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

I'm Lyndall Stout.

We begin today with reports of multiple cases of pink eye in cattle herds around the state.

For some guidance on clearing it up, here's OSU Extension Veterinarian, Dr. Barry Whitworth.

- Recently I've been receiving some phone calls from cattle producers describing some eye issues that they're having with their herds.

Their description of the problem sounds a lot like pink eye.

Now sometimes we use pink eye for any type of eye problem when it comes to cattle, but true pink eye when I think of it as really an infectious disease in the cattle, and it's going to always involve the cornea and the conjunctive of the eyes.

We're gonna get inflammation of those.

That's why we call it infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis.

Now, pinkeye normally can occur any time of the year, but the summer is probably the time that we see it most often.

There's reasons for that.

Typically, we get more daylight.

UV light is detrimental to the cells and the cornea and you also have, in typical years, you get a lot of dust and pollen blowing around.

Now this year, we may not have as much dust as we've had an abundant amount of moisture throughout the state, but the problems as you get with all that moisture is you get all the weeds and the grass growing real well.

The next thing you know, you got pretty tall grass with and weeds with seed heads on.

So when the cattle reach down into that grass to eat, they scratch their eyes with that and it irritates it.

Other big problem we're gonna have in the summer is we get flies.

We know that face flies have been found to harbor the organisms that cause pink eye.

So those are reasons we probably see it more in the summer.

The clinical signs that we usually see with pink eyes typically it occurs in a young animal.

You'll usually see a lot of tear formation, a lot of wet spots around the eye.

Usually we'll have the eyelid partially closed.

It'll squint because the sun hurts the eye.

There's a lot of pain with it.

You may see a fever.

You'll notice that the cornea starts to turn a gray or bluish color, or white.

If left untreated, a lot of times the entire eye will turn that color.

You'll also see that conjunctiva is really red and irritated.

When it comes to treating this disease, in an ideal situation, we would actually like to culture that eye into a sensitivity and find the antibiotic that works best because several antibiotics have been used.

Other things that are important in treatment, you may want to control the pain so we may want pain relief.

I think the most important thing to remember is treat these animals as quickly as you can because the earlier the treatment has started, the more likely we are to have a successful outcome.

If you'd like more information about pink eye, just go to the SUNUP website.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Hi, Wes Lee here with your weekly Mesonet weather report.

Summers in Oklahoma can be unpleasant due to the oppressive heat.

Two weeks ago, we set a new Mesonet record for heat index of 126.2 at Paul's Valley.

This past week, heat index numbers were a little bit better but actual temperatures reached triple digits in much of the state.

On Tuesday, highs were over 100 in most sites west of I-35 with Grandfield topping out at 109.

The third week of July is statistically the hottest week of the year for maximum air temperatures.

It is also when average soil temperatures usually reach their peak highs at somewhere around 96 at four inches under bare soil.

It's hard to believe that now is the time to begin planting in the backyard garden for a fall crop.

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome can be dealing with these high soil temperatures.

Garden seeds have an optimal soil temperature but also a maximum temperature for which they will germinate.

For many, this maximum is around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Some method to lower soil temperatures is often needed for germination.

This could include frequent wetting, applying mulch, Gary is up next with some recent changes in the state's drought situation.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, it's a great to be back after a couple of weeks absence because I have great news on the latest drought monitor map, at least for most of us.

So let's get right to that new map.

Well, as you can see, we have two strongholds of drought left in the state.

So much of the state has been.

- Relieved in this drought on the US drought monitor far southwest Oklahoma and up into North Central and Northeast Oklahoma.

The last two remaining areas, but even those areas have gotten some decent rains.

Not quite as much as the rest of the state, but again much of the state now drought free here in mid-July.

So certainly good news because we often have drought increasing during the the hotter summer months, certainly not the case this year.

Take a look at these rainfalls from the Mesonet from March 1st through the middle of this week.

