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

I'm Lyndall Stout.

As summer winds down, there's typically a small window of opportunity for producers who want another round of alfalfa cut before winter arrives.

And this year, thanks to the recent rains, that window has opened a little bit wider.

For some guidance, here's our OSU extension forage system specialist, Dr Alex Rocateli.

- So, believe it or not, appears that in five weeks, the summer is gonna be gone and the fall is gonna come.

And some producers might be wondering, last year with the drought, I lost some of my alfalfa stands.

When would be the best time this year to plant?

I know that some producers was lucky planting during the spring and even could get two cuts with some alfalfa plant during the spring.

But some producers were a little more conservative and wait for the fall to plant the alfalfa.

And I would say, if you had done that and wait for the fall, well, appears that that's the best time for you think about planting alfalfa.

We are at mid-August, where we can really start to think about planting and we have good moisture in the soil in most part of the state.

And I just wanna touch on some things when talk about establishing new alfalfa stands.

The first thing, even before thinking about seeding or prepping the soil, is make sure that, if you had alfalfa in the last two years in the site that you want to plant alfalfa again, think about alfalfa autotoxicity.

Depending on your soil type, the age of your old stand, we might have some chemicals that was produced from the last alfalfa stand that may inhibit the new seedlings coming.

Also, go back 36 month or three years on your management and see if you had other crops in that field, if you had applied picloram or sulfonylurea type of herbicides, because alfalfa is very sensitive to those types of herbicides.

And you may have a problem when trying to establish alfalfa if there are residues of those herbicides in the soil.

So if you had applied those, please go and do a herbicide bioassay and make sure that the soil is completely free of residues of those herbicides before planting.

And then something that we need to make sure is the area has a deep soil, 25 inches deep or more, considerable flat, let's say maximum of 2% slope, and also that it is a type of soil that doesn't occurs water logging.

Water logging will really compromise your alfalfa stand.

Alfalfa doesn't stand in water for too long.

If those requirements were checked, okay, now we think about fertilization, even though before prepping the soil.

Very important, pH.

When you talk about pH, alfalfa can grow well in a pH of six.

However, I would say better that you start in a soil that you have 6.5 to 6.8.

Why?

Because you might wanna invest in that alfalfa seed and stay there for four or five years.

And year after year, as you go harvesting with many harvest of alfalfa, the soil tends to acidify.

So you don't wanna start with six, and in the second or third year, you need to broadcast more lime there because the pH goes lower than 5.9, 5.8 and you start to lose yield.

And also before prepping the soil, make sure that you apply phosphorus and potassium and other maker and micronutrients according to a soil analysis.

And then, I think that most of the producers are pretty much familiarized with the process.

You do a primarily tillage about eight inches deep, incorporating all the lime, fertilization that you need.

And then, you go and you prep a firm seed bed that when we step in the soil, you are gonna have a depth that goes, that sinks with your boot no more than three eighths or one third deep.

We have good fact sheets on alfalfa autotoxicity, on how to select appropriate alfalfa seed for your location.

To access those fact sheets, go to the SUNUP website.

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

I'm Wes Lee.

The Oklahoma Mesonet released a new website this year with portions of it now being mobile friendly.

This means that the weather, forecast, and agriculture sections of the website are optimized for accessing via a smartphone.

The ag section has several value added tools to help producers make decisions on the farm based on weather conditions.

- [Instructor] The Drift Risk Advisor is the most popular of these tools.

This tool has three features that allow pesticide users to get the weather information needed to help control pesticide drift.

The first feature is the current weather conditions for each site.

It shows the temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and whether the site is under a temperature inversion.

Temperature inversions create conditions where volatile products can drift over large distances.

The second feature creates an hourly forecast for up to three and a half days using the National Weather Service's North American model.

This helps producers plan for times when weather is conducive for pesticide applications.

Lastly, the past data section allows users to obtain weather information for record keeping purposes.

Users can choose between five minute and three hour data for any timeframe since the tower was installed.

Using this tool has the potential to substantially reduce unwanted drift when applying pesticides.

Now here's Gary, back to focusing on the rain situation.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, we have some improvement on the drought monitor but we also have a few problem areas starting to show up.

Let's get right to the new map and see where we're at.

Well, we have a little bit more of that drought area shaved off up in north central Oklahoma, so we love to see that continue to shrink.

We do need a bit more rainfall up there.

Unfortunately, we see areas spreading down in south central Oklahoma, southwest Oklahoma.

That yellow is the abnormally dry conditions, not drought, but it signals areas in danger of going into drought.

And I'll tell you why here in a sec.

We see the reasons for both changes on the map in the 30 day rainfall Mesonet map.

We do see down in south central Oklahoma, basically the southern third or so, very little rainfall, less than an inch in most cases and in some cases no rainfall over the last 30 days.

