(upbeat music) - Hello everyone.

And welcome to Sunup.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Oklahoma's wheat crop is really starting to make some progress now.

Joining us now to talk about it is Dr. Amanda Silva, our Extension Small Grain Specialist.

And Amanda, kind of get us up to speed on what's been happening out in the fields in the last few weeks.

- Sure.

Well, wheat is a little behind in growth, because of the drought conditions we've been experiencing.

So jointing a stage came in later than usual, which gave some flexibility for producers wanting to apply some nitrogen fertilizer in areas where they received adequate moisture.

So we saw some people deciding to manage their crop, as far as nitrogen fertilizer.

And we are seeing some responses to that.

- In general, how is the wheat looking across the state?

- Well, like, I like to always take into consideration the conditions that we are facing currently.

So considering the drought conditions, I think it looks fairly good overall.

Of course, we do really need rain.

So these days with high winds, hot temperatures, low moisture, is not really helping our crop.

But in the past weeks, places where we got some rain, the wheat really, really took off.

So as you can see here, some varieties are starting to... the heads are starting to poke out, so it's starting to emerge, and things are moving.

- That's always exciting to see.

I was surprised this week to come out here and see how much progress these demonstration plots had made.

- Yes.

Yes.

And yes, it's very exciting to see, but at the same time, I'm also seeing it...

It's starting to go backwards, because of the conditions that we are facing.

So for us, to kinda keep it going in a positive way, we do need some rain.

- And we need these winds to slow down for a number of reasons, but the wheat also needs that.

Let's talk about any mites or insect pressures that you've seen lately.

- Yeah.

We've received reports of brown wheat mites as you all heard Dr. Rorya mentioning last week.

Some people decided to manage for it.

One of the issues they were facing when trying to manage for it was finding chemical products.

But yeah, so that was one part, mainly in the Southwest Oklahoma.

More here in the north central, I'm seeing some aphids, green bugs.

And so I think it's good to keep our eyes out for mites and insects like aphids, and things like that.

- What other questions or concerns are you hearing from producers?

- Oh, as always, everyone is worried about whether they're gonna need to use fungicide or not, but that's a concern.

One thing that I like to say to producers or people that are wanting to know more about varieties that they're growing, before making those decisions on fungicide applications, just to go to our website where we have some description on the varieties characteristics, and also I'll be out for the plot tours here, I believe in a week or two, and we'll be talking more on the varieties characteristics.

And that is a very good time for people to look at the wheat and how it's performing, especially in these very challenging conditions.

So we can see varieties that will do a little better than others, or be better adapted to some scenarios or some situations better than others.

- [Presenter] So the field day season is upon us.

It's time to get out and meet and greet and talk with folks around the state.

So you have some information on some of those upcoming field days.

- Yes.

So it's gonna... the complete schedule is gonna be posted on my website.

Most of our trials already have the plot signs, and they have the variety signs, the very big one with keyword codes.

So people can go there and check, and it's gonna take them directly to the variety characteristics.

And yeah, it starts on April 25th in Southwest Oklahoma.

- Okay, great.

Thanks a lot, Amanda.

We look forward to seeing you there, and for a link to the materials that Amanda talked about, as well as the upcoming field days, go to sunup.okstate.edu And now we wanna talk more about wheat disease and some potential there.

With Dr. Meriem Aoun, our new Extension Wheat Pathologist.

- Yeah.

So, I have been communicating with some county educators and producers on some diseases they are seeing in their field.

We saw early in April and in March, we saw a little bit of powdery mildew on OK Coral.

- Which is moderately resistant to this disease.

So it's not an issue.

So fungicide application is not needed if resistant variety is grown.

I saw some viral diseases here in our research plot.

I saw infections by barley yellow dwarf virus and also wheat streak mosaic virus.

So barley yellow dwarf virus is transmitted by aphids, and wheat streak mosaic virus is transmitted by curl mite.