We have great rainfall totals across much of the state, still though down in far Southwest Oklahoma, a little bit up in North Central Oklahoma, a little bit lower on those totals.

So we could certainly use more rain in those areas, but for much of us, lots of good rains in the double digits, even above two feet of rain in some areas close to 30 inches in other areas.

So when we look at that rainfall though, since March 1st, as a departure from normal over that same timeframe from the Oklahoma Mesonet, we see again those areas in Southwestern Oklahoma and up in North Central Oklahoma, over the Northeast Oklahoma, still the bigger deficits in those areas, also a little bit in east central Oklahoma.

But again, we have had decent rainfall even in those areas, just need a little bit more to let those areas join the other parts of the state that have seen good drought relief.

Then we take a look at the outlooks for the end of the month into the early part of August.

Unfortunately, we do see summer roaring back, greatly increased odds of above normal temperatures and also below normal precipitation across the entire state.

So a little bit more of that heat dome as opposed to what we've had previously this summer with lots of rainfall and cooler temperatures.

So I'm afraid we might see the drought where it exists now start to multiply just a little bit, but it's not too far now that we're into the latter parts of July into early August before we hit our secondary rainy season in the fall.

So hopefully we can keep the momentum going and get this drought outta here by the time we get to winter.

That's it for this time, we'll see you next time on the Mesonet Weather Report.

(snappy harmonica music) - It's time to check in on the crop markets with our crop marketing specialist, Dr. Kim Anderson.

So Kim, what is going on in the crop markets right now?

Well, what the market's been talking about all week is the non-extension of the exports out of Ukraine.

I think that's an important story.

I think the market's already got that factored in there.

Underlying that is Russia's been putting a lot of rockets and bombs into Odessa and I think Russia is determined to stop wheat exports and exports outta Ukraine for a while.

Another factor under there is Russia's got a tremendous amount of wheat it needs to sell and exports.

I mean, they're looking at a 3.1, 3.2 billion bushel crop.

Their average is around 2.9.

They're looking at increased carryover.

Their projected exports are 1.7 plus billion bushels.

Their average is around 1.2 or 1.3.

They need to move a lot of product and Ukraine competes with Russia for that wheat market and I think they wanna put a halt to that.

I think you gotta look at what's going in the war.

Slowly, Ukraine is gaining territory that they've lost.

They're being slow and deliberate and it's gonna last a while.

- So what commodities does Ukraine export?

- Well, everybody concentrates on the wheat exports and wheat exports are important.

They're were the third largest exporter or the fourth largest exporter of wheat.

They're now the fifth.

They were at around nine or 10%.

They're down of five now, maybe below that, but they're big export is corn.

They were the third largest exporter of corn at 15% of world corn exports.

They're projected to be the fourth largest at 10.

So corn's import, they also export sunflower mill and sunflower oil and they do export some barley.

- So let's shift on now to what the prices are looking like.

So what is going on with wheat?

- Well, of course you've got higher wheat prices.

We've seen a 45-50, maybe even up to a 60 cent price increase.

I think it's from what's going on in Ukraine there.

Wheat prices are in Oklahoma up over $8.

Again, if you're looking at forward contracted the the 24 crop, you're looking around 750 to 760.

- So what's going on with corn and beans?

- Corn, now, that was, I think, the surprise to some people ' cause they they neglected to look at the corn exports outta Ukraine.

We've seen a 65 cents increase in corn prices going from up to around $5.25 cents, maybe 5.30.

You know, they were down as low as $4.60 cents at one time.

So you've got higher prices there.

And again, it goes back to that what's going on in Ukraine.

You know, you got about $5.25 for your corn price right now.

Now, look at it, soybeans, the war shouldn't have any impact on that.

And the underlying factor, as you look back at the last five or 10 years, we've had a dramatic increase in diets in protein, in the diets around the world.

It's increased the demand for pork and beef to a certain degree that takes protein feeds.