With this heat, that's prime ingredients for a flash drought to develop.

Take a look at that same 30 day rainfall map except this time, percent of normal for this time of year, a lot of zeros down there in the single digits, not good in this heat, moisture is being sapped away very rapidly.

Those are prime, again, as I said, those are prime flash drought ingredients.

Things aren't looking good with those ingredients as we go forward.

It's bad enough this week with the heat and lack of rainfall but next week look equally as bad, increased odds of above normal temperatures on the CPC six to 10 day temperature outlook, and also increased odds of below normal precipitation during that timeframe.

Basically, these maps signify where that heat dome's gonna be with very little chance for rainfall at least through the next seven to 10 days.

August is a prime time for flash drought development and we do have those prime time ingredients in place.

Lots of heat, lack of rainfall, a little bit of drought in place already so this is definitely something we're gonna have to watch as we go forward.

That's it for this time.

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

- Joining us now is Dr. Paul Beck, our extension beef cattle specialist to talk about some of the changes in implants for cattle that have happened over the summer.

Paul, why don't we just start with an overview of what's been going on?

- Well, the FDA who exercises authority over the use of pharmaceuticals in animal production, they've decided to take a look at our labels for growth-promoting implants and they've decided that any implants that don't have a clearance specifically mentioning reimplantation or reimplanting within a stage of production, they will no longer allow that to happen.

- So talk about the stages of production in terms of implants and kind of what happens.

- Well, the FDA has defined four different stages of production.

There's a pre-weaning phase, which is the calf is still on the cow suckling.

There's the stocker phase, post-weaning, there's the dry lot phase post-weaning, which is a fairly minor stage of production.

And then there's the growing and finishing cattle in confinement stage of production which is the major feedlots and a large portion of the use of implants goes into that stage of production.

- The guidance for feedlots in particular with implants is having a lot of discussion and questions.

As a result, what do you want our viewers to know?

- So, within each stage of production, pre-finishing, we still have most of the implants available to use.

Pre-weaning and stocker phases, there's not a lot of re-implanting that's done at those stages of production.

Within the feedlot, within the finishing sector, there's only three implant programs that are labeled to reimplant and they are from a single company.

So a lot of the products that we're used to using in the finishing stage of production are no longer available to us, and there's gonna be a lot of work in this area to get those claims and the labels reopened for these implants, but.

- Right now there's just a very limited number of implants that we can use that re-implant is available.

- And this is something you and the team covered in your most recent cow calf newsletter right?.

- Yes we've been, had a series of articles of this in the in the Cow-Calf Corner newsletter and it, and in that newsletter we do outline a lot of what FDA is advising and those stages of production and what implants are available within those stages of production and which ones we can use for re-implanting and growing and finishing stage.

- And it'll be a topic coming up in the Thursday ranchers lunchtime series which is very popular and is back for another run, right?

- Yes.

We are starting back up our ranchers Thursday lunchtime webinar series.

In the next two weeks, we're going to talk about some parasite resistance that we're starting to see in some of our cow herds in Oklahoma.

And then finally on September 7th we're gonna have Brad Johnson from Texas Tech University.

He's a very highly respected implant specialist in their animal science department.

And he's gonna share with us a lot of this guidance and a lot of the implications that we're gonna see from you know, these changes in the implant rules.

- Great well lots of great topics great information and I'm sure there will be more discussions ahead on implants.

- So thank you very much Paul.

- Thank You Linda.

- And for a link to the Cow Calf Corner newsletter as well as to register for that Thursday Ranchers lunchtime series go to sunup.okstate.edu.

- Good morning, Oklahoma, and welcome to Cow-Calf Corner.

I'm Mark Johnson, and this week we're gonna follow up last week's question about retained ownership and actually consider through the eyes of a buyer of our calves what would give those calves value.

There's some things we can do, both short term and long term to try to add value to a set of calves that we're gonna be selling at some point this fall.

So in no particular order if I were buying a set of wean calves, what would have value to me?

Well first thing is probably just uniformity and uniformity and volume is what increases the value of a set of wean calves.

What do we mean by uniformity?

If we could sell steers or heifers if we knew that those heifers were open if we knew that they were all the same color look like they're outta the same sire group and the same set of cows.

All those are basic fundamentals of uniformity that create value in the marketplace.

But uniformity and age and uniformity in the weight of those calves also plays a role.

Typically calves that have less than a hundred pounds of variation, no more than 60 to 90 days age variation in them are gonna create uniformity.

Now we may ponder whether we pool calves with a neighbor to create some of these larger lots of cattle.

As we discussed last week anytime we could put together a uniform semi-load lot somewhere around 50,000 pounds of calves to sell it's going to aid in economizing the cost of transportation, wherever those calves are going to next.

So uniformity has value.