So for barley yellow dwarf virus, we have some resistance in our variety but wheat streak mosaic virus is a concern because most of our with varieties susceptible to this disease.

Yeah, for now, we saw for these diseases I am talking about they are unsusceptible varieties.

So we expect to see it unsusceptible varieties.

For the commercial varieties, I'm seeing in our demonstration plots some sign of viral infections.

We still need to confirm that doing ELISA in our diagnostic lab.

So we will give an update as we confirm our results.

I also want to mention that I also saw stripe rust infection.

So the inoculum is there.

So it is really important for growers to start scouting in their fields for these diseases.

They usually appear when it is cold and it depends on the moisture.

So if we have moisture then we expect these diseases to increase.

So if you are growing resistant variety this shouldn't be an issue.

But if you see this initial infection in your field, then fungicide application will be needed if you are growing a susceptible variety (upbeat music) - Welcome to the Mesonet weather report, I'm Wes Lee.

Statewide rainfall continues to fall behind what is normally expected for this time of year.

Although much worse in the west than the east.

This map shows the departure from average rainfall for this past winter showing negative numbers almost statewide.

Yet looking at soil moisture levels.

The eastern half of the state has levels just about as good as can be on this 10-inch fraction of water map.

Why is the soil moisture so good in the east even though we are still behind normal on rainfall?

Well, there are several factors that must be included to answer that question.

First off, we have been very cool since the incredibly warm December.

This map shows March can coming in at two to three degrees below normal.

January, February and April to date are similar.

Cool temperatures help keep our evapotranspiration or ET rates very low.

This table for McAlester shows daily ET numbers for grass being mostly less than a 10th of an inch per day.

As temperatures increase, especially with high winds these numbers will climb and more rainfall will be needed to stay at adequate soil moisture levels.

For an example of that, look at this reference ET map for Tuesday, showing numbers close to half an inch in the west during this warm windy day.

Now here's Gary keeping us up to date with the western drought.

- Thanks, Wes.

And good morning, everyone.

Well, even though we had a couple of storms come through since the last time we talked they really didn't help that much in the places that need it to the most.

Let's get straight to the drought monitor map and see where we're at.

I thought we'd draw back and take a look at the overall picture for the United States.

And unfortunately now it looks like the high plains of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico.

That's the really drought central for the United States right now.

If you look out in the western parts of the United States, still some really drastic looking drought out that way but really much of the western half of the country in pretty bad shape.

And that's continued for years and years Oklahoma's and Texas, they're bad drought just recent, but we are seeing some improvements over in the eastern parts of Oklahoma.

So that's definitely the good news.

Now we have a map of the eastern third of the state almost entirely outta drought.

We just need to shift that west.

We take a look at the last 30 days and we see those areas that really need the rainfall far southwest Oklahoma, and really much of the western half of the state.

And also of course, the western Penhandle in very bad shape.

Those are areas that continue to stick out the rainfall map.

Some areas, even though it's a little bit narrow from central up through east central Oklahoma got some really good rains over the last 30 days.

And then of course, far southeast Oklahoma parts of northeastern Oklahoma.

Really becomes clear, of course on the percent and normal rainfall map for the last 30 days.

Southwest Oklahoma and the western Penhandle are the definite worst spots in the state when it comes to drought right now.

And that's simply because the lack of rainfall that they've had, not just the last 30 days but really going back nine months or so.

Okay.

We do see a bit of a pattern change as we get into the end of next week.

Hopefully this will take place end of next week.

And really the last week April we do see increased odds of above normal temperatures on the eight to 14 day temperature outlook from the climate prediction center.

- And then we also see increased odds of above normal precipitation across much of the Western half of the United States, that's the one that really needs to come true.

So we are getting into the depth of the rainy season and we get later into April and into May and early June, and so above normal precipitation during that timeframe will definitely be significant that's it for this time, we'll see you next time on the Mesonet weather report.

