2019 Model State Program- Oklahoma State University

The learning and action outcomes and impacts from these programs include:

1.  The OSU Winter Crop School provided attendees with the latest data from ongoing research initiatives regarding crop rotations, tillage practices and promoting the judicious application of fertilizer and herbicides.  These individuals can take this information and use it to make on-farm decisions in evolving their own cropping system.
2. The Red River Crops Conference covered a wide range of commodities under production in the Southern Great Plains region.  Participants can use this learning to make decisions concerning their crop rotations, management practices and enterprise budgeting.

1.  The Oklahoma Irrigation Conference covered a range of topics relating to improving the efficiency of irrigation practices. Conference sessions focused on cotton production in the Oklahoma Panhandle, safety protocols for working with center-pivot irrigation systems, an introduction to industrial hemp production, irrigation pumping energy efficiency, irrigated sorghum, mobile drip irrigation and updates relative to Oklahoma Water Resources Board projects and Oklahoma Mesonet environmental monitoring. “Water is among the most important and in-demand resources in any state,” said Saleh Taghvaeian, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension water resources specialist. “Participants will not only have an opportunity to hear and interact with some of the region’s top experts but also to compare notes with participating producers and others in their career fields.” 
2. The Colorado Master Irrigator Training included the topic of Soil properties impacting water dynamics presented by Jason Warren, Ph.D., Oklahoma Cooperative Extension soil and water conservation management specialist and OkSARE State Coordinator, Stillwater, Oklahoma
3. Additionally, as a direct result of both of these meetings, the need for a new program was identified. We also formed an advisory committee to develop a master Irrigators program to be held in the Oklahoma Panhandle during 2020.  With the guidance of this committee of farmers and crop consultants we developed a 4 day curriculum on conservation irrigation management which was delivered in January and February 2021.  We will provide detailed report on the outcome of these events in 2021.

The following is a description of the learning and action outcomes and impact of the first year of this multi-year initiative.

The project was initiated in late winter of 2019 using crops shown in Table 2 that were mentioned in various honey bee culture information sources as being good food sources for honey bees.  For the first year of the project about ½ of the 2-acre field was mowed short in late winter and over-seeded with several clover species including Hubam white clover, Ladino clover and yellow sweet clover.  Another ½ area of the field was tilled and used to plant several row crops.  Wet conditions during the spring and early summer resulted in several problems.  Clovers planted in late winter / early spring emerged but did not establish successfully.  Planting of the row crops was delayed by over a month to the middle of July due to wet field conditions.  Once planted, these crops did establish successfully and flowered during late summer and fall until killed by freezing temperatures in late October.  In addition to the planted crops, there was also appreciable amounts of already present crimson clover, vetch and white clover in several areas within the 2-acre field.  In the five-acre field, soil fertility was very low and vegetation growth was poor.  Other crops grown on the WWAREC facility during 2019 included grain sorghum, watermelon, Sesame, ??????     2019: Watermelons, onions, Tomatoes, Bermuda grass, wheat, fescue, clover, rye, cotton, grain sorghum, okra, turnips.  2020: soybeans, grain sorghum, sesame, cotton, cucumber, okra, tomatoes, greens, onions, sweet corn, greenbeans, buckwheat, wheat, rye, oats, barley, fescue, rye grass.

This project is intended to produce a combination of research, outreach and training outcomes.  Initial project activities addressed in 2018 and 2019 included review of various literature sources to identify plants that could be grown at this location to provide food for honey bees (Table 1).  As shown in Table 2, some of these were selected for planting in 2019 to initiate the field activities.  It was also necessary to introduce honey bee hives to the location.  Since there are feral bees established at the Research Station, a Bee Trap #44 was attached to a tree in an attempt to catch a swarm of bees.  The Trap Box was baited with the lure Swarm Commander.  No swarms were captured during 2019.  Three platforms were erected at the north end of the field to hold a total of six bee hives. 

An initial outreach activity was a presentation on the project overview and preliminary results that was made to 42 County Extension Educators in November of 2019. 

