(upbeat music) - Good morning, Oklahoma.

I'm Kurtis Hair and welcome to Sunup.

Well, have you ever been standing out in a pasture or driving by one during the early growing season and you thought to yourself, I'm not really sure if Bermuda grass is out there, and how can you tell?

Well, OSU extension forge system specialists, Alex Rocateli, has a few tips and some management strategies as well.

- All right, so I'm scouting here around the steel water, some of my pastors, some of my trials.

And I see that in some locations, some Bermuda grass already start to green up, but in some locations not.

So right now we are in that situation.

Well, I still can control some weeds with glyphosate, a non-selective herbicide, or can I, I would say first thing that I need to do is to make sure that your Bermuda grass is not greening up.

Keep in mind that to identify Bermuda grass on your pasture, first, most of the Bermuda grasses that we have here in Oklahoma, they are clonal, meaning they don't produce viable seeds.

So it's very rare you see Bermuda grass coming from seedling.

Most of the time they will just come from rhizomes that was there from last year.

So always this Bermuda grass that is greening up is gonna be attached to the old growth.

So that's the first clue that you have there.

Now, if that's not enough, the Bermuda grass has the stem flattened.

So when you roll with your fingers, you can feel that they're flat.

If that clue is still, don't make you 100% sure that's Bermuda.

Look at the leaf, you won't see any hair in the leaf.

But when you look where the leaf blade meets with the leaf sheath that we call the colors, you're gonna find the two puffies of hairs on each corner.

So those are pretty much some tips on how to identify Bermuda grass.

Right now, I would say that if you, you didn't have a soil analysis, make sure that you make some soil analysis and see how much phosphorous, potassium you need to apply in the field.

And if you didn't apply, apply right now, that's the best time for phosphorous and potassium.

But I would say wait for nitrogen fertilization.

Nitrogen fertilization.

It's good when you have the Bermuda grass completely greened up so the roots are active and they can really absorb the nitrogen.

So I would say that the Bermuda grass will be completely greened up when they are about two inch height.

And you see that you have runners or installs that's about three inches.

So that's the best time to apply your nitrogen fertilizer there.

And finally, when you talk about the herbicides, again, if you see that your field already start to green up, stop, use any kind of herbicide, don't use glyphosate.

And even for the selective herbicides, I recommended that you go and look at the label, some of those herbicides, even though they claim that they don't hurt Bermuda grass when they are vegetating.

Well, when they are break dormant, they can still stunt the Bermuda grass.

So look at the label and see if you can apply during the green up.

For more information on Bermuda grass pastures, please look at the Sunup website.

(upbeat music) - Hi Wesley, and welcome to the Mesonet Weather Report.

After a very warm start to the month of March, winter let it be known last week that it still had something to say about temperatures.

You can see this on the chart showing the departure of minimum temperatures from the long-term average.

We were very warm the first week of the month by as much as 20 degrees.

However, the end of the month shows the cooler minimum temperatures.

On Tuesday morning, temperatures drop to the low teens in the panhandle region and near or below freezing in much of the rest of the state.

Temperatures on Wednesday morning was similar with below twenties in the northwest and below freezing in many other areas.

It also stayed cold for several hours, especially in the Northwest, as seen on this hours below freezing map for the week as of Wednesday, the impact this will have on the state's fruit crop is yet to be seen.

In the colder regions, if the fruit was in the bloom state or later, there will be some damage.

While there doesn't appear to be any significant freezes on the short term forecast, we are still a few weeks away from reaching the freeze safe time of year for most locations.

Now here's Gary, staying on top of the developing drought in the Northwest.

- Thanks Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, I've talked about it the last few weeks and sure enough, here we go.

Flash drought has erupted in northwest Oklahoma.

Let's get right to the newest drought monitor map, see where we're at.

Well, there you see it from the Eastern panhandle, Beaver County, all the way over to Kay County.