- Darrell Peel joins us now, Darrell let's talk about global beef markets, which are the biggest beef producing and exporting markets?

- As far as beef producers the U.S. is the biggest beef producing country, Brazil is number two, China is number three and the EU is the fourth largest beef producing country.

Generally big beef producers are the exporters but there's a little bit of difference.

Brazil is the largest beef exporting country, the U.S., India and Australia make up a second tier and they run about 60% of Brazil's level so Brazil is by far the largest, though that second tier is in there, the U.S. was actually the second largest beef exporting country last year by a little bit but those three are all about the same size.

And then from there you drop about half again into Argentina, the EU, and you know some countries like that, that are part of that list as well.

- Which are the big beef consuming and importing countries?

- Again, the U.S. is the biggest beef consuming country, China is number two, Brazil is number three and the EU is number four as far as beef consumers, that's based on total population, when you look at imports again the list varies a little bit.

China, Hong Kong has been by far the largest beef importing market in recent years, they've grown dramatically in the last four, five, six years.

The U.S. is the second largest beef importing and then from there it's Japan and South Korea make up the third and fourth largest beef importing markets.

- What are some of the big changes that are happening in the global beef trade?

- Well, obviously, you know, globally we're in a very uncertain environment right now with everything that's going on geopolitically, so there's that, there's a lot of volatility.

Now, I would say that beef markets in general have not been, you know, terribly impacted by the events in the Ukraine, for example and so on indirectly yes, there's a lot of uncertainty and so on in feed markets, supply chain issues and so on.

You know, the biggest factor again is the growth in the China, Hong Kong market in recent years.

China, Hong Kong is by far the largest importer, they're the biggest driver of beef flows around the world.

And then from there you could talk about Australia which historically was a very large exporter, they've been in a rebuilding process, they've had very limited cattle numbers, in fact beef production last year was the lowest in more than two decades in Australia so their exports have been curtailed but they're in the process of rebuilding now.

So they'll be back, that'll change in the coming years.

And then Argentina likewise used to be a bigger importer or exporter excuse me and they dropped off the map kind of for a few years, they're kinda coming back, they've had some issues with their government policies impacting trade, but they're certainly kinda back in the hunt now.

- How will beef exports and imports affect the U.S. beef market in 2022?

- You know, again the U.S. was the second largest beef exporter last year and we think they'll stay very strong this year, they'll probably be down a little bit from last year, but again historically high so it's been an important part of our total beef demand.

On the importing side, you know, exports or imports will probably go up a little bit, we've seen a big increase in imports from Brazil because they got a change in status now that allows them to export fresh beef to the U.S. and so far this year we've seen a pretty big increase from Brazil that will actually moderate as we go through the year because first of all they're gonna face a tariff rate quota once they fill the open or the other country tariff rate quota so, you know, so those will be some of the bigger factors that will affect the U.S. but the trade picture continues to be a very strong part of our total beef market and contributing a lot to beef prices and to our beef industry.

- Thank you Darrell and we'll be sure to keep an eye on those markets.

- We're joined now by Dr. Amy Hagerman our extension ag policy specialist to talk about wildfires from the past couple of weeks in Oklahoma.

Amy it's been a rough several days with wildfires and high winds, today's a another example.

- Yeah, we've had multiple fires across the state and it's been in different counties, it's been in different kinds of conditions, it's burned different kinds of land, but we have had over 60,000 acres that have been involved in some kind of fire complex incident.

So we definitely have a lot of producers, communities and individuals that have dealt with the stress of the fire situation itself and are now dealing with the recovery effort afterwards.

- We wanna give them some tools and kind of places to start with recovery but first we wanna touch base on the mental health aspect of going through something like this, I think especially hard 'cause some of these fires were were set on purpose, they are actually arson so that's especially devastating.

- Yeah, it's really hard when your community is affected by an event like this, when your home is threatened or actually damaged, when you receive property damage for your operation, for your livelihood.