Results for 2019

Establishment of the over-seeded crops in was poor in general.  Although seedlings were found in the over-seeded areas, very little plant establishment was detected.  In non-tilled areas there was appreciable Crimson clover and vetch in early spring and unidentified white clover in late spring and summer.  Crops planted into tilled areas were planted later than intended due to wet conditions that prevented tillage in spring.  However, once planted crops including okra, cotton, cowpea, sunflower and  sesame established and flowered. 

Honeybee results in 2019: 

Four double-deep hives were transferred to the Research Station from the Bruton-Morgan Apiary in Atoka on 05 June 2019 to initiate the Bee Project.  On 10 June, honey supers were put on each hive in an attempt to harvest honey by August or September.  Checked each hive and took notes on the hive about every two weeks during warm weather months.  On 28 September, all honey supers were removed from the hives.

As an example of things that can go wrong over the summer, select notes on Hive JH-4 from July through October are shared below.

 17 July 2019

There are 6 frames in Honey Super #1 that have capped honey.  May need to add another super in a few days.  It is not all capped but they look very good.  Very nice bees.  Using very little smoke.

15 August 2019

Has 6 frames with some degree of capped honey.  Need to watch them closely and add another Honey Super possibly.

18 September 2019

Population is way down in this hive.  No honey in this one!

28 September 2019

Not many bees.  No honey or nectar in super.  Brood boxes were pretty weak with lack of bees and nectar.  MUST FEED STARTING NOW!!!  Brought Honey Super #1 home for storage.  There were 0 frames of honey.

12 October 2019

By the time I got back from vacation, the hive was eat-up with wax moth and the bees were either dead or gone.  Suspect pesticide poisoning.  Same thing happened to Hive JH-1 at the same time.  Consequently, two hives were lost in the middle of July likely due to pesticide poisoning.

As a result, honey production from the two remaining hives totaled 18 lbs of honey which was a pretty disappointing yield.

To control Varroa mites, weekly treatments (three total) of Oxalic Acid were applied to each hive starting 19 October.  On 03 November, AP-23 pollen patties were placed on top of the frames to give the bees a boost going into winter.  One hive (JH-3) was very light and did not have sufficient honey reserves to get it through the winter.  An in-hive feeder filled with granulated pure cane sugar and wetted with sugar solution plus Honey-B-Healthy was placed on top of the hive bars.  A spacer was placed on the hive to accommodate the feeder.  Did some late-season feeding using 2 parts pure cane sugar and 1 part water plus Honey-B-Healthy.  Fed four 5-gallon cans of sugar syrup prior to cold weather. 

The learning and action outcomes and impacts of this initiative are as follows:

1.  As a result of attendance at this program, the participants will be able to use cover crops for soil improvement and green manures.
2. Attendees will have a better understanding of soil biometrics and the issues involved in the remediation of urban soils.
3. Educators and Producers will be able to integrate composting in their system in new and innovative ways.
4. 2019 Organic Oklahoma Program

The learning and action outcomes and impacts of this initiative are described below

1.  The SSAWG Conference had become a true highlight every year for our Educators to attend.  This conference provided them the opportunity to see what others are doing in and around the southern region in sustainable practices.  Several of our Educators have returned to Oklahoma and developed their own training programs as a direct result of their experience at SSAWG.  Below is an excerpt from one of our extremely innovative and engaged Educator that can attribute his success directly to his attendance at the 2020 SSAWG Conference.

   "Supporting urban and smaller-scale producers is a large part of my role as an Urban Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator at Oklahoma State University. Through support from OkSARE, I have been able to attend the SSAWG and Oklahoma Organic Conferences as well as participate in other in-service learning opportunities. These experiences have grown my knowledge and interest in sustainable and small-scale agriculture, and I have helped me develop the skills I needed to begin effectively supporting the producers I serve in my county. After attending a veteran in agriculture session at the SSAWG Conference I realized the need for more programming in my county to support veterans and other historically underserved farming populations. This spurred me to develop the a new and beginning farmer training program. This program covers production, marketing, and financial risk management subjects of importance for new and beginning producers. In the first year I graduated 30 participants from my program and continue this program with plans to graduate at least 40 more participants in 2021. The OkSARE program has given me opportunities to become a better Extension Educator and equipped me with the support I need to serve my clientele more effectively," reports Joshua Campbell (Oklahoma County)

   

2. .
   

