- We have another great show lined up for you today on Sunup.

Egg prices are making headlines and taking a toll on your grocery bill.

Ag policy specialist Amy Hagerman, weighs in.

Plus grass tetany can raise concerns for your herd this time of year.

And Darryl Peele with the latest cattle market news.

Grab your cup of coffee and join us for the next half hour.

Sunup starts right now.

We're starting things off today with Dr. Amy Hagerman, our ag policy specialist, and a lot of talk in the last week or two about how egg prices seem to have skyrocketed.

- Yeah, you know, we can really track this down to those basic supply and demand drivers, right?

So whenever our supply of table eggs available begins to decline, we expect to see those egg prices go up in grocery stores and also the shelves to look a little bit more empty because it's just a limited supply.

And we've had a large number of layer birds that died due to highly pathogenic avian influenza across the country.

This isn't a news story for us.

We have seen this happen over the last three years where there will be large flocks of table egg layers that die due to the disease.

And as a result in the next 2, 3, 4 months, we see these increased prices and shortages in the grocery store.

- Well, let's kind of divide this into to two questions now.

First me, the consumer and then kind of talking about the restaurant side of things.

So when I go to the grocery store, what's the scenario these days?

- I think we all focus on those empty shelves right in the egg section and can we get our preferred style and carton size of eggs that we typically get for something that fits in our budget?

All of those are gonna be tough questions in that section of the grocery store.

But don't forget that eggs are used on many other products in the grocery store, so it's an increasing cost of production for some of our other favorite goods.

Maybe they're baked goods as an example, and those may get a little bit more expensive as well because just like we are feeling the impacts on that egg shelf, we're also gonna feel some of those impacts in other areas of the store as well.

- Let's switch gears now to restaurants and kinda what, what the situation is there for me for them in terms of industry and running their business.

And then for me as a person dining in a restaurant, - You know, eggs are such a great ingredient in so many things and so a lot of the delicious dishes we like to enjoy in restaurants are gonna involve eggs in some way.

Whether that's the rolls on your table or whether it's some sort of breading on a chicken strip, you're gonna have some impact of increasing egg prices.

So what you may see is just some general increases in the line items on that menu, but you may also see some increases or reflecting eggs being a little bit more of a premium ingredient.

So if you want to add, add an extra egg to your plate, that may be a buy-up like you've traditionally seen for something like adding avocado or adding bacon to your plate, you may also see portion sizes start to decrease a little bit for eggs.

So instead of your traditional maybe three egg omelet, you'll get a two egg omelet instead as your basic menu item.

- I know we're talking mostly about eggs here, but we know dairy industry and herds have also been impacted by HPAI.

What are we seeing there in terms of dairy availability?

- Yeah, so because HPAI are in these wild bird populations and that's how it's making its way into our poultry production, it can also cross over into mammal species.

It's a zoonotic disease and so there's a risk there for mammals as well.

And we've seen this in dairy herds.

Several dairy herds across the country have confirmed positive cases of HPAI.

This isn't extremely dangerous to the dairy cows, but it does result in a lot of milk being removed from the system as those cows recover from the disease.

And that results in some slight limitations in milk availability, nothing to the extent of eggs, and we're not seeing the same kinds of price effects in dairy that we see on the egg side of our different balance sheets of proteins, but we can probably anticipate that we will have some ongoing challenges with dairy availability in a more limited way associated with managing this disease in dairy herds.

- What about birds chickens for, for meat consumption?

How's that looking?

- So it's very interesting how the patterns have been changing over time.

Historically, it's been our longer lived birds that have been most susceptible to HPAI.

So we've seen a lot of cases in Turkey flocks as an example, and there's been some volatility on the Turkey side of things.

As a result of that, the largest number of flocks overall has been associated with Turkey production that have been de depopulated due to HPAI.

The largest number of birds has been on the table egg layer side because we have very large operations.

