(calm music) (upbeat music) - Hello, everyone, and welcome to SUNUP.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

It is definitely wildfire season in Oklahoma, and unfortunately, conditions won't be improving anytime soon.

That's where we begin today with OSU Extension Fire Ecologist John Weir.

- Wildfire season's pretty much every year in Oklahoma, from November 'til the end of March.

But this year is exceptional.

You know, we've entered that really dry period.

And we're also, you know, the drought monitor keeps going down and down.

And so we're getting drier and drier, so making conditions more favorable for wildfire, more easier for ignitions to occur from whatever source it might be.

And then the biggest thing going on is the wind.

You know, we've had a lot of high wind event days and those are big trigger days for big wildfires.

Wind is the number one driver of wildfires here in Oklahoma, is those big wind event days.

So the first thing you need to think about is, I would think about is my home.

You know, think about what's around my home and what do I need to do to protect it.

So around your home, keep everything mowed really short, keep it cleaned up.

You know, if you have trees that lose their leaves and they pile up from the wind in the corner of the porch, get them all out.

Any kind of flammable materials around the house, you know, make sure that you clean those back, pull them out and get rid of them.

You know, don't stack your firewood on the porch.

You know, stack it away from the house.

I know it's convenient to have it on the back porch so all you gotta do is walk out on that cold day and grab the wood and run back in the house.

But again, that's a flammable source sitting on the porch of your house that could initiate fire into your home.

Also, if you have flammable trees around there, make sure they're pruned up so the fire could go under them, not get climb up into them.

And then the next thing you need to start thinking about is your outbuildings, your barns, sheds, things like that.

You know, again, same principle, mow around them really short, keep them down early close during the seasons.

Keep your doors shut, windows shut on your shops and barns, keep them closed so again, so if a fire does occur, embers don't blow in there and catch things on fire inside.

You've got the doors already shut and stuff.

And then next thing you do is think about your equipment.

You know, you want to, when you're done using your equipment, utilizing it, clean it, you know, get all the excess oil, petroleum products off of the, you know, if you had a hydraulic leak or whatever stuff that may be flammable.

Also again, any kind of residue and stuff that may accumulate on your equipment or implements, you know, wash it off, clean it off so you don't have stuff that could catch it on fire.

And then you want to store it in areas where either on gravel or bare ground or on areas that are mowed really short or grazed really short so that if a fire does come, you don't have really hot, intense fires going around that equipment and keeping it protected.

So number one, make sure everybody stays safe.

Do not put anybody in harm's way.

None of that equipment or livestock is worth it, you know?

So again, never get in front of an oncoming fire to try to protect that or do that.

It's not gonna be worth it.

- Obviously the safety is a key takeaway and being prepared in advance.

You cannot do this the day of the fire warning.

- Right, whenever you see that fire or you see that smoke rolling up, that's not the time to be thinking about all this.

You need to think about it and prepare that stuff well in advance so you're not putting yourself in harm's way.

Also you're not trying to get in the way of emergency folks trying to do their job as well.

You know, that's where you get a lot of, you know, a lot of problems sometimes arise because people want to try to get back to do things and protect stuff that you should have done long before that time period.

So definitely think about this stuff now, before that fire ever occurs and, you know, get it prepped and get it ready to go.

(upbeat music) - Let's talk about the first thing that you recommend people do as they're getting prepared for the worst.

- So the first thing, and this is a great time of year to do it, is check your insurance.

Make sure you understand what's covered in your insurance, externally and internally for your home, for your barns, your equipment, for your land.

Also make sure you understand what those maximums are that you'll be paid on certain things.

Now is a great time to review, especially for your possessions, for your equipment, for the various kinds of tools that are in your shop.

The other thing I suggest is take pictures or video of your possessions because you need that record, that inventory as you're submitting your claim for your insurance.

But then also as you're thinking about replacing things, you don't want to wonder, well, what all did I have that I need to replace if you should lose a barn or a shop or something like that.

So that's the very first thing, and this is a great time of year to do it.

Just review your insurance, have a good conversation with your insurance agent and talk to them about if you don't feel like you have enough coverage or the right coverage, what your options are going forward.