We do have new drought, just moderate drought right now across parts of Northern Oklahoma, Northwest Oklahoma, and then the same old drought that's been there since August, 2021 in Osage County in the surrounding region.

Very close to meeting up those two drought areas.

And then of course we have just a tiny bit of drought down in Southwest Oklahoma where they have those long-term deficits.

- [Presenter] Showing up in the reservoirs and farm ponds, and then just a scattering of abnormally dry conditions across Eastern Oklahoma where they've gotten rain.

But the big news is flash drought in Northwestern Oklahoma.

Pretty easy to see why when you look at this consecutive days with less than a quarter inch of rainfall map from the Oklahoma Mesonet Slapout or Mesonet site there.

It has gone 102 days as I film this, without at least a quarter inch of rainfall in a single day.

Other parts of Northwestern Oklahoma, West Central Oklahoma, nearly 60 days or greater without at least a quarter-inch of rainfall.

So definitely a quick burst of dry weather as we've gotten into the new year which is providing us with that new drought, unfortunately.

Take a look at the 60-day rainfall from the Oklahoma Mesonet.

You can see those areas down in Southwestern Oklahoma with just less than three inches of rainfall, basically.

Over in Southeast Oklahoma where they've gotten some pretty good rains over the last couple of months.

We've managed to get rid of the drought that was just beginning down there so a good six to nine to ten inches of rainfall in those regions.

But up there in North Central, Northwestern Oklahoma, we see less than two inches and generally less than an inch when you get out into the far Northwestern corner in the panhandle.

So those are the areas where that dryness coupled with the warm weather we've had, have really started to take off.

Just a quick look at the percent of normal rainfall over that 60-day period.

Pretty easy to see.

Once again, up in Northwestern Oklahoma and North Central Oklahoma, those orange and red color signify areas generally less than 50%, but in some cases less than a quarter percent of normal rainfall.

So very dire times up there over the last two to three months, unfortunately.

Well, it's pretty easy to cure flash drought, and that's simply to get rainfall, snowfall.

We'll take whatever we can get up in those regions and maybe stamp that drought out quickly.

That's it for this time.

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

(upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) - We're here with our OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Dr. Rosslyn Biggs.

And Rosalyn, if producers out there haven't done vaccinations for their breeding herds, now is probably the time to start doing that, right?

- It's definitely the time to start discussing it.

And the recommendation I have is to set an appointment with your veterinarian.

Sit down at the desk or across the kitchen table and figure out what exactly you need.

There's no cookie cutter recipe to breeding herd vaccinations.

There are some fundamentals that we wanna keep in mind.

But it's largely based on the type of cattle you have, the age of cattle you have, whether you've vaccinated before, or you have a known vaccination history, and then what your purposes are for those cows, and ultimately, their calves in the future.

And I imagine timing is part of the fundamentals that you're mentioning.

Why this time of year?

- Yeah, so timing is really critically important, and it has more to do with it being in the spring than when we're choosing to breed.

So you know, ideally, all things being perfect, we wanna get that cow herd or those replacement heifers fully vaccinated at least 45 days prior to breeding.

Now, I'm also realistic and understanding that that doesn't always happen, and there's a number of reasons based on time commitments, off-the-farm jobs, labor availability.

And so we may need to look at other options and using different types of vaccines later in the process of pregnancy in order to get those females covered.

- So let's dive a little bit more into those fundamentals.

What are some things that producers really need to consider before they contact their veterinarian?

- Right, I think keeping in mind what their goals are with their operation, and understanding, "Do I have a vaccinated herd "to begin with," right?

"Do I have known history on both females "as well as bulls in my plan?"

We don't wanna forget the bulls in this process too.

We're gonna talk a lot about females but we wanna make sure the bull is covered as well.

And so particularly if we don't know the history, we wanna discuss that with our veterinarian because depending upon their pregnancy status and our timing for breeding, we may wanna use a killed vaccine over a modified live vaccine.