So if one farm gets infected and it's a highly contagious disease that spreads very quickly through the farm, then you see a large number of birds dead because of the virus in a very short period of time.

Now, broilers have largely not been as affected by the HPAI virus.

I think some of this is geographic, they're in a hotter area of the country where the virus doesn't survive as well as it does in cold wet areas of the country.

But we have seen this sort of surge in cases in the broiler side of things right now we're not seeing an effect in meat prices.

So your chicken strips, your chicken breast, those have all, even your, your chicken wings, right, coming into the big game, those have all been pretty unaffected overall by this.

But certainly I think this is something that epidemiologists are watching very closely to see if we may start getting more cases into these shorter lived birds that largely are in warmer areas of the country.

- Well, Amy, excellent analysis today, thank you so much for information and I'm sure we'll see you again on Sunup again very soon.

Thank you.

- As we enter these spring months, we want to think about cattle that are grazing wheat pasture in particular.

The first group we wanna talk about are our lactating cows.

So think about adult cows with calves at side.

Those cows in particular, older cows, fat cows and thin cows as well can be susceptible to low magnesium.

Low magnesium will show signs like staggering convulsions, tremoring.

It's often called grass tetany or you may see the term used grass staggers.

That falls into a very similar category of low magnesium.

What we find on these cows, if left untreated, is that they can go into a situation where they're extremely stressed, we see convulsions and they eventually die.

And so with that, we wanna take preventative measures to try to, to not have this situation occur at all.

When it comes to prevention, we wanna think about appropriate mineral supplementation really for our grazing cattle all year round, but particularly in this, in this situation, that they have access to good mineral, that it's appropriate for the type of individual and that it is palatable so that they will consume it.

We also wanna make sure that they have access to dry hay as well.

And then we want to know how to treat if we find a cow in this condition.

So if we find we have cows with, with grass tetany, the primary treatment is going to be intravenous or intravenous fluids with magnesium supplementation.

And so we wanna visit with our veterinarian and be prepared for that and make sure that we handle these cows with care because even just a little bit of stress can push them over the edge that we don't wanna have them in a situation where they're near death.

Again, it's typically in cows with calves at side and they're gonna be within that first two months of lactation.

These conditions that we're experienced today are kind of classic for, for that kind of presentation.

And those preventative measures can go a long way in not having to deal with this situation.

- Good morning everyone.

This is state climatologist, Gary McManus with your Mesonet weather report.

I'm gonna call an audible this week and not talk about drought just yet.

We will get to it of course, because it is Oklahoma.

After all, I wanna start with the crazy weather we've been having lately.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we had minus 17 degrees in beaver for a morning low, lots of other stations below zero degrees of course, and hovering around that region of that was the lowest temperature ever recorded on January 21st in Oklahoma.

And that dates back to the 1880s, so that minus 17 degrees in beaver.

And then just a couple of weeks later, we had the warmest February 3rd on record where we had several stations get to 89 degrees.

The previous record was 87 degrees in Eric back in 1934.

So two weeks difference, the warmest and coldest on record in the state of Oklahoma.

And then of course the day after we had this warmest day, the warmest February 3rd in the state history.

Now one thing that we definitely have seen more and more in recent years are these consecutive days with less than a quarter inch of rainfall expanding to 50, 60, 70, even getting up to more than a hundred days.

And that's once again what we're seeing this year.

So now we're up to over 78 days without at least a quarter inch of rain in a single day.

Unfortunately, we've tried to hold off adding more colors to that drought monitor map, but when we see strings of dry weather like this, this really can't hold back any longer.

And that's why we see a pretty big expansion of those abnormally dry conditions across the state.

The drought areas pretty much the same moderate to to a little bit of severe drought in south central and North central Oklahoma.

But those abnormally dry conditions definitely expanded.

Again, that's not drought, but it signifies areas going into drought.

So this is something we're going to have to watch as we go into the next few weeks.

As we start getting closer to March without significant rainfall, we will see more of those colors start to add up on this map.

