(guitar strums gently) (uplifting music) - Hello everyone and Happy Holidays.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

As part of our holiday gift to you, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite SUNUP stories of all time.

First up is a couple of features on wheat harvest from the oldest Oklahoma producer we've ever met, to one of the youngest.

- If we could grow it, we didn't have a price.

If we had a price, we couldn't grow it.

(he laughs) But this year the price has come up quite a little bit and it's been pretty good year.

- It's been really good.

Test weights are great, 64, had some 65.

Yields are good, 50 to 70, probably.

So yeah, for up here, that's real good.

- Four generations of Williams have actually farmed this summer on County land, which started with K.B.

just after the Dust Bowl.

- I was graduated from high school in '37 and I was back there when we worried a lot about the dirt blowin' if we didn't get the wheat to cover the ground, you know.

And we generally sowed, if we got the moisture, we sowed in August back there then just to get the ground covered up.

- He worked like people today can't even imagine.

- Well, it's amazing what he can do.

- But I was never scared of work.

I just enjoyed farming really well.

- He's just always done for so long that he doesn't want to quit.

- Not many of them still got a grandpa that's a hundred years old, runs a combine.

- [Dave] That's right.

Troy said that his grandpa is 100 years old and still running the combine.

If you've ever been in the cab watching the header glide through the wheat across an open prairie, you know it's a special feeling.

It was the possibility to help with one more wheat harvest that motivated K.B.

to fight after he fell and broke his hip a few months ago.

He wanted to get back in the driver's seat for his 79th wheat harvest.

- [K.B.]

Go for it, as long as you can do it.

- He spent a lot of time on the combine and he said, as long as he can get in there and sit like he was fine.

Well, he's loves it so much, you know, I can't tell him no.

- He's probably out through with his farming now, but... - [Dave] When a seed is planted, harvest is the goal.

It's only through love, protection from what the Oklahoma panhandle can throw at it and a little rain that a seed of wheat can grow into something bigger than itself.

In a way, K.B.

planted a seed.

And it grew into a strong farming family that takes pride in all that it produces.

If this is his final season to cut wheat, he sure is making the most of a victory lap for a Cimarron County farmer that grew more than crops.

K.B.

Williams grew a legacy.

- Really it's been a pretty good life.

I wouldn't change it for anything else.

(harvester rumbles) - [Lyndall] Brittany Krehbiel is no stranger to wheat harvest and no stranger to combines.

As she takes me on a couple of rounds, we talk crop quality.

- I was hoping that it was like this, hoping and praying it was good.

And it's been a blessing to see that it is.

- [Lyndall] And what it takes to keep this massive machine running smoothly.

- Trying to keep it in the wheat and out of the dirt.

(Brittany laughs) - That's the main thing.

- Yeah.

- [Lyndall] Across the field, that's also the main objective for Brittany's grandpa Wayne Krehbiel, who at age 82 spent a lot of years on open air combines.

- I probably still suffering from the days when no cabs on the combine.

You sit in that dirt for hours and hours.

But I loved it anyway.

- [Lyndall] That shared love of the land and harvesting what you've sown is already shaping Brittany's future.

Why are you doing this?

- I rode with my grandpa and my dad a lot when I was little and I have memories of falling asleep in that same passenger seat or doing combine math and slowly but surely I started to fall in love with it.

- [Lyndall] In fact, 10 years ago this week, her mom Karen snapped this picture of Brittany at age seven, side by side with her dad Jeff, in the field.

- I've always tried a little bit to play devil's advocate and say, you can be anything you want to be.

You can go anywhere you want to be, that decision's always yours to make.

Just because your ancestors have farmed does not mean you have to.

If you want to, we will support you.

I've always tried to give her that option, it was her choice.

- [Lyndall] A decision Brittany confirmed as Jeff, her father, was dying of cancer.

- I remember in the last month he was alive, he turned to me and looked at me and grabbed my hand and said, "Are you going to come back?"

And even though I knew before then that I wanted to come back that really solidified my choice.

That this is where I should be.

- [Lyndall] On the land that would have been her fathers.

