(bright upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome to "Sunup."

I'm Lyndall Stout.

Summertime is almost here.

And with that in mind, we're devoting this week's show to covering summertime topics, including some of our favorite stories from the past few years.

To begin, let's kick things off with Dr. Justin Talley telling us how to avoid those pesky Oklahoma insects.

- Yeah, as we've gotten these recent rains, the things we need to consider are mosquito populations increasing, and as they increase they're not necessarily all bad mosquitoes, we just have more activity.

And the main activity we have are what we call floodwater mosquitoes, or what we call the large mosquitoes that everybody sees bodying on them.

And the thing that we really need to be concerned about on that is the dog heartworm.

And so when it comes to your pets, you really need to make sure they're up-to-date on all their medications.

This is the time that they certainly will be at risk from mosquito bites because of increased populations as well as just the increased activity of the dog heartworm cycle.

- You mentioned pets.

Let's talk about people now and some prevention measures and things to keep in mind.

- Yeah, people are certainly gonna start noticing increased bodying activities, especially around, you know, morning and evening times when they like to enjoy sitting outside.

The main thing they needed to understand is that any kind of repellent will limit activity but not prevent 100% of mosquitoes biting or feeding on them.

The main things that we've seen, both through peer-reviewed science as well as just through actual demonstrations, is these diffuser devices that you can either sit on your table that you're gathering around or clip 'em on to yourself.

These diffuser devices do kind of emit this plume of repellent.

And as always, the most, the highest quality repellent seems to be DEET.

Still, some individuals do not enjoy DEET, because it has a different kind of smell to it.

But at the same time, it's still our most proven repellent.

- Let's talk about ticks, now.

We've been in extended drought but hopefully we're getting some relief.

Talk about kind of the change in weather conditions and what we need to be prepared for in June and July and beyond.

- As we've experienced the drought sometimes that can limit some of our tick populations, but as we have our increased humidities, increased rainfalls and it provides a lot of resources for wildlife to be more prolific, that it provides resources for ticks to be prolific.

And so when we think about tick populations, even though we're coming off of a drought, they're still gonna be abundant.

They're still gonna be active, and even more so even out in areas that we may not traditionally see them.

Certainly in, even like in Western Oklahoma we see a western expansion of certain type of tick species and it's mainly due to eastern red cedar.

- So prevention measures for ticks, are they similar to mosquitoes?

- They're similar methods.

DEET is still a good repellent for ticks, but it's more of a less increased awareness.

And when you go through any kind of environment that there's gonna be a lot of ticks, whether it's trails or pastures or just hiking or walking anywhere that you're kind of coming in contact with a lot of vegetation, then you need to do what we consider a tick check.

And the tick check you need to do within a 8- to 10- hour period of when you were in those environments.

Because we know that even though the tick may become attached, that if you're removing those ticks within that timeframe, it reduces the risk.

It doesn't eliminate the risk, but it reduces the risk.

- And then how do you know something's wrong, and you may need to go see your doctor after a tick bite?

- Yeah, so when we have a tick bite, the main thing that is very helpful is if you could keep that tick.

Put it in a Ziploc bag, put it in your freezer, and you can contact your local county extension educator and then they can kind of figure out the risk with that.

And the other thing is, if you start developing any symptoms anywhere from 5 to 10 days after that tick bite then you need to go seek a medical professional.

And specifically detail that, "Hey, this was from a tick bite."

So they can have an understanding of what kind of diagnostic tests that they need to run.

- And they can do blood work and really kind of hone in on the types of illnesses that we might experience here in Oklahoma, specifically, right?

- Absolutely.

You know, traditionally it can be called a tick panel or anything like that, but they can run specific tests to look for specific tick-borne disease.

In Oklahoma, we have a lot of our ehrlichiosis, a lot of Rickettsia, which includes the Rocky Mounted Spotted Fever.

And then of course, kind of our newest thing is the red meat allergy from lone star ticks.

- Okay, you and the team have some fact sheets that would be available for our viewers?