Management.

Now what do we mean by management?

Basically, if we have back grounded calves if we've got two rounds of vaccinations in them at the point that they're weaned even if we just wean those calves for 45 days and have got those vaccinations in them, whoever's gonna own those calves next is gonna want health a good immune system and know that there's going to be less treatment necessary in that set of calves when they get ready to turn them out on wheat pasture or whatever they plan to do with them.

Those are things we can add from a management standpoint as well as just making sure if we've got some horns on calves that we de-horn them.

The standard in industry is we sell cattle they're gonna be de-horned those bull calves are gonna be turned into steer calves they're all gonna be castrated and healed.

Additional things we may do to even go a click beyond that is are those calves bunk broke?

Do they know to come to feed whenever it's presented to them?

That's another thing that if I were buying ween calves, there's benefit to that.

What kind of information can we provide on a set of calves about their genetic potential?

This revisits a topic from last week.

Do we know the the historical post weaning growth, performance cost of gains, carcass quality, carcass credibility carcass weights on what those calves are when they actually finish out?

If we can provide some history and some past data on a set of calves, it obviously gives those calves additional marketing leverage to whoever's gonna own them next.

And so just a number of things to think through if we're willing to provide some of that information or willing to manage for some of that information.

The opportunity provided in Oklahoma Quality Beef Network sales and the website showing on screen is where you can go to.

- To get more information on an OQBN sale where we know that backgrounded vaccinated calves are actually, as well documented, are gonna sell at a premium.

So there's some marketing outlets there.

But in the end, bottom line, we can either sell our calves and be a price taker or we can provide some additional management, maybe some information about genetics, and uniformity in that calf crop to market them (lively country music) at an additional profit point beyond that commodity price.

Thanks for joining us this week.

(lively country music) - Talking land values now.

Just what is an acre worth in Oklahoma these days?

OSU Extension, AG economist, Roger Sahs, has the answer.

(guitar thrumming) - This morning we're gonna talk about agricultural real estate values here in Oklahoma.

So looking back at the year 2022, we could characterize the markets as really quite resilient despite the headwinds that we faced from, I would say, increasing interest rates, and from inflationary pressures on those operating costs.

Some of the softening of those commodity markets, and then of course the drop concerns, we still had a pretty good performance.

So about 9 or 10% across the board.

Doesn't quite compare to the stellar performance that we saw in 2021 when we saw a very active and vibrant market but still a pretty decent performance despite all of those headwinds.

And so then you might be wondering what about this year in 2023?

Well, there's a number of influences, of course, on the land markets, but it really boils down to two main ticket items.

One is farm earnings, and farm earnings are influenced by those commodity prices.

And I think as long as we can maintain a fairly steady diet of some strong commodity prices here in Oklahoma for the remainder of 2023, I think that will lend some support to the land markets in the form of some strong farm earnings.

But of course then we have to continue with interest rates.

And we all know that those interest rates are quite, well, they're a lot higher than what they've been.

Despite all of that, I still think that we'll see some modest gains in the AG real estate markets here in Oklahoma this year.

In case you haven't checked out our land value website at OSU, I would really encourage you to do so.

It's a great clearinghouse (gentle country music) of information with those trends and patterns all the way through 2022.

For more information, go to the SUNUP website.

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music) - Well, it's that time in the show to check in on the grain markets with our grain marketing specialist, Dr. Kim Anderson.

So Kim, let's start with wheat.

What's going on with prices?

- Well, you look at wheat prices go back to late July to now, they're down about a $1.75.

We've knocked off 20 to 30 cents over the last week or so.

If you look at the average price over that period, it's been $7.60.

And the current price is now down around 6.75.

If you go to southern Oklahoma or the Panhandle, prices are about a dime lower than they are right now.

And if you're looking at forward contracting for 24, a dime lower in central Oklahoma and about a dime higher in the Panhandle.

- So for the past couple weeks you've really been kind of talking about which country, you know, in the world market has big impacts on prices.

But for wheat, which country really does have the biggest impact on price?

- I think you gotta look at exports.

Of course, Russia - the largest exporter of wheat.

Now, we're looking at bread flour wheat here because like Australia has hard white wheat.

We don't have the European Union here with soft wheat that goes into other products besides bread.

But Russia has 37% in the market.

Canada 20, Australia 17, the US and Ukraine about 8%.

So you'd say Russia.

But it's a world market, and you take a bushel away from any of these countries or add it to these countries it's gonna have the same impact.

If you're looking at risk, and if you have a problem in any one country, it's gonna be Russia or Canada.

Now, Canada hasn't started their harvest yet.

Australia and Argentina's in the winter.

Russia's about halfway through theirs, as is Ukraine.

And the United States, we don't have our spring wheat crops in.

So there's a lot of risk still out in this market.