- [Narrator] And will now go to her, the fifth generation of Crable to harvest wheat on these very acres.

- And be able to pass that on to another generation is very satisfying.

- [Narrator] Hard to believe Brittany is only 17 and will be a senior at Hinton High School this fall.

- They put their entire lives in them working to make these farms fun.

And to see that payoff, I think is a very success for them to know that somebody is going to carry on what they love, too.

- [Narrator] And no doubt that someone, Brittany, is making all those who came before her pretty proud.

- Dr. Kim Anderson joins us now, our crop marketing specialist.

Kim, we want to talk about corn and soybeans today.

Let's start with a little bit of historical perspective on the base prices.

So we have kind of a starting point for the discussion on comparison.

- Well, you look at the historical prices.

If I tell you bean prices are $11.70, what does that mean?

Well, if you go back and look at corn for the 2009 through '21 years, the average Oklahoma price was $4.20.

The low price during that period, during harvest, was $2.75.

That was in the '16 harvest.

And the high price was 7.10.

That was in the '19 harvest.

Now coming into soybeans, $10.20 is your average price.

Over the '09 to '21 time period.

Your low price was $7.50.

That was in the '18 harvest.

And the high price was $14.80.

And again, that was in the 2012 harvest.

- Let's talk now about current price levels.

- Well, we're looking at current price levels, you got corn at around $5.75 cents.

For forward contracting in '22, $5.20.

That's a minus 15 basis off of that November '22 price.

My low prices are running about, oh, for the forward contract, 15 cents below corn, a dime above corn for the current price.

Soybeans, $12, relatively good price there.

Forward contract for '22 delivery, $11.70 That's minus 75 under that November '22 contract, you've got cotton coming in at $1.22 a pound, way to go, cotton, and harvest for the '22 crop right now around 87 cents.

That was at November, December cotton contract at 90 cents in a 3 cent a basis there.

- Why are we seeing relatively high prices?

- Lot of people are asking that question because we've got record corn world production and record soybean world production.

Corn production, 47.6 billion bushels compared to 44.2 in '20, the average is 43.9.

Major production.

You look at United States on corn, a record 15.1 billion bushels.

Soybeans, 14 billion bushels on the world.

You go back to 2013, 0.5 in the United States, 4.4 billion bushels, not a record, but close to it.

And your average at 4.2.

So, excellent bean production.

Again, it's a demand situation.

You've got increased demand for your corn, and your beans, and your lentil products.

And that is driving up our prices.

- Let's talk now about how the US fits into the world market.

- You go back 20, 30 years, US is a major player, but right now the United States exports 31% of the world's corn exports, Brazil and Argentina, it's 40%, and Ukraine export 16%.

In other words, Brazil, Argentina, and Ukraine export 56% of the world's corn exports.

If you look at competing with United States on corn, you've got Brazil and Argentina in the spring and summer months when we've got ours in the ground, and you've got Ukraine is harvesting about the same time as the US crop, competing with us in the Asian countries, in the European countries, in North Africa.

So we don't carry near the power we used to.

We're a major player in the corn market, but don't have the strength and price discoveries we used to.

You look at soybeans, 32% of the world's soybean exports.

Brazil alone is 55% of the world's soybean exports.

Argentina, three.

There's 58% right there.

Those countries, they sometimes double crop with the soybeans and with the corn, which competes on that world market.

Plus, between now and the harvest in '22, the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil and Argentina will harvest both corn and soybeans and put them on the export market.

That could potentially drive our prices down.

So as we look at our price going on out to, say, the '22 crop, I think there's more risk with corn prices and bean prices than there are with wheat prices.

Remember I said last week that wheat prices should hold relatively strong?

And so Brazil and Argentina crops will put pressure on US corn and bean prices between now and our '22 harvest.

- Okay, Kim, thanks a lot.

And from all of us at SUNUP, of course, happy holidays, merry Christmas, to you and your family.

- And to yours.

- Okay.

Thanks a lot.

(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

Welcome to "Cow-Calf Corner."

