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

I'm Lyndall Stout.

The Oklahoma legislature has approved additional emergency funding to address the widespread and severe drought in Oklahoma.

Joining us now is Dr. Amy Hagerman, our Ag Policy Specialist.

Amy, why don't you just get us up to speed.

- So this has really come in two pieces.

The first part was $3 million set aside in mid-September from our emergency drought fund.

Some people might remember this from the 2013 drought whenever it was originally set up.

The second piece more recently is the $20 million that Governor Stitt just signed that will go into additional initiatives.

So this first piece, this first $3 million, is what we're already hearing about the Emergency Drought Commission putting into place for these water initiatives.

- So let's talk about this first 3 million and kind of what the dates are and what's included with that part of the program.

- So there are many initiatives that have been under discussion by the Emergency Drought Commission, but this first piece is focused on water, drilling wells, additional pipelines, piping water to livestock, setting up these heavy duty areas around stock tanks where you get a lot of traffic and can really do some damage to the ground around it.

Also pond clean out, I think we'll have a lot of producers that are interested in pond clean out.

When ponds are empty is actually the ideal time to be proactive to clean out the pond.

So these projects will focus around water initiatives for producers around the state.

The deadline will be December 2nd to get applications into the local conservation district for the projects.

Producers can actually start applying now for these different initiatives.

- And this is a cost share program, the way I understand it, and each county of the 77 counties will get a specific amount.

- So initially, $33,000, an even split of the $3 million, has gone to each of the 77 counties.

They'll take applications to identify projects in those counties up to $7,500 or 80% of the cost of the project at most.

Those can be adjusted a little bit at the county level, so as with so many of these programs, it really pays to have the conversation with your county office on exactly what those limits will be within that county.

Then producers, they'll do it on a first-come, first-served basis for different projects in the county.

If we have a county where the projects don't actually add up to the total of $33,000, that money can go back into a central pool and be redistributed to counties that have had a higher demand for the program.

- So now we've heard about this extra $20 million.

There was additional action by the legislature and the governor last week to set aside these funds.

What do you know about that portion?

- So we don't have details from the Emergency Drought Commission on how they're going to spend the additional $20 million at this time, but some of the things that have been mentioned are, for example, depending on what the demand is from this initial $3 million they may put more of the 20 million into water projects.

Also, something that's been mentioned is additional transportation support for feed and water for livestock in these drought-stricken counties.

Now, it's important to remember that these programs are designed to be complimentary to federal drought programs.

All of the federal drought programs are still in play so it would be putting in an application for one or both, depending on what your needs are on your operation.

- So sorting this out in your county or in your conservation district, the best bet would probably be to start at the county extension office with your ag educator.

- Absolutely, they're gonna be up to speed on what these different programs are and also what your operation looks like so you can have that conversation about your biggest needs, the area where you need aid on your operation, and they can sort out which federal or state programs can help them address those.

- Okay, Amy, thanks for the information and we will see you back here on SUNUP again very soon.

As we know, drought can present a number of challenges, including the need for testing for livestock water and forage.

For more on a new program from OSU Extension offering discounts, here's SUNUP's Kurtis Hair and Dr. Dave Lalman.

- Kurtis, this year, you know, as the drought has continued, people started off the year short of hay and they've continued to have to bail, you know, forage resources to get at least a nucleus of cows through the winter.

In fact, there's a few people having to start feeding hay now.

Of course, a lot of people have already depopulated and sold a few, if not a lot of cows, but with the limited forage harvested forage available to get folks through the the fall and the winter, folks are really struggling to find those forage resources.

I had a call from a Noble County producer here just late last week and his comment was that, "We're seeing folks offer milo or sorghums."

- For sale.

We're considering baling soybeans, failed soybeans for hay.

And then we had another call from another producer that was curious about the opportunity to either graze or bale failed cotton crop.

And so, they're just gonna be a lot of different hay products on the market this year.

Folks just need to be very in tune with the knowledge required to understand the value of that forage to begin with.

And secondly, an appropriate supplementation program, if one's required, to make sure that those cows stay in good body condition, and can be productive the following year.

We sure don't want a bunch of thin cows next spring.

- And one of the important things about finding out of that value of that hay is testing?

- Of course.

Just because there's Bermuda grass hay for sale, doesn't mean it's gonna be 8% protein, and 55% tdn.

This year, there's gonna be some, maybe some, let's say non grazed areas that are not traditionally harvested, that were baled this year.

In September, might not have been baled for three, or four, or five years.

- We've talked about this a few weeks ago about testing for toxins in the hay as well.

Is that gonna be a problem going into the winter given baling hay that's from forage resources that's not usually baled?

- Of course.

Producers need to be knowledgeable of what forage types are, we'll call it nitrate provocative.

Okay, if you know what those types of forages are, sorghum sedan is probably the most common when we see here in Oklahoma.

