Pasture Forage
Hello and welcome to SUNUP. I'm clinton griffiths. We begin this morning with an interview I did a couple of months ago, when the temperatures were hot and the grass was green and growing. Take a look. Summer he's a time of year when you need a lot of forage in your pasture for your cattle but you himself also have a lot of stress on the forages. What's better, an introduced forage pasture or a native range forest pasture? We have darren clemen to help us with that. We will conformity

Good morning.

What's the difference?

The easiest way to define that, native four average species are defined as those forages that were here prior to european settlement. The introduced forages can be defined by those plants that were brought in after european settlement. When we talk about which plants are better from my standpoint, both of them are used for livestock production so the end use is basically the same. From a management standpoint there are some differences that we need to be aware of. Native plant communities, typically those are diverse plant communities, those are managed with what we would call extensive management practices or ecological management practices. The two big ones we're also concerned with are grazing management and the use of fire. Compared to introduced pastures, these would include management practices that would be intensive or may be better defined as agronomic management practices that would include increased use of fertilization, increased use of herbicides and often times fencing is used to a greater extent.

So if we're looking at a native versus an introduced pasture, is there any difference in yield potential? I mean, is there any way to compare that, I guess?

Yeah. The advantage we have oftentimes with the introduced forages, they have a greater yield potential and that is only going to be realized through the increased use of nitrogen fertilizer, okay? The use of introduced pastures in combination with the native range is what we define as a complementary forage system where we have both native and introduced. The use of fertilizer on the introduced forages such as bermuda grass allows the capacity of that ranch to be increased much

You're getting the best of both worlds in that instance. Will an introduced forage pasture compete with a native range forage pasture? Say you can't afford to put down the nitrogen.

For the most part unfertilized introduced pastures are going to have a pretty similar yield to the native pastures. In areas of high rainfall the native may actually outyield the unfertilized introduced grasses by a little bit.

Okay. So overall as far as taking care of one of these pastures or really the key is making sure that you're maintaining it properly and that means if it's an introduced fertilizers, maybe some herbicides and that kind of thing. If it's native, maybe not quite as much, I guess?

Yeah. It's understanding the differences between the natives and also the introduced as we talked about earlier. The management practices for native primarily going to be related to grazing management and fire. Natives don't respond very well to added fertilizers. It's imperative in order for the introduced the yield that you add nitrogen to those pastures.

All right, darren. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. \m \m

Economic Outlook with Larry Sanders
Today we thought we'd take a look at the state of national economy and see where we are in terms of a recovery. Helping us look at that is extension policy expert larry sanders and extension economist date of scheidler. Welcome to the program. Let's start with the national economy. Where are we right now in terms of the economy and some sort of recovery?

Well, we're not out of the woods yet, but there are some indicators that are suggesting we may be getting close. We see that unemployment is up, but not as fast as it has been rising. Consumption is up very slightly. Things like the economy and housing are not falling as fast as they were. Interest rates are remaining low. Oil prices seem to have stabilized for the time being, and some foreign economies that buy things from us seem to be improving. On the downside, though, we still have deflation, weak dollar which could be good or bad. We see that wages and compensation continue to be weak. Bank lending is weak. So there is a mixed bag out there.

Kind of a mixed bag of nuts, kind of like us sitting around this table. Why don't we start with the local economy in terms of this state.

Oklahoma typically enters the recession later and exits later. A lot of this has to do with our energy production in the state. This recession is a little bit unique because of the global nature to it, so agriculture, manufacturing have taken a more severe beating this time than maybe previous recessions, and so we are seeing job losses, we are seeing the rise in unemployment here locally, and following retail sales -- falling retail sales, which is a huge source of revenue for local and state government.

This seems to have taken off in the last few months. Larry, talk about where the hope is. We've got of -- doesn't seem like a lot of hope on the horizon but it feels like we're head out of something. What are you going to be watching, and where is our hope in hoping we get out of this?

