(lively music) - Hello everyone and welcome to "Sunup".

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Cases of a mysterious respiratory illness that affects dogs are popping up in the Pacific Northwest and there are now concerns that that illness could spread.

Sunup's Kurtis Hair has this story.

- We're here with Jennifer Rudd, an OSU veterinarian, and there's a new pathogen going around that's affecting dogs.

So tell us a little bit about what's going on.

- Yeah, so it's actually less about whether it's a new pathogen and more that we're seeing this increase in cases of what we just consider canine respiratory disease.

And the canine respiratory disease is more often than not more than one thing.

So there's gonna be viruses in there, there's gonna be bacteria in there, and sometimes it can be a little bit complex on what those are, but what we're seeing right now is at least a reporting of an increased number of cases versus what we're used to seeing.

And so then the question becomes, well, is it something brand new that we haven't seen before, or is it simply just an increase in the cases we're used to seeing that are flaring up in different areas through the US?

And so that's part of what we're working on and trying to figure out and how we're gonna handle that.

- You said different parts of the US, so where is this occurring?

- Yeah, so most of the media reports, at least, are coming out of the Pacific Northwest right now, and so in the areas around Washington and Oregon.

I will say though, that when we look at the actual numbers in those areas, we're not necessarily seeing an alarming increase beyond what we've seen in the last couple years in respiratory cases in dogs in those areas.

It just seems to be that there's some severity in there that may be a little bit new and maybe just enough that veterinarians in the area are starting to get a little bit more aware of things they should be watching for to respond to a little bit faster.

- So what type of severity are we seeing?

- Yeah, so the chances of this particular outbreak we're seeing right now, the chances of a severe outcome are still really, really low.

And I think that's important to note because it tends to be that the stories we hear, right, are gonna be the ones that go really badly.

And the reality is, is the vast majority of these cases are gonna be very mild and what we call self-limiting, which means that even without intensive care, they're gonna get over it anyway, similar to what we see in our kids when they hit those winter months, right?

And we see those outbreaks in things like flu and the cold, and we don't necessarily expect them to be in a hospital because of that.

Most of them are gonna be fine, regardless.

But we do have a subset of dogs that seem to be having a more severe outcome, a really fast rapid decline associated with a pneumonia, which is movement of that infection into the lower respiratory tract, into the lungs themselves.

And those are the things that we really need to be cautious about because those are the types of disease presentations we do need to act quickly and get them more aggressive supportive care in order to improve that outcome for them.

- And I think it's probably really important just generally speaking as animal owner, like pet pet owners, that your pets get sick.

And I think that's something that a lot of people maybe forget about that.

- Yes.

- We're concerned about us, but pets get sick, too.

- Yes, and we have to remember we're coming off the heels, right, of a global pandemic.

- That affected pets, as well.

- Exactly, exactly.

And so even with the background that we have with COVID, I think we have to be really cautious of being overly reactive, too.

And so I would say, even with your pets, think of it as you would your kids to a little extent, right?

For those of us that have kids, it really is similar to that where if you look at that dog and they're eating well and they're happy and maybe they just have a little bit of cough.

(dog sneezing) Call your veterinarian, talk to 'em over the phone, but you probably don't need to worry about bringing that dog in right away.

You can get some things to watch for at home to make sure it's doing okay.

And it probably doesn't even need a whole lot of intervention or therapy to get through that, just like we would with our kids that pick up those seasonal viruses at home.

It's just we need to be a little more vigilant and aware about what are those indications, those signs that may say we should go ahead and get this dog seen sooner to ensure that we can get them the treatment they need so that they're gonna be okay.

- Or taking them to the dog park and exposing.

- So that's another really big thing.

And I would say, too, that that's not something that's necessarily new to this year, either.

As we move into these winter months, into these winter season, we see increases in these respiratory cases.

And anytime you're gonna take your dog into a situation where you don't have control over those other animals that are coming into contact, you don't know their vaccine history, you don't know if they're cared for, if they have clinical signs of disease, those are the types of settings we really need to avoid right now.