- So, that's always the first thing, especially in this moment, right after the fire occurs.

To do a check in on your own mental health, to reach out for resources, to talk to someone, even if it's just to get some stuff off of your chest to vent a little bit.

But there are certainly resources available, we have a farm stress page that has resources specific to different counties or to nearby counties if there isn't a page specific to that county.

And so we'd really encourage people to reach out to someone they trust and talk, to reach out to some of these resources, to reach out to someone in one of these organizations.

- Mental health of course always priority number one.

What if folks have lost livestock?

Where do they need to start?

- So I think, again, safety just like mental health, checking in on yourself, also safety.

Checking in on the property, making sure it's safe to go back to that property before actually going in and assess any damages.

For those who have had pastures or perhaps even had livestock that could not get away from the fire or they could not be evacuated off of that property, it's really important when applying for federal programs specifically like the Livestock Indemnity Program, that a notice of loss be submitted to the farm service agency, as soon as is reasonable and safe to get back on that operation.

That loss has to be filed within 30 days for livestock or 15 days for honey bees, for anybody who may have apiaries out on land that was burned.

- What about folks who have have lost a structure or have had pasture damage, kind of where do you start on that?

- Yeah, so there are several different programs.

Now, first of course, is your insurance.

That's always your first stop.

What is covered under your insurance?

So, sometimes outbuildings are covered under insurance or you may have hay, that is covered under insurance.

If your insurance doesn't have coverage for those especially when you're thinking about something like hay, a or fence line, there are other programs that can be applied for.

One is an emergency loan through USDA and again that's a matter of contacting your FSA office and beginning that process early on to make sure you meet eligibility requirements and documentation requirement.

Another thing is the Emergency Conservation Program, which can actually help with things like fence lines or structures that are not part of the main farm or the main home.

- A lot of different paths people can take the County Extension Office a good place to start, and they can guide you through some of these.

- It's a great place to start because they're gonna have their eye on all of these different programs, for communities, for households, for producers, for landowners.

And also they're gonna know the people to contact in all of those different offices.

So, they can help make those connections.

Also your county Educator's just a great person to talk to.

If you just wanna talk to somebody about what happened and get some ideas of where to start.

- Sure.

Okay.

Great information, Amy.

Thanks a lot.

And for a link to those online resources that Amy mentioned go to sunup.okstate.ed.

(bright music) - It's that time in the show to check in on the crop markets.

So, Kim what's going on?

- Well, I think more of the same and we'll just get the usual lineups here.

You've got tight stocks.

So, wheat, they're getting tighter probably, you've got the corn and and soybeans, what's going on in south America is what's impacting that, but those stocks are relatively tight.

There's a lot of talk about the wheat crop condition.

It's poor than it was last year but it has improved a little bit.

And you've always got the weather.

The drought in the west, too wet in the east for planting.

And then you've got Russia and Ukraine, that's just magnifying everything.

I've been telling people that in the 40 years I've been in this job, I believe we're facing the most uncertain times that we've faced over that period.

- Yeah, there's just a lot going on, is there any new suspects?

- Well, there's some few suspects and most of 'em have been here a month or so, you've got input cost, we had them going up before the Russian Ukraine happened in late February.

But I think what producers are seeing is the availability of money, the availability to borrow money, especially producers that price their wheat or their commodity on the futures markets, these higher costs, they've gotta make margin costs.

Plus you've got the 20, 25, 30% increase in production cost.

That means you've gotta borrow more money.

You've got the uncertainty with the weather you've got the risk there.

And I think that adds to our uncertainty in price.

And then you got have the producer's willingness to take that risk, and that could impact how many acres we plant.

- So with risk, you know, can you give us an example of what producers could be dealing with?

- Well, just look at prices over the last week.

Last week on signup we talked about wheat been at $10 and 10 cents, it's at 11,20 today.

That's a dollar and 10 cent increase in a week.

We've had it fall that much in a week.

