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

I'm Lyndall Stout.

As we move further into fall, horse owners are learning about a virus called equine infectious anemia that can cause some serious problems for their animals.

We begin today with "SUNUP's" Kurtis Hair talking with OSU extension equine specialist Dr. Kris Hiney to see what's going on.

- So we've actually seen a little bit of an uptick in positive cases reported in Oklahoma for equine infectious anemia.

It's not like it's an epidemic.

I think we've had five confirmed cases this year, but on average years, we only have one.

So it is something just to kind of pay attention to and to make sure horse owners have on their radar.

- So, what exactly is equine infectious anemia?

- So, unfortunately, EIA, or equine infectious anemia, does not have any treatment, cure, or vaccine, so that's why it's kind of problematic.

So, essentially, how we've tried to eliminate EIA is by identifying horses that are positive for the virus and then essentially removing them from the population or eliminating them from being any risk to other horses.

- So, how is it actually spread?

How do horses actually get this virus?

- So this is a virus that's spread via mechanical transmission.

And so when we talk about other viruses like West Nile or Eastern or Western equine encephalitis, those are spread by insects.

Well, EIA is also spread by insects, but in this case, the virus isn't essentially hiding inside of the insect.

It's taking a ride from the mouth parts that have used to pick up that blood meal.

So essentially, if a horse, or sorry, if a fly feeds on a horse and it's got infected blood, when it flies to the other horse, it injects it into them.

So when we talk about mechanical transmission, that means insects aren't the only way to actually transmit this virus.

So, also needles, dirty tubing, et cetera.

Shared equipment that may have blood on it can also transfer between horses.

- So you mentioned that there's no vaccine, and there's no real treatment for this disease.

So when it comes to prevention, what are some things that you can do other than kind of like separating, you know, infected animals from non-infected animals?

- Yeah, essentially.

So, our way to prevent it is actually, again, identifying who may be a carrier.

So that is why when we travel with horses or intermingle horses, we're all supposed to have a negative Coggins test.

So, that is this annual blood draw that is sent off to a lab to confirm whether or not the horse has EIA.

So as long as your horse is clean and he's around other clean horses, then we really don't worry about being at risk.

It's when horses are not tested and are positive and are intermingled with other groups.

That's where we can actually have trouble.

- So when it comes to symptoms and what this virus actually does to the horse, how does that work?

- So essentially, the trouble with EIA is that horses can get anemia pretty severely and acutely and so actually can die from it.

We can also have horses that sort of are chronic carriers, where essentially they'll have bouts of this where they're not really doing very well so that it kind of comes and goes.

And then you can also have some asymptomatic carriers.

But again, because there's no vaccine, no cure, the only way to keep it out of the population by spreading is identifying those that are positive and eliminating the risk from those horses.

- So, like iron supplementation just doesn't work at all?

- No, no.

Essentially, they're destroying the blood cells.

The virus does that, and yeah, nope, you can't supplement your way out of this one.

- And I think, at the end of the day, you know, one great way to really prevent this from getting into your horses is just practicing good biosecurity.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So, the big thing we always say is you cannot share equipment that carries blood between horses, right?

That's why we don't share needles with horses, tubing, even dental equipment that may have blood on it needs to be cleaned before it's used on the next horse.

- All right.

Thanks Kris.

Kris Hiney, extension equine specialist here at Oklahoma State University.

And if you'd like some more information on equine infectious anemia, go to our website, sunup.okstate.edu.

- Welcome to the Mesonet Weather Report.

I'm Wes Lee.

Well, there wasn't much rain to talk about last week, so I will focus again on our temperatures.

The 2023 growing season has been pretty much on par so far for temperatures when you look over a period of time.

This map shows the meteorological spring temperatures for March, April, and May as they relate to the Mesonet 15-year average.

You can see that over this period of time, the state came in within one degree, plus or minus, of the long-term average.

For the summer months of June, July, and August, again, we were pretty close to normal.

Most of the counties were within plus or minus one degree, except for Jefferson County at plus two and the Panhandle region coming in a little bit cooler than normal.

In the Panhandle, there were several rainy days during summer that impacted their temperatures.