- I guess just with everything, just be mindful and not worry, really.

- Exactly, there is absolutely no need to panic or be overly anxious.

We just have to be aware.

That's all it is.

Knowledge is power, right?

- [Kurtis] Yeah.

- And so the more we know and we're aware of these types of things, we know what to watch for, the kinds of signs that may say, hey, we need to get some earlier care here, we need to go ahead.

And then the other big thing is, when in doubt, just call your veterinarian.

- Alrighty, thanks Jennifer.

Jennifer Rudd, OSU veterinarian.

And if you'd like some more information about this pathogen, just go to our website, sunup.okstate.edu.

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

I'm Wes Lee.

Managing cattle in the wintertime can be difficult due to cold weather, limited forage supplies, and supplemental feeding requirements.

A tool called the Mesonet Cattle Comfort Index was developed to help livestock producers better manage animals in extreme hot and cold environments.

This map from Tuesday shows that on that day, the index was either in the comfortable or slight cold caution range.

This index utilizes temperature, wind speed, humidity, and sunlight to come up with a number that symbolizes how cattle might react due to the weather.

A feature of the tool allow producers to look at a graph of the past 45 days or the past 10 days, along with the two-day forecast feature.

Available tables show that in winter, temperatures are adjusted higher due to high humidity and winds but lowered with strong sunlight.

Cattle exposed to a colder index will require some extra attention to help them cope with the added stress.

A rule of thumb for feeding cows in cold weather is to increase feed by 1% each degree the Cattle Comfort Index is below 32 with a dry hair coat.

Limit increases to no more than 25% to avoid digestion issues.

For extremely cold temperatures or wet conditions, it may require an increased feed level before or after it occurs.

Now here's Gary, focusing on the most current drought data.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning, everyone.

Well, last week's snowfall did give us just a little bit of improvement on the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map.

I hope the rain we received earlier this week is gonna give us a few improvements as well.

But of course, it has to fall in the right place.

That being said, let's take a look at the newest Drought Monitor map and see where we're at.

Well, we still have the same basic pattern, not a lot of big changes.

We did erase a little bit of that moderate to severe drought up in north-central Oklahoma, just a tiny bit of it where that heavier snow fell in just the right spot.

Unfortunately, though, we still have those long-term drought conditions in north-central Oklahoma with the extreme drought, also down in far southwestern Oklahoma, and a little bit down into south-central, southeastern Oklahoma.

So these are the areas we most need to target.

Now let's take a look at why we're having those long-term drought conditions.

If you look at the map for 2023 thus far, at least through most of November, we do see, you know, over in southeastern Oklahoma, we have a good 45 to 60 inches in the extreme parts of that area of the state.

Over in southwest Oklahoma, however, less than 20 inches in places, also out in the panhandle.

But the northwestern half of the state down into southwest Oklahoma in dire need of rainfall.

And that also shows up on the departure from normal map for that same timeframe.

Deficits up in north-central and northeast Oklahoma greater than 10 inches in some cases, and in some cases, as much as a foot.

Down in southwest Oklahoma, we see greater than six inches and also greater than six inches down in south-central Oklahoma.

So again, these are the areas that need the most help, at least right now, for drought conditions.

Let's take a little bit of a look ahead as we get farther into December, into that first and second week.

Unfortunately, we do see continued increased odds for above normal temperatures, so that won't help the drought situation if we do get a little bit more evaporation with that heat.

And then we look at the rainfall, you know, when we look at this December 7th through 13th timeframe, we don't seen any wet conditions in the state, but we also don't see a lot of abnormally dry conditions popping up on this outlook.

So I guess that's the best news.

Okay, it's a dry time in the year anyway, so any precipitation we can get goes a long way towards relieving drought or at least stopping it in its tracks.

That's it for this time.

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

(light country music) - They say a little competition can be healthy, and the OSU Wheat Improvement Team is certainly testing that theory when it comes to crop management.