- What other kinds of records do we need to have?

- On hand, and how do you store that?

I mean, I know there are cloud possibilities.

- You're right.

Having it someplace that is not in the primary part of your house is really important.

And I think it's important to remember that if you have to evacuate, you need to move quickly.

You don't have time to gather up a bunch of things.

So having your records, your insurance contact information, any other kind of contact information for family members handy, have your phone charger, and have kind of that go bag ready that you can walk out the door.

And you're gonna have a little bit of notice if you have to evacuate to gather up a few things.

But, the most important thing is to put safety first, and that means getting things together and getting out of the house pretty quickly.

So a great way to do that is to have a checklist ahead of time.

Know what's going to go in that bag.

Know what kind of paperwork needs to be in there, what kinds of records you need to have in there?

And then also having a backup of that somewhere on a cloud, save it as a backup in your email, something you can access from a separate location.

And kind of speaking of that separate location, making sure your family knows where you're gonna be, if you have to evacuate, identify where you're gonna go, if you can, ahead of time, and make sure, because contact is really hard sometimes when these events happen.

Make sure that everybody knows where to meet and where to be.

Another kind of record that maybe you don't think about real often is think about your elderly family members.

Do you know what the evacuation plans are for any kind of assisted living that they might be in also thinking about young children?

Do you know what evacuation plans are for your school and where everyone is going to be, because you want to be able to meet up together, and you don't wanna have to think too much about who you need to call after it's all done.

- We're talking about wildfires today, but this applies to really any disaster that we could face.

This is just really the best way to manage your home, your family, your livelihood and your investments.

Let's talk about if the worst does happen, kinda picking up the pieces after the fact, just kinda touch on that.

That can be obviously a highly emotional time, but you really do need to think about those next steps for your home and your property too.

- Absolutely.

And that's really where that checklist comes in very handy, when you're very stressed, when you're very emotional, when you're trying to figure out what has been damaged, what is salvageable, you may not even be able to get back on your property yet, having that checklist, where you have those contact information for your insurance company, you need to notify your insurance company about a loss.

Also thinking about any kind of federal programs that can be applied for, either state or federal, actually, but specifically thinking about federal programs, they always require a notice of loss.

And sometimes that has to happen within a relatively quick timeframe after you have identified that the loss has occurred.

So if we're thinking about pasture, we're thinking about fence line damage, we're thinking about livestock losses.

Those are things that a notice of loss needs to go in pretty quickly.

The other thing is, again, documentation.

You need to document these losses.

Again, after it is safe to return, obviously before any of that documentation occurs, but you'll need pictures and video of the losses that have occurred.

Obviously this can be very hard whenever it's livestock, but that documentation does need to occur so that you can then file your full application for some of the federal programs like the Livestock Indemnity Program or some of the emergency assistance for pasture and fence line damage.

- Well, very important information that we talked about today.

Lots of resources available through FEMA and of course, OSU Extension.

So we appreciate you talking about this important topic today, Amy.

- Thank you.

- And for a link to those resources, just go to sunup.okstate.edu.

(uplifting music) - I'm Wes Lee, and welcome to this new year edition of the Mesonet Weather Report.

After such a warm end to last year, it's easy to forget that we should be in the coldest time of the year.

How warm have we been?

How about the hottest December ever recorded for Oklahoma?

The December average monthly temperatures came in somewhere in the 40s in the Northwest and the 50s in the Southeast.

Compared to the Mesonet average, those numbers were nine to 12 degrees above normal.

This shattered the past record warm December month by a whopping five degrees.

To put that number into perspective, remember how cold the past February was?

It only came in at about 10 degrees below normal.

When you factor in the cold February and the warm December, it sort of cancels each other out when you look at the year as a whole.

The calendar year departure from average shows a very small zero to one degree change from normal.

For those heat lovers out there, don't worry.

The warm weather will return this weekend.

Next week's forecast from the National Weather Service shows the La Nina pattern will continue.

- And likely give us more warmer than normal temperatures.

In fact, they will likely continue to be mostly warmer than normal for the next couple of months.

