(upbeat music) - Hello everyone, and welcome to "SUNUP."

I'm Lyndall Stout.

We're gonna spend some time this week taking a look back at some of our favorite "SUNUP" stories from the past few years.

We'll get to that in just a moment.

But first, Dr. Mark Johnson continues his discussion from last week on heat synchronization.

- Good morning, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Cow-Calf Corner.

Well, to follow up last week's topic, let's say that you have figured out you wanna use a heat synchronization on your cows, and do some AI breeding this spring.

As we always say, heat synchronization needs to be well planned.

Let's say you've determined your protocol you're gonna use.

You've picked out the bull you wanna AI your cows to.

We're gonna address this week the signs of standing heat and when is the time to be AI-ing those cows, once you've figured out your cows are in heat.

Heat detection is the number one most limiting factor in successful AI breeding programs.

We typically say with good heat detection, good herd health, proper plane and nutrition and management, AI should be successful about 60% of the time we apply it.

So what are the signs of standing heat in beef cows and heifers?

Well, the first sign and what I say is the number one silver bullet sign that a cow's in standing heat, she is actually gonna stand for other cows to mount or a bull to potentially mount.

This is the most important visual sign we see that a cow is in the process of ovulating or getting ready to ovulate.

What are the other signs we're gonna see when we've synchronized a group of cows.

We're gonna see cows that start to get restless.

They're gonna be pretty active, potentially walk fences.

We're gonna see cows that do a lot of bawling, maybe just standing at a fence and bawling to something that's in another pasture.

We're gonna see cows throw their head in the air, potentially curl back their lip in anticipation of mounting activity.

They're probably gonna rest their chin on the back or hips of other cows.

And they're gonna do a lot of mounting of other cows or try to mount other cows as they're coming in heat, or actually in standing heat themselves.

It's pretty natural to see a clear mucus discharge.

Sometimes we're gonna see a little bloody discharge, but that's more typical after we've actually seen a cow ovulate.

Now, once we've determined that, when should we AI breed?

Our typical rule of thumb, we're gonna check heat twice a day.

We wanna be doing it early a.m and about 12 hours later in the p.m.

If we're using sex semen and observing a naturally occurring standing heat, we may wanna back off those breeding times to about four to six hours.

A few final thoughts on the importance of good heat detection in Oklahoma in spring-calving herds, we wanna get started on that a.m heat detection about the crack of dawn.

As the days high temperature set in, it's gonna decrease the amount of mounting and riding activity that we're actually gonna observe in cow herds.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your spring heat synchronizations and AI breeding.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Mesonet weather report.

I'm Wes Lee.

The impacts of the back-to-back La Nina winters has left most of us wanting for more rainfall.

If you must experience a drought, I guess the best time for it would be the winter months.

In those months, rain is normally short anyway and plant water needs are lower.

But with spring green up, plant water demand is climbing and more substantial rainfall is needed.

Historically, May is the wettest time of the year in Oklahoma if you look at the statewide average as seen here on this 15-year graph.

This is not the case though when you look at different regions of the state.

In the southeast region, rain tends to peak earlier in the year as shown by the purple spikes on this graph.

And of course the peaks all year long are higher as they tend to be the wettest region of the state.

Moving to the center of the state, the rainfall peak times in orange match almost perfectly with the statewide averages.

Moving all the way to the panhandle climate region, the peak months shift to later in the summer, and as expected are way below the normal statewide totals.

The wettest months are quickly approaching.

Hopefully rainfall will increase and we can make up for some lost ground.

Gary is up next with a look at some of those rain maps.

- Thanks Wes.

And good morning, everyone.

Well, I hope everybody that needed rain got a bit, at least and I hope those that didn't need as much rain sent it down the stream to somebody that did need it.

Now we are still in a pretty serious drought situation.

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

Of course, this is the drought monitor map before we take into account this weekend's rainfall.

So this could change next week but, at least prior to that rain we still had much of the Western half of the state covered by severe to extreme, to exceptional drought.

That's the D two D three D four drought a little bit of moderate drought as we transitioned to a lack of drought over in far East in Oklahoma.

