(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

I'm Curtis Hare, and welcome to "SUNUP."

Well, with these warmer days with good moisture, the wheat crop will be taking off, and with just a few more weeks before first hollow stem impacts wheat pasture, are there any concerns that producers should be aware of?

OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Paul Beck gets us up to speed.

(upbeat music) - This has been one of the best wheat pasture years in at least the last five or six years here in Oklahoma.

Outstanding production through the fall, even though we probably had some delayed planting due to some timing of moisture, but we had some real nice weather through the fall and early winter.

The wheat crop has really made it nicely through this last few weeks of severe cold, and it's really starting to grow back.

First hollow stem is probably right around the corner, but as we're continuing our grazing through this period where we're really getting some great growth, there's some concerns that we probably should consider.

We're starting to see some bloat of wheat pasture cattle out in the Central and into Western Oklahoma.

And this is probably because we had that severe cold, probably had some pastures graze short, and now we have some really nice weather, you know, we expect three to five pounds of forage dry matter per acre for each growing degree day.

And this week, you know, we're calculating about 15 to 20 growing degree days every day.

So we're gonna produce about 35 to 40 pounds of dry matter per acre.

If we have a calf stocked, one calf for every two acres, that's about 80 pounds per calf.

And each calf is only going to consume about 30 pounds of forage dry matter or less, about 3% of their body weight.

When we look at these calves, they've got a lot of fresh regrowth.

and that's what's really going to be bloat provocative, and that's why we're gonna see some bloat.

I hope we don't see as severe a bloat year as we did last year, but we are starting to see some moderate bloat in some of these conditions.

And what happens is that fresh regrowth that really pops in starts growing rapidly, is very high in quality, very low in dry matter.

There's a lot of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates.

And when those become available in the rumen, that's what kind of leads to that stable foam matrix that grows in a rumen and causes bloat.

Couple that with a frost in the morning that disrupts the plant cell walls, that makes those compounds more available in the rumen.

So, you know, we'll see calves, their morning routine is they get up about daylight and start grazing about the time we'll have that frost occur.

And so in the morning would be that time that we should be checking those cattle for bloat.

Forage growth has been outstanding.

Yesterday, as I was driving through Western Oklahoma and into Central Oklahoma, you know, about 9:30 in the morning, we saw calves that had been grazing out on wheat, leaving wheat pasture to go and settle in by ponds or just to start resting.

So we know they're getting all the grazing they want within that two or three-hour period from daylight until that time.

Another consideration, we have some fairly good economics for stocker calves, so there are people considering graze out, but also, there's prospects of an excellent wheat crop.

So in dual-purpose wheat production, we really need to start looking at that first hollow stem.

The Mesonet has a tool that estimates what the first hollow stem is, depending on your variety or the maturity type of your variety, early, moderate, or late-maturing varieties.

So it would estimate when we're starting to see that first hollow stem, but we probably should be scouting our own fields.

In instances where we have a lot of residual forage, we can graze past that first hollow stem with only a little bit of effect, maybe one to two bushel decrease for every day we graze.

But if we have a very short crop, which most of us do through this time of year, when we start getting into first hollow stem, we can decrease our grain yield by five bushel for every day that we keep cattle out past first hollow stem.

So that's something that we really need to scout and make sure that as we see that first hollow stem, we start removing those cattle from pastures and market 'em or move 'em to the next phase of production.

For a link to these Extension Tools, go to the "SUNUP" website site.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) - Welcome to the "Mesonet Weather Report."

I'm Wes Lee.

Winters are usually dry in Oklahoma, but this year we seem to be fairing pretty well due to the beneficial El Niño conditions.

The weekly drought maps clearly show the improving conditions.

Soil moisture levels are in great shape at most Mesonet locations, even down to our deepest sensor.

Midweek, our four inch fractional water index is showing at least 0.8 or higher statewide.

Remember, one is as wet and zero is as dry as the sensor can read.