There are indicators that we may be bottoming out. Whenever we talk about the shape of an economy, we really only know for sure historically looking back after we have the actual data. Having said, that the next three months are going to be critical in telling us whether we've likely bottomed out, and what I'll be looking at is things like unemployment, if we stop at 10 percent and don't get any worse for a while, if consumption really continues to rice beyond the carb for clunker program, if deflation begins to stop and maybe we see early signs of inflation, and if capital capacity utilization and industry continues to improve, there could be indications there that we really are seeing signs of recovery.

Yeah, and I think some of the major car manufacturers are even talking about calling people back. How important is the holiday season going to be in what you're watching?

I think it's going to put the exclamation point on what's happened over this last three months of the year. If we see continued improving signs month to month and christmas is certainly not going to be as good as last couple of years, but it's going to be not falling as fast, then we can probably say we're out of the woods and there is light at the end of the tunnel. If it's a very dismal christmas, then we're going to be in this wallowing around period.

What about a state perspective?

We'll be watching much of the same things. Retail sales, unemployment rates, tracking those, because the uniqueness of us coming in later, I don't think Oklahoma has quite seen the bottom yet. But at the same time we weren't as bad as a state. Our unemployment rate is 3 percent less than the nation. Looking for some stability, energy prices will be a big indicator if oil prices remain stable, but particularly if natural gas prices come up, that will be a huge benefit to the state.

Right. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. We appreciate your time, and hopefully this will be a good three months and we'll find ourselves in an uptrend starting in 2010.

Centennial Farms
Just a little southeast of the old Texas county community of the old Texas county community of hough, Oklahoma, is where o.n. heard found a land that not many men had even seen before.

He was born in 1963 and moved here in 1904 -- born in 1863. He had a lot of courage.

He had to find courage because he didn't have much time to live.

My grandfather, oscar heard, was told in 1903 that he had malaria and approximately three months to live and he heard about no-man's land.

He built a shack on his land and headed back east to work and to bring his family back. While in missouri, he learned that someone had stolen his shack back in no-man's land. Where was his family to live when they got here?

Dug after dugout and he said nobody will steal that. Right where I'm standing is the indention of the 16 by 20 dugout he built. When grandpa said he was going to dig a dug the court: out, grand -- to dig a dugout, grandma said, I'm not too thrilled to live there, so I think that's why he built the house.

O.n. was a cotton man, so he brought it back to no-man's land. Although it grew great, the thistles picked it all and sent it south with the wind. Now he had to find something else to grow here.

He read an article in a magazine about hard winter wheat and he had a beautiful crop and the neighbors helped him pick it and he sold it to his neighbors and he is the first person in Texas count on record to sell wheat.

His answer was in an article. O.n. expanded his land to four quarter sections, but this venture was a little more risky than previous ones because since he had a steady income for the oil business, he was asked to co-sign his father's note in order to save the farm.

The bank was going to foreclose on the section.

In 1938 we did have a wheat crop. And it was able to pay that note off the bank with the wheat crop.

The man that was expected to live only six months in back east lived another 40-plus in no-man's land. And his legacy lives on in every member of the heard family, and can be seen every time that Oklahoma wind makes the wheat in Texas county dance.

Cow-Calf Corner
We're in the month of october, and we know that that first frost is not very far away. That first light frost can present some problems for cattle producers that might be turning some cattle out on some of the summer annuals. Those that are in the sorghum family are the ones we're most concerned about because after a light frost, that little bit of plant stress can cause the development of a problem caused prosic acid. It is a form of cyanide. If the cattle consume enough of it, it can be pretty deadly in a short period of time. Prosic acid poisoning can occur right after a light frost for two different reasons: the stress of the plant already aboveground is one of the problems. The other problem is if we have some regrowth that then comes out after that frost if we get a few warm days. That rapid regrowth is also known to accumulate high levels of prosic acid. If we have a light frost on some of the summer annuals before we turn a little out into that area this year, I would suggest if you can, hold off until after a good killing freeze and then wait at least one week. That will allow that prosic acid gas to dissipate and be gone from that plant. If we can cut that for hey and allow it to sun cure completely, we will greatly reduce the risk for prosic acid. Any of these won't help in terms of nitrate if that happens to be the other problem that could exist on some of these summer annuals. Watch these very closely if you're going to turn cattle out on some of the summer annuals after a light frost, there is a potential problem of prosic acid poisoning. We'll visit with you next week on SUNUP's cow-calf corner.