But it's hard to say which country has the biggest impact.

- But with all that, I mean, should prices be this low?

- Well, I think to determine where prices should be you gotta look at the numbers, and you gotta look at historical prices.

Look at production.

World production - 28.2 billion bushel for a five-year average.

29.2 record.

If you look at bread flour wheat around the world, 8.43 billion bushel.

Average - 8.37.

So not much change there.

But if you look at the United States, our average hard red winter and hard red spring wheat is 1.12 billion bushels, and we're only at a billion this year.

So from production standpoint, world is in relatively good shape.

The US tight.

Now, ending stocks, the average is 10.3 billion, 9.8 Relatively tight about stocks, but below average.

Bread flour wheat - 1.61 billion.

1.35 this year.

Tight stocks.

Hard red, hard wheat in the United States, average is 628,000,394.

So relatively tight stocks.

- So how do you know the current prices right now compared to like the historical prices, you know, in the past?

- Well, I like to look at 2008 through present.

And the average annual price in Oklahoma, it's $5.80.

Now if you look the June, July, and August average over that same time period, it's $6.

- And in 23, we've averaged to date since June 1, $7 and 60 cents, and our current price is 6.75.

So we're below the three month average, but we're above the 5.80 average and we're above the $6 June through August average.

So we got slightly above average prices at 6.75 - So I'm gonna feel like a game show host asking this question, so how low will prices go, Kim?

- Well, you just saw these numbers.

Where do you think prices should be?

Should they be above average or below average?

- Well, given my one econ class in college, maybe above average?

- I think obviously they should be above average and the 6.75 is where they should be now.

Now people don't like to hear that, but the market's got it there, and that's where it should be.

I think this is pretty much at the bottom of what we're gonna see over the next few months but there's a lot of wheat harvest left around the world.

- Alrighty, thanks Kim.

(twangy country music) Dr. Kim Anderson, grain marketing specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

- Finally, today, fall is almost a month away and we all know what that means in Oklahoma.

Well, not much really in terms of hot weather, which is why OSU Extension equine specialist, Doctor Kris Hiney says it's important to still check for heat stress in your horses.

- So heat stress in horses is definitely something that we have to think about.

If I'm going to provide my best strategies that are maybe the easiest for people to implement, always make sure the horse has plenty of fresh water.

They really do increase their intake quite a bit.

You may find like, even if you've got a 50 gallon tank of water, it's gonna go down quite a bit per day.

So horses may double to triple their normal water intake just to cool themselves in these temperatures.

Especially on days like this that it's really windy, that actually does help with evaporative cooling.

But again, all of that water is coming outta that horse and we need to get that back in.

So plenty of water.

Obviously when horses are sweating that means we increase their salt intake as well.

So I generally recommend if you do not have a loose salt available for that horse freely, that this is the time of year that I might add a tablespoon or two to the horse's concentrator grain ration to make sure that those electrolytes are replenished.

The other big consideration for horses is providing shade.

And shade actually comes in a number of different ways.

So we can think about structural shade or shade from a tree.

The nice thing about shade from a tree is that that horse actually will release more heat to that tree and that tree takes it up more than a solid structure.

That's why you may actually have experienced yourself, you'll feel cooler underneath a tree compared to just kind of a static shade.

The other big consideration for horses and when it's hot is that we ask horses to do things, right?

So exercise.

And it's really important that we have thoroughly cooled that horse off, especially if we've got temperatures where it doesn't really cool down at night because the animal needs that cooler environment to release all that heat of the day.

Our horses, we add thermal load to them.

Right?

By exercising them.

As with any stress, the young and the old are gonna be the most susceptible.

So young foals do not have ability to thermoregulate very well.

But don't forget senior horses, they also have reduced capacity to thermoregulate.

And so that means anytime that we have temperature extremes, it's gonna be a little bit harder on these guys.

So yes, if you have young foals, you really wanna make sure that they have areas to get out of the sun.

I also really caution people, especially if we kinda line up breeding dates, foaling dates with when we wanna wean them.

I don't like to wean foals when it's really hot because that's just adding another layer of stress onto them.

If they're whinnying and running for mama, they can't help themselves, right?

So it's not like the foal's gonna have common sense to say, "Oh, it's hot.

I shouldn't worry about where my mom is."

They can work themselves up into a pretty stressful situation.

So forego weaning until we've got a cooler little stretch of of weather.

And again, really keep an eye on our age extremes, whether they're old horses or young horses.

So remember, horses get hot just like us.

We share the same things, right?

So we both cool ourselves through sweating.

So if you are really hot and sweaty, your horse is hot and sweaty too.

So follow the same advice, take breaks, drink water and keep yourself safe during the summer.

(uplifting music) - That'll do it for our show 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.

(pleasant acoustic music)