You've got corn going from 6.75 to 17, a 35 cent increase beans from 13.75 to 14.35 increase of 60 cents.

You've got... - Your prices for your commodities going up, going down.

A lot of movement there.

And you've also got that same situation with your inputs, but mostly just higher prices.

- You know, it seems like this time of year when you're giving us all this information every single year but really this year when producers are putting pen to paper and like looking at their crop, how does all of this impact their decisions going forward?

- Well, it makes their decision process harder.

When you price your product do you chase the high and try to avoid that low price?

I think it's the time that you gotta come in and have discipline both in borrowing money, you gotta have discipline in managing your planting and you're growing the product, and you gotta have more discipline in selling it.

And in volatile times you don't wanna buy your inputs all at once probably, and you probably don't wanna sell everything all at once.

So stagger it out over time.

It's a slightly different ballgame than it's been for the last 10 years or so.

- Well, the only discipline I ever have was from my principal, so.

- There you go.

- All right, thanks Kim.

Dr. Kim Anderson, grain marketing specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Cow Calf Corner.

Well, for spring cabin cow herds in Oklahoma, the breeding season is here or it's knocking at the door for us.

This week, we're gonna address some of the pros and cons of heat synchronization and AI breeding.

First to talk about the potential benefits of heat synchronization, if our heifers are of adequate age and weight and have reached puberty, or our cows are at least 50 days postpartum and a body condition score five or better, by synchronizing cows, we can actually shorten our calving season.

We can see a lot more calves born early in the calving season.

And when it comes marketing time, it can result in a more uniform set of calves that are heavier just because of age, that gives us an advantage there.

The other nice thing about heat synchronization is that it facilitates AI breeding.

And if we're gonna be working cows to actually set up heat using bulls of superior genetic merit with semen that's commercially available is another upside to potentially increasing weening weights through superior weening weight genetics.

Now, some of the downside of heat synchronization is that it's going to require a lot of time to detect heat.

That's a very important part of a successful AI breeding program.

And we're gonna have to have adequate facilities to permit us to work these cows several times in a heat synchronization protocol and potentially AI breed them.

The upside of that, the heat synchronization protocols that are covered in chapter 31 are the most recent addition of the OSU beef cattle manual.

You can find some in there that are gonna facilitate a fixed time AI, which is gonna minimize the amount of time we spend in heat detection.

So if you take a look in that chapter, you'll see some heat synchronization protocols that are a better fit for heifers, a better fit for mature cows.

Some require heat detection, some don't, but there's a lot of options out there.

Thanks for joining us this week.

(upbeat music) - The unsung hero of the Oklahoma landscape is the pond.

There are so many of them that we often don't take notice of them, but they do a lot for us.

At last count, there are over 326,000 of them.

We're the number one state in ponds per square mile in the entire country.

Walk down any country lane or through any city park and you'll discover ponds.

Ponds built for a variety of purposes.

Beef cattle are vital to the economy of Oklahoma, and water is vital to beef cattle.

Overwhelmingly, cattle get their water from ponds.

Even the most utilitarian pond can be managed for fishing, waterfall and wildlife if that's among your objectives and you devote time and energy towards that end.

And don't overlook beauty.

Look at any countryside scene and your eyes are immediately drawn to the water.

You can't find a housing development being built without a pond.

They're not just there to look good.

They're primarily there to capture runoff and retain it and release it slowly to reduce downstream flooding.

And we don't often think about it but ponds are an important source of water for fighting wildfires, and protecting homes, barns, and properties.

Whether they're protecting us from floods and fires or feeding our bodies, souls, and pocket books, ponds are one of Oklahoma's most important resources.

(upbeat music) - That'll do it for us this week.

Remember you can see us anytime at sunup.okstate.edu and also follow us on YouTube and social media.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Have a great week, everyone.

And remember, Oklahoma agriculture starts at SUNUP.

(upbeat music) (light-hearted guitar music)