But there are other forages too, and they need to know that when they purchase that forage, or before they purchase it, the best thing to do, is have a nitrate test so they know what they've got.

- There is some good news.

OSU Extension is offering some resources to help producers this year when it comes to hay testing?

- Yeah, I mean, hay testing generally, is not terribly expensive but the tests that we have here at our laboratory at OSU, it gives you protein and energy, which everybody needs both of those this year to really understand what quality of forage you have available, both protein and energy that normally cost $14.

With this discount, with this opportunity, it's only gonna cost $4 a sample.

And that's a tremendous bargain.

I believe the nitrate test is only $2 a sample so I mean, yeah, don't let the cost of the forage test be a deterrent to having more knowledge to make a good decision.

- In regards to actual hay testing, producers can always contact their local extension office, and county educators can assist them with making those management strategies?

- They can be very helpful.

And this year is more important than ever, because those extension educators know the forage is being harvested in their area.

They know the cost, commodities' available.

They also know how to help people with that forage test.

They know how to help people with diet valuation using our software program.

So, that can be a lot of help in terms of helping them make good decisions.

- All righty.

Thanks, Dave.

Dr. Dave Lawman, extension beef cattle specialists here at Oklahoma State University.

And if you'd like some information on the discounts at OSU Extensions offering for hay testing, go to our website, sunup.okstate.edu.

(country music) - [Announcer] OSU Extensions supports Oklahoma farmers and ranchers with mental health resources and programming.

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health challenges, call the Comprehensive Crisis Response Lifeline at 9-8-8, or go online to the OSU Extension website dealing with farm stress for more information about local resources, suicide prevention, finances, disaster recovery, and more.

We have links to both of these websites at sunup.okstate.edu.

(country music) - Hello, Wes Lee here with your Weekly Mesonet Weather Report.

The fall is my favorite time of year with the cool mornings and warm afternoons.

Even though the current temperatures feel comfortable, they are continuing the warmer than normal pattern we have had for quite a while now.

For example, the temperature bout from Tuesday, shows that highs were mostly in the mid to upper 80s, except for the panhandle.

This would be about seven or eight degrees above the long term average.

In fact, higher than normal seems to be the new norm lately.

This graph shows the number of days that we have been above normal in blue, versus the days below normal in orange.

The timeframe is from May 1st through Tuesday of this past week.

It shows that in more than 75% of the days we came in hotter than the 15-year average.

Normally, this time of year, each day should be about a half of a degree cooler than the day before.

On October 10th, the average statewide high temperature should be around 76.5 degrees.

On the 11th, the average falls to 76 and so on.

We should continue leaning above normal temperatures next week as shown by the browns on this forecast map from the National Weather Services.

Now, Gary will show us just how fast the drought is expanding.

- Thanks Wes, and good morning, everyone.

Well, unfortunately that drought continues to accelerate and intensify across the state of Oklahoma.

Let's get right to the new map, whether we want to or not, and take a look.

Yeah, this is a really nasty looking map.

Now I would say the majority of the state is covered by extreme to exceptional drought.

Again, a lotta red and a lotta dark red.

So we do have areas that are under the moderate to severe drought.

Those are getting fewer and far between, though, as we go forward.

How dry has it been?

Well, as we go forward, the last 30 days, at least as we go through that period from September 4th forward, that's the driest such period on record for at least 100 years in the state of Oklahoma, based on the statewide average.

So if we look at this 30-day rainfall accumulation map through October 4th, that rainfall you see on there is drier or lesser than any of that similar period of the last 30 days as you go back through the Dust Bowl, through the 50's drought, through all of those bad droughts of our past.

Just a really bad situation as we've gone through the last few months.

That shows up on the percent of normal rainfall map for that 30-day period.

Lots of single digits across the state.

Lots of zero.

O% of normal rainfall for that September 4th through October 3rd period, and until we get rain, this is going to continue to be the driest such period.

We talk about that flash drought starting on June 11th, when the rains went away and the heat came on, and has basically stayed on the whole time.

This is also the driest such period on record going back at least 100 years to 1921 across the state of Oklahoma.

So you see these rainfall totals, you average those together, it's never been drier over that timeframe.

Now we take a look at the departure from normal over that 120 day-ish period.

We see deficits ranging from two to three inches out across Western and parts of South Central Oklahoma to a large area, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, greater than 10 inches below normal over that timeframe.

So again, that's exactly how dry it's been.

Very few surplus amounts.

Basically one place over in Far East Central Oklahoma, as we look over there at Sapulpa, in that area.

That's it for this time.

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

(upbeat music) - Dr. Kim Anderson, our crop marketing specialist, joins us now.

Kim, any big changes with crop prices this week?

- Well, crop prices were up a little bit this week, but I don't think there's any big changes.