And the crazy thing is it actually rained in the state over the last week or so, down in southeast Oklahoma.

Once again, pretty good rainfall in that region, but for much of the state, less than a quarter inch of rainfall.

And of course when you get in the panhandle you're less than 10th, a 10th of an inch of rainfall and also in far western Oklahoma.

So it did get little bit of moisture on the ground over the past week, just not enough to hold off those colors on the drought monitor map, take another look at those deficits as we go back to December 1st.

The start of climatological winter.

Again, still not too bad, just a an inch to a little bit more than two inches below normal, about three inches below normal over in east central Oklahoma where they expect a little bit more.

You know, we're lucky we're in the cool season when it's dry normally or we'd be in a world of hurt of course.

But again, we, this, this is the reason we're seeing those, the colors start to be added back onto the drought monitor map.

Now another thing we're seeing are those soil temperatures start to inch up like we would normally see this time of year.

The sun's getting higher in the sky, a little bit more solar radiation each day.

So we take a look at this soil temperature graph for Stillwater over the last 15 days or so and we can see all those depths starting to go up, up, up just the, the, the lowest level at the 60 centimeters.

Still holding a little bit steadier, but again, those upper levels are starting to go up as you would expect this time of year.

Now let's take a look forward, what we can expect over the next week or so, hopefully some more rain.

But we do see increased odds of above normal precipitation across much of the state, especially across southeast Oklahoma.

Now we also see increased odds of below normal temperatures.

You can see from this six to 10 day temperature outlook map for next week, we do see that sig sign of a, a big arctic air system moving in from the north.

So you combine that increased odds of above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures.

Does it, is it gonna mean more snow?

Well, that's remains to be seen of course.

I think at this point we'll take just about anything we can get moisture wise, maybe not, maybe not freezing rain, but just about anything else.

So we'll take it.

That's it for this time.

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

- Pecan growers are pest wreaking havoc on your crop.

Learn how to control these pests and more at the upcoming pecan pest management workshop.

It's at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma on February 20th from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM The workshop is free of charge, but registration is required.

By February 17th, pecan growers can learn more about useful tools and technologies, pesticide application safety, the changing future of pesticide labels and much more.

Private pesticide applicators can also earn up to five continuing education units.

Snacks will be provided during breaks, but lunch will be on your own.

To learn more about this event, go to sunup.okstate.edu.

We are here now with Dr. Darryl Peele, our OSU Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist.

So Darryl, going into the new year, the cattle markets are off to a pretty good start, aren't they?

- They're off to an extremely good start.

We, you know, we ended 2024 with strong cattle markets and 2025 has started even stronger.

So we set new record prices across the board for all classes of feeder cattle and fed cattle in the month of January.

So these markets are really taking off fast in, in 2025.

- So what did we learn from this latest cattle on feed report?

- You know, the January cattle on feed report had placements in the month of December down 3%.

That was a surprise.

The, you know, the PREPORT estimates were for it to be actually up about 1%.

Marketings were up 1%, but on a daily average basis, they were actually down because there was one more day in December this year compared to a year ago.

And then additionally in the ca, so the on feed total on January one was down about 1%.

The additionally there was the quarterly breakdown of steers and heifers on feed.

So we've been watching that heifer number carefully.

It was down from, from last quarter and from a year ago going into this report.

- So does this mean that feed lot inventories will continue to fall?

- Well, it might be.

It could be the first step of that.

It's really too early to establish a trend, but both the on feed inventories and this heifers on feed number that we're watching both moved in the right direction.

So we'll have to watch it for another couple of months and see if that trend continues might be the start of that.

- So as we continue into 2025, what do you expect to happen with beef production?

- You know, beef production wasn't down in 2024 like we thought it would be at the beginning of the year.

Didn't turn out that way because of the moves that feedlots made to maintain inventories and and production through the year.

But coming into 2025, we're back to expecting, you know, something in the order of a 4% decrease in beef production this year.