Market Monitor
The 2010 wheat crop is being planted. Canola acres are up, and we saw a 30-cent price rally this week. Kim anderson, our grain marketing specialist joins us. Kim, a question producers want to know, should they sell?

Yes, and I can smile with a 30-cent price rally. If producers can't take the risk, they should sell all their wheat we've been talking about and I think this is the case if you can't take any more downside risk, we're on the upside pattern and if you can't afford the 30 to 50-cent downside risk, sell the wheat. Follow my plan, sell some in september and october, maybe once in october, twice, but I'm going to sell every rally as we get into december 1 to try to have it all sold in early december.

Is this the beginning of an uptrend?

I don't think so yet. Last week we went right below support level and we're right at the top of it this week. We'll have to watch next week. If we get above $5 consecutively two days, we've got another 30, 40-cent price rally and sell some more. We can't call it an uptrend until $5 and move it from there.

Oklahoma's wheat crop is about 60 percent planted. Do you expect the same acres planted as last year?

No. I talked to elevators this week and they tell me they're not planting as many acres as last year. I think with the low wheat prices and higher prices, potential of higher prices in higher commodities and they need to clean up the fields, they're going to other crops.

What types of crops do you see?

I hear canola, those acres will increase substantially. I know in southern Oklahoma they're planting a lot of canola where they haven't planted much in the past, so I think canola acres will be up. With the scab problems with the last crop and carrying over, they're coming in with the grain crops next year.

What's your wheat price outlook?

I think we've got a shot at 4.50. You can hang me later when it doesn't make there, but I think I'm going to 4.25 to 4.50.

All right, Kim. We'll see if it holds true. Kim anderson, our grain marketing specialist.

Shop Stop
Hi. Welcome to Shop Stop. Today we're going to talk about chain and how to take chain apart and put it back together.

Lay it out and try to move it and see if it needs to be replaced, if you get a lot of lateral movement in the chain.

If you need to replace your chain, you can buy it in bulk and get your chain cheaper and if you do that, you're going to be required to take it apart and link it back together. With that we've got a chain breaker.

The thing you want to remember, if you don't have a handy tool to take it apart, a lot of people will fight it and try to grind it and hit it with a punch, but this tool is designed just kind of like a small press that you clamp it over the link where it goes and then you just tighten it up, and you push the pin directly out of it.

Now, this particular one is only good up to a certain size. Let's assume that you had a larger chain that this is an over exaggeration, but this chain breaker obviously can't do this chain. This one you're going to have to go back to the blacksmith methods of grinding that and driving it out with a pin punch.

The other thing you want to think about, once you get your chain to the right size and start putting it back together, how do you put the master link on? It seems pretty simple. You put it in and put the pin on, but there is a trick you may want to know.

Let's say that this chain is being pulled in from my left to my right. Well, when you put your keeper on, if you will put the keeper on where the closed-in is toward the direction of travel rather than this direction, it will be less likely to be ripped off by any debris or anything that may come in contact with it.

So there is a few tips on chain maintenance and repair, on Shop Stop this week.

We'll see you next time on Shop Stop.

AGWEATHER
I'm Al Sutherland with your Mesonet AGWEATHER report. September 10 marks the end of the typical water year. It runs october 1 through September 30. The water collected in the winter is available for our cities and crops to use the following summer. Our first map shows the water year that we just finished up, October 1, 2008, through September 30, 2009. You'll note that most of the state is light green receiving about 90 percent of their normal rainfall. Those areas that are bright green have had more than 100 percent of their normal rainfall, and then those areas in the yellow, 80 percent or less. October is a month to start planting spring flowering bulbs. Things like alium, crocus, but hold off on tulips. We want to wait for the toil -- soil temperatures to get cooler. You can see the soil temperatures in the 60s and we want to see them at 55 or cooler, which is typically in November. Here is Gary McManus with a look back at September and the week ahead.