It is the holiday time of year, and I'm honored today to be joined by the long time face of Cow-Calf Corner, Dr. Glenn Selk.

Glenn, you're the expert on the topic.

What can you tell us about reindeer, as far as the basic facts?

- Well, let's start with some real basics of what we know about reindeer.

First of all, they've been domesticated to be used by humans, for over 5,000 years.

Now, we know by looking at him, santa's is no spring chicken himself, is he?

So we really know that since he's been around, not only the corner a few times, he's been around the world a number of times, they're not going to get lost on Christmas Eve.

So we don't have to worry about that.

We do know that reindeer are ruminants, just like these heifers, they're standing back here in this pen behind us.

They have four compartments to their stomach.

Now some people say they have four stomachs, but it's really more for compartments to their stomach.

That means then, that they can hold a lot of feed that can help them make that long journey on Christmas Eve.

Now santa, he's pretty sharp old dude.

He's kind of like some of our OSU scientists here, in the Animal Science Department.

He knows that these reindeer, so it's a ruminants, can digest for forages, very, very well.

But forages take a longer time to digest than say grain.

And it's just like when your mother or my mother, before they sent us off to school, as little kids said, "Have a good breakfast, something that'll stick to your ribs."

Well, santa's gonna do the same thing.

He's going to fill those reindeer up with moss or hay on that night before they head out on that Christmas Eve journey, because that'll stick to their ribs, they'll have plenty energy to make the rounds.

Some people worry about where reindeer, have a chance to get a good drink of water, while they're traveling on Christmas Eve.

Don't worry about it.

You know, they live in an environment, that's for most of the year, is covered with snow and ice.

Those reindeer have learned how to elict the snow, the ice, they'll do the same thing on the rooftops of those homes that are in northern climates.

They'll have a chance to get certainly, a good drink in that situation.

And if they're in the south, there's going to be opportunities to get a drink of water out of open lakes, and ponds, rivers.

So I don't think we need to worry about those reindeer, having enough to eat or to drink during that long Christmas Eve journey.

- So that ruminant is a big benefit?

Oh, no question about it.

That really helps them have enough of that energy coming from the moss or the hay.

And they'll get along just fine.

- Okay.

So, Glen, our big question, how do reindeer really know how to fly?

- Well, again, let's go back to what we do know.

I admit that's the tough one, but what we do know about reindeer.

They're different than the deer that we have, here in Oklahoma.

They have a long antler, a full-grown reindeer, has an antler that's about four feet in length.

Each reindeer has two antlers, okay?

So the antler span on an average full-grown reindeer is eight-feet.

Santa's has got eight reindeer, nine if it's a foggy Christmas Eve, remember he has to pull in Rudolph, - Right.

So you got eight feet of antler span, on each reindeer.

Eight reindeer, that adds up to 64, or 72 feet on a foggy Christmas Eve, of antler span.

Well, I went out here and looked at some of the airplanes at Stillwater Airport.

I measured the wingspan on an airplane.

It's a typical airplane.

It's only 36 feet of wingspan.

Santa's got 64 to 72 feet, of antler span to work with.

Now, can they get enough speed up to get off the ground with that, that antler span?

Well, University of Alaska scientists, have studied reindeer for a long time.

One of the things they found out was that a new-born baby reindeer, at one day of age, could outrun their fastest graduate student.

So if they're that fast, can run that fast when they're one day of age, just think how fast they can be when they're adults.

Got all that speed, that antler span, I've had no doubt that they can then get up, and get elevated and get in the air.

Yeah.

So Glenn, what are some of the myths that we need to dispel about reindeer?

- Well, it goes back to what we talked about with the reindeer that santa has in his part - Of the world and that he uses on Christmas Eve are different from the deer that we have here in Oklahoma.

You perhaps have heard in one of the poems about tiny reindeer feet, ha.

Reindeer have a hoof that's about the size of what a adult cow has.

They're a pretty wide hoof.

That comes in real handy when they're trying to get enough surface area to stop on those small roofs that they have to land on each Christmas Eve.

So that really comes in handy for them.