You look at wheat about 40 cents, $9.25 up to 9.65.

I think we've got the drought problems that's impacting prices, and of course, things that's going on in the war in Russia and Ukraine.

If you look at corn, we had, oh, somewhere around a 15 cent price increase.

I think if you look at the corn harvest, about 20% done, no surprises there.

If you look at soybeans, going from 13.30 up to 13.70.

What, about 40 cents there.

Little price movement.

When you got $13.50 beans or 13.70 beans, 40 cents is just not very much.

And the cotton.

Now, cotton was volatile but not big moves.

It started out at 84, went up to 88, is back down to 83.

So move it in the mid-80s on that futures contract and you can take about 3 cents off of that to get to Oklahoma prices.

- Have there been any changes in the market situation?

- Not really.

I think slowly we've got to where we are.

You look at the drought and of course we're watching that closely, we need a rain around.

We've got relatively tight stocks for, especially for wheat.

You get into corn, they're tight domestically, a little less in the world situation.

Soybeans, real tight with the US.

To ship a container from Asia to the United States was $19,000 a container.

You come into January, it was down to $14,500.

Now it's $3,900.

An 80% decline in the cost to transport something from Asia to the United States.

I think that should help our prices come down.

And of course, the market's watching the war.

- Let's talk about that war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

How is that impacting things here in the US?

- Well, it's impacting prices all over the board.

You look at Russia, they were the number one wheat exporter.

Wheat, 19% of world wheat exports.

They were the number one natural gas exporter.

You look at their oil, number two.

Your nitrogen fertilizers, 15% of world exporters.

Exports phosphorus for fertilizer, 19%.

Potassium, 14%.

Big player in the market.

Ukraine didn't have the inputs, but they were 10% of the world's wheat exports and 14% of corn exports.

So that's a big, you mess up those, the supply of those products and commodities, you got problems with prices.

- How does the current economic situation impact farmers and ranchers here in Oklahoma?

- It makes their decisions a lot tougher.

There's so much uncertainty in the market.

You've got high, relatively high input prices.

You've got relatively high output prices, but you've got uncertainty on those prices that could fall down to six.

So for wheat, be up to 13.

And then you've got the production.

You've got the drought situations.

There's so much uncertainty in the market and they've gotta make decisions anyway.

It just makes it tough.

- [Lyndall] And I'm sure you and your colleagues will be talking about all the uncertainty at next week's Rural Economic Conference?

- Not only will we be talking about the Oklahoma commodities and production, we have.

- [Kim] A guest speakers that's gonna come in and talk about the United States and world economic situation.

- Okay, Kim, thanks a lot.

And it's not too late to register for the conference.

For information, go to sunup.okstate.edu.

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

Well, in recent weeks we've talked about a lot of topics that help us address and deal with drought, and the continued high heat that plagues cattle and cattlemen across Oklahoma.

Our title this week is "Preparing for Winter."

It's hard to believe as we tape out here in early October, and it's still pretty warm, that winter is just around the corner.

But we're gonna address things that are always important going into winter.

And this particular year, probably, have a little more significance in certain cases.

First thing we address, is water.

Water is the most important of our classes of nutrients.

A clean and abundant water supply is absolutely critical.

As we get into the freezing temperatures of winter, very low ponds are more subject to freeze over.

And whatever we need to do to secure, we've got ample water supply for winter.

Now, is the time to be taking action and figuring out what that needs to be.

Second topic of discussion, is securing our winter hay and feed supply.

We are critically short of growing days.

And even if we receive some moisture at this point, the reality, is the forage base we have on hand right now, is the forage base we're gonna have to go through the winter.

Hay is already scarce, prices I would anticipate while already high, or are gonna get higher as we move into the winter months.

There are some programs to assist with trucking expenses on hay if we can secure some in other states that are worth checking with your local FSA office about.

But the reality, is we need to deal with the forage base we have, and have those winter hay supply and feed demands met at this point, or be getting 'em taken care of in short order.

If we don't have ample grass or hay, the third thing we address, is that we're gonna have to eliminate cow inventory, or cull cows.

Cow culling has been covered in recent weeks on "Cow-Calf Corner."

We can refer back to that and pass newsletters, or YouTube channels where that's available.

But also the potential, as hard as it is to believe, there are parts of the country that seed moisture and have got some forage and grass.

It may be possible to ship your cows into other regions, have some custom grazing done, and bring 'em back a few months later.

If that is the case, I'd tell you to be aware of the trucking bill with shipping cost being what they are right now.

The shipping cost may exceed the actual cost of grazing.

If you look at that, but eliminating some cow inventory, maybe a dire necessity at this point in the year as you assess your own ranch operation.

The fifth thing we get to, also covered recently in "Cow-Calf corners," is just monitoring body condition on cows.

If you've got cows that are thin right now as you wean, having lived through the summer that we've been through in Oklahoma, you may not wanna put the feed resources into 'em but now is the time to do it.