Maybe a better way to look at temperatures and their impact on crop growth is using growing degree days.

This table lists growing days for cotton at three Western Oklahoma locations.

Here you can see that the numbers for this year are right on track at Altus and Weatherford with the five-year average and just a little bit lower than average due to the extra clouds in the Panhandle region.

Now, here's Gary with a drought map that's getting uglier.

- Thanks, Wes, and good morning everyone.

Well, we have a combination of flash drought and long-term drought continuing across the state, and unfortunately our drought monitor map looks a lot worse this week.

Let's get right to it.

We're still showing that Southwestern half of the state covered in at least moderate drought, but we also have a lot of moderate to extreme drought, those darker browns in the reds.

Unfortunately, that extreme drought area, the red, has expanded across Southwest Oklahoma now covers much of the five county area down in the far Southwestern corner.

But we also saw that extreme drought in North Central Oklahoma, in Northeast Oklahoma, expand Southward.

And now, we have nearly the entire state, from Southwest Oklahoma up through Northeast Oklahoma, in at least abnormally dry conditions.

So not drought in and of itself, but indicating that those areas are in danger of going into drought.

So definitely not a good drought monitor picture this week.

With that flash drought basically about 90 days old, we can see this rainfall map, the 90-day rainfall map from the Mesonet showing that Southwest half of the state.

And the yellows and the greens, those are areas that just simply haven't gotten enough rainfall over the last 30, 60, 90 days.

But also up in North Central, Northeast Oklahoma, you see those yellows and a little bit of green.

Another area that hasn't gotten enough rainfall, and it's pretty evident when you look on the departure from normal rainfall map for the last 90 days.

So this was through Wednesday, we see lots of areas across the Southwest half of the state over the last 90 days, three, four, five, six inches below normal.

And in some cases, in parts of South Central Oklahoma, more than eight inches below normal for that timeframe.

So definitely not good news.

Also up in that long-term drought region in North Central Oklahoma.

three, four, five, six, almost seven inches below normal according to the Mesonet sites up in that region.

So the 90-day map showed the flash drought area in combination with the long-term drought, but we also show the long-term drought area on the departure from normal rainfall map from the last 365 days.

We see that long-term drought area up in North Central and Northeast Oklahoma, as many as 11.6 inches below normal.

Also down in far Southwest Oklahoma, up to eight inches below normal and also down in the South Central Oklahoma, close to 10 inches below normal in a small area.

So that's the difference between the long-term drought and the flash drought.

Unfortunately, that flash drought continues to feed the long-term drought.

So now that we're in the short-term drought for about 90 days now, unfortunately that's going to transform into just the regular drought across the state of Oklahoma, and it all means the same thing.

We just need lots of rainfall to get out of this mess.

That's it for this time.

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

(lighthearted music) - We're back here now at the Rural Economic Outlook Conference talking with meteorologist Brian Bledsoe.

And you're a speaker today.

You're talking about the forecast kind of immediate and also long range.

Tell us what you're gonna talk about.

- Well, I mean, we're an ag forum, so weather is a big deal, and long-range weather's a big deal.

And as we start to enter the back part and finish out 2023, a lot of folks are gonna wonder how we're gonna finish A and what we're looking at going in 2024.

And I think being top of mind because we've had to worry about dryness so much for different places, but other people have had a lot of rain.

So I think they're gonna wanna find out: Are we gonna be more balanced or are we gonna kind of keep going with the have and the have-nots type of thing?

- So when you look in your crystal ball, what are the answers to those questions?

- It's a complex answer, it always is.

And then one of my favorite expressions is, "The future is hard."

And when we're dealing with weather and especially long-range weather, my goal is to put it in a baseball analogy, not run the bases on the baseball diamond, but just to simply get in the park.

- So farmers and ranchers have an idea that they can put in their risk management toolbox of what to expect.

Now that being said, we know that there's been a lot of information given out there about the El Nino that has been on top of us and being kind of thrown in our face a lot.

And a lot of that messaging, I think has been misguided that El Nino is a fix all for everything and everything's going to be fine, because that's just simply not how it works all the time.