SUNUP intern Elizabeth Hokit put together this story.

- So today, we are out here planting our TAPS plot.

So TAPS is the Testing Agronomic Performance Solutions program that we are implementing in wheat here, first time at OSU.

And so as you can see here, we have a no-till field that is managed by the Soil Fertility Program.

And so we decided to put some plots here and test different management decisions that were decided by different teams.

And those teams, they will be competing with each other as far as their management strategies.

So the goal for this program is, of course, to bring everybody from the wheat industry together, but also to use this as an educational tool for us, looking at different management practices decided by different people.

And so for that, we brought to the program eight teams.

So one of the teams will be Oklahoma State University Wheat Improvement Team.

We'll also have teams from the Extension formed by our area agronomists, Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Oklahoma Wheat Growers, and farmers also, we'll have teams formed by farmers, and also our neighboring state, Kansas State University, will be one of the teams.

(machine whirring) - [Speaker] So.

- The TAPS program that we're implementing this year in wheat is actually an older program.

We've been doing it for several years out in the panhandle looking at TAPS corn, TAPS cotton, TAPS sorghum, and it really came from UNL, University of Lincoln, Nebraska where they started it up and it's a competition that allows producers and university people to kind of get in and try different things.

So, we wanna look at how does management decisions impact the yield and the quality.

And so, we really wanted to bring this down, Amanda and I, Ron, wanted to bring it down into our wheat belt and look at it here.

So, it's really fun.

I'm really excited about getting it implemented this year.

And we're just taking it the next step from the corn and cotton projects.

- Final message here will be from those different management practices, what are the most profitable practices that we can have?

What are the, like we say, the bean buster, the highest using practice and bringing this information directly to farmers.

So whenever we harvest here, everybody will have access to the results and will be a very informative program for our producers.

(lively music) - Good morning, Oklahoma, and welcome to Cow-Calf Corner.

I'm Mark Johnson, and this week's topic is to take a look at the value of reproductive efficiency in the form of percent calf crop weaned versus additional pounds of weaning weight relative to their economic importance to a commercial cow calf operation.

Now we know both of these things are economically important, but the debate we're gonna frame, taking a look at current market conditions, is what has more economic value to us?

Is it an additional 5% of reproductive efficiency in the form of percent calf crop weaned, or an additional 50 pounds of weaning weight on a per head basis of calves?

Well take for example two theoretical 200-head cow calf operations.

In both we've got 1300-pound average mature size of the cows.

In one of those operations, we're weaning calves that weigh about 525 pounds, but we've got a 90% reproductive efficiency, which results in 180 calves weaned, 90 of which are steers, 90 of which are heifers.

In the other operation, 200 head of cows weighing 1300 pounds with an 85% reproductive efficiency, but those calves are weighing 575.

As we take a look at the most recent USDA market report, we see that 525-pound calves last week were worth about $294, 100 weight, about $1,544 a head.

525-pound heifer calves were worth about $243 100 weight, or about $1276 per head.

So when we factor in 90 head of steers, 90 head of heifers, 180 head of calves total, we've got a gross revenue of $253,800 with a 90% calf crop weaned.

Now, the other herd with an 85% calf crop weaned, 575-pound steers last week in Oklahoma were worth $273 a pound for a value per head of about $1,570.

570-pound heifer calves at about $235 a pound at a value of about $1351 per head.

Collectively 85 of each, we've got a gross revenue of $248,285.

So what's the advantage?

Where does it go?

The herd with an extra 5% of reproductive efficiency and weaning five more calves for every 100 cows we expose to a bull, generates a little over $5,500 of extra revenue as opposed to the herd with the higher weaning weight, but weaning a smaller percentage of calves per exposed female.

How does this result?

Well, some of it is a matter of price structure.

The lighter weight calves are worth a little more per pound, but it speaks volumes about the importance of getting more of our cows to actually get bread, raise a calf to weaning every year relative to those input costs that we've got.

Typically, this holds true in about any market.