Protein has been in limited supply as we've seen in our soybean markets.

And we've had a, you know, a $1.25 increase in soybean prices over the last couple weeks, up to about 13.25.

- All righty, thanks Kim.

Dr. Kim Anderson, grain marketing specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

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

As you can see here today, we're taping at the Totusek Arena.

We're actually at the Blueprint For the Future Beef Cattle Conference that we've been talking about here on Sunup for the last few weeks.

And it is a good deal for us that we are joined by Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association.

We're wrapping up the first morning of the events here.

Mark gave a very impactful talk this morning of why we are having this conference.

And Mark, let's discuss a little bit why are we here?

- Well, it's really an important conference to have.

I think we as cattlemen and stakeholders in this bigger beef industry it's important we come together and collaborate and share ideas and talk about what's on the horizon and learn from one another so that collaboration, but I quoted Dr. Bob Totusek, I thought it was so fitting.

Here we are on the anniversary, 35 years to the day that the last one of these was held right here in this arena and Dr. Totusek stood up and said that why we are here is to sort the truth from the trends.

And man, that just resonated with me when I went back and read those proceedings from those those earlier type conferences that were held.

And I think that's why we're here.

We're here to sort the truth from the trends.

There's an awful lot information out there but I think when you pull a lot of smart people together with different experiences and different perspectives we can solve about any problem this industry can throw at us.

- And it's interesting, we both talked about Dr. Harlan Richie and his involvement in those prior conferences and Harlan talked about the future isn't set, not to sound like a - Yes.

science fiction movie but there are different alternatives based what ideas come out of a conference like this.

Tell 'em what are all the variety of topics we get into in the next couple days, Mark?

- Well, we're gonna cover, I tell you the agenda's as diverse as any that I've seen in our industry in which speaks to how and complicated the business is today.

I mean, we've gotta think about soil health and the things we learned about this morning from the folks at Noble about how to regenerative agriculture and taking care of our soils and our grasses and all of that.

We're gonna hear about what consumer trends around what the consumer is wanting of our product today.

And maybe more importantly as we think about the genetic side of things, what's our consumer gonna want five and 10 years down the road?

Things around, obviously product quality and consistency and palatability as we would talk about it.

But we also know we have some new consumers of or existing consumers of our product that also ask questions about how we're taking care of the land, how we're taking care of the animals, and how are we gonna connect all that great work that our farmers and ranchers are doing to that consuming public and and get that conveyed in the most positive light.

We're gonna talk about eugenics and a lot of discussion around selection.

I used the analogy this morning of the movie Moneyball of the movie where they started to use more data and analytics and professional baseball and how that kind of changed how the professional scouts had to find their roster and build their teams.

I think it's a lot that way in beef cattle selection.

We have genomics, we have all these technologies to use today and yet there's still an art that comes with beef cattle selection.

We're gonna talk about how we blend that art and that science, and those are gonna be really fantastic panels with some really thoughtful, bright guys.

And there's an awful lot.

It's, we're gonna hear about how we're doing kind of from a beef quality standpoint to talking to producers of what they're challenged with on the ranch of staying profitable and hitting those consumer targets.

So it's gonna be a great couple days.

- It is, and as Dr. Totusek always said, "The future's decided by those who show up to discuss it."

- Absolutely.

- Really appreciate you being here and we appreciate you all joining us on Cow-Calf Corner this week.

I'm Mark Johnson.

We'll see you soon and in weeks to come we'll be addressing more of the information that came out of our Blueprint For the Future Conference.

- After nine years of leading agricultural programs at OSU, Dr. Tom Coon is loading up his tackle box, grabbing his fishing pole, and retiring.

So we recently sat down with him to reflect on his time in Oklahoma.

In honor of your retirement, we wanted to play your first ever video on Sunup and get your reaction watching it from nine years ago.

- Okay.

- So here it goes.

- Yeah.

(soft music) - I love that music.

Oklahoma State has a wonderful reputation, certainly in Oklahoma, but I think people don't realize how solid that reputation is across the country.

- So what goes through your mind when you watch that?

- I've aged.

- (laughing) Nine years takes a toll.

- Me too.

- Yeah.

- But, you know, it's fun to see that, fun to reflect back and really remember what it felt like to be embraced, you know, to be welcomed here.

And that first year, my wife and I both just constantly commented on how much people treated us with respect.

They welcomed us.

This is a very hospitable place, a very hospitable culture, and we got a full dose of that.

- Oklahoma is very welcoming, for sure, and friendly, which had to make your job easier once you really hit the ground running with all the things that you had to do in the position.

- You know, it was, sort of, the proverbial fire hose, you know, in some respects trying to learn as much as I could, meet as many people, go to as many places and experience things.

And, you know, part of my motivation for my career is I consider myself a professional student.

And this is my gig that allows me to go out and learn about things that I haven't been familiar with before.

You know, I learned about agriculture in Iowa, growing up in Iowa, but I've learned a lot about wheat.

I've learned a lot about beef cattle, I've learned a lot about sesame.

- When you reflect back, what are some of the high points that really stand out for you over the nine years?

- It's definitely the people, and hearing people's stories and then being trusted to tell their stories.

You know, some of it is, it goes back in history to the history of this university and our college.

I've talked before about Minnie Lou Ottinger, now Minnie Lou Bradley, the first woman to graduate in animal husbandry from Oklahoma A&M back in early 50s.

The first woman to be the top individual at the International Livestock Expo collegiate judging contest back in 1951.

The Ferguson family, you know, what a legacy that they've created.

And to me, the most powerful thing about them was when I heard Larry Ferguson say out there at the Ferguson Family Dairy Center explaining why they made the investment in improving that facility.

And he said, "We feel called.

Our family feels called to feed the world."

And I thought, "Wow, that's it.

That's why we're here."

- It really centers all of us, right?

- [Thomas] It does.

- The hundreds of faculty and staff, the thousands of students who come through here, will come through here, alumni.

It really brings us all together, doesn't it?

- [Thomas] It does.

- That simple phrase.

- It does, it does.

It reflects a sense of stewardship.

A calling, a mission, a responsibility to serve each other and to serve, you know, the natural world that supports us.

- And, of course, we have producers, our viewers, industry folks who also adopt that mantra day in and day out, and their dedication to the industry.

- You know, they really do.

And, of course, growing up in Iowa, I saw that.

I worked on farms and I saw what a struggle it is.

You know, we've had two major droughts in the time I was here.

Now, fortunately, one broke just as I arrived or the year after I arrived.

The other one hopefully has finished now.

And then we've had floods.

We've had fires, we've had markets collapses.

We've had, you know, soaring markets, wars going on and so on.

So resilience is definitely a hallmark of Oklahomans.

- We need to reflect on your retirement party.

There were hundreds of people there.

And what was that like to say goodbye to all those fellows?

- Well, it was heartwarming, of course, mostly fun, to be embraced by so many people that I've gotten to know and, you know, learn their stories and tell their stories to others.

It was really fulfilling, and, of course, a lot of people who weren't able to go have reached out and said, "Congratulations, I wish I was there," and so on.

- What is next for you and Rhonda and family?

- Well, so we will move back to Michigan where one of our sons and his family live.

Our other son and his family live in Alabama.

And so we'll try to get to them as often as we can, but we'll be just around the corner from the group in Michigan.

- Sounds really great.

And as we talked about at your retirement party, you'll always have a home in Stillwater, Rhonda, too.

Always be welcome back.

We're glad you saved the best Land-Grant for the last.

And we'll definitely miss you.

Appreciate your leadership and appreciate being able to work so closely with you these past nine years.

So wish you the best.

- Well, thank you.