So one of my goals today is kind of to reset the table and walk ag producers through A, what this phenomena is all about, what it has done in the past, and what it looks like going into 2024.

- Is there a TV soundbite version of that answer that you could share with our viewers who aren't at the conference today?

- I will say I am much more optimistic about moisture for us in the first half of 2024 than I am for the back half of '24.

So I would be very judicious with your business practices and capitalize on that moisture while it's here, because as we know living in the plains, we're never very far away from drought.

- So then could we see La Nina sort of return midyear?

- That is a concern of mine for the reasons of in the Pacific Ocean, you have these warm and cold phases, and they're long term, they're decadal cycles, if you will.

And since 1998, the Pacific has been in a cold phase and that's one of the major reasons why we have had to struggle more with drought over the past 25 years than we really had before then.

As long as that Pacific stays cold, it makes it that much easier for us to go back into La Nina and for us to have to worry about drought and dryness again.

The Pacific is still cold right now despite the fact that that El Nino is there, and that's one of the main reasons that I'm concerned about the back half of '24.

It's a long ways out there, I get that, but when you look at how these patterns have cycled historically and kind of where we are right now, it's a red flag to me that we at least need to be addressing it and looking for that possibility.

- Our viewers really dive into the Mesonet reports every week so I think the key probably is to stay up to date with really credible information in order to make decisions short term and long term.

- You know how much misinformation is out there today, and yes, I think it's very important, it doesn't matter who you follow, you just need to follow somebody who's credible, resourceful, and has your best interest at heart.

- Great, great.

And you have some materials that you put out regularly and a podcast, tell us about that.

- I do, so here recently I started a podcast, it's called the "Desert Farmer Podcast."

You could find that and you might say, well, why desert farmers?

Well, because a lot of us farm in the desert, the great American desert.

And I think having grown up in Eastern Colorado and have been basically researching the weather patterns of the Western and Central High Plains, I wanted to give back to those farmers and ranchers some information that I think that they can genuinely use.

So if you're interested in that, it's on Spotify, it's Apple, Google, just search up the "Desert Farmer Podcast."

I also have a private weather consulting business, It's Brian Bledsoe WX LLC.

You can find me on Twitter as well @Brianbledsoe.

So I'm not very hard to find.

- Okay, Brian, thanks a lot, great talking with you today.

- Likewise.

- And for a link to the information that Brian mentioned, just go to sunup.okstate.edu.

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

This week and actually next week's topics, we are gonna revisit something that we cover each fall, and it is the potential economic benefit of looking at our feed stuffs per unit of nutrient that they contain as opposed to just looking at that cost on a price per ton basis.

Right now, at the time we tape, we could buy 38% range cubes at about $475 a ton, bulk price, or 20% range cubes at about $350 a ton, bulk price.

Now again, that's the moment we're taping, we know these prices vary from week to week, month to month, and year to year.

Obviously it looks more appealing to be buying those range cubes at $350 a ton than it does 475, but actually based on our specific target that we're shooting for from a nutritional standpoint, one or the other of these options may be a little bit better if we break down these feed costs on a price per unit, of either crude protein or the energy that they contain.

Both of these range cubes are about 70% TDN.

And what does that mean to us?

The energy content in either one is about the same.

So if we're needing an energy feed, we'll take a look at that cost.

If we're actually needing a protein supplement, we'll take a look at that cost.

So looking at these step-by-step, 38% range cubes at 475 a ton, that means that these protein contents are given on an as is basis.

That ton of range cubes containing 38% crude protein, has actually got 760 pounds of crude protein that we're buying.

At 70% TDN, taking a look at the energy content, we're buying 1400 pounds of energy per ton of those range cubes.

So what does this equate to?

If we take a look at these prices, per unit of nutrient, take our $475 price per ton, divide it.

- By the 760 pounds of protein we're getting, and that works out to a cost of about 62 and a half cents per unit accrued protein that we're purchasing in those 38% cubes.

By that same token, the $475 per ton price divided by 1400 pounds of energy, works out to a price of about 34 cents per pound of total digestible nutrients, our expression of energy for the sake of the example we're working through.

We take a look at those 20% cubes and do the same math.