Again, we're taking a look at the most recent market report we've got, but year in, year out, 5% of reproductive efficiency tends to be worth more than an extra 50 pounds a head in those weaned calves.

I hope this helps, and as always, thanks for joining us on Cow-Calf Corner.

(lively music) - Dr. Kim Anderson, our crop marketing specialist, is here now.

Kim, why don't we start with the latest on the crop markets?

- Let's start with prices.

Prices reflect what's going on in the markets.

You've got wheat prices around $5.70 right now.

We've gained about 20 or 25 cents over the last week.

Remember, you go back a couple weeks, we said that.

- Prices were gonna be erratic during the holiday season, and that's what we saw last week.

Just prices on wheat coming down.

Really no reason.

There were just more sellers in the market than buyers.

They came back up this week.

That's what we're gonna see happening in the wheat market.

And you can go back to July, $8 and 50 cents prices and down now around $5.70.

Farmers are saying, Kim, can't you get that price back up for us?

And I'm saying, no.

You look at at corn prices, oh, you know, we've been up around $4.85.

They're down now around $4.40.

And that's because I think the US harvest's a little higher than expected.

And we've seen from late October to now that price decline in corn.

Bean prices have been a bright spot.

I talked to a farmer yesterday.

He said, I got my beans in and it came in better than expected on yields.

And they've got a relatively good price up around $12.90 now.

It was down around $12.20 if you go back into the early October.

So, good prices coming up in beans.

You look at cotton, they've been backing off just a little bit.

They were around 83, 84, 85 there for a long time.

Went down around 78, back up around 79 or 80 now.

That's on the March ice contract for cotton.

- What are you hearing in terms of forward contract prices?

- Well, if you look at wheat for '24 delivery, '24 harvest, around $5 and 75 cents.

You'll notice that's higher than the current price.

You go southern Oklahoma, you need to take about 30 cents off of that, and the panhandle add around a dime.

If you look at '24 corn crop, $4 and 80 cents.

Again, just a little higher than current corn prices.

You go out in the panhandle though, you can get another 60 cents on that 'cause real good demand out there.

Soybean prices, lower than the current prices at $12 and 20 cents for 84 delivered beans.

- Any news coming out of the Black Sea area?

- Oh, there's always something coming outta the Black Sea area.

Russia, they're always kind of manipulating the market with their news.

They lowered their export tax on wheat because I think their exports weren't high enough.

And then they said, hey, we may put on export quotas so they could possibly get that price back up.

I think the market's just kind of blowing them off to a certain degree.

The Ukraine, it looks like their grain harvest came in a little higher than expected and their exports may be a little higher than expected.

Australia's getting rain.

That's lowering the quality of their crop and maybe lowering the quantity a little bit.

And Brazil had a record soybean crop, and I think everybody's increasing the expected exports of beans out of Brazil.

- Are there any USDA reports that producers should keep an eye on?

- There's not much happening in the markets right now.

USDA, we've got the WASDE coming out for the December report around the eighth.

A little bit on production for some minor crops.

In January we have the year-end estimates or the year-end announcement of what our crop yields and production was.

The report that we probably need to be watching for is your planting intentions, and that'll be in late January for wheat and other winter commodities.

- As we wind down the year, what guidance do you have for producers at this time?

- This is the time that producers need to debrief.

Go back and look over the 2023 crops.

What did you do right?

What changes do you need to make, and what do you want to produce in the 2024 crop year?

- Okay, make those plans now.

- That's the time.

- Okay, Kim, thanks a lot.

We'll see you next week.

(lively music) - [Announcer] And just a quick reminder about the upcoming Rancher's Thursday lunchtime series.

The upcoming webinar sessions will be well, Thursday, of course, but the dates are December 14th and 21st, and both will be at noon.

On the agenda for the December 14th webinar will be Dr. Rick Funston from the University of Nebraska, who will discuss beef heifer development and lifetime productivity.

The following week, OSU's own Dr. Dan Stein will discuss heifer development strategies.

These webinars are free and if you would like a link to register for these events, just go to sunup.okstate.edu.