I'm a big modified live vaccine fan but it needs to be used appropriately in making sure that the timing is right so we don't have impacts when it comes to breeding time.

- And in those impacts, if you wait a little longer, that's really affecting the bottom line at the end of the day.

- Absolutely, we wanna be using the product that is gonna give us the coverage we need based on the risk at the farmer ranch.

And we want to make sure that they're covered, the individual, whether that be the bull or females, we wanna make sure that individual is covered, but particularly on the females, we wanna make sure that we have a long-lasting coverage because ideally, we want that female to dump all that immunity into her colostrum for her calf at those first nursings.

- You know, for the most seasoned ranchers, they've been through this before, they know what to expect.

But for those newer to the industry, a lot of this could probably be pretty overwhelming, I would imagine.

- It, it absolutely can be overwhelming even for our seasoned ranchers that have been there, done that.

It's a really good idea to sit down at least annually with their veterinarian.

- And discuss the particulars of their treatment plan.

And then for our, you know, maybe newer or beginning farmers and ranchers, a great place to start is the resources with their county extension office, with their county educator.

Sit down, come up with the list.

That can also save some time, get it double checked by the veterinarian, and hopefully you're good to go.

- And we also have a lot of useful resources online as well.

- Absolutely.

We've got some tremendous fact sheets.

We've got great chapters in our beef cattle manual to take a look at that really explain the ins and outs of vaccine selection, and making sure we get appropriate coverage for the breeding herd.

- All Right, thanks Rosslyn.

Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, OSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

And if you'd like some more information about how to keep your herd healthy this summer, go to our website, SUNUP.okstate.edu.

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

This week we talked some about the Across Breed EPD adjustments that are available to us in the beef cattle business.

(cow mooing) And these are particularly handy when we find ourself in bull selection situations that might include different breeds.

And we've recently talked about selection and mating, and some of those potential decisions we make with regard to cross-breeding.

And so we'll work through an example here, but first we just wanna talk about what these Cross Breed EPD adjustments are.

Since about 1993, the Meat Animal Research center up in Nebraska has been collecting data on 18 different beef breeds.

And from that database, we actually are able to come up with a system of additive adjustments to our basic EPDs out of those 18 breeds.

So that if I have got, say, an Angus bull, a Hereford bull, a Saler, a Braunvieh, and they've all got their respective EPDs from the registry that they're in, making these adjustments permits us to compare those EPDs more on an apples to apples basis, as opposed to apples to oranges.

So with that said, we take, for example, we're gonna use some bulls in the upcoming OSU Cowboy Classic Sale book, and we're gonna take a look at the EPDs of a Lot 29 Angus bull, a Lot 58 Hereford bull, and a Lot 71 Brangus Bull, and use this chart of additive adjustments in order to effectively put those on a basis where we can compare 'em all.

Now, one of the things that we do in this exercise is we make the adjustments to all the breeds' EPDs (cow mooing) to put 'em on an Angus basis.

(cow mooing) And so our Lot 29 Angus bull, we're just gonna look at a couple different traits.

He has a birth weight EPD of 2.2.

He has a yearling weight EPD of 144.

So with respect to his EPDs there, we don't have to change 'em.

They're gonna stay at those values.

As we take a look at our Lot 58 Hereford Bull, his birth weight EPD's 2.6, (cow mooing) yearling weight EPD's 123.

(cow mooing) Now the adjustment that we pull from the chart to add or subtract to those is 0.8 of a pound for Hereford EPDs.

So that effectively makes his birth weight EPD 3.4, and his yearling weight EPD, when we subtract 39.3, it effectively makes it 83.7.

So those are the numbers we can compare back to the Angus Bull.

In this case, we know that the Angus bull at 144, if we're looking at yearling weight, as opposed to the Hereford bull at 83.7, is gonna sire calves that are about 60 pounds heavier than the Hereford bull.

The lot 71 Brangus bull in the Cowboy Classic Sale book has got a birth weight EPD of -0.9 The additive adjustment to that is 2.7.

