009
-- USDA's Ag Stats Team Ready to Assess Wheat Crop Prospects
-- No Freeze Rally for Kansas City Wheat Futures- So Says Dr. Kim
Anderson
-- Insights Offered by OSU Scientists on Moving Ahead After Wheat
Crop Failure
-- Some Final Thoughts About Dr. Joe Hughes
-- Horse Help!
-- Looking at our Agricultural 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 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! We are also pleased to have as a regular sponsor on our daily email
Johnston Enterprises- proud to have served agriculture across
Oklahoma and around the world since 1893. For more on Johnston
Enterprises- click
here for their website! 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. | |
More Conservation Bucks for Oklahoma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Oklahoma
Conservation Commission is pleased with U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Tom
Vilsack's April 16, 2009, announcement that two new small watershed
upstream flood control dams will be built in Oklahoma under the America
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). That will raise the number
of such dams in the state to 2,107 - more than any other state. This
project includes Dam No. 3 and Dam No. 8 in the Turkey Creek Watershed
that will, in combination, directly protect from flooding eight bridges
and eight county roads downstream. These will be the second and third of
11 dams planned for the watershed that, when the entire project is
completed, will protect 13,722 acres, 18 homes and businesses from
flooding. These two dams were selected from a backlog of over 300 more
upstream flood control dams planned for Oklahoma. The current
infrastructure of dams provides $75,000,000 in million in annual estimated
benefits from reduced flood damages and other benefits.
"We are pleased that the USDA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are investing in new flood control dams in Oklahoma," said Mike Thralls, executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. "Oklahomans know the value of our network of 2,105 flood control dams. We are hopeful that Congress will continue to appropriate funds for new dams beyond this stimulus program," Thralls said. The Turkey Creek Watershed Project extends into four counties in north-central Oklahoma. Those counties are Alfalfa, Major, Garfield and Kingfisher Counties. Turkey Creek Dam No. 3 lies in Garfield County and Dam No. 8 lies in Alfalfa County. The local sponsors for the dams, who will take responsibility for operation and maintenance after construction, will be the Garfield County and Alfalfa County Conservation Districts, respectively. Federal funds in Sec. Vilsack's announcement for the construction of the two dams total $1,670,000. Clay Pope, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, also applauds the Thursday announcement- "The Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) would like to echo the Commission's excitement in this opportunity to help provide the citizens of Oklahoma with additional flood control protection. Every year our states 2,000 plus flood control dams save Oklahoma over $70 million in flood damage that does not happen because of the protection they provide. These new structures that will be built because of these new stimulus funds will help even more. We are very appreciative of this federal assistance and look forward to getting these funds on the ground." | |
Secretary Tom Vilsack Looking for Viable, Workable Animal ID Program- and Wants a Plan to Proceed With in 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secretary of
Agriculture is looking for reasonable people to come up with a reasonable
plan for animal ID here in the United States. He is planning a series of
meetings over the balance of 2009 out in the country to flush out as many
of the objections to the National Animal ID System- and then address those
concerns to develop a program that will have a lot of buy in.
On Thursday and Friday of this week- we have featured Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack with comments on where he wants the public discussion to go on Animal ID. On Thursday- we featured comments from Vilsack on the concerns he has had from members of Congress on getting a viable and workable Animal ID system in place. Lawmakers like Collin Peterson, the Chairman of the House Ag Committee, are disappointed with the large number of dollars that have been spent with few results to show for it. The Friday Beef Buzz continues on Animal ID and the more comments from
the Secretary- We hear his take on how the solution to Animal ID can be
hammered out that will deliver a program that works but addresses the
concerns of independent livestock producers- not an easy task. | |
USDA's Ag Stats Team Ready to Assess Wheat Crop Prospects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What was the
impact of the freeze on Oklahoma's wheat crop? What is the position of Hay
Stocks? The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural
Statistics Service is preparing for the upcoming small grain and hay
forecast season. The Nation's first wheat production estimate will be
released on May 12, 2009 in the Crop Production report.
"That report will include the number of wheat acres harvested for grain in Oklahoma, along with the forecasted yield and production data compiled from two sources. One indication is provided by the farmer's expectation of yield during a brief telephone survey (beginning in May and continuing each month until their crop acreage is harvested and the final yield is recorded). The other indication comes from objective yield plots in sampled fields; producers selected for this survey only provide an initial interview, and then give [USDA-NASS] permission to set out a wheat plot which measures the progress and condition of the crop throughout its phenological stages" said Oklahoma's NASS State Director Wilbert Hundl, Jr. "During the next few weeks, field representatives from the Oklahoma Field Office will be contacting operators across the State's wheat- grain regions to establish which fields are selected for the wheat plots" said Hundl. Those producers selected for the telephone survey will have the option of responding by phone or over the Internet by following the instructions mailed to them. "Oklahoma farmers that participate in this survey will provide important information to the wheat industry and to U.S. agriculture as a whole," Hundl said. "Their responses will be compiled with those of their fellow producers to provide an aggregated State and National estimate of wheat production." | |
No Freeze Rally for Kansas City Wheat Futures- So Says Dr. Kim Anderson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OSU Grain
Marketing Economist Dr. Kim Anderson is saying on SUNUP this week that the
reality of our current wheat market is that the freeze damage in Oklahoma
and Texas is already mostly in the market- and that no big price jumps can
be expected as we get a better handle on freeze damage in these two
states. The thing that could rally the market is a discovery of
significant damage in south central and central Kansas- however, unless we
get another hard freeze, that is not likely to occur.