Now here's Gary with more details on the rainfall and drought situation.

- Thanks Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, as Wes talked to you about the warmth in December, unfortunately, that also came with one of the driest periods on record in the western half of the state.

And so, drought continues to explode across the state of Oklahoma, both in intensity and coverage.

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

Okay, well, it's not very pretty.

We do have basically the western half of the state covered in severe to extreme drought, that's the darker brown, and also the red.

Across Eastern Oklahoma, we do have some areas that are just moderate drought, that's a better way to put it, and also abnormally dry, and just a little tiny bit of far East Central Oklahoma with no drought at all.

So, the amount of extreme and severe drought has exploded over the state over the last three to four weeks, going through that warm December, and also dry December.

And this is a long time coming.

We do see the consecutive days with less than 1/4" of rainfall map from the Mezzanotte.

Basically, two months over much of Western Oklahoma, and then as we get out into the Western Panhandle, three to four months, plus, without at least 1/4" of rain on any single day.

And that certainly adds up to problems.

Let's go back to just before that streak began.

It was due with the water year, that starts in October 1st, 2021, runs through January 4th.

It actually runs through the next September 30th.

So, we do see, since that October 1st timeframe, less than three inches over much of the western part of the state.

Less than an inch out in that Western Panhandle.

The good rains occurred over in East Central, and down into Southeastern Oklahoma.

A little bit up in the Northeast Oklahoma.

But as you go west from there, it quickly drops down to less than a half a foot of rainfall over that timeframe.

Look at that as a percent of normal, so what would you expect over that time period?

According to normal, well again, over much of that western part of the state, it's less than half of normal through that timeframe and, of course, as you get into some of those extreme areas, you get down to less than 25% of normal over that timeframe.

Again, the only good spots in the state would be over there in far East Central Oklahoma, and scattered about across parts of Eastern Oklahoma.

The rest of the state, just out of luck since that October 1st beginning of the water year.

Well, the warmth of December certainly didn't help matters, and we've calmed down a little bit, but the damage was done, and now we just need a good rain.

Temperature doesn't matter as much now.

We just need lots of good moisture.

That's it for this time.

We'll see you time on the Mezzanotte Weather Report.

(gentle guitar music) - We're joined now by Dr. Kim Anderson, our Crop Marketing Specialists.

Kim, why don't you just give us an overview of what's been happening over the holiday break, and get us up to speed.

- Well, before Thanksgiving, we said that we'd probably see price volatility over the holiday season.

We definitely saw that with wheat.

Right at Thanksgiving, $8.45, It fell off that the next week or so down to $7.50.

Went back up to $8.30, and then came back down to $7.60, back up to $7.75, and then it's been fallen off this weekend, 95 cent move there in wheat.

On corn, you started out at $5.65.

Fell off a dime the next week, and then it worked its way slowly up to $6, fell back to $5.75, back up to $5.90, and late this week it's been fallen off.

You look at soybeans, started out at $12.10, it fell off to $11.60.

Then soybeans started an up trend.

And right at Christmas we were at $13, up to $13.20 early this week.

Wallowing a little bit, but $1.60 range with beans.

So I think with wheat, we definitely have volatility.

With corn, some uptrend there, but in a little bit of volatility.

But I think soybeans, we've got to say we established an uptrend there.

- Let's talk about why wheat has been so volatile lately.

- Well, I think you've got to go to tight stocks.

You look at the world situation.

Stocks have been lowered for the last two years, and the United States are hard red winter wheat stocks, and all wheat stocks are definitely tight.

And so, when you have tight stocks, you have a weather market.

You look at Oklahoma.

44% of our crop is in poor to very poor conditions because of the drought.

You have weather with tight stocks.

It's not only in Oklahoma, but it's in Ukraine.

They reported that their production will probably be lower because of dry conditions.

And then you've got Russia playing political games.

They've got that export tax, $2.58 a bushel.

They announced this week that they'll probably establish a export quota, February the 15th to go through June.

But Russia.

- Production was lower this year, but there are any stocks projected to be right at average and their export slightly above average.

So there's some games going on there and things going on around the United States and the world that's creates this volatility in wheat mostly because of tight stock.