So that effectively puts his birth weight EPD at 1.8 that we would compare back to the Angus EPD at 2.2.

His yearling weight EPD from the Brangus registry is 56, but we need to add 11.6 to that to effectively compare it back to the Angus base.

And so his yearling weight EPD becomes 67.6 for comparison back to the Angus.

The Angus bull, if made into an equal set of cows, is gonna sire calves about 76 pounds heavier than the Brangus bull would based off those numbers.

So just a quick example on bulls from three different breeds.

Again, we've got 18 different breeds out of that database up in Nebraska.

And our cross breed chart of additive measures, we're gonna add or subtract from specific EPDs to make us be able to compare apples to apples when we find ourself in those situations, bull selection, and looking across different breeds.

I hope this helps.

(upbeat country music playing) And thanks for joining us on Cow-Calf Corner.

(upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music ends) - We're here with Kim Anderson now to check in on the crop markets.

So Kim, what's been happening in the crop markets?

- It's just like the last two months, two or three months, just not a whole lot happening.

You've got wheat prices moving between $5 and $5.50.

- About 5.30, right in the middle of that range.

You go down to corn, it's been wallering a 10-cent range from $4 to $4.50.

Looks like it may break out the bottom of that.

That's not specifically what we want.

Now these prices are forward contract prices for the '24 crop.

Wanna make sure these aren't current prices.

It's what we're gonna get for our crops that we're putting in the field or have in the field now.

So you got corn and forward contract about $4.40 right now and it's going between $4.40 and $4.50.

So it's at the bottom of the market of the range here.

Might break out.

Soybeans $11.10 for forward contract.

It's going range between $11 and $11.25 cents.

For beans, there's nothing.

The one thing we know about these prices that something's gonna happen in the market to make them pop out either to the top or the bottom.

We hope it's the top but you never know.

- Yeah, so with the USDA just releasing the 2024 crop planted acre estimates, how do you think that will impact the prices?

- Well, that's got some potential to impact the prices.

You can look at the pre-release numbers, that's what the market was expecting.

You got corn, and the market, the average of the analyst said, it was 91.8 million acres.

Last year, it was 94.6 million acres.

In the Outlook Forum in February, they said it was 91 million, so almost 92 million.

If that number Thursday was well above or below that, it could have an impact on the market.

Soybeans, they said 86.5 million acres.

Last year, it was 83.6.

So higher bean acres, lower corn acres.

All wheat at 47.3 million acres.

That's down from 49.6 million acres last year.

On winter wheat, of course, these numbers are pretty well known 'cause we've seen 'em before, 34.9 million acres compared to last year's 36.7.

So the market's gonna take what they were expecting and compare it to what USDA said, and that could potentially move the market.

- So is there anything else happening right now that might be affecting prices?

- Russia, we gotta always come back to the Black Sea, Ukraine, Russia.

Russia is right now expecting over a 3.4 billion bushel crop.

It looks like it's gonna be a new record.

The last couple years, we've had Russian productions right at 3.4 billion, and we know what they're doing on the export market.

They probably, for March, will have a record export market for their wheat.

If it's not a record, it's gonna be a near record.

They're putting it on the market and that's why our prices are well below average right now.

So we gotta watch what's happening in Russia, a little bit of what's happening in Ukraine.

- So when farmers are considering their market plan for this year's crop, what's your advice for them?

- Use these forward contract numbers that we talked about, $4.40 for corn and $5.50 or so for wheat.

Contact your local elevator, see what they're forward contracting, that is the best estimate for what the price will be down as we get into harvest.

- Alright Ken, thanks for the advice.

We'll see you next week.

- [Narrator] If you've been enjoying the Rancher's Thursday Lunchtime Series, well, you're in luck.

These meetings are fixing the fire back up and the first session will be on April 4th with a topic of genetics and sire selection for successfully breeding beef and dairy cows.