And then of course we have that little bit of extreme drought that red down in far south central Oklahoma.

So, we're improving slowly but surely from east to west wanting to give a snapshot of where we were before this weekend's rainfall.

Really, when we look at the consecutive days with less than a tenth of an inch of rainfall on any single day, we have to look out to the Western panhandle for the really bad statistic and that's Boyd city at 191 days without a single day with at least a 10th of an inch of rainfall.

So obviously really hurting out across the far Western panhandle.

And then Kenton says, hold my drink.

Literally, when we'd go up to the consecutive days with less than a quarter inch of rainfall they up their ante to 235 straight days.

So we still have that 191 to 200 out there in the other parts of the panhandle.

But the far, far Western panhandle at Kenton really, really hurting.

So just to add an extra adjective to each one of those and they're hurting just as much worse.

And of course, across the main body state still some areas that we're getting up to near the a month some of those numbers will change of course.

The rainfall we get this weekend that might be what we are left with for a little while even though it is spring.

We look out at the eight to 14 day precipitation outlook from the climate prediction center.

This is for the April 27th through May 3rd period.

And unfortunately we see increased odds of below normal precipitation, really across much of the central part of the United States over into the far Southwestern part of the United States, including Oklahoma.

So hopefully this weekend storm system is a good sign for the rest of spring when we don't have to have something immediate but we would like to get something in here pretty quick after this one to bolster those drought eliminating efforts.

That's it for this time.

We'll see you next time on the Mesonet weather report.

(bright upbeat music) - We're joined now by Dr. Kim Anderson, our crop marketing specialist.

Kim let's kick things off looking at what's happening in the crop markets.

- Well, it's a tough scenario to explain now we've got record or near record prices right now.

You look at the forward contract prices for harvest and delivery.

You got wheat at $11 and 15 cents.

Now you only had a plus or minus 16 cent move this week but one day you did have 32 cents.

From the bottom of that range to the top of the range.

You look at corn and $7 and 10 cents a bushel plus or minus 10 cent move this last week.

A sorghum $7 that same 10 cent move, soybeans $14 and 30 cents, but still only about a 30 cent price move that's last week prices had just been lackadaisical and just in a lull.

- So how do you think that lull that you mentioned might last - Who knows how long it's gonna last?

We know that it's probably not gonna be very long with prices this high.

You know, we've had 85 cents in a single day price move in wheat, 30, 40 cents move in, in corn.

The markets are high and they're volatile.

And they're what the, the analyst's call thin.

There's not very many buyers and sellers in the market right now.

So it just takes a few buyers or a few sellers to get that price to move.

But we don't know when that's gonna happen.

- How do you recommend producers kind of take advantage of these higher prices?

- Well that's a big problem because in my opinion for the most part, producers can't take advantage of these prices, we know last year's crops basically been sold the crop coming up with the weather and the drought situations you don't know how much you're gonna produce.

And you for sure don't know how much corn, sorghum or soybeans you're gonna produce.

So, forward contracting is a tough deal cause you don't wanna forward contract.

You don't wanna buy or sell the futures market with all this volatility.

The margin calls can clean your clock real quick.

So there's really not much farmers can do with these prices except hope they hold until we get into harvest.

- So hold out hope as you mentioned but in the meantime who's benefiting from these high prices.

- I don't think there's really by anybody in the market benefiting.

When the grain handlers buy the commodity they hedge the board.

They lock in their margin.

When they're making money in the cash market with prices moving up, they're losing it in the futures but they're, they're keeping their margin and protecting that.

So I don't think anybody within the system now they're speculators.

There's some speculators making some money.

Also some speculators losing some big money in here, but for the most part, nobody is.

- Okay, and on the flip side, who's losing from this situation - The consumer, higher prices hurts the consumers specially poor consumers, but farmers, ranchers business people, everybody is impacted negatively with higher prices.

- All right, Kim, thank you very much for the discussion.

We'll see you next week.

And now we wanna look back at a story.