- Do you expect this wheat price volatility to continue?

- I think it will.

And again, because of the tight stocks and the things that's going on around in the world, if we lose a crop somewhere, and we've got $8 plus wheat, or we've had that, we could get $9 or $10 wheat if we lose some crop.

But on the other hand, an economist term there, if we get big production, above average production, we could get wheat prices back down in the $7, six 50 to seven range.

- Do you see any scenario that can make prices decline even further than that?

- I think, but definitely in wheat, I think we've possibly seen a top in wheat.

The market analysts are saying remain berries for wheat prices.

I think soybean prices are bullish and positive.

Corn, probably sideways.

So yeah, definitely lower wheat prices, possibly lower corn prices, bean prices will probably stay relatively high.

- All righty, Kim.

Thanks a lot for great information, and we'll see you next week.

(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Cow-Calf Corner.

This week, we're gonna talk a little bit about the importance of the stuff we need to have on hand as we go into calving season.

As we take a look at winter and spring calving season, one of the things we get into is we're more likely to be calving in inclement weather and have some environmental stress on those cows.

And so well before we start calving, we wanna make sure that we got all the equipment on hand and everything's in good working order, whether it's our calf puller, whether it's just knowing where our OB chains are, knowing that our squeeze chute is working.

But one of the important things that we sometimes don't think of is the importance of having multiple packets of colostrum on hand as we go into calving season.

Now, as we think about what colostrum is, we often refer to it as first milk is actually not milk as it is this thing that comes out of the cow that is full of something called immunoglobulins.

I always have my Cow-Calf class practice saying that term.

We abbreviate it as IG, but immunoglobulins are the key ingredient in that first milk from a cow that gives the newborn calf passive immunity.

And we think about this process and the way it works, typically a newborn calf should be up, walking and have nursed within an hour of being born.

And in that time, actually ingested that colostrum, we've got, if we think about the digestive system of a baby calf, we've got something in here called an esophageal groove.

It permits that milk or colostrum to go straight to the small intestine.

Initially when that baby calf is born, the small intestine gut wall is very porous.

It permits that colostrum to get right into the bloodstream, and there's immunoglobulins to do their thing to give that calf passive immunity.

So, when we say we need to have colostrum on hand, if we're ever in question about whether or not a calf has gotten up and nursed, it is a good idea to get a dose of colostrum in 'em.

What is an effective dose, typically on about an 80 pound calf, about two corks or half a gallon of colostrum is what we would need.

We're typically thinking about five to 6% of that newborn calf's body weight would be an effective dose.

If we are looking at where we can get colostrum, we can actually collect colostrum from fresh cows, potentially get some from a dairy.

There are commercially available colostrum or placers that are effective.

And we know we need to get the right strength, something over 100 milligram concentration as not under that, we would think of as a colostrum supplement, over a hundred milligram concentration is gonna be a colostrum replacer.

Now, if we've actually got fresh colostrum putting that in Ziploc freezer bags and storing it flat makes it easier to thaw.

When we think about that thawing process, it is better to put it in about 122 degree Fahrenheit water bath and let it warm to the appropriate temperature for about an hour than any other means of warming it up.

If we get too aggressive in trying to thall that frozen colostrum with like a microwave oven, we're potentially gonna kill off the immunoglobulins themselves.

If we heat it more intensely, again, we potentially do damage to the very thing that's in it that gives us that passive immunity.

And typically the most effective way to get it in a newborn calf is gonna be to let them nurse it, or just use a drench tube to get that straight to where it needs to be.

So, and typically we say the sooner we can get that done after they're born the better, 'cause that gut wall does begin to close off and be not as porous, but if we're gonna do it, if we're in question, a first dose, as soon as we can, maybe a second dose even 12 hours later is a good management tip.

(upbeat music) - So, ever since the spring, we have seen fertilizer prices starting to shoot up, in all sectors of the industry, as far as phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium.

All three have been caused by different issues.

We've had supply chain issues.

We've had supply issues.

We've had international market issues.

And one thing to note is this is not a Oklahoma problem, it's not a US problem, it's actually a worldwide problem, when it comes to fertilizer prices and all time high prices.

