~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oklahoma's latest farm and ranch news
Your Update from Ron Hays of RON for Thursday June 25, 2009
A
service of Johnston Enterprises, American Farmers & Ranchers and
Midwest Farm Shows!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- The Climate Change Deal- What Collin Peterson Says He Got
-- Congressman Frank Lucas Says Details Are Too Fuzzy to Justify a
Vote By This Friday on Climate Change Deal
-- USDA to Survey Oklahoma Cattle Producers
-- Oklahoma Will Require Premise ID for Hog Show Animals, Effective
August First
-- Going the Natural Route on the Value Added Beef Highway
-- 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. | |
The Climate Change Deal- What Collin Peterson Says He Got ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chairman
of the House Ag Committee seems pleased with the deal that he has cut on
behalf of agriculture as victory has been declared in this stage of the
Climate Change debate- H.R. 2454. Peterson offered this statement shortly
after the deal was done:
"We have reached an agreement that works for agriculture and contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The climate change bill will include a strong agriculture offset program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will allow farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners to participate fully in a market-based carbon offset program. This agreement also addresses concerns about international indirect land use provisions that unfairly restricted U.S. biofuels producers and exempts agriculture and forestry from the definition of a capped sector." He went into much greater detail on Wednesday- and we have a major segment of those comments made to reporters- our thanks to colleague Stewart Doan for helping us with this audio excerpt as we are in semi vacation mode. Click on the link below to jump to those comment from Chairman Peterson. | |
Congressman Frank Lucas Says Details Are Too Fuzzy to Justify a Vote By This Friday on Climate Change Deal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Right after
the announcement surfaced that Collin Peterson had a deal with Henry
Waxman on HR 2454, Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas, who is the top
Republican on the House Ag Committee offered the following thoughts:
"My initial reaction to this deal is it doesn't fix the real problems with this bill. No deal can address the devastation this legislation is going to wreak on America's farms. This agreement does nothing to address the higher input costs that our farmers and ranchers will invariably have to pay. This agreement does nothing to address the higher energy costs, lost jobs, and higher food prices this bill will cause. We are still looking at the most dramatic tax increase of all time and the agriculture community will be hit the hardest. I still have a lot of questions, and I think our farmers and ranchers in the countryside will as well. What I am hearing and reading are generalities without any real teeth to protect farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans from a bad bill that will destroy their livelihoods," We have more from Congressman Lucas, as well as some of his colleagues from Wednesday as they face the fact that Speaker Pelosi will likely be able to force a vote on this bill and get it passed before the Fourh of July recess. We have audio and more with Congressman Lucas- click on the link below and we will take you there. Click here for reaction from Congressman Frank Lucas as HR 2454 appears headed to passage on Friday. | |
USDA to Survey Oklahoma Cattle Producers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is gearing up to count cattle inventory
Nationwide, with plans to contact nearly 10,000 cattle operations during
the first two weeks in July. "The July Cattle Survey provides Oklahoma
producers the opportunity to serve as the frontline source of data on
cattle" said Wilbert Hundl, director of the Oklahoma Field Office of
USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). "In Oklahoma,
we'll be contacting about 300 operations in order to measure trends in
beef and dairy cattle inventories, calf crop and cattle operations."
Producers selected for the survey will have the option of responding via telephone, Internet, mail, or personal interview with a local NASS representative. "No matter how they choose to respond, they are providing an important service to the cattle industry and to U.S. agriculture as a whole," Hundl said. "Their responses will be compiled with those of their fellow producers Nationwide, providing the only accurate and comprehensive estimate of the state of U.S. cattle production." Results of this survey will benefit cattle producers and the entire cattle industry by providing them with timely accurate information. "For instance, it helps producers make informed marketing decisions and plan for herd expansion or reduction. It also helps packers and government evaluate expected slaughter volume for future months and determine potential supplies for export," Hundl said. As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. NASS safeguards the privacy of all survey responses and publishes only State- and National-level data, ensuring that no individual producer or operation can be identified. NASS will publish survey results in the biannual Cattle report, scheduled for release on July 24. The report will provide National-level estimates of total inventory, beef cows, milk cows, bulls, replacement heifers, other heifers, steers, calves, and number of calves born during the previous year. | |
Oklahoma Will Require Premise ID for Hog Show Animals, Effective August First ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Participants
in swine shows and exhibits will be required to have an official premise
identification card issued by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture,
Food, and Forestry effective August 1.
Officials say the rule will protect both economic and social interests. "This is a very proactive step that lets Oklahomans decide how best to protect the health of our citizens, our livestock industry and our livestock show industry," said Governor Brad Henry. "Suggestions were made earlier by the Centers for Disease Control and some commercial producers to eliminate swine shows completely, but this is a much better alternative that lets our 4-H and FFA members compete in livestock shows." We have more on this story- including an audio conversation that we can share with you between our own Ed Richards and Jack Carson of the ODAFF on this subject, as well as praise from the American Farmers & Ranchers on this decision by the state board of agriculture. Click on the link below for the rest of the story. Click here for more on this Premise ID decision by the Oklahoma State Board of Agriculture. | |
Going the Natural Route on the Value Added Beef Highway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are
continuing our Beef Buzz conversation today with Doug McKinney, the Value
Added Beef Cattle Specialist at Oklahoma State University, and our
attention today turns to "natural" beef cattle programs.
For the smaller operator, you may want to consider a "natural" program, which will take whatever calves you have, if they meet their requirements. Current premiums for calves going into a Natural program are running around $10 to $12 per hundred. You can hear all of Doug's comments on this issue of Natural beef and how it fits into a value added concept by clicking on the link beloiw and heading to our Beef Buzz section of our website. | |
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. | |
Looking at our Agricultural Markets... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|