That's really resonated with people all across the country the OAU Ag Research Project on virtual fencing.

- So the, the technology that we're.

- Talking about today is virtual fencing.

It's pretty new concept in cattle production.

It's not a new concept in general.

A lot of people are very familiar with pet containment systems that have been developed.

- [Voiceover] But where systems for your dog use buried lines, these collars communicate wirelessly to a base station.

Producers use a computer or cell phone to designate where cattle can or cannot graze.

- Great thing about the virtual fence collars for cattle is that they're totally based on GPS so there's nothing in the pasture.

There's no wires buried in the ground, there's nothing you have to put in the physical infrastructure of the pasture, it all works off a GPS.

- It's enabled us to pull out miles of electric fence - [Voiceover] A startup company called Vence provided the system, and it promises to do more than just reduce fencing costs.

Producers can easily manage exactly where cattle graze, improving the quality of their grazing lands.

The systems can also address animal welfare.

- If an animal doesn't move for a period of time like we expect that it should normally, we can get an alert from the system and go check that animal.

We know exactly where it is, and so we can quickly go check on that animal, make sure everything's okay.

- And that was very useful this spring.

We had them on when the cows were calving, which made tracking the cows at calving much easier.

We had 'em in a native pasture with a lot of brush.

So it was a real time saver.

You could actually go to that individual cow that had separated herself from the herd, check on her status if she was in difficulty, if she'd had the calf and go on about your business.

(machine humming) - [Voiceover] Virtual fencing may also help with securing cattle from theft or even keeping them away from noxious weeds.

Another aspect, the research is looking at improving watersheds.

- One of the things we're interested in from the water center perspective is the benefits of virtual fencing to water quality.

A major barrier of adoption of improved grazing management practices has been implementation of permanent fencing, and so we feel like virtual fencing will help overcome that and can be utilized for implementing riparian protection as well as rotational grazing systems and other grazing systems that can improve water quality.

- I think it could be a way that we can improve long term sustainability of grazing lands in Oklahoma and across the world, and we're real excited to be on the forefront of investigating this new technology.

(cows mooing) (folk music) - [Announcer] And just a quick reminder about some upcoming wheat field days.

First up is the Tipton Wheat Field Day, which will be held at the Tipton Valley Research Center on Tuesday the April 26th.

And just a few days later on Friday, April 29th, producers can head over to Grady County to catch the Chickasha Wheat Field Day, which will be held at the South Central Research Station.

For more information about these field days, visit sunup.okstate.edu.

- Today I thought I'd share a little bit of information about pressure cookers.

The appliance that we know today as a pressure cooker was invented by a French physicist and mathematician, Denis Papin in 1679.

Originally called a steam digester or bone digester, it was a device used to render fat from bones, and to also soften the bones so that it be ground up to make meal.

The device consisted of a metal pot with a tight fitting lid along with a steam release valve.

Bones along with water were placed inside and then heated.

The steam generated by the water inside the vessel would also cause an increase in pressure, which would allow the temperature inside to rise above 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pressure cookers would come to the US in 1938 when Alfred Vischer introduced his version called the Flex-Seal Speed Cooker in New York city.

It was the first pressure cooker in the US intended for home use.

Pressure cookers fall into three general categories or generations.

The first generation also known as old type have a weight modified valve which releases the pressure and steam as it operates.

Older versions of these models only operated at one pressure setting.

Second generation pressure cookers have a spring loaded valve that allows them to operate at multiple pressure settings.

These cookers may or may not release steam as they operate, and use an indicator to show the pressure inside the cooker.

Finally, third generation pressure cookers operate using electricity as opposed to first and second generation cookers that operated by being heated on the stove top.

Third generation cookers also use a spring loaded valve like the second generation.

However, they also include an integrated timer.

So just a little bit of information in case you were curious about pressure cookers.

- For more information, please visit sunup.okstate.edu or food.okstate.edu.

- Let's turn the page back to October, 2020 now and a trip to Garfield County where volunteers have a unique way of brightening up their Main Street.

Here's Sunup's Kurtis Hair.