The comments from Kim Anderson come during his conversation that will be seen on Saturday morning on the OSU Division of Agriculture's weekly show, SUNUP, to be aired on OETA at 7:30 AM. We have his comments for you to hear right now on our website- as well as a rundown of this weekend's SUNUP program. Click on the link below for Kim as well as the SUNUP lowdown. Click here for more on the wheat market from this week with Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU | |
Insights Offered by OSU Scientists on Moving Ahead After Wheat Crop Failure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is a
brief overview of what you will find in the latest newsletter from the OSU
Plant and Soil Science Department from the Division of Agriculture.
Among the subjects covered by OSU in this latest newsletter- We have a link to the Newsletter on our website- and that link is below. | |
Some Final Thoughts About Dr. Joe Hughes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Over the last
couple of days, we have asked you to write the story about Dr. Joe Hughes
as we lead up to his Memorial Service and Burial today. We offer two final
eulogies of this man of faith and a giant when it came to caring about
people.
Bob Smith writes to us in an email "As has been said, he was an exceptionally dedicated man, dedicated to God, his wonderful wife Lynn, his country, agriculture, young people, and in reality to everyone he met. Joe Hughes was the real thing- a man who loved life and everything and everyone around him. This is not my original quote, but it certainly describes Joe Hughes; "little man, but big footprints!" Finally we reserve this final word in this venue to Shari Holloway from
southwest Oklahoma. "I have so many fond memories of Joe, I'm not sure
where to start. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't know him.
First it was through the many livestock shows that he was so instrumental
in, then during my college years I worked with him at the OKC spring
livestock show and the Tulsa State Fair as a student worker, not to
mention Joe's assistance with the OSU Block and Bridle youth livestock
workshops that we hosted while I was in school. Then the last few years I
was so fortunate to be able to work with him again through my tenure on
the OSU Animal Science Alumni Association board. He never missed a beat,
always prepared for any situation. His enthusiasm for what he did was
truly contagious. My most fond memory of him was his undying Faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. One memory I have from my high school days that
involves Joe was when Christy Collins and I headed out to Stillwater for
one of the Animal Science department- sponsored livestock workshops. By
then I had my driver's license and my own car, so we really thought we
were something, our parents letting us go to Stillwater all by ourselves!!
Well we forgot to call home when we got there to assure them we'd made it,
but the next morning I'll never forget a chipper Joe telling us about the
phone call he'd had from Chattanooga the night before to be sure we had
arrived. I'm not sure if that was from my parents or Christy's, but
nonetheless I know they never would have let us take off for Stillwater
alone without knowing that Joe Hughes was the man in charge when we got
there. He truly was a great one!" | |
Horse Help! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have made
the appeal a couple of times for horses that might be used by horse
trainer Scott Daily during his twice a day sessions at the upcoming
Southern Plains Farm Show- to be held next week in Oklahoma City.
For those of you that called us- we have those calls forwarded on to the Midwest Show Folks- but a couple of you emailed us and those emails have disappeared into cyberspace- and I need for you to email us again in order to get your horse considered for the free training. AND even if you have not submitted a nomination as of yet- we would still like to hear from you. Just drop me a note TODAY to ron@oklahomafarmreport.com and we will get those passed on for consideration. We also remind you that the Radio Oklahoma Network is sponsoring the giveaway of the Prefert Round Pen that will be used by Scott Daily. You can register at the horse training pen- or at our RON booth during the show. We will give the Round Pen Away on Saturday afternoon- the winner will need to pick it up that afternoon if at all possible. | |
Our thanks to Midwest Farm Shows, American Farmers & Ranchers and Johnston Enterprises for 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. | |
Looking at our Agricultural Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No cash cattle
trade has happend as yet this week- and it may not happen now until after
today's Cattle on Feed Report that will be out at 2 PM this afternoon
Central Time. We traded cattle last week at $86- and it is expected that
prices should be higher this week- based on stronger wholesale boxed beef
prices. Choice beef has reestablished a premium over Select of about $2
per hundred. We will have comments from Tom Leffler on the Cattle on Feed
report later today on our website- go to our frontpage and check it out
late this afternoon.
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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