Just a few months ago near the start of winter, we had much drier conditions in the west and especially the panhandle regions.

Some of those drier conditions still show up on our deepest sensor location of 24 inches, but it is much improved in all areas outside of Cimarron and Texas counties.

Looking at a line graph over time is another good way to get a feel for soil moisture conditions.

Copan in Washington County was one of the drier locations last year relative to the long-term average.

You can see on this 90-day graph that the two deepest levels shown by the dash lines took a while, but have finally recovered to a more suitable index level.

Let's hope the soil moisture continues to hold up for our fastly approaching spring green up.

Now here's Gary with that latest drought map I referred to.

- Thanks Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, we have drought just about completely out of the state, not quite though.

Let's take a look at that new drought monitor map and see where we're at.

Just some minor changes in Oklahoma so far.

Unfortunately, we still have those small areas.

That's the good part of drought, down in south central and the southwestern Oklahoma, a little bit up there in far northeastern Oklahoma, right along the Osage-Kansas County line, but we have had just a few improvements down across central Oklahoma, so things are still going good.

A few more good range over the next month or two and we could have drought completely outta here.

We'll take a look at the rainfall thus far for 2024.

This goes through February 7th.

So some pretty good rains over the entire state.

You know, those four or five, six inch amounts that we see in parts of the state over across eastern, northeastern Oklahoma, southeastern Oklahoma, those are certainly wonderful, but you know those one to two to three inch amounts across western Oklahoma and even parts of the panhandle are also wonderful as well.

And I can show you that on the departure from normal rainfall map.

So those one to two inch amounts across western Oklahoma, generally sometimes bigger than the surpluses of those four to five inch amounts across eastern Oklahoma.

So everybody getting a good dose of rain, just a few minor areas with deficits.

And we look at the percent of normal, basically where we would be this time of year compared to, you know, the time of year versus what we've actually gotten.

We can see, you know, the northwestern two thirds of the state actually gotten the lion share of the surpluses from 100 to 200, to even as much as 300% of normal in some cases.

So really good rainfall across the northwestern two thirds of the state.

But in general, a good rainfall across the entire state.

You've probably heard mention of the possibility of La Niña as we get into the next fall through winter.

So fall of 2024 through winter and then into early spring of 2025, we certainly see that on some of the model output that look at those sea surface temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.

However, we are in what's called the gray period, the barrier that prevents us from really seeing what's gonna happen out there in the fall and winter.

But it does look like La Niña is certainly possible.

The good news is droughts on its way out in the state of Oklahoma.

Hopefully on its way out for good with a few more good rains.

That's it for this time.

We'll see you next time on the "Mesonet Weather Report."

(upbeat music) - Well between the extreme cold and some snow and ice, cattle markets have been through quite a lot.

So Derrell, January just wrapped up, you know, looking at February, how are things looking now for cattle markets?

- You know, January was rough because coming out of the holidays there's always a little bit of uncertainty on cattle markets and beef markets, and then we fell right into that, you know, cold weather with disruptions all the way from obviously out in the country.

Producers faced a lot of management challenges through that.

But you know, we had packing plants that closed a little bit and you know, disruptions in the flow of the pipeline of beef, if you will.

As we finished up January it looks like we pretty much have that all kind of behind us.

So markets are kind of getting their bead now and actually, you know, markets finished pretty strong at the end of January.

- Well, a few weeks ago we did a segment and we got to enjoy the extremely, extremely cold weather and the wind.

So how did all that weather impact cattle markets, you know, in full?

- Well, you know, again, there were those short term disruptions and so we did see some immediate impacts.

But longer term, the tail on this thing will be really at the feedlot level.

You know, those winter weather impacts will play out over the next several weeks in terms of the lost performance of those feedlot cattle, carcass weights have come down, they will probably continue to be impacted going forward.

So there will certainly be some residual impacts of this weather, even if we don't have any additional winter weather as we go forward.