- Yep, so we have a couple of fact sheets on mosquitoes and important mosquitoes.

And then we also have a fact sheet on ticks and tick-borne diseases that is very helpful in kind of not only detailing the disease risk of certain ticks within Oklahoma but also preventative measures.

- All right, I bet a lot of people wanna see those this time of year.

All right, Justin, thanks a lot.

And for a link to the fact sheets Justin just mentioned go to sunup.okstate.edu.

- [Reporter] The 2023 wheat harvest is officially underway.

According to the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, combines are rolling in Southwestern Oklahoma, with wheat delivered at Grandfield and Frederick.

Early reports had moisture ranging from 12.5% to 13.5%.

Test weights weighed 60 to 62 pounds per bushel and the USDA is reporting only 9% of the wheat crop is in good condition in this area.

For more information on the 2023 wheat harvest, just go to sunup.OKstate.edu.

(upbeat music) - I'm standing next to a plant that a lot of people dread brushing up against throughout the summer months.

It's poison ivy or poison oak, and it's a common plant that you typically find in forest and woodlands or along the edge of forested areas.

It generally grows where there's at least partial shade.

And a lot of times the plant will be viney, going across the ground, but you might also see it in a, you know, shrub-like stature like this.

But the characteristic to look for is this trifoliate leaf.

There's three leaves, and you've probably heard the saying, "Leaves of three, let it be."

And it's because this plant, the sap from the leaves or the stems, any part of the plant really, can cause a pretty significant dermatitis or skin rash irritation in lots of people, and some people are more susceptible than others.

There are other plants that are often confused with poison ivy or poison oak.

In Western Oklahoma, there is a sumac, aromatic sumac that has trifoliate leaf.

But probably the more common plant that's misidentified as poison ivy is this one.

This is Virginia Creeper.

It's very easy to tell apart because it, each of the leaves has five leaflets.

So instead of three, you'll see five.

This is Virginia Creeper and it is not for most of us, it does not cause dermatitis, but both of these plants are actually beneficial for wildlife.

So if you have poison ivy, poison oak on your property, it's not necessary to remove it unless it's in an area where you're going to have, you know, maybe kids playing or somebody that's gonna come in contact with it.

But if it's just out in the forest, you know, just wear pants and long sleeved shirts when you're walking through those areas to keep it off your skin.

I wouldn't recommend mowing or doing anything that can put those oils, you know, spread those oils on you.

You can hand pull it, especially if it's younger plants that aren't deeply rooted.

You just need to make sure you wear a glove that will keep any of the oils off of you.

And I would wear eye protection too.

And if you do spray the plant, just make sure you let it completely brown out and dry out before you then try to physically remove it to make sure all of those oils had a chance to degrade.

- Here I'm standing in front of poison hemlock.

Poison hemlock is one of the most toxic plants we have here in Oklahoma and is spread across the state.

The only counties you might not find this plant is in the Panhandle.

It's toxic to many livestock species, but more importantly it's also really toxic to humans.

Even by just touching this plant, you can become really, really sick.

So this is a plant that you don't wanna touch and you definitely do not want to eat.

For livestock and wildlife that consume this plant, they can sometimes die within 20 minutes.

And it doesn't take very much.

Less than 500 grams of this plant can actually kill an animal.

You might see this plant growing in your flower beds.

It might be growing in wooded areas or in the edge of your property.

You really need to be very, very careful when around this plant.

This plant has white flowers and they're kind of umbrella shaped.

The leaves kind of look like a fern and they have deep, deep lobings.

You can tell this plant apart from some of the other white flowering plants that grow at this time of the year because of its really, really tall height.

This plant will grow six to 10 feet tall, as you can see behind me.

So another important characteristic that you can look for to help identify poison hemlock is the red spotting that you'll find on the stem.

This plant gets really, really large and the stems are big, and they have all these little red dots along them.

You can see these really, really well, especially earlier in the season when the stems are really green.

So that can help you to identify it and it's different from many of the other white flowering plants that we have.