20% cubes are gonna have 400 pounds accrued protein per ton, 1400 pounds of TDN.

TDN content of both these is the same.

So our per unit cost, $350 a ton price divided by 400 pounds accrued protein is a per pound cost of about 87 and a half cents if we're looking at that by crude protein content.

The energy content, $350 divided by the $1,400 of energy, we're at about 25 cents per pound of TDN that we're buying in those 20% cubes.

So at this point, we can ask ourself, well, what is actually the better buy here?

And that depends entirely upon our feeding objective.

We know that cows, calves, all different ages, stages of production, their energy and their protein requirements change.

So next week we're actually gonna take a look at this relative to a specific feeding goal.

But what we can answer for right now is that the energy purchase in the 20% cubes looks more cost effective.

The protein content per unit is more cost effective in the 38% cubes looking specifically at the cost per unit of protein versus the cost per unit of energy.

I hope you can join us next week.

We'll look at a specific feeding scenario and talk about the money saved or the extra money we would cost ourselves if we make the wrong choice.

Thanks for joining us on "Cow-Calf Corner".

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

Kim, questions this week about the Israel-Hamas War and whether there will be an impact on prices.

- Well, nobody knows what's really gonna happen in that situation there, but right now it's had, in my opinion, zero impact on prices.

Now, it does increase the risk of something happening.

And when you increase risk, you have a tendency to decrease prices just a little bit, but for all practical purposes right now, I don't think there's gonna be any impact.

- What is currently happening with prices?

- Well, if you look at wheat, wheat prices just leveled up.

I mean, we've moved in maybe a 15 cent price move since the first of the month.

The prices up in the northern Oklahoma, around $6 and 10 cents, 5.80 down in the deep south.

I come up I 40 in that area, around $6.

Not much going on in the wheat market right now, but prices are flat.

You look at corn, they've been working up just a little bit but again, very narrow range.

You go back since September one, they've been in about a 20 cent range from oh 4.65 to 4.85 and they're right around 4.75 right now.

Soybeans went down and hit that $12 level.

The big question was, would it break 12?

Yeah, it broke 12, maybe one day, two days.

It's back up to around almost 12.50 now.

So it looks like beans have and all the the commodities right now have bottomed out at least for a little while.

- Let's talk about expectations now with the crops starting with wheat.

- Well, you look at wheat, let's go over the the stocks-to-use ratio, 'cause that kind of describe what's both happening in the stocks and the consumption side.

You got wheat for the world stocks-to-use ratio is projected to be about 33%.

The average is 35, so below average.

Tight stocks on the world.

If you look at the United States, it's at 36.

The average is 42, so both world and US stocks are tight.

The average price is $5 and 85 cents in Oklahoma.

You would expect the prices to be well above six.

And right now we got slightly above six.

So I'm kind of optimistic with wheat.

- How are corn and soybeans looking?

- Corn, you've got the stocks-to-use ratio in the world, 26.

The average is 28.

Slightly tight in the world.

Stocks-to-use ratio in the US, 15%.

The average is 12, so excess stocks.

So that means our 4.85 average price, price is oh, 4.60 or so, somewhere in that slightly.

I think that's about where it should be.

Until something happens, I believe we're gonna stay in that area.

Soybeans, 30% stocks-to-use.

Average, 28 in the world.

Above average there in the world, but the United States, 5%.

Average is 8%.

So tight in the US and you got $12 and 50 cent beans.

The average is 10.70, so there's some potential for bean prices to come down.

We'll have to wait and see on that.

So I expect corn, flat, wheat, up, beans, either up or down, one or the other, but not a lot because we got tight stocks in the US.

- Last but not least, how is cotton looking?

- Well, our cotton harvest is going on both in Oklahoma and around the United States.

You've got cotton prices, they've fallen off a little bit the last week.

If you look at the chart for cotton, now this is the December futures contract.

We got up around 90 cents.

It's down around 82 now.

So we went from 90, mostly really 89, it dropped to 84.

So really not much movement there in cotton.

You look at the stocks-to-use ratio for cotton, 20% protected, 28% average.

So you'd expect above average cotton prices.