So we, we do expect to see beef supplies overall tighten up through the year.

- Alright, thanks Darryl.

We'll catch back up with you in a couple of weeks.

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

Our topic this week is the investment in herd bulls and what that does to create profit potential for your cow calf operation.

We're at that point in the year when bull buying season or bull sale season is underway, and it's gonna continue in earnest here for the next two or three months around the country.

And we live in a time when there's more performance information or genetic information available on the bulls that we're taking a look at than we've ever seen before.

And this comes in a lot of forms.

We've got the individual performance of those bulls, their birth weights, their adjusted 205's, their yearling weights, potentially their ultrasound data as yearlings.

We've got all the genetic values on those bulls in the form of EPDs.

Most of our breed association have got 20 or more of those that are commonly reported anymore bulls.

And we've moved into the era where we have got dollar values or selection indices available, which basically mean we're taking a certain marketing endpoint and putting an economic weighting on all the traits that would contribute to value at that marketing endpoint.

With all that information that's available, we need to take a look at what traits are the most economically relevant in our particular operation.

And we do that by answering a few questions.

The first one is, when do we intend to market the cabs that a bull's gonna sire for us?

And that has a lot to do with the traits that we're gonna apply the most selection pressure to in bull selection.

We also want to consider, are we gonna use that bull on heifers or cows?

That's gonna dictate how much selection pressure we need to put on calvings.

And then the third thing is whether or not we intend to keep some replacement heifers back outta those heifer calves sire by a particular bull.

That's gonna dictate how much selection pressure we should put on maternal performance.

Investment in genetics pays cattle facts.

Survey data indicates that over the last three years, for every additional $2,500 that producers paid for a bull, they were seeing an $82 a a head return on the sales of those calves at various endpoints of marketing.

If a bull sires is a hundred calves over his lifetime, that's a return of $8,200.

We work as part of an industry where buyers of all types and ages of cattle are increasingly willing to pay more for documented genetics.

So it's not just the investment in a weaning weight EPD if we know we're gonna sell calves at weaning, it's the potential marketing uptick and marketing power we gain if we can document that genetic potential.

So I encourage bull buyers to set your price, have a budget, but take a hard look at your own operation.

Think about the unique things that go on in your operation in terms of marketing endpoints and intended use of those calves.

And spend your bull buying dollar wisely because genetics can and will improve your bottom line when you invest correctly.

Thanks for joining us on Cow-Calf Corner.

- Finally, today we learn what makes Mary and Rob Shoey, distinguished alumni in OSU Ferguson College of Agriculture video production manager Craig Woods brings us our story.

- Mary Alka was raised in Chandler, Oklahoma at the same time Rob Shoey grew up in Springfield, Ohio, but both were drawn to Oklahoma State University.

- Grew up on a small farm and ranch.

So I was involved in 4H,FFA showing cattle.

Had the opportunity as a young person through those organizations to get on campus quite a bit.

When I was in middle school and high school, - I grew up in a, what you would call a diversified farm.

Cattle, a lot of grain, a lot of crops.

I had read about the university.

I had really had visited here before I made a decision to come here, but university as it does now, had a really good reputation.

So it was a pretty easy decision.

Once I decided to get outta the state of Ohio, it was a pretty easy decision to come - Here.

He joined the meat judging team in 1979, which had only one woman at the time.

Mary, - I just didn't think about it from that male female perspective.

I just thought about it, this is an opportunity to learn more and grow my skill.

- I thought, well, if I get to the meets team, that'll be a good background to get into the livestock judging and I help on the livestock.

But it was, it was tremendous, that opportunity to learn more about meat and get to the plants.

- I'll never forget the first time that we went to the IVP plant and to Dakota to city and it was just, I had no idea that you could work that many cattle in one day.

It was, it was phenomenal to get to see that kind of thing.

- And ultimately when you get right down to it, going to those plants led me into the career that I ended up being in.

- During those hours.