To manage this plant, you really don't want to do anything where you're touching it.

And even if you do spray it with herbicide, herbicides could increase the palatability of this plant.

So if it's in a pasture where livestock are grazing, that might not be the best option unless you can keep the livestock out for a length of time after you've sprayed it.

In addition, the stalks remain toxic for up to three years, so you really wanna try to make sure that you remove any of the above ground growth after you've done any kind of herbicide treatment.

One option for controlling this plant is after you've done a herbicide spray, is to do a prescribed burn in that pasture to try to remove all of the above ground material so you won't have any animals that potentially graze it.

Another thing that you can consider is not using heavy stocking rates.

- And not using rotational grazing systems that have high stock densities where animals are forced to consume plants that they don't want to eat.

These can help to limit the chances of your livestock eating this plant accidentally.

You know, when we think about problem plants in our yards and in our pasture, we think about plants that might give us a rash like poison ivy or bull nettle, but when we talk about plants like this, this can actually kill you.

And even just by touching it, it can really make you sick.

If you have questions about a plant that you think might be poison hemlock, take pictures of it and take it to your county extension office so they can help you to identify it.

(upbeat music) - I'm Kim Anderson.

This is "Tailgate Talk" on "Market Monitor."

The 2023 wheat harvest started this last Tuesday and the wheat's coming in looking relatively good.

One elevator manager says, "Boy, those are beautiful kernels of wheat."

There's three problems with this harvest.

One, production is well below average.

Two, wheat prices have fallen off about a dollar and 25 cents over the last week.

And three, the farmers are selling this limited amount of wheat into a volatile market.

You can go back to the first year, you can forward contract wheat from anywhere $7 and 50 to $8.

By February the 21st, it peaked out at $8 and 30 cents.

By March the 9th, it had fallen into $7.20.

In 37 trading days, April the 17th, it was back up to $8.30.

Then by May the 2nd, it fell to $6.95, back up to $8.55, and now it's down around $7 and 25 cents.

This is a volatile market to sell into.

You look at the variability in it, go back to February.

We fell, we lost a dollar and 10 cents in 12 trading days, in 12 market days.

Now, it took 37 trading days to get that $1.10 back.

Then, in 11 trading days, we took a dollar and 35 cents off of it in 10 trading days, about two weeks, added $1.60 back to that price.

And then in 10 trading days we got back down to $7.25 where we are now.

So the question is, how do you sell your wheat, your limited amount of wheat into this market?

And in my opinion, you need to stagger it in the market, sell it over time.

The problem is, is selling into this volatile market, selling your limited amount of wheat in this volatile market.

I, and my suggestion is is pick a date where you want to have all your wheat sold and then set specific dates you want to sell a certain percent of it in that time.

In other words, dollar-cost averaging.

'Cause when you've got a 10 to 20 to 30 cent price move in a given day, selling on Monday rather than Tuesday can make a big difference.

My recommendation is is make your sales mechanical.

Set dates and pull the trigger on those dates irrespective of what happens.

I'll see you next week on "Market Monitor."

(upbeat music) - Taking a look back at a story from a few years ago about a western Oklahoma tradition, the rattlesnake hunt.

SUNUP's Kurtis Hair takes us there.

- [Kurtis] Silence mixed with brief sounds of wind gusts.

Quintessential western Oklahoma.

But take a wrong step out in these gypsum hills and you may hear nature's most iconic warning.

(rattlesnake rattling) In Blaine and surrounding counties, the Western diamondback rattlesnake is an abundant predator.

But today, this species is the one being hunted.

- [Todd] We get calls almost all year long.

We go out quite often.

- [Kurtis] Todd Felder is a member of the Okeene Diamondback Club, a club established to help landowners manage rattlesnakes, and he's out on a call to help a producer with two snake dens on his property.

- Their home is right over this hill.

This is a snake den and the first time we hunted it, we found almost 20 snakes, three foot or bigger, most of 'em pushing five foot.

- [Kurtis] While the Diamondback Club's main objective is thinning out rattlesnakes, today's hunt is a little different.