It's more easy for those cows to recapture flesh when they're dry, and get to an adequate body condition level prior to calving.

And if we get that done right now, it's gonna pay dividends on the breed back, and the reproductive efficiency that we see going into next spring on our cow herds.

I hope this helps, and thanks for joining us this week on "Cow-Calf Corner."

- More now on the subject of drought.

Our OSU extension Fire Ecologist John Weir says these lingering conditions, will likely increase the chance of wildfires this following winter.

- So, the fire risk is getting pretty great, or has been and continues to be pretty great.

And it's gonna get get worse because we are now going at least into the dormant season.

So, everything's senescing out.

We're not too far away from our first freeze throughout most of northern Oklahoma, so that'll put most of all the vegetation definitely dry.

We're also, again, even though we are extremely dry, we're getting into the driest time of year, Winter, December, January, and February, or definitely the driest months.

So the potential for wildfire is just increasing greatly with every day.

So, again, with hay being at a premium, and also, not available much, we gotta protect what we've got.

And so, the things I would think I would recommend for protecting hay from wildfire issues, or potential things that come up.

Again, don't store it all in one spot.

Spread your hay out so it's in multiple areas, so that way if a fire does come, it's not impacting all that you have.

Secondly, make sure that the areas that you store the hay, is, I would be looking for areas that are bare ground.

Make sure you have all your equipment cleaned off from the year.

So again, hay equipment, mower, shredder things like that, that may have a big accumulation.

- Of debris and flammable debris that's piled up on them that embers could start and and burn that equipment with, you know clean that stuff off, you know, get everything cleaned up around your out buildings and homes.

Keep everything mowed short.

Uh, trim up any flammable trees or anything that are close by, so that the fire could go underneath it.

Make sure, like on your out buildings and stuff, let's keep the, keep the doors and windows always shut.

So, again, that way if a fire does occur, you're not around.

Embers aren't gonna fly into the, the building potentially set anything on fire.

Things like that.

You know, everybody needs to think about long beforehand.

If insurance is an issue or a thing, check and see what your coverage is.

You know, it may be, you know a lot of times it's not really expensive to up your policy to get greater coverage cause you need to make sure that you've got coverage for what, what you have on doing that.

Also have an inventory of what kind of equipment things that you have in your barns, in your shops, in your home, in case you know something would happen.

You need to do that beforehand cause it's hard to ever get that.

Remember everything that you've ever had.

So, again, take that inventory, take photographs, take videos of all that stuff, so you have a record of everything that you have, so that way in case something does happen, you have that record and you've got that proof, you know, again keep receipts and things like that.

Again, keep those in a safe place again.

Also, again, think about what you're gonna do how you're gonna do it long before that fire ever comes.

And that's, that's the, the biggest issue.

(slow orchestral music) - (Narrator) Continuing the discussion on wildfires.

Don't forget about the upcoming OK-Fire workshops.

The annual workshops will be held in a virtual format over Zoom, spanning two consecutive afternoons in October, November, and December.

OK- Fire is our statewide weather based decision support system of the Oklahoma mezz net for wild land fire management with applications to wildfire, prescribed fire, and smoke.

These events will have a combination of presentations, website demos, and of course question and answer periods.

For more information about these workshops just go to sunup.OKstate.edu.

- This morning I'd just like to give you a brief update on High path Avon influenza.

As of October 3rd, the United States has lost 46 plus million birds to the virus.

Uh, we've seen, uh, 228 commercial flocks be infected and 256, uh, backyard flocks infected.

Uh, The US DA's Wildlife Service has been monitoring uh, along the red, along the Red River and has found several birds, uh, infected with the virus.

So this is really a, an important wake up call for all of the commercial and backyard poultry producers to remember keep following your bio security protocols.

Do all, you can't prevent any contact of your birds with wild birds.

Uh, Don't feed wild birds around your flocks.

Don't let 'em have the same access to water supply as far as your concerned.

You know, keep your distance from other poultry producers.

Try not to loan any equipment out.

If you're going to do that make sure it's clean and disinfected before you use it.

The last thing I would say is be sure you know the clinical signs of high path Avon influenza.

You know, normally we're gonna see respiratory signs sneezing, coughing, discoloration, or swelling of the combs the waddle the head, and the feet, the legs.

Um, I would strongly suggest that anyone that sees a high number of sick birds or a high number of deaths get in contact with our state veterinarian, or your veterinarian, or contact your Oklahoma State University County Extension Office.

For more information about High Path Avon influenza go to sunup.OKstate.edu.

- As we close today, another reminder that you can receive discounted forage and water testing through your OSU local County Extension Office between now and the end of the year.

I'm Lindle Stout.

Have a great week everyone and we'll see you next time at sunup.

(upbeat guitar music)