Now, another thing that you might've heard in one of the songs is about reindeer going click, click, click.

That one's true, because reindeer have a tendon that goes over their knee and every time they move that tendon tends to make kind of a clicking sound, so that one's true.

I'll tell you, as we looking and learn more about reindeer, it sure makes me think that Santa is gonna find us on Christmas Eve.

I don't know about you Mark, I'm gonna go to bed early and make sure I'm asleep when he comes to my house.

- I plan to do the same thing Glen.

I really appreciate you being with us and all of you out there watching today, Merry Christmas.

- And now we wanna look back at another SUNUP favorite story that takes us behind the scenes at a Christmas tree farm.

And then our sister show, Oklahoma Gardening, will give us some tips on what to do with our Christmas trees after Christmas.

Time now to get into the holiday spirit.

And there's no better place to do that than right here at the Christmas tree farm.

(cheerful music) (chainsaw whirring) - [Host Voiceover] Welcome to the Sorghum Mill Christmas Tree Farm, just outside Edmond, Oklahoma.

- They cut them, we cut them.

Or we have some that are already cut, pre-cut trees.

I got it.

- [Host Voiceover] It's the busiest time of year for this choose and cut operation.

John Knight is the owner, grower and all around businessman.

- It's a daylight till dark operation.

We're out here every day in these fields, six days a week.

We grow Colorado blue spruce in this field, we grow blue ice and Carolina sapphire.

- [Host Voiceover] So in the field we go for a Christmas tree tour like none other.

John has seven fields and 35,000 Christmas trees.

- [John] We use a lot of these large loblollies, see the ones we've sheared for Christmas trees.

We sold a tree last night, 28 feet.

- [Host Voiceover] He also grows and sells Virginia pines along with scotch Austrian and Eastern white pines, Leyland cypress, blue ice and Carolina Sapphire.

- And this was just planted recently, and this one was as well.

- You plant in the fall?

- Uh huh, we plant in the fall and the spring.

This is last year's tree.

You can see it's got some pretty nice growth on it.

This is mostly new trees in here we've got.

- [Host Voiceover] And John loves each and every one.

After all, this is his 32nd year.

- We've been doing it so many years, we know exactly when to do it and how to do it.

Of course you can have variations depending on the bugs and the weather, but it's normally pretty close.

Like in June, you know that you're gonna have to spray and you know, you're gonna have to shear.

- [Host Voiceover] And don't forget about mowing all this in spring and summer, 45 acres to be exact.

- You have to keep the grass down.

The trees will not grow with the grass.

They won't grow quickly enough.

And they won't grow into the proper shape.

They need all the nutrients and moisture they can get.

And we keep the grass keeled back 18 inches from the tree all the way around, we can do what is called banding.

- [Host Voiceover] But he hasn't always been this organized.

- In the beginning years it was so tough.

I just almost gave it up a couple of times.

- [Host] That's what I've heard.

- It tested me.

- [Host Voiceover] The rows of trees were once home to an oil field.

John reclaimed and reconditioned the land, a 15 year ordeal, and then started planting trees.

The first year he sold a mere 16.

- And they were ugly 'cause I didn't know what I was doing.

I mean, that was the ugliest trees, I couldn't believe.

People felt sorry for me is the only reason they bought them.

But I knew that I had something.

Everyone told me, my father said, "Son don't do that.

People will not buy those trees."

He says, "You've been a good son.

You've been pretty smart all your life."

He says, you're really making a huge mistake.

Of course he didn't live to see this.

And now we sell several thousand trees.

- [Host Voiceover] In fact, about 5,000 of his trees go into homes and businesses around the Oklahoma City metro and beyond.

- If you had a live Christmas tree and you're ready to take it down, or maybe it's starting to lose enough pine needles that you're ready to just get it out of the house, that doesn't mean Christmas decoration has to be over just yet.

While it had a great life out in nature, then you brought it in to enjoy it as a Christmas tree, you can also re-gift it back to nature by decorating it with natural Christmas ornaments for the wildlife.

So we've got a couple of examples that you can use here.