(indistinct chatter) (pencil scratches) - [Kurtis Hair] The hard part is almost done.

A few more outlines and a couple of strips of tape, then all that's left is to flush out the canvas.

For the past three weeks, the ladies at the Covington Senior Center in Garfield County have been meticulously crafting barn quilts and they're down to their last one.

- [Woman] The same red is on the, maybe... - A barn quilt is a painted picture of a quilt block.

And we made ours to represent this area.

- [Kurtis Hair] Zoe Bolz is a board member for the Senior Center.

After some repairs to the old building a few years ago, she says an opportunity arose.

- And then last year we had this wall painted.

So, and it looks so plain and bare to us.

We decided that we would like to get on the quilt trail, the barn quilt trail with others in the area.

- [Kurtis Hair] The Oklahoma Barn Quilt Trail is an agritourism attraction that ranges across the state.

Once that bare wall is covered with these beautiful images, the building, which also serves as The Historical Center, will be registered on the trail.

- And we've had lots of fun with it too.

And maybe it might bring some tourists to our historical town.

- I've been working with the seniors here and their group to do barn quilts.

And they chose to do different things that talk about the history of the town because this is also the museum.

- [Kurtis Hair] With a rich history in oil and a long tradition in cattle and wheat production, the designs were chosen to represent that.

While bringing in visitors to the center is the goal, the main purpose is to show pride in the history of Covington.

- [Joy Rhodes] To beautify and also to share the history with passerby's.

- Show pride in our community.

And we just think it'll draw some interest, spruce up Main Street.

We'd like to do that.

- [Kurtis Hair] Zoe hopes other buildings on Main Street follow their lead and start their own barn quilt projects.

But until then, the Senior Center will be the best-looking old building on the block.

In Garfield County, I'm Kurtis Hair.

- [Kurtis Hair] On a foggy morning, in Eastern Oklahoma, Nathan Proudman is on the prowl.

- [Nathan Proudman] In Oklahoma, the bobcat population is quite heavily harvested.

Over four and a half thousand bobcats harvested annually.

- [Kurtis Hair] But as of yet, there's no clear way to monitor bobcat populations in Oklahoma.

- Current monitoring methods include the selling of furs from trappers and also roadside surveys which the latter of which have shown a decline in bobcats.

But these methods may not necessarily reflect true bobcat trends.

So we're hoping to provide a non-invasive alternative method that is independent of the fur trade.

- [Kurtis Hair] That method involves setting up traps to collect bobcat hairs.

- We use these hair snare cubbies that are little tent-shaped things that has sent lure on the inside and then gun bore cleaning brushes on the openings of the little tent.

And so when the bobcat or any other mammal goes in and to investigate, they leave hair on the gun bore brushes.

- [Kurtis Hair] A simple method for an elusive animal.

But what can a bunch of fur balls tell us about bobcats?

- When we collect the hairs, we can actually clip the follicles, the hair follicles that come out with some of the hairs and we're doing genetic studies with those.

So we'll actually be able to identify individuals when they leave hair at the cubbies.

And that way we can actually estimate the population size.

- [Kurtis Hair] Many people believe bobcats are nothing more than pests.

But bobcats play an important role in Oklahoma's ecosystem.

- [Nathan Proudman] Bobcats are pretty ecologically important.

They predate on small mammal species especially ones that are considered pests.

- That really helps to keep the rodent populations down and control the rodent populations.

Coyotes also eat those, but they are not as effective at eating the small rodents.

They tend to eat larger species.

So the bobcats can be really beneficial.

- [Kurtis Hair] Oklahoma is one of the highest ranking states in the nation for bobcat pelt sales.

Nathan and Dr. Fairbanks hope their research will lead to better Bobcat management.

- [Woman] In Oklahoma, because the harvest of bobcats is so large every year, we really don't have a handle on what the population is.

- So this project is not only trying to find a way to measure the abundances of bobcats, but also allows us to determine the ecological patterns of occurrence and space use, which is quite important for landscape ecology as well as management.

- [Ed] In Pittsburgh County, I'm Ed Barren.