That's what we've got and I think we're gonna hold those.

- Okay, Kim, thanks a lot.

We'll see you next week.

(lively music) - [Announcer] And just a quick reminder about the upcoming OK-Fire Workshops coming up this fall.

The first session will be split into two parts in October 25th and 26th and will be held over Zoom.

- [Announcer] Workshops will consist of a combination of presentations, website demos, and question and answer periods.

Now, these workshops are free, but registration is required.

For more information about this event and how to register, just go to sunup.okstate.edu.

(lighthearted music) - Finally, today, it's been a big week for the OSU Rodeo Team as they gear up and host their annual Cowboy Stampede.

Today, our SUNUP intern, Elizabeth Hokit, takes us behind the scenes to learn just what it takes to host this annual event.

- [Elizabeth] The time is finally here.

Every drop of sweat in the practice pen has led to this very moment.

The most anticipated rodeo event in Stillwater is about to take place, but there's still a little more practicing to do.

- In my personal opinion, it's one of my favorite rodeos probably ever.

I was blessed with the chance to win that my freshman year and it's a really cool experience.

- [Elizabeth] Kade Williams has a unique perspective on the Cowboy Stampede.

Although this is only his second year on the Rodeo Team, he's already won once.

Since then, the Cowboy Stampede is pretty special to him.

- [Kade] I feel like it's one of the more crowd-involved rodeos.

It's heavily marketed to students too, so there'll be like a student section at a rodeo, which I think is a really cool thing.

And it's like your home rodeo.

- I'm excited 'cause it's my first experience.

I'm pretty pumped to see what it's about.

- [Elizabeth] This is Kirsten Hampton's first year at the college rodeo scene.

After transferring to OSU from Purdue, she says she's excited to rope for the first time at the event.

- I know that we have some pretty cool things that we're gonna do this year to try to get the crowd involved, and I'm excited to see what the crowd does when we do those events.

- It's a lot of work, and it's a little different than the typical rodeos that we travel to because the students not only are practicing and preparing for competition, but they also participate in putting the rodeo on and a lot of the production too.

- I think that it's such a good show and it really shows us what cowboys are.

And so to have everybody show up and support, especially from the university, that says a lot about what we are as OSU.

And I know a ton of people that aren't from around here at all and they come down just to watch because it's such a good event.

I don't know that I've ever been to a rodeo where everyone talks so highly about tickets being sold out and everybody being there to support.

So, that will be new for me and I'm excited to see that.

- I'm just kind of excited to be back and rodeoing in Stillwater, especially.

I feel like last year, it was the first rodeo that went well for me my freshman year.

And I was super nervous at the start of it.

And I feel like this year, I'm going into it with a little bit more of a comfortable feeling, a little more... Like, not necessarily laid back, but more confident.

So I'm excited to see what it holds for me this year.

- These students put a lot of time and effort into this event.

From long days practicing in the heat to pulling all-nighters to study, the dedication these students have for their sport is unmatched.

You can guarantee if you drive by after dark, there will be someone out in that arena doing whatever it takes to win.

- [Kirsten] Like us ropers, we'll rope the dummy until the sun goes down.

So we're here a lot.

- I think the students do a great job of producing this rodeo, and we've had a really good rodeo for our team the last few years, so I always look forward to that.

I think they take full advantage of having a home rodeo and getting an opportunity to perform in front of their friends and family and do a really good job.

I think you'd wanna come out and watch 'cause we've got a really great team.

The students are working hard to prepare, and I think they're really gonna show up and show out for our rodeo.

- It's one of those things.

You can't really explain it as well as you can just feel it.

You just feel the energy at the arena.

The crowd's very involved.

Stillwater is cowboy town, and it's just a super cool place to get to go compete.

- [Elizabeth] So you guys ready to win?

- Oh, yeah.

We're gonna bring it home this year.

(Kirsten laughing) (horse neighing) (bright music) - That'll do it for our show this week.

A reminder you can see SUNUP anytime at sunup.okstate.edu.

And also follow us on YouTube and social media.

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Have a great week ,everyone.

And remember, Oklahoma Agriculture starts at sun up.

(lighthearted music)