Mary and Rob got to know each other and began dating.

Both received animal science degrees in 1981 and got married shortly after graduation.

Mary went into education later going to Mississippi State for her master's degree.

- At the time I graduated it was, you know, early eighties and women in agriculture, we were just getting, you know, merging in there, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

But there weren't a lot of opportunities for myself.

I didn't feel like at the time, but I knew we were blazing a trail and it would get better.

But I feel like I had the opportunity to make a difference in a lot of children or young people's lives.

- She spent her career teaching high school science classes, primarily biology and retired after 30 years of education.

The Iowa B partnership offered Rob a job after graduation.

He had interned with the company during his senior year.

IBP was later purchased by Tyson Foods and he remained with them for more than 40 years.

- I got the opportunity to have a lot of different jobs within the company, whether it be pricing or margin, managing, strategic planning, that kind of stuff.

Spent the last 13 years in international, whether that be the red meat side or the hide side.

And then the last five years as the senior vice president of international, where I had responsibility for all the international fresh meat sales.

So it was great.

We, we got to travel a lot, sold a lot of meat internationally, really understood the importance to the industry, the US industry, just how important exports are - Wherever they went.

The Shoeys brought OSU with them, quite literally.

- We have a, a life side pistol, Pete, and, and he looks life, he looks re anytime I had the opportunity to bring him to the office.

'cause we have our own kind of gigging up there with different schools pistol.

Pete would come in.

We've had a, you know, the governor, South Dakota governor.

No, she's had her picture taken too, so she might not think she's a cowboy.

She, she's her, her, her pictures taken with pistol.

Pete, - Rob and Mary are always, when we're in South Dakota at our international contest there at the Tyson headquarters, they always show up for the night before event.

They, he has a cardboard cutout, life-size pistol.

Pete always brings it, really gets the students motivated, loves interacting with our judging team while we're there.

- Rob and Mary have supported the Department of Animal and Food Sciences throughout their careers.

The Rob and Mary Caucus, chewy Animal and Food Sciences Endowed Graduate Student Fellowship Fund provides financial assistance to the meat and livestock judging teams.

- Rob and Mary Chuy are just wonderful people.

They are so engaged in Oklahoma State University and especially the students.

I was - Fairly financially strapped during college and having to pay for your meals and pay for your hotel room and things like that.

I mean, the university provided travel for us, but I knew how much that extra cash would help because it was enough just to make your rent payment and the other, you know, buy your books, pay your tuition.

So for me to give back to somebody so they don't have to have that, they get to experience being on the judging team without saying financially it's prohibitive.

- The couple received the 2022 Dr. Robert Hick Brand of Excellence Award from the OSU Animal Sciences Alumni Association.

They're also major gift donors to the New Frontiers campaign.

- Rob and Mary Shoey were certainly one of the people that stepped up and helped make the new building come to reality.

They did that with one of the huddle rooms that's on the second floor already in the building.

I've seen that room used almost every morning when I come into the office.

And it's so great to be able to open the door, look out and see the building alive with students.

- The couple has seen firsthand the importance of judging teams and agriculture.

- There isn't a university that has the uniqueness that this university has with the live animal units.

- I mean that you go online, you look for where you wanna go to school, and this is one of the things that interests you.

And then this university's just a rock star here.

- Anytime I have the opportunity to, to interview kids coming outta school, I looked at their background.

One, did they, if they had a AG background, tremendous how they grew up, farm, ranch, whatever.

The livestock teams and those, those kids most of the time have some kind of competitive advantage too, because they could communicate, they can look you in the eye and they're straightforward.

They're good - Kids celebrating.

Mary and Rob Shuey, 2024 Ferguson College of Agriculture, distinguished alumni.

- That'll do it for our show this week.

A reminder, you can see sunup anytime on our website and also stream us anytime at youtube.com/sunup tv.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Have a great week everyone.

And remember, Oklahoma Agriculture starts Sunup.