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!

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On Wednesday February 17th, the class landed in Madrid Spain and then hopped aboard another airplane for a short flight to Malaga, a city on the Southern Mediterranean coast.

Annette Riherd is an organic farmer near Oologah, Oklahoma. Her eye was immediately drawn to the fresh produce waiting for customers at the small markets along the street. She noticed some familiar vegetables, but also several items that she says that she has never seen before, adding the bell peppers that were at the streetside markets were huge and that she had never seen any that big before.

Click on the link below for more from the OALP travels as our colleague Clinton Griffiths has made the trip to help chronicle the journey for us as well as for the weekly TV show that he hosts, SUNUP.

Click here for more from the Day One Report on the OALP International Study Tour.

For the 2010 crop that is in the ground and waiting to break dormancy, don't get in a big hurry sell in advance of harvest. Kim Anderson says that there is little evidence of anything on the horizon that could drive wheat prices higher between here and June when the combines are rolling.
Anderson says this may be the year to sell a little of the new crop at harvest to pay immediate bills- but then hold the bulk of the crop to see if prices can come off the bottom this fall. He believes the best chance to get a rally in wheat prices this year may come in the October, November and December time frame.

Click on the link below to read more and to listen to our full conversation with Dr. Anderson as we talk old crop and new crop marketing strategies- and why Kim thinks that there will likely be looking at going "up from the bottom" when it comes to wheat prices this harvest season.

Click here for more with Dr. Kim Anderson of OSU on current wheat market conditions.

One of the Blog entries caught our eye as Martosko was refuting Wayne Pacelle's claim that they spend up to $27 million annually working with animal care. Martosko says the real figure is less than a half million dollars when you are talking about dealing with pets, the animals that HSUS constantly shows in their promotional materials. He writes in his blog "Hands-on care for dogs and cats is a very different thing from the more generic "hands-on animal care." Yes, HSUS runs a couple of wildlife sanctuaries and a horse ranch. There are five facilities in all. But none of them accepts dogs or cats. (You know—the pets in all of those weepy HSUS ads? Remember them?)
"Just so there's no mistaking what I'm saying, HSUS doesn't run any "hands-on" dog or cat shelters. It isn't affiliated with any "hands-on" dog or cat shelters. And in 2008, it only gave out $450,000 to "hands-on" dog and cat shelters. Out of a $99+ million budget."

Click on the link below- we have an audio report with David Martosko on the website update- and a link to the site itself as well.

Click here for more on HumaneWatch.Org- as the CCF Magnifies Your View of HSUS.

Due to significant increases in commodity prices in recent years, annual insurance industry payments more than doubled from 1.8-billion dollars in 2006 to an estimated 3.8 billion in 2009. At the same time, the number of policies decreased. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the proposal represents a significant step toward an agreement that will give us a stronger Federal crop insurance program that helps producers manage risk, reduces volatility for crop insurance companies and serve farmers in every region of the country.

RMA Administrator William Murphy says - as with the first draft of the SRA, the second draft provides companies with relatively stable Administrative and Operating subsidies per policy for seven major commodities and will facilitate insurance company planning.

Click here for more from USDA on their "second draft" of their reinsurance proposal for Crop Insurance.

Victor tells us that "January Placements are expected to be 7.4% smaller than last year. A lower supply of available calves and feeders and poor weather conditions were the prime reasons for this lower number. This was made despite the 17 cent decline in corn prices in January compared with December. This represents three months of straight placement declines. Cattle placed in January will be marketed from June through September."

Joe Victor adds that "Allendale anticipates a Marketing total 0.3% larger than January of 2009. This number comes after an adjustment for one less weekday in January 2010 vs. 2009. Feedlots are working off those higher placements made from July through October. Due to those placements, Marketings will remain over last year through March.

"Total Cattle on Feed as of February 1 will be 3.2% smaller than last year. Our estimate is the lowest February 1 Cattle on Feed in seven years."
We will have the USDA numbers up on our website on Friday afternoon, along with our regular commentary on reports like this one from Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities.

The holder of OSU's P.E. Harrill Distinguished Professorship of Crop Science since 1991, Murray designs and conducts fundamental and applied weed science research with an emphasis on challenges associated with cultivated row crops, including experiments with reduced- and no-till production systems. Additional research projects with which he is involved include field experiments on pastures, forages and rangelands. Murray received the SWSS Outstanding Educator Award in 2006, and the SWSS Distinguished Service Award in 2004. He served as the organization's president from 1999-2000. Murray was named a Fellow of the society in 1999, the most prestigious honor a member can attain in the organization.

“Don's historical perspective has been instrumental in providing newer faculty with an understanding of the important role that the department has played in strengthening the state's agricultural industry throughout the years,” said Daren Redfearn, associate professor of forages with the OSU department of plant and soil sciences. “His insights help give us a continuity of vision that is beneficial to producers, agribusiness operators and researchers in terms of focusing on issues of importance to Oklahoma.”

A Cowboy alumnus, Murray earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in agronomy from OSU in 1966 and 1968, respectively. He earned his doctoral degree in crop science from OSU in 1974.
Prior to joining the OSU faculty, Murray served on the faculty of Auburn University from 1975 to 1978. He was a Ciba-Geigy Corp. field research representative for North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana in 1974.

On Friday, March 5th, the Angus Bull sale will get underway at 11:00 AM. Five hundred Angus Bulls will be up for sale, highlighted by the Express Ranches National Western Carload and Pen Bulls.

For more details, call 1-800-664-3977. You can also click on the link below for more information from our calendar listing on our website- and a link to the Express Ranches Website, where you can either download a PDF version of the catalog that can be printed- or you can browse through the interactive version of the catalog that is also available on the Express Ranches website.

Click here for more on the March 4th and 5th sales of Express Ranches in Yukon.

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.