(upbeat music) - Finally, today we are rewinding back to 2019 and our trip to Woods County to meet a 4-Her with a special mission to help those in need.

Once again, here's SUNUP's Kurtis Hair.

- [Kurtis] Spring has finally crept into Woods County.

For fifth graders at Lincoln Elementary in Alva, the arrival of spring is just a signal, summer's around the corner.

- [Teacher] So plus?

- One plus three.

- Plus three.

And then how many numbers are between four and nine?

- [Kurtis] But for 10-year-old Kayla Leeper, school is awesome.

- [Teacher] And top of the page, Kayla, can you read that?

- [Kurtis] And the arrival of spring means the arrival of new born lambs on her family farm.

(sheep baaing) And she still has more time to continue something that's changed her family for the good, her 4-H project.

- [Kayla] I just like making them smile.

- It was about two years ago and Kayla had came up to me and asked me, or told me that she wanted to do something for others.

And I said, well, you know, what are you wanting to do?

And she said, well, I wanna do something kind.

I want to help people.

- [Kurtis] Kayla's mother Terri, said she wasn't surprised Kayla wanted to do a kind gesture, but it did catch her off guard when Kayla turned down her suggestion with an idea of her own.

- I said, okay, well, you know, we have the nursing homes around here if you wanna do something like that.

No, she went and she was more interested in helping people who are in the hospital.

- I kind of wanted to start it so I can make people in the world happy and just make them not feel so sad all the time.

- [Kurtis] And how she would accomplish that goal was through a simple, yet beautiful idea, a care package.

- I knew that my H and my mom H and my dad's H and my sister's H, just people that are in my family's H are there, and I knew if I was sick, I wanted someone to just help me and give me stuff to make me happy.

- [Kurtis] Using her own money along with some family donations, Kayla bought all the items for the gift bags.

Kayla and Terri drove the three hours all the way down to the Stephens Cancer Center in Oklahoma City to deliver the packages, 150 of them.

- [Terri] She said, you know, I wanna do this again next year.

And I said, okay, well, we'll do that again next year.

So we had a fundraiser.

So our fundraiser was a spaghetti dinner and 4-H members helped with that, and we raised quite a bit of money doing that.

The community was fantastic.

- [Kurtis] Kayla's in her second year delivering packages, and since she recently joined 4-H, she decided to turn her hospital visits into a volunteer program for the club, Kayla's Kindness Project.

- We're so proud to have Kayla in the Alva 4-H Club.

She's a relatively new member and has hit the ground running and does a great job, and obviously has an outstanding community service project.

- And right now I'm doing kids.

So kids get more toys than adults because kids get, I think kids get more bored than adults.

I usually put a squishy or something in there, stress ball.

- I think my sister's project is awesome.

I'm really proud of her.

There's kids out there that are her age that have to go through that, and if our parents went through that, we'd want somebody to do that.

- [Kurtis] It's not hard for the Leeper family to imagine.

And there's significance to why Kayla started with the Stephens Cancer Center.

It's where someone extremely close her went for treatment, her grandfather, Johnny.

- Whenever my grandpa went to do treatment, I came with him a couple of times, and just seeing people that are struggling, just, I didn't really like that.

Some people are just having a bad day, so I just wanted to brighten up their spirit.

- It really makes me proud for both of the girls to show the compassion and love that they have for other people.

It makes me just super proud to know that they are out helping others or being kind to others, it's authentic.

- [Kurtis] So far, Kayla's Kindness Project has added two more hospitals, and she's delivered 200 packages this year.

She recently received the Darlene Like Volunteer 4-H Award, and even her classmates have jumped on board.

- [Teacher] Okay, first off, what are- [Kurtis] Kayla says she wants to start more kindness projects, and when she gets older, she wants to be, not surprisingly, a nurse, but for now, she'll focus on her packages, finding the right items for each of them and capping each one off with a hand written note of encouragement, proving once again, that a little act of kindness goes a long way.

In Woods County, I'm Kurtis Hair.

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

Remember, you can see us anytime on our website, 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.