Thanks, Al. Now, first we'll take a look back at September's weather before we take a look forward to next week. To start, let's look at September's temperatures. Across the state we can see it was up to 4 degrees below normal in some areas and about a degree below normal in other areas. Average across the state as a whole, that was 2.5 degrees below normal for september which ranks as a 16th coolest september on record since 1895. For precipitation, it was the haves and have-notes during september. In the southeastern part of the state, it was 4 inches over normal and south central, 4 inches below normal and averaging that across the state, it was.6 inches below normal. Now let's shift to the future and take a look at the outlooks for next week's weather. We see an increase chance of above-normal temperatures across the western half of the state, especially in the Oklahoma panhandle. And we also see an increased chance of below-normal precipitation in the western half of the state. Again, especially in the Oklahoma panhandle. That's all we have this week. We'll see you next time on ag weather.

Livestock Marketing with Derrell Peel
Well, we were talking about forages and things producers need to look for. Let's talk about wheat pasture.

We planted the majority of the wheat around the state and the majority of it is up already. The early planted the wheat, the wheat planted before labor day is well up.

What about price for his calves and stockers this fall?

It's been slower to develop than I thought. Producers haven't been aggressive about buying in september. Prices slipped a little bit because supply exceeded demand but we'll see more buying pressure and I think the prices will stabilize if not go up a little bit in the next knew weeks.

It's also the time of year to cull cows. What are some of the market pressures to think about?

Cull cows have the most dramatic seasonal price pattern of any class of cattle we look, so the november low is always very low and there is a strong tendency for cull cow prices to increase after the first of the year, february, march and into april and may so there is oftentimes a tendency to cold the cows and put a little weight on them and still sell more pounds for more money by doing that.

Okay. There going to be any outside impact this year?

This year I think even more so you might want to consider the possibility of holding onto the cows. We'll be in the third round of the dairy buyout that we've had this year and the timing of this one, we'll be slaughtering for a couple of weeks in mid november. Many of those dairy cows in that third round. That could cause some localized, even additional weakness in cull cow prices, and they're already quite a bit weaker this fall because of meat market impact. Hanging onto the cull cows this year if you have the feed resources and management capability offer potential for producers this year.

Thank you for being here, good information as always.

4-H National Science & Technology Week
This week we're celebrating national 4-H week and here to talk about that is 4-H specialist Jeff Sallee and his daughter Allie. Why is 4-H focusing on science and technology these days?

They have been for the past several years in an attempt to generate more interest with our youth to go into these career fields. The national assessment on educational programs has shown that in 2005 only 18 percent of our high school seniors were proficient in the area of science. You add to that, you look at our college graduates, only 5 percent of them are going into fields that are science and engineering and technology. And 4-H is trying to address this issue by generating more interest in kids into science, engineering technology and math, hopefully through 4-H projects, events and activities that when we they go to college, they'll major in these fields. The ultimate goal is to narrow the gap, we have scientists, technologists, engineers retiring in record numbers and we're going to get in trouble if we don't supply more kids in those career field to say fill those jobs.

You've brought an experiment with you today that folks that could do at home with their kids. It's an example of the sort of thing you're promoting. Tell us what we're doing today.

Today's experiment is about wind energy and wind power and what we're trying to do is use a pinwheel to lift a cup which generates -- which changes wind velocity into wind power by actually moving something, and my daughter will explain this to you.

All right.

You can print out some pattern sheets, and you cut it out.

This is what you end up with.

Yeah. You just put a push pin threw it and add a pencil and there it is.

All right. How do we make that work, translate the wind energy into that.

You can get a piece of string and either tie it around the pencil or tape it around the pencil and the piece of string needs to go from the top of the table all the way down to the ground and a little bit farther for room to add to the pencil and the other end you have to add to a cup.

Let's see how this works. Let's get the fan out and see. Now, you lift pennies with this?

Yeah. You can lift pennies. See how many pennies it can hold much

How many do you think we'll get today?

Maybe 10.

Let's see.

Put 10 in it.

Let's see what happens.

It's lifting.

It's lifting.

Jeff, you said there is a lot more experiments like this through the 4-H website?

On the website we have all of our state curriculum and have links to the national curriculum.

Jeff, thanks for being here. Allie, thanks for being here.