Todd and several other hunters are catching snakes as part of the 79th Okeene Rattlesnake Hunt.

- [Todd] So the Okeene is the proud owner of the title of the oldest original Rattlesnake Roundup.

- [Kurtis] In the early days of settlement, Todd says folks would kill the snakes and display the carcasses in town.

It became a huge draw for crowds, and it quickly turned into an event with a surprising mission.

- Evolved into, well, if so many people are coming from town and this town and the other town to see these dead snakes, why don't we go catch 'em live, make an educational type festival out of it.

We're still gonna clean up these community grounds around us.

Do the good favor for the landowners that we're doing, but also educate the masses on the critical need for these snakes.

- [Educator] Rattlesnakes are still quite common, most notably the timber rattlesnake in the east and the Western diamondback and the prairie rattlesnake in the western part of the state.

- Extension Wildlife Specialist, Dwayne Elmore says, education is extremely important because there's a lot of paranoia when it comes to snakes, both venomous and non-venomous.

- It's very rare for someone to get bit by any venomous snake.

Almost all the bites you hear about, are when someone was trying to kill the snake, trying to handle the snake.

If you happen to get bit, most of the things you hear about to do are wrong.

You don't want to cut the wound, you don't want to try to suck out the venom.

Elevate the wound above your heart, and quickly, within an hour or two, get to a hospital.

We actually can legally harvest rattlesnakes, if you have the appropriate license in Oklahoma.

If you have a rattlesnake that you've killed for consumption or for the hide, be really careful with that snake.

Even if it's dead, it can still potentially bite you.

A lot of snakes that are non-venomous are confused with venomous snakes, but what you wanna look for is whether or not it's a pit viper.

And there are a couple of snakes that sometimes will will flatten their head and appear to be a pit viper.

The one that's probably most commonly confused with venomous snakes are the hognose snakes.

- [Kurtis] Although they may give you the creeps, both non-venomous and venomous snakes serve a purpose and it's best to just leave them alone, or call an experienced snake handler like Todd to remove them from your property.

- These are very beneficial animals.

They control rodents just like non-venomous snakes do.

- They're such a benefit or they wouldn't be here.

We want the kids safe, we want you all safe, we want the dogs and cats and the cattle, all the livestock safe, and then they're going to have their place anyway.

- [Kurtis] Thousands of spectators will flow through the festival over the weekend, and you can bet Todd will be there ready to educate them.

(upbeat music) - Is your pond weedy?

Is a plant overabundance an issue in the appearance of your pond?

I like to follow what I call the 20% rule in most pond situations.

If a pond is around about 20% covered or filled by an aquatic plant, that's generally considered optimal, that's going to provide a good amount of habitat for the fish and do what is necessary to prevent wave erosion along the shorelines.

On the other hand, if your pond plant abundance is getting far above 20% or headed in that direction, then you need to take some steps to consider a plan to reduce plant overabundance.

It starts with bringing either a sample of the plant itself or some good closeup photos to your County Extension Office.

Once we have the problem plant identified, in most cases, we're going to try to match it up with an herbicide that fits both the plant and all the particulars of your pond, situation and objectives.

Go slow with using herbicides.

Treat the pond in sections, as advised by your county agriculture educator.

Beware of totally eliminating plants from a pond.

When you do that, you're going to throw it out of balance.

You're going to, if you care about fishing, you are eliminating all of the habitat and a lot of the food sources for that fish population, your fish will become skinny, and you're opening up the shorelines to wave erosion and possibly creating a situation with that wave erosion that will create a muddy and and ugly looking pond situation.

So don't go too fast.

Pond plant overabundance is something that unfortunately most people overlook or put off until the next year.

Watch out for that problem.

Get after it right away, and don't wait.

Otherwise, your pond will probably end up being more weeds than water.

(upbeat music) - Early June means it's time for the OSU Extension Cattle Women's Bootcamp.

Last year, Sunup traveled to Grady County to see what it's all about.

Sunup's Seth Fish put together this story.