If you'd like some more information about this series, you can just scan this QR code on your screen or go to sunup.okstate.edu.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) - Finally today, SUNUP's Elizabeth Hokit takes us right down the road from the OSU campus to see how the Stillwater FFA chapter has become an example of how to do things the right way.

(machinery whirring) - [Elizabeth] What's it like to make such an impact on your community that you're recognized as the model of excellence for FFA chapters across the nation?

(machines continue to whir) Well, these students from Stillwater, Oklahoma have probably answered that question so many times- (gavel banging) They can recite their answers just as well as the FFA Creed.

- So we were recently named the National FFA Models of Excellence program, and this is through the National Chapter Award.

And basically, out of the 9,163 FFA chapters across the nation, we were named the top FFA chapter based on our program of activities from the previous year.

So our chapter officer team from two years ago planned out a program of activities.

It involved 15 different activities that our students did.

Everything that involved strengthening leaders in our communities, building our actual community, and then teaching agriculture to those around them.

They plan these activities out, they created smart goals for each activity, and based on that POA that was judged through the National Chapter Award, we were ranked the top score based on that.

- So one of the parts on the rubric is uniqueness.

- As well as helpfulness.

What is this doing for the community?

We built planner boxes to go in front of storefronts to advertise for them, but how's that helping our community?

Well, we decided that we would put those out in exchange for two $25 gift cards, so it cost the business $50 worth of gift cards.

We gave them to the FFA chapter, and we were able to say, Hey, if you were going to go out and shop at this business, turn your receipt in.

And then at the end of it, you can get drawn for gift card prizes.

We impacted the community by having almost 300% of the money that was spent turned back over, so this was a huge thing for our local economy, something that we're hoping to expand into next year.

(tools whirring) - One of the activities that I actually was in charge of, was an Ag career fair.

I got about 10 different Ag careers to come to our Stillwater Agricultural Barn and have all the members go through and get to learn about all the different careers.

- [Narrator] And the students can get pretty creative when it comes to ideas for serving the community.

- So a lot of people will do things like buy donuts and donate them, or my year was COVID year, so we actually bought fabric and elastic and made masks and donated them to the Humane Society.

Just things like that to help better the community around us.

- I think our members work so hard to achieve our goals, so being able to get this award really shows all our hard work paid off and it's gonna encourage them to keep working hard and keep trying to achieve their goals.

- This award meant a lot to everybody in this chapter, everybody that invested, and that's all 254 members.

It took all of us.

It wasn't just the chapter officer team.

It wasn't just the people on the committees.

It was everybody.

Whether you were just showed up to the FFA meetings and took part in these activities, it was a huge deal for all of us.

And when we won this award, it meant a lot to me personally as being on that presentation team, that we worked super, super hard to make sure that we presented it to the best of our ability.

- Our students put an incredible amount of work into what they do.

They take a lot of pride in their projects.

They take a lot of pride in being a Stillwater FFA member, and they always felt like they were among the best in what they did.

And this award just solidified that belief and empowered them understanding that what they do can pay off.

- It was super special as this was one of the biggest awards that FFA gives out each year.

And it was just the hard work that paid off from not only the presenters, but the people in our chapter.

- I think moving forward, it just has created a buzz and an excitement in our chapter, knowing that this is something that we achieve now.

This is something our students can achieve again, and there's really no limit to what they can achieve.

We push them outta their comfort zone.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable at times, but we challenge them to be their best and be better.

I mean, we are a student led organization.

These activities we're all planned and carry it out by students.

We're the advisors that look good behind the scenes because of how great our students do, but this is all about them and that we're just so very proud of them.

- It's just another day in Stillwater FFA, where we just are gonna keep doing us and move forward and continuously get better and do better for our community.

- In Payne County, I'm Elizabeth Hokit.

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

Now remember, if you saw something on the show that you liked, you can always visit our website at sunup.okstate.edu and visit us on YouTube and social media.

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

(light music)