- So has all that changed your outlook for cattle markets just in general?

- You know, it really hasn't.

I mean, you know, we're in... You know, longer term we're in a tight supply situation.

We did see a fairly big correction in feeder cattle.

- And live cattle, especially on the future side, late last year.

But now we're, you know, these markets are consolidating, they're gaining strength, and I think we're gonna be back on track.

We're expecting to see higher average prices in 2024, and I think that's starting to build as we go forward.

- So, for cow calf producers, which is obviously a big thing in this state, like what are some things that they can do to kind of maximize profit in 2024?

- You know, we are expecting more profit potential from the revenue side with higher prices, but, you know, maximizing profit means managing costs too.

And so one of the things that I encourage producers, even at this time of the year, it's early in the year relatively speaking, but start planning that forage management this year, grazing plans, hay production, you know, it all comes down, I mean, that's the biggest component of cow calf producers cost is feed cost, and specifically the use of hay and so on.

So you can minimize that if you do some planning now for the summer and fall, and set up your grazing plan so that you don't need as much hay, and you can make the best use of it.

- Because, of course, like we've gotten a lot of moisture and rain and snow and ice in the state, so the forage prospects could be shaping up, but things can change pretty quickly, right?

- Yeah, obviously going forward we do look pretty good right now.

We're, you know, basically getting the El Nino impacts that we were sort of promised coming into this, but we also know that that can change and certainly as we go into the grazing season and through the summer, we'll have to continue watching that going forward.

- All righty, thanks Derrell.

Dr. Derrell Peel, Livestock Marketing Specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

(upbeat music) - I'm Kim Anderson, and this is "Tailgate Talk" on SUNUP's Market Monitor.

If you're wondering where the tailgate is, it's in the shop.

Producers are gonna be top dressing wheat over the next few weeks.

There's some decisions that they need to make when you to determine whether to top dress or not and how much nitrogen to apply.

Producers need to know the price of wheat, the price of the nitrogen on the particular farm or plot.

They need to know the potential yield.

They need to have their target yield.

Now there's market risk and there's yield risk in this decision process.

To get the price of wheat, call your local elevator and see what they're forward contracting for harvest delivery.

If you go to Northern Oklahoma, Pond Creek, Medford, that area, it's about $5.50 a bushel.

Go down in Southern Oklahoma, Snyder, Altus, take off about 30 cents or $5.20.

Go up to I40 Weatherford, it's about $5.30.

Now there's price risk there, and I've got the bottom on the prices around $4.75 cents for Northern Oklahoma and the top at around $6.50.

If you're looking at fertilizer prices, call your local fertilized dealer.

I called around and nitrogen cost, oh, just under 60 cents a bushel.

Now Dr. Arnall tells me that the price of, or that it takes about two pounds of nitrogen for each bushel of wheat.

So that's about a $1.20 a bushel.

So first off, you gotta figure out for a field is what's the potential yield, and then do you want to top dress or not?

If you're gonna top dress, what's the target yield?

Now you visit with your county agent or Dr. Arnall, if you don't know how to calculate those, I know they'll talk about green strips or maybe soil testing.

But you've got to have your potential yield and your target yield.

And let's say your potential yield is 30 bushels, your target yield is 40 bushels.

That means I'm gonna need about 20 pounds of nitrogen to pick up that 10 bushels.

Remember that every decision you make is an economic decision.

You want a decision that's gonna generate more profit.

So you want to make decisions that are normally right and avoid decisions that are normally wrong, and you can normally get to that answer by pushing a pencil and making calculations.

I'll see you next week on SUNUP's Market Monitor.

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

This morning as we tape on kind of a windy day out here at the Purebred Beef Cattle Center.

Basically, this week's topic follows my last couple topics and addresses some of the questions, and some of the feedback that I've had as we talked about the value of a good bull in 2024.

And then the cattle cycle, and how long these good prices are gonna last for the calves that we're selling.