Of course, the traditional string of popcorn or cheerios with cranberries is a great way to make garland, but there's also some other things that you can introduce, like fresh fruit or even dehydrated fruit.

So get some oranges or apples and slice those up.

And it's really easy for the kids to thread those.

Now, when you are threading stuff, you wanna try to make sure that you're using some sort of natural or cotton yarn or twine.

And so that can just kind of break down versus some of the synthetic ribbons and things like that.

- Dried raisins is another good thing that wildlife might like to forage on.

Now, another option for making ornaments is to get pine cones and then smear those with peanut butter and then roll them in bird seed.

Now, if you or your kids are allergic to peanut butter, another option would be to use Crisco or some sort of animal fat to do that or sue it and then smear it with the bird seed.

Another thing to keep in mind now, with these oily substances is, when we have warmer temperatures, they can get a little bit oily which means they can get on those birds feathers as they're trying to get to that bird seed, which isn't good because it prevents that bird from being able to thermo regulate their temperature as well as they would like to do.

So, in order to help reduce that problem, what we can do is we can mix in some corn mill, get a nice consistency with corn mill and peanut butter or your Crisco.

It'll still be sticky enough to roll it in that bird seed, but it'll take away and dry up some of that oil preventing it from getting on those birds feathers.

So, they go crazy for these ornaments.

So this is a great addition, they are a little bit heavy, so make sure you have some strong branches to hang those on.

The other thing is birds really do love the black seed oiled sunflowers seeds, so if you're looking to which sunflower seed or bird seed to put on there, make sure you're looking at the black oiled sunflower seed, that's a good option.

By putting your Christmas tree out in your backyard and again, I would recommend putting it a little bit further away from the main part of the house, because obviously we're gonna be inviting creatures into our backyard.

A way to incorporate the educational component, is to have your kids observe the wildlife that comes and visits that tree.

So they can simply observe it during the day, to see how many different bird species they can identify by using different bird guides to identify those birds, or an even neater option would be to set up a wildlife cam on it at night to see what sort of creatures come through.

So, this is a fun family activity and again, even though Christmas may be over and you're ready to take down the decorations, it doesn't mean that they have to completely go away, but why not re-gift it back to nature.

(upbeat music) - As the year 2021 comes to an end, it's really important for me to take time to say thank you to all of you, to everyone who's had such a tremendous influence on the Ferguson College of Agriculture, OSU Extension, OSU Ag Research.

It really has been a very productive year for us in many ways in spite of the pandemic, we've had record enrollment, new students coming in this fall in numbers greater than we've ever had before, except for one time, and so it's great to have that kind of recognition of the uniqueness of our programs and the impact that they have on our students.

Our extension educators and specialists have been very busy around the state, delivering programs and helping people adapt to the many challenges that we faced.

Weather has been a challenge, sometimes too much rain, more often, not enough rain and our specialists and our educators have been out there helping people adapt to that as well.

Our research faculty have been extremely successful bringing in record amounts of grant funding, to support the work that they're doing, to try to understand better how we can live with the resources that we have and make use of those for our economic development and the success of families and communities across the state.

So, in so many ways, it's been a very productive year, of course, we've had some highlights.

We celebrated the groundbreaking event for our new frontiers project, the new building for the Ferguson College of Agriculture, that we'll be opening in a little less than three years.

And so we had the groundbreaking in April, we've had other events celebrating the many people who have come forward and made gifts to help support the funding for that project and it's just been tremendous to experience the show of goodwill and excitement that people have, about that project, but more importantly the excitement and support that we have for all that we do in OSU Agriculture.

So here at the end of 2021, with all of the excitement that we have from what we've done this year, I'm just as excited about the year ahead in 2022.

And so with that, I wanna take time to say thank you, to all of you who give us the pleasure of serving you and those of you who support us in all that we do.

So, wish you happy holidays, a successful new year and as always we say, "Go Pokes".

- Thanks so much for joining us this week for SUNUP.

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

From all of us at SUNUP to you and your family at home, happy holidays, and we'll see you next time at SUNUP.

(upbeat music)