- It's a good idea to kinda recheck what I would call the winter checklist about our large animals.

The number one thing that I get concerned about when it gets cold weather is making sure we have a good quality clean water supply for our animals.

Gotta make sure that we don't let anything freeze up.

We gotta keep it open so those cattle and horses or whatever can get a good drink of water.

If you have the ability to warm that water up where it's not at the freezing temperature or just above, we know that animals are more likely to consume more water.

This becomes pretty important if you have sheep or goats because those rams and billies and wethers are subject to getting urinary calculi.

And so it's really important that they get plenty of water.

Horses are another problem.

They don't drink enough water, we can have problems with colic.

So if you can provide some warm water for those species particularly, you'll probably have less health problems with them.

The other thing we have to be concerned about is it takes a lot of energy to stay warm when it gets cold.

So we need to look at our feeding.

We're probably gonna have to provide some extra feed during this time.

Last thing I would talk about is shelter.

Obviously, we can't build barns big enough to house all our cattle, but if we can.

- Provide them with a wind break or maybe an area where there's some trees that they can get into to provide them some protection from the elements, a pasture that's got some tall grass, where they can bed down and stay warm.

These will all help them as far as being protected from the elements that they encounter.

I'd also remind you, don't forget about your small animals, too.

They need all these requirements and probably some more things for them, for those guys too.

- So you may have noticed that there's some mares out there that are wearing, looks like almost like racing hoods or blinkers.

They actually don't have eye injuries.

This is a new technology, where it's like a blinker hood that will shine a light into the horse's eye to mimic day length.

Traditionally, we'll use artificial lighting to increase the day length for mares to start them cycling earlier.

Horses are long day breeders, so essentially, they start cycling when day length increases.

So essentially there were two options.

Either you stall them at night, which is pretty labor intensive, or you have to place them under large outdoor lights.

So instead of having big stadium lighting that covers a whole herd of mares, that takes a lot of energy, they're now using just these single little hoods on the horses to bring mares into season or start them cycling earlier.

For horses, we like them to start cycling early in the year, because the universal birth date of horses is January 1st.

So for horses that are going to be competing in Futurities or other competitions where maturity is important, we need them to be born closer to that January deadline or January 1st date as possible.

So by adding light to the mares, they're gonna think the day length is longer than it already is, and start them cycling earlier.

For more information about ester cycles and breeding in mares, go to sunup.okstate.edu.

(upbeat music) - Finally, today, we meet the new national FFA President, who also happens to be a student in the OSU Ferguson College of Agriculture.

- Yeah, so we're here.

Everyone is graciously celebrating me, as I'm getting ready to head off to serve as the national FFA President.

I was recently elected on November 4th at the 96th National FFA convention.

I'm from the state of Michigan, so I'm a transfer student here at Oklahoma State University.

I grew up about 30 minutes from Lansing, which is our state capital.

I transferred in in January, so I haven't even been here a year.

And the time here, the mentors and the professors and everybody that poured into me really made being able to be a national officer possible.

They supported me, whether trying to get a practice interview or connect with some industry representatives or just talk to a professor about what's going on in the industry.

That was really helpful for my time as I was preparing.

And so I really appreciate the faculty for that reason.

Gosh, I just feel honored to represent Michigan in that way.

I feel honored to put my home chapter crown on the chap, on the map, and I'm just so excited to be able to serve in that capacity and hopefully help others to see that they could too.

It feels surreal, but to me, it just means the opportunity that I can connect with people more for another year in our organization.

I really value one-on-one connection, and so I'm just so excited to have this platform to connect with members and hopefully to inspire them and to help them want to maybe someday be in this seat too.

FFA is important because it gives students an opportunity to discover who they are and to truly dive into their full potential.

FFA really can change the trajectory of your life in a really positive way.

- And speaking of FFA, we wanna congratulate the students in Stillwater for being named the top chapter in the entire country this year.

And that'll do it for our show this week.

A reminder, 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) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues)