(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

I'm Kurtis Hair and welcome to "SUNUP".

Well, the hot Oklahoma weather is here, and with the recent rains, it has set up the perfect conditions for an Oklahoma pest, mosquitoes.

OSU Extension livestock entomologist, Justin Talley, has more.

- Well with the recent rains that have come into Oklahoma, we're always concerned with mosquitoes.

And the amount of rain has brought in a certain type of mosquito that's known as what we call Psorophora, or also known as gallinippers to locals within Oklahoma.

These are large mosquitoes.

You see 'em, they're very aggressive biters, and so people get concerned.

But we're not really concerned on the pathogen side, other than, you know, some cases of dog heartworm, and you need to protect your pets.

In general though, what's about to happen with the amount of moisture that we have and the increased temperatures that are coming with late June, going into July, it's gonna rapidly speed up this developmental time.

So you're gonna have increased numbers of mosquitoes, but it's also gonna have a type of mosquitoes start coming out that you don't even realize it's feeding on you.

It's called the Culex mosquito.

And the Culex mosquito is involved in West Nile Virus transmission.

And when we think about the cyclical nature of these, it's certainly something we need to be concerned with, especially with the amount of rain.

So what you need to think about are where water is standing that you can dump out.

You really need to get rid of any standing water.

Now, the puddle in your yard right now is not something we're really concerned with.

But once it dries out and maybe there's a hole next to that, then you need to manage that where that water is just standing.

There's also a lot of things in and around your homes, in and around your operations, that can hold water that you don't even think about.

Something as simple as a outdoor container that holds outdoor equipment.

If it's not sealed properly, if it's holding water, that can provide a habitat for mosquitoes to breed in.

The other issue is when we start seeing a lot of these mosquitoes come out, it's like, well, we're gonna start inundating the environment with insecticides.

And that's really not the best management.

It's one tool that is a really good tool, but we need to really think about how we manage these mosquitoes in a way that we're thinking about where where they're coming from, from the water.

So you need to use alternative products, or drain the water, that you can spread into the water.

And then you can start thinking about alternatives or the standards that we use, such as insecticides.

If we continue to receive rains that cause a large amount of puddling, and the water is not running or flowing, then it's a habitat for mosquitoes.

So just be aware, we've had a lot of recent rains.

We need to think about mosquitoes as they come on.

We're already seeing them out and about, they're already active.

All species are active right now.

So just be aware, protect yourself, put some kind of repellent on as you're going out and especially in the morning and in the evenings.

(upbeat country music) - Welcome to the Mesonet Weather Report, I'm Wes Lee.

The moisture we received in the last month was a lifesaver to Oklahoma farms and ranches.

But a couple of weeks without rains shows how fleeting our soil moisture levels can be.

This map of Percent Plant Available Water at 16 inches shows much of the state is still good, but more and more yellows are creeping in.

If we zero in on just one tower, like Cheyenne, we see how fast soil moistures can change.

This seven day graph from midweek shows the red line, which is five centimeters, or two inches, has dropped a little each day.

The yellow line is 10 inches, and it took a few days after the rain stopped before it started to slightly drop.

The deepest level is the green line at 24 inches.

And it shows that recent rainfall was not sufficient to raise it up into the wetter ranges to begin with.

ET, or evapotranspiration, is the driving force for drying out of the soils.

This map for Tuesday shows potential ET levels were about as high as they can get, reaching up to the three quarters of an inch mark.

This is because of the relatively moist soil levels, along with the higher than normal temperatures and winds.

You can see here that winds have been exceeding normal levels for at least two weeks.

Now here's Gary with more focus on the rain.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning to everyone.

Well, I'm obviously not gonna show you any rainfall maps today.

We don't have any of that to really talk about.

And we might not have any to talk about for quite a while.

However, we do have a pretty good looking Drought Monitor Map, at least for most of the state.

Let's get right to it.

Okay, we do have most of the eastern two thirds of the state outta drought.

And then we even have a sliver of abnormally dry conditions, and really going out of drought, not into drought across to Central and to West Central Oklahoma, all the way to the Texas Panhandle.

So we do have a little bit of crack in the drought out there.

Now we do have a little bit of drought left in Southwest Oklahoma, which is miraculous that we got rid of it so far.

That we have- - [Meteorologist] We do have just a little bit of moderate to severe drought.

And then up in Northwest Oklahoma, we do have an area that's been without rainfall, at least significant rainfall, for a little bit longer, that's in the Woodward Major and Dewey county area.

Now, obviously it's been a very hot June this far.

People are starting to get really bad memories of that June of 2011 that started the really bad heat during that horrible summer back then.

I thought I would compare the two 100 degree temperature maps, see where we're at compared to that timeframe back in 2011.

So if we look at what we've had this year, pretty bad across Southwest Oklahoma, basically 10 to 15 days above 100 degrees through June 14th.

Not so bad as we get up into West Central and Northwestern Oklahoma and the panhandle, basically three to six days.

Now, obviously it's gone up since then a little bit.

But not too bad across the Eastern 2/3 of the state, one or two or three days here and there.

Again, most of that Eastern part of the state, though, no 100s, signifying the none of that really extreme heat at least for the air temperatures.

However, we look at the same timeframe back in 2011, again, that started that horrible heat episode for that summer, we do see numbers a little bit more serious back then.

Southwest Oklahoma, 15 to 22 days above 100 degrees through this timeframe.

So not quite as bad as the summer of 2011.

So hopefully we can keep that up as we look at those two maps.

That's it for this time.

We'll see you next time on the Mesonet weather report - Earlier in the week, the Oklahoma wheat commission reported that this year's harvest is about 45% complete.

Hot and dry weather is helping to speed it along, but elevators report sprouting in several southwest, south central, and central locations because of high moisture levels from heavy rain earlier in the month.

Yields vary by region, anywhere from 15 bushels per acre, to as high as 65 bushels per acre test weights are lower in some locations but most are hoping for around 58 pound averages.

Protein meanwhile is averaging between 12 and 13%.

As many of our viewers know a lot of fields simply won't be harvested this year due to drought.

For the complete harvest report from the Oklahoma wheat commission and the latest from OSU go to sunup.okstate.edu - Well, everything's green here in much of Oklahoma, and Darryl, the last time I talked to you, it's been a couple of weeks.

The situation really wasn't, you know, green.

So how have things changed with pasture conditions?

- We have had a lot of rain through much of Oklahoma even extending into Western Oklahoma which were the driest areas and they were, they continue to be dry, but not nearly as bad as before.

So we are getting some very timely rains that are giving us a lot of green up in our pasture conditions at this point in time.

- So yeah, we were talk last time we were talking we were like, yeah, we just, we really need that those really timely rain.

So how has that impacted cattle markets?

- Well, you know, as far as feeder cattle markets they had dropped pretty sharply from an early April high, up until about two weeks ago, but we have seen those markets bounce back.

And I think that is due in part to probably some better pasture conditions.

So we're seeing some improvement in those feeder cattle markets.

- So how about cull cattle markets?

- Cull cattle markets have been quite volatile the last few weeks.

They've been very strong in general all year.

We've had a very strong lean beef market behind it.

That's what drives that market, but obviously the level of cow slaughter and pasture conditions plays into it as well.

And we did see again in the last week or so, a jump up in those cull cow prices.

And I think that's probably in part due to these improved pasture conditions.

- So looking at the mesonet at the drought situation in Oklahoma.

It's starting to kind of disappear a little bit.

There's still some areas in the state that are still suffering from drought but how's the rest of the country handling drought right now?

- You know, we still have very widespread drought conditions around the US, even though we've seen some marginal improvement in places like Oklahoma and a few other places, other areas are actually continuing to get worse.

And so on, on balance pasture and range conditions across the US right now are actually in still in the worst shape that they've ever been at this time of the year.

Even though they have improved a little bit over the last three or four weeks.

So we've got a lot of drought with a lot of implications for cattle markets as we continue on from here.

- So what are those implications for US cowherds?

- Well, you know, we've already seen beef cow slaughter up 15% year over year for the first five months of this year.

So no matter what happens we're gonna see significant cowherd liquidation.

And there's no indication right now that those slaughter rates are gonna drop back significantly in the, and certainly not in the next few weeks.

So the bottom line is we're gonna see probably a record level of cow culling this year.

I think it'll be 13% or higher which would be an all time record level.

And that's liable to lead due a 3 to 4% decrease in the beef cow herd.

We could see the beef cow herd drop by a million head or more in 2022.

- Well, you know, we're just a couple days away from the first day of summer.

We're moving in really into the grilling season, if it hasn't already started up, you know what, you know how is all this gonna impact beef prices?

- Well, you know, we're really watching the demand side still.

You know, Memorial Day, we're kind of getting indication, but it actually looks like beef markets, wholesale beef markets, are actually coming back a little bit here.

So I think the demand side of this thing is still pretty firm.

It's just gonna depend on these pasture conditions and what producers have to do relative to the drought, relative to maybe what the market conditions are beyond that.

- All right.

Thanks Derrell.

Dr. Derrell Peele, livestock marketing specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

(upbeat music) - We're joined now by Dr. Kim Anderson, our crop marketing specialist.

Kim let's dive right in and talk about the impact of harvest on wheat prices.

- Well, normally when you get into harvest wheat prices will, we call it take a dive, they'll go down.

They've been relatively stable.

You look at Medford, they're up 10.90.

Perryton, Texas up around $11.

You come down in Southern Oklahoma Snyder, Altus, $10.35 cents.

Probably not as good a quality of wheat down in that area.

And when you get up to Weatherford in north central Oklahoma, around 10.70.

If you look back over the last couple weeks the wheat price has been relatively stable.

You know, you go back into March.

It ranged from 10.25 to 11.25, got up to 13.30 but the last couple weeks it's just been in a 25 to 30 cent range, right under $11 a bushel.

- What are some of the reasons why we're seeing these historical highs?

- I think it's mostly changes in demand or wheat use.

I think production's had some impact.

And then of course, you've gotta get into the ending stocks issue and the Russian Ukraine war.

- Dive a little bit more into production changes.

We've talked about it over time but now we can kind of summarize it, I guess.

- Well, I think we need to go back to around 2013 then you had Ukraine and Russia, Romania, Belarussia, Pakistan.

They were all increasing production.

World production was a 26.3 billion bushels.

It went up each year until we got to 28 billion bushels in 17.

2018 started the move to these higher prices.

We had a short crop at 26.9 billion bushels.

And the last three years have been right at 28.5 plus or minus a hundred million or so in that.

- So how does consumption then compare to wheat production?

- Well, when you go back to 13 you had production at 26.3, consumption or use was at 25.4 billion bushels.

Use went up each year.

We got into 2017.

It was 27.2 billion bushels.

A short crop in 18, you remember, 26.9.

Consumption held relatively stable.

And then as we got into 19, 20, 21 and 22 consumption increased to up around 28.9 billion bushels, a little less than that a couple years.

Consumption increased dramatically during the last three years, 18, 19, and 20 and going into 22 now.

- So in terms of prices again how long do you think they will hold at this level?

- Well, the point is, we didn't get to these prices overnight, and it's just not one thing, the Russian Ukraine war, that caused it.

Look at the ending stocks situation.

You go back to 13 world ending stocks, 7.2 billion bushels within four years, 2016, up to 9.8 billion.

In 18, remember we had a short crop.

It held relatively stable.

By 2019 we were up to 11 billion bushels.

We came down a little bit, this year we're looking at 9.8.

I think when we're looking at ending stocks you've gotta look at 16, 2016, 9.8 billion and 2022, 9.8 billion.

Now, if you're looking at price, you go back to 13.

We had $6.90 average annual price of wheat for 2013, by 2016 we were down to $3.89 for an average annual price.

It wallowed around in $4 to $5 until we got into that 18 19 period.

We had the short crop came in.

That helped us with price and set the stage for COVID.

COVID came in, it messed up the whole transportation system, domestically, the importers, ocean freight.

That drove up price.

Plus it changed the market situation where the importers were starting to buy ahead and hoard the product and that increased our use numbers there and resulted in higher prices.

Then we got into 22, Russia invaded Ukraine.

That took about a third of our wheat off the market for a while.

And that's set the situation for these high prices.

It's not, it's taken a long time to get over COVID.

The COVID impact.

And it's gonna take a long time to get over the Russian impact.

Long story short, it's gonna take a while to get these prices to go back down.

- All righty, Kim, lots of great analysis there.

We appreciate you sorting it out and we'll see you next week.

(peppy music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Cow Calf Corner.

Well, it's June in Oklahoma.

We've seen urea fertilizer prices decrease.

Most of the state has received some much needed rain over the last few weeks.

And at my place I'm really encouraged.

It looks like we're gonna grow a season of grass.

Interestingly enough, the old pest called flies has raised their ugly head in the past couple weeks.

This week, we're gonna address a few things we can do to try to prevent these pests from robbing us of profit potential.

- If we think about flies and it really doesn't matter which type of fly it is.

We know they're annoying.

We know they take blood meals off cattle.

They irritate cattle.

They annoy cattle.

On an industry wide basis it's in the billions of dollars that we estimate that we lose due to flies.

In the state of Oklahoma, it's certainly in the millions and we're not gonna address specific types of flies as much as some methods that we can use to try to provide a little bit of relief to cattle.

If we've got flies on the cows, it's gonna reduce milk production, reduce weaning weights of calves, along with the annoyance and the irritation.

Point is we need to provide something for both cow and calf and herd bulls, when possible, to try to do what we can.

So let's walk through some things and general things to keep in mind.

And the first thing we're gonna address is pour-ons or sprays.

If we're gonna use these, we typically like to get 'em down the back of animals, if possible, but we know that flies take a lot of blood meals off bellies and front legs.

So if we can cover the animal more down the sides or even get it to the front legs, that's gonna be beneficial.

In a lot of cases, if we can use an oil base, when cattle go stand in ponds to try to get relief and get flies off of 'em, or avoid being bitten.

If we can mix some of these pour-ons or sprays with an oil we're gonna do a better job of keeping it on the animal where the insecticide itself can do some good.

Another option is fly ear tags.

If we take an ear tag that is impregnated with some sort of insecticide, get those in cattle we're gonna also provide some relief by doing that.

It is important that we rotate the insecticide or chemical in those fly tags from year to year to avoid flies becoming resistant to a certain chemical.

In both cases, whether it's a pour-on or we're talking about a fly ear tag, don't just rely on a brand name, but I recommend consulting with your veterinarian if you're curious about what type of chemical class is gonna do the most good.

Insect growth regulators.

We can use these as a feed through product.

Put 'em in mineral.

They're gonna pass through the animal and make sure that flies cannot nest in that manure as a result of that IGR actually passing through their system.

Final thing that I think is a good management practice and we're getting a little late in the season for this one but if you've still got areas where you've fed hay through the winter, and we've not got those cleaned up or pulled an implement through 'em or done something to help 'em dry out.

That is an ideal breeding ground for flies.

The unfortunate reality if we're in the beef business in Oklahoma we're gonna deal with flies.

They're here to stay.

We need to do what we can to control 'em to provide some relief to animals, particularly our beef cattle, and increase the profit potential in our beef herd.

Thanks for joining us this week on Cow-Calf Corner.

(upbeat guitar music) - While this hot muggy weather might be great for mosquitoes, Paul, when it comes to cattle they're kind of a lot like us.

They don't really enjoy it as much.

- Yeah, these cattle are out in the elements most of the time, if not all of the time.

And when we have really high temperatures along with this humidity, it gets really rough on 'em.

Their natural comfort zone goes up to about 77 degrees Fahrenheit, but when you start putting the humidity in with that, And express this as temperature-humidity index.

If we start getting up to about 74 as a THI, we start getting into where we need to start being worried.

When we get up higher than that to around 79.

That's really where we need to start being very careful to limit our activities.

And if we get up to 84 THI then we really need to pull back and make sure those cattle have some cool water, some shade.

Get some relief from that.

Along with our humidity and the discomfort we have during the day.

If we have temperatures, that don't go below 70 degrees at night, those cattle can't give off their excess heat load from the day into the environment.

And that just increases the whole problem.

So they're carrying heat load over.

This morning, it was 80 degrees with about 80% humidity.

So we were already in an extreme or an alert temperature-humidity index.

And that was first thing this morning.

- And we're still just a couple of days away from the first day of summer.

So there's still a long stretch before we get into the fall.

So why don't we just run through what some of the implications for heat stress and cattle?

What can really affect their performance?

- Well, whenever we start getting into mild heat stress where we just see those cattle panting, they're already going to decrease their feed intake.

When a cow or a calf or a feed lot animal eats feed, they're fermenting that in their rumen.

And that creates heat load as well.

So to decrease that heat load, they're gonna start decreasing feed and forage intake.

As it gets higher, they're going to start drinking more water and decreasing activity.

- Spending more time in the shade more time standing in water.

And, you know, then they'll start actively panting or if you see them open mouth breathing or with their tongue sticking out they're in extreme heat stress.

- So, you mentioned briefly a little bit about you know, having access to cool water and maybe even pond but are there any other management strategies that producers can take to kind of limit that stress?

- If cattle don't have natural shade you need to find a way to supply some artificial shade structures.

You know, using a shade cloth is vastly superior.

Use something like tin.

It needs to be high enough that there'll be airflow to get you know, the hot air out of that structure.

We need to find ways to expose those cattle to positive airflow and ventilation, so.

Other things is, you know, don't work cattle or transport cattle or process cattle in unless you just really have to whenever we're in these extreme heat conditions.

Cattle will adapt to the heat load over time but we've gone through a series of you know, warm temperatures and then cool temperatures and those cattle haven't been able to adapt to it.

So, right now will be the most critical time until they're more adapted to the heat.

- All right, thanks Paul.

Paul Beck, extension beef specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

And if you'd like a link to more information that he talked about go to our website, sunup.okstate.edu.

(cheerful music) - Rabies is a viral disease that all mammals are susceptible to.

And so that includes humans.

That includes our companion animals as well as livestock and wildlife as well.

So, our carriers here in Oklahoma are primarily the skunk.

We can also see that in raccoons as well and so, if you are interacting with wildlife you wanna do that really with a great deal of caution because this is a zoonotic disease.

So, zoonotic diseases are those that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

And so, wanna be very, very cautious when interacting with wildlife.

Particularly if we were to see a skunk in the middle of the day.

That's not something that is normal behavior for that species and so it gives us a great deal of concern.

We may be having an issue with rabies there.

In our companion animals, particularly those are farm and ranch dogs that can interact on a regular basis with wildlife.

We wanna make sure that they are up to date on their rabies vaccinations.

And so you wanna discuss with your veterinarian the best options.

Always recommend rabies vaccinations for any of our companion animals because this is a disease that we don't have a treatment for.

It is important to remember in Oklahoma that unless that rabies vaccine is administered by a licensed veterinarian that it is not necessarily recognized for the purposes if your animal should be exposed.

When it comes to horses and other domestic livestock it may not be economically feasible for our commercial operations to vaccinate every stalker steer in the pasture.

However, when it comes to show animals and for horses as well I always recommend rabies vaccination because of the higher risk of interacting with wildlife.

Because skunks, raccoons, et cetera like to be in the barn where we have feed and other things.

So with that, keep in mind, we have seen rabies in Oklahoma.

We see it each year in our wildlife species and unfortunately it is diagnosed oftentimes in companion animal and livestock species as well.

So, for more information we encourage you to visit the Oklahoma Department of Public Health.

Then see their website because that particular disease is reportable and the Department of Health is the one that handles that.

(upbeat music) - And that wraps it up for us today.

Now, remember if you saw something on the show you liked you can go to our website, sunup.okstate.edu and follow us on YouTube and social media.

We'll see you next time.

I'm Kurtis Hair and remember Oklahoma agriculture starts at sunup.