Now, many would remember the 2008 spike, and that's actually when I started my job, is to see all time historic high prices for fertilizer in 2008.

And unfortunately, the bad news is, is we're surpassing those prices.

We're in $1 a pound of N. We're in 60, 70 cents a pound of phosphorus and the same for potassium, which is easily two X where it was a year ago this time.

Right now, some of the biggest challenges that would drive it even further is if we have another hit of COVID, where we shut down manufacturing, supply chain, and natural gas, maybe, if production starts slumping.

As long as we have natural gas production, we're going to see that.

Corn prices being where they are and wheat prices.

The fertilizer plants are going to be producing as much as they can.

But the world demand from China, from Russia, everybody is hungry for nitrogen right now.

So likely we're gonna see this price hold for a little bit.

I wouldn't expect it to go up too much further, but there's always that possibility that one more straw hits that that camel's back and it just breaks it again.

- At least from our standpoint, we're trying to implement different strategies.

On whether it be N-rich strips from a nitrogen standpoint, trying to convince farmers to be more proactive than retroactive, from a standpoint of not put anything out, fertilize that crop for what you want an APH yield to be or what your APH is.

- Going into this spring, we've got to start making some management decisions as far as fertilizer input on both the wheat and our summer crops, as we're planning for that.

The past dry spell has actually not been a bad thing, necessarily.

At least for our grain only wheat.

It stayed small.

We haven't had a lot of growth.

And the drying will have brought up some deep nitrate into more surface areas.

So as we get rain, we have had really good root exploration.

We should have a little bit more residual, if we've had some deep nitrate to come up.

Which means an important factor.

If your wheat or summer crop soil testing is critical this year, there is such a high value on taking even a good composite sample.

So for a wheat crop, really telling folks to consider going out there right now and taking a sample, if you haven't taken one.

Run it for nitrogen, just to see what you have in the tank.

We know there's a lot of things that have happened, but it gives you a good idea.

If you're a summer crop producer, especially corn, cotton, and sorghum, really, really considered taking some deep soil samples.

That might be six to 12 inches, it might be six to 18 inches, but we should really look at utilizing that deep nitrate this year, at least accounting for it when we go into our nitrogen budget.

That value that you might spend 10 to $15 on a composite sample could easily save you 15 to $20 per acre on fertilizer costs.

When we go to P and K fertility on all of our summer crops, including soybean, take your soil samples.

Those soil tests, we have shown over and over again, to be highly valuable for P and K recommendations.

If you're using the consultant, asked for sufficiency only recommendations.

Sufficiency just gives you what the crop needs to make maximum yield.

The buildup is just applying extra for the soil to maintain.

This year is not a maintenance year.

This year's is a sufficiency year.

Those soil test recommendations, whether it's Oklahoma, Texas, or Kansas, work.

Utilize them.

For winter wheat producers, one more thing.

You've heard me say at least 100 million times on SUNUP, is N-rich strips.

Folks, I know it's January, but it's not too late.

We have not had a lot of growth.

We've not had rain to incorporate it to point.

There is no problem putting out your N-rich strips all the way up to, or even past green up.

So you've got 30 days to get out there and get your N-rich strips on.

Contact your county educator.

See what they're doing.

See if they can help you out.

And, as you heard from Kody, there's a lot of co-ops that are utilizing technologies and techniques like the N-rich strip.

So see what they could do to help you out.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Input costs will definitely be on the agenda at the upcoming Red River Crops Conference.

There's still time to register for the two day event, coming up on January 19th and 20th in Altus.

A number of topics related to cotton production will be covered the first day, followed by great discussion on in season crops on day two.

Registration is $25.

Contact your local OSU Extension office to sign, up or go to the link on our website.

Also on our website, information about OSU Extension's new Master Irrigator Program.

For four days in January and February, producers will receive advanced training on water management, equipment maintenance, conservation, and economics, just to name a few topics.

Once again, you can find information at sunup.okstate.edu.

(upbeat music) - That'll do it for us this week.

Remember, you can see us any time on our website, 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.

(gentle guitar strumming)