And so to tie into some of those, following up on how we identify a good bull we said in that article, that's a bull that comes with a pedigree, a registration paper, and a full set of genetic values that we can use in our selection process of identifying if that bull is the best fit for our particular operation.

Another important criteria is that that bull is undergone a breeding soundness exam, and actually sells with a breeding soundness warranty.

But identifying that bull that is the best fit is really the first process of us determining that good bull that necessarily is going to add value to the calf crop that he sires in our particular operation.

Because when it comes to purchasing bulls, it's not a one size fits all proposition.

And that homework we do before we go to actually purchase a bull, be it private treaty or a public auction, and taking a look at our own operation, taking a look at our cow herd, determining what kind of breed composition.

- What kind of disposition we've got in our cows?

The cow's body type.

If we take a look at some records like the mature size of those cows.

What percentage of 'em are getting bred.

What percentage of 'em are actually weaning off a calf.

And perhaps digging in a little bit deeper and thinking about what percentage of their mature weight they're actually weaning off.

All those things set us in a direction for the identifying that type of bull that's gonna be the best fit for our operation.

As we've said before, there's about two dozen different genetic values that are available, and about any breed of beef cattle we wanna look at right now.

In reality, there's only gonna be a handful of those traits and those genetic values that are a selection priority to us as we go to identify the best fit for our particular operation.

And answering those questions about cows, giving thought to the marketing endpoint for those calves is going to determine which of those EPDs have the most relevance to us in identifying that bull that's the best fit.

The other thing that we should consider when we think about bulls, and particularly right now at this phase in the cattle cycle, where we potentially have many producers that are gonna be retaining more heifers, and thinking about that next generation of cows, this is the opportunity to restock and build back better, so to speak.

And so if we think of specific trait EPDs, things like a heifer pregnancy EPD that permits us to select for fertility, a calving ease maternal EPD that permits us to select for getting dystocia or having less dystocia in those replacement heifers when they have their first calf.

Milk EPDs that are the best fit to our specific operation.

And particularly things like a mature weight EPD can all be a key component to building a better cow herd and a better set of replacements that fit our operation specifically and create more profit potential for us down the road.

Bull investment is a big thing.

Selection pressure that we apply to bulls, that budget that we have for bulls, are very precious commodities, and we don't wanna squander either one of them on things that aren't going to increase the profit potential in our particular operation.

So give thought to those things as we go out to identify that next bull or set of herd bulls we're gonna incorporate in.

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

(bright upbeat music) - Today, I thought I'd share a little bit of information about how chocolate and Valentine's Day became a couple.

Many food traditions began so long ago that it could be difficult, if not impossible, to track down their beginnings.

However, the association between chocolate and Valentine's Day has a little bit more documentation.

It's believed that the first mention of Valentine's Day as a romantic occasion occurred in a poem called "The Parliament of Fowls," written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382.

However, it wouldn't be until the mid-1700s that Valentine's Day cards would first appear in Britain, and then in the US by the mid-1800s.

This happened to coincide with the Industrial Revolution, where goods transitioned from being processed by hand to being processed by machine.

The industrial Revolution also reduced the cost of many food ingredients, such as sugar and chocolate, allowing candy makers to reach more consumers.

For example, the first chocolate bars were introduced by Joseph Fry in 1847.

Prior to this, chocolate had been primarily consumed as a beverage by the wealthy.

However, it would be rival chocolate maker, Richard Cadbury, that would solidify the connection between chocolate and Valentine's Day.

Cadbury had been working to increase the efficiency of his chocolate-making process, so he had an excess of cocoa butter left over to make additional products.

So he decided to make what he called eating chocolate.

However, he needed a way to advertise all the candy that he was making.

So in 1861, he began selling the chocolate in heart-shaped boxes that he had designed himself, that were decorated with pictures of ribbons, roses, and cupids.

An additional feature that was advertised was that after the candy was eaten, romantic mementos such as cards and love letters could be stored inside.