Thank you.

It's an honor.

It's been fun to work with you, to learn from you and your crew to see, you know, every Saturday, looking forward to seeing what do they have this week on SUNUP and Oklahoma Gardening.

Fortunately, I can stay connected with all that and I will.

I look forward to it.

Thank you.

- Finally today addressing the substantial shortage of veterinarians in the United States and in Oklahoma.

Large animal DVMs are in a especially short supply.

- For rural areas.

In 2019, over 500 counties in 44 states had vet shortages, according to the USDA.

That number is growing.

And only about 5% of vet students are interested in food animal and rural medicine.

But hope is on the horizon, as we witnessed at a recent workshop.

SUNUP's Seth Fish takes us there.

- [Seth] Bones, organs, and the smell of formaldehyde, an environment that would leave most people squeamish.

But these Oklahoma 4-H'ers are excited for the opportunity.

- I just feel super excited.

Like, I've done a few dissections before.

But today I've gotten to get into like the nitty gritty, like, the lungs and the heart.

It's really giving me a feel for, like, especially if I was interested in surgery and veterinary medicine and kind of figuring out if that's something that I want to do.

- [Seth] The Vet Science Short Course Camp is a two-day event for high school 4-H'ers across the state who have an interest in veterinary medicine.

- [Instructor] So we've got our show pig over here.

- So everything that we are doing today and tomorrow is pretty much all hands on.

And then we're doing different labs today that include dissection, anatomy, disease outbreaks, small animal examinations.

- How would you describe that?

- They're learning about the profession, but they're also learning about things that they can take home and they can use on their farms and ranches if that's the background that they come from.

But we also know that kids learn a lot better when they're doing those hands-on things.

And so they're retaining that information a lot better being hands-on than just sitting in a classroom being talked to.

- [Seth] The College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Sciences, and a number of 4-H educators developed the program in part to address the nationwide shortages in vet medicine and falling enrollment numbers in vet school programs.

- The American Veterinary Medical Association in April of 2021 came out with some data that said, you know, before the pandemic there were around three and a half jobs for every veterinarian looking.

After the pandemic of spring of last year, there's 12 and a half plus jobs for every veterinarian looking.

And so we want to increase the pipeline, particularly of Oklahoma students that are residents here who are applying for veterinary school.

And so we're trying to get them interested in the profession early.

We're trying to give them some things to think about.

They know what veterinary medicine in general is about.

They know what they're getting into, what's exciting about the profession, and also some of the challenges.

And this is a great way to kind of open the door for high school students to take a look.

- [Seth] Both the organizers and the students say 4-H events like the Vet Science Camp are invaluable to the youth of our state, providing resources and exposure to industries that these 4-H'ers will undoubtedly have an impact on in the future.

- I think it's important that we show our 4-H kids different career paths because we want them to go out into the world and be good citizens.

You know, there's lots of different career paths.

And it's our job as educators to teach those kids different careers that are out there for them.

- I think it really just reminds me, like, how involved 4-H is and how many opportunities they have.

4-H has projects and whatever you want to do, especially obviously veterinary medicine.

And so hearing at this camp made me excited and I'm just really grateful to have a program like 4-H to give me these opportunities.

- I'm a product of the 4-H program.

I was a 4-H'er in Lincoln and Grady County growing up.

And it really laid the foundation for me to open the doors to what the profession was about, gave me those leadership skills, gave me those communication skills that are absolutely important in any profession, but certainly within veterinary medicine.

And so 4-H is a great opportunity to discover the world around you and to take a look at what you may wanna be when you grow up.

- [Seth] In Payne County, I'm Seth Fish (instructor speaking indistinctly) (gentle music) - The Oklahoma legislature recently passed a law to establish the Veterinary Medicine Authority at OSU.

You can read more about that effort at sunup.okstate.edu.

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

Remember, you can find us anytime on our website, 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 music) (gentle music continues)