   

   2.  The full conference program may be viewed at the following website... https://www.ssawg.org/2020-conference-program

The learning and action outcomes and impacts of this initiative are as follows

1. 1. Goat Herd size and Value of Goat Camp
      • The average herd size was 89.
        • Herd size ranged from 15 to over 500

      Each participant were asked to place a value of the education and skills learned at the goat camp. Below is there response.

      • Total value equals $382,503
      • Three participants listed the value as priceless.

       

      Session Rankings

      Each participant was asked to indicate the knowledge learned from each session during the boot camp. A five point scoring system was used were 1 = no knowledge gained and 5 = great deal of knowledge gained. Below are the results.

      • Average score for all 22 sessions was 4.45.
      • Session scores ranged from 3.98 to 4.74
      • Top five sessions were:
        • Fecal Egg Count – 4.74
        • Parasite De-wormer Resistance and Eye Scores – 4.72
        • Fecal Egg Count Demo - 4.70
        • Birthing and Neonatal Care - 4.68
        • Parasite Life Cycle Management - 4.66

      Adoption of New Skills

      Participants were asked if they planned to adopt any of the practices taught during the 20 sessions. The average adoption rate for all sessions was 76.8%. Across all sessions, the range of planned adoption was 55.3% to 93.6%.

      Pre and Post Test Score Results 

      Methodology

      In an attempt to measure the amount of knowledge gained during the Oklahoma Meat Goat Boot Camp, a 30 question test multiple choice/true-false test was developed by the instructors of the Boot Camp. Each question was taken from the material being presented at the Boot Camp. This test was then given to each participant at the beginning and the end of the Boot Camp. The following are the results:

      Results

      Test                              Average Score                   Range                       % Correct

      Pre-Test                               17.5                            11-24                           58.5%

      Post-Test                             23.0                            15-30                           76.7%

      The results show that participants improved their test scores by 31.2%.

      Further, we can group the 30 questions into 7 areas of production and management. Then we can look at the test scores to determine which areas the group were the most and least knowledgeable before the Boot Camp and which areas had the biggest improvement in knowledge gained. The seven areas are as follows:

The learning and action outcomes and impacts of this initiative are described below. 

1. Tools for the Holistic Approach with Dr. Ann Wells.
2. It’s what’s on the Inside that Counts: Exploring the Anatomy and Physiology of the Goat (Part I) with Ms. Gianaclis Caldwell.
3. It’s what’s on the Inside that Counts: Exploring the Anatomy and Physiology of the Goat (Part II) with Ms. Gianaclis Caldwell.
4. It’s what’s on the Inside that Counts: Exploring the Anatomy and Physiology of the Goat (Part III) with Ms. Gianaclis Caldwell.
5. Basic Herd Management –hoof trimming, body condition scoring, FAMACHA scoring, etc. with Dr. Lionel Dawson.
6. What Processors Want – learn from a panel of Oklahoma meat processors concerning the type and weights of lambs and goats that they want.
7. The Art of Cheesemaking with Dr. Steve Zeng.
8. Nutrition for Health and Production – calculation of energy, protein and feed intake requirements with Dr. Steve Hart.
9. DHI Training – supervisor/tester training for dairy goat producers including scale certification with Ms. Eva Vasquez.
10. USDA/NRCS: Conservation programs with Mr. Nick Jones and USDA/FSA: Farm loans with Mr. Phil Estes.
11. USDA/WS: Wildlife programs with Mr. Kevin Grant and NRCS: Conservation programs with Mr. Nick Jones.
12. USDA/FSA: Farm loans with Mr. Phil Estes and USDA/WS: Wildlife programs with Mr. Kevin Grant.
13. Fitting and Showing for Youth and Adults – tips and pointers on fitting and show ring etiquette (this is a half-day afternoon workshop)