- We've done this Cow-Calf Bootcamp similar to this, for several years now but this is the first one that's exclusive for women, which has been kind of fun.

Part of the reason why we did that is there's sometimes safety when women are together, and there's camaraderie that doesn't always happen in a regular cow-calf bootcamp which is men and women.

So this is a lot of hands-on, it's kind of like drinking from the fire hose, so to speak, but there's a lot of good information that they can take back, kind of go back over.

They'll also get the beef cattle manuals, so they're gonna have everything they really need to effectively run a cow-calf operation.

- So this morning we have a variety of hands-on sessions.

They're working cattle, working 'em for a local producer, that is, you know, we're doing vaccinations, we're ear tagging, we're putting parasite control on, and letting the participants really get involved with that.

We have a session that is doing bleeding and mouthing aging cattle as well as body condition scoring and we have animals for them to actually do that with.

- And then our session here is vaccine handling and implanting, and some of those, you know, how-tos with those types of things.

We want to give a comprehensive look at just a local beef operation.

You know, what producers do on a daily basis, what you do on a yearly basis for cattle.

And we want to give the people an opportunity to do those skills, to learn about those skills, and maybe use some techniques that they've not used before.

- I think it's just a very genius offering.

I think as women, we want to have a bigger part in the cow operation on our farms, and sometimes we're not sure how to get into that.

It's been mostly man-run since I was a kid.

I feel like my dad, my grandpa, my husband, they do most of the work, and I wanted to have a little more part of that.

So I like the confidence that it gives you, with a group of women, you can ask questions and feel like you're in a like-minded group.

- I feel like I'm a pretty strong part of our cattle operation at home, but I do think that there are things that we're doing, because we've always done them that way.

So, I mean, there's not really any other places I can think of where you can get this close to Dr. Biggs, and Dr. Stein, and Dr. Whitworth, and ask one-on-one questions.

Networking has always been really important to me, so being able to meet different women from around the state who also raise cattle, and maybe you'll run across them in other aspects of life, so getting to know those people is really important.

(bright upbeat music) - Well, I think all of us are aware that right now, it's getting pretty warm.

The heat's going up.

We've had some days with some very high heat plus humidity, which is extremely dangerous for our animals, especially our pets.

So owners need to be aware of that.

If your pet's gonna be outside, you need to make sure there's shade for that animal.

You need to make sure that animal has fresh, cool, clean water.

Cool water is important because animals are a lot more likely to drink water if it's cool.

So you may you need to add some ice to that water and you probably need to change it frequently.

Can't just put it in there once a day or so, 'cause it's gonna get pretty hot with these days.

It's important to know that your dogs, that certain breeds are gonna have more problem with the heat.

Those dogs that are short nose, your boxers and bulldogs, those types of breeds are gonna have more problem with this heat.

Probably ought to have a conversation with your veterinarian about shearing your dog.

Sometimes, that long hair coat is an insulating factor against the heat.

It insulates against the cold, but it also will insulate against the heat.

So have a conversation with your veterinarian about that, about whether you want to get your dog clipped or not.

I think the other thing I needed to mention is if you're gonna walk your dog, be sure and walk in early in the morning or late in the evening, and be careful about the pavements.

That can be that concrete and asphalt may be too hot for the paws and you can get some damage to those paws, so try to walk them in the grass if you can.

It's also important, be careful about leaving a dog or cat in your car.

You know, those temperatures can elevate really rapidly.

It's just not a good idea to have your dog or cat, leave your dog or cat in a car.

I think the other things you need to be aware of is to watch your animals closely.

If you see any signs of nervousness or you've got a dog that's excessively panting and is just not getting any better, maybe they're a little wobbly or something like that, if you have a dog like that, those are the beginning signs of heat stress.

You need to get your dog to an emergency veterinary at that point in order to take care of that problem.

If you'd like any more information about heat stress in animals, if you'll go to SUNUP.OKstate.edu.

- That'll do it for our show this week.

Remember, you can see "SUNUP" anytime on our website 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.

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