While Cadbury didn't patent the heart-shaped box, it's widely believed that he was the first to use the design, which would go on to be quickly copied by his competitors.

So, just a little bit of information about how Chocolate and Valentine's Day became a couple.

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

Stay sweet.

(bright music) (cymbal rings) (bright music fades) - Finally today, we find out what makes Gary Clark a 2023 OSU-Distinguished Alumni.

Video Production Manager Craig Woods put together this story.

(inspiring music) - [Narrator] While growing up in Morris, Oklahoma, Gary Clark's ambition was to put his name in the history book.

He certainly has for OSU.

But he needed a little help at the beginning.

- [Gary] My Ag teacher, Bill Bearden, I would say... - Changed my life.

I was kinda walking along and taking life pretty easy, but with his influence, you know, finally I'd say, got me motivated to, okay, you can do a little bit more than what you've been doing.

- [Narrator] Gary decided to go to OSU, majoring in agricultural education.

He would pledge with Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, and he fell in love with Jane, whom he met on the OSU campus.

After graduation, Gary would work for a year as the AG teacher in Laverne, Oklahoma.

- I got drafted in December of 1969.

To report, they gave me a six month deferment to finish out teaching the school year.

And we talked about it and thought, well, let's just go ahead and get married now.

- [Narrator] Jane would go with him to Germany.

His job in the Army led him to an interest in the law.

Gary decided to get his law degree from the University of Texas using his GI Bill.

- I really enjoyed my work as a lawyer.

The way I looked at it, you know, you're helping people solve problems that are bigger than they are.

And so in some ways, it's, you know, akin to the AG teacher.

- [Narrator] Gary also served on the OSU Board of Regents, including as chair from 1997 to '98.

He was a natural fit when the OSU Foundation was looking for a general counsel.

Gary was pivotal in one of the most significant developments for OSU athletics.

- Along came the Athletic Village project.

I spent probably about a year and a half working 12, 14 hour days negotiating with people and putting together closings to purchase all the properties.

- And I was a regent at that time and I was very impressed with how he, the diplomacy he used in getting that done.

It worked almost every time, almost.

A couple that didn't work so well.

So when they talked to me about becoming president, I thought Gary would just be a perfect person to be a teammate in this thing, a partner.

- I was told by Kirk Jewel that this, that then designate President, Hargis, wanted to talk to me about coming over to work at the university.

And I thought, you know, I've got the perfect job right now.

Well, when I met with Burns and we've all seen how persuasive he is anyway, but he had an entirely different vision of the job.

- I don't know anybody that loves the university more than Barry Clark, and he's kind of almost everything I'm not.

I mean, he's very detail oriented.

He dots every I and crosses every T. You know, we didn't use the term chief of staff because he wasn't really in charge of the staff, he was really in charge of me.

- [Narrator] Gary retired as general counsel in 2021.

He showed his appreciation to his alma mater and the Alpha Gamma Rho house through his support of the New Frontiers campaign.

Challenging others in the brotherhood to give, Gary helped fund a space named after AGR in the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall.

- We have a wonderful new space in New Frontiers that's not just for AGR students, but for all of our students to get together, to study and to congregate.

It really does show the historical connection between AGR and OSU agriculture, and we have Gary to think for bringing this effort together.

- [Narrator] And Gary knows how attending the Ferguson College of Agriculture can make a profound difference in a young person's life.

- Regardless of what your career may turn out to be, you know, like I say, the base and the foundation is still the, for me, the College of Agriculture, and I know that's true for so many people.

- [Narrator] Celebrating Gary Clark, 2023 Ferguson College of Agriculture Distinguished Alumnus.

- And just another congratulations to Gary, who was recently inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame.

And that about wraps it up for us today.

Now remember, if you saw something on the show you liked, you can always visit our website or visit us on YouTube and social media.

I'm Kurtis Hare, and remember, Oklahoma Agriculture starts at sun-up.

(bright music)