 Greetings from NDSU and all who are currently show called participants. I didn't expect to get turned out this morning but as the email that I sent out earlier today indicated we said we would meet regardless of drought or not and or not seems to be the predominant outcome. Is there anybody that's sitting in a situation that's contrary to being wet right now? Yes, this is Kurt. The old saying of who you talk to of what you get is really true. Dickinson appears to be about the line. Anytime I live west, about South Hart Country, if we would get a half inch at my place Dickinson three quarters of an inch in east or in better and that would be moving east. You get to Medora and then go up to grassy Butte and in that country those folks if there was when that half inch was coming they might get 10 hundred. So there is basically the badlands. They are dry. Thanks for that quick update. I certainly suggest that we can't make any general assumptions about the entire state. I can't help but news just a moment here. Early on when I was Extension Dairy Specialist I was down in that McIntosh country and they had pointed out this is back in the early 90s and they had pointed out that as dry as it can be in this country that even back in biblical times when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights Herman told me they only got 40 hundreds down there in McIntosh County. So I know that we have some. We're not all sharing the same moisture. Carl Hoppe just wrote something up there. Carl I see your pastures in Central North Dakota are still short. They're too cool or grown ground as it's still dry. Any further comment there? Anything else anybody want to interject before I turn it over to Adnan to give us a weather outlook? Eastern part of our county could use three-quarter an inch. Western parts wet. Okay. Obviously some quite a variation yet. Adnan let's turn to you this morning. You give us a weather update and what you might have to share related to the outlook for the coming couple weeks. Thank you. May was very wet in half of the state. If you draw a straight line between southwest corner to northeast anywhere to the southeast, the eastern portion of that line received a lot of rain in May. But to the east, I mean west and north of that line continue to stay dry. In fact the reports that I have been having including the one I heard this morning is confirming that. And some of the rainfall amounts were in May were very impressive especially the one in the eastern along the Red River especially Fargo did receive 7.86 inch in the month of May which was the wettest May. Shattered the previous record by more than one inch. So some of these records were very impressive. If you live in western portion of that line then you have no idea what I'm talking about probably and I would like to hear from you. If you look at the drought monitor again the western North Dakota still have a little drier than normal or abnormally dry conditions or D not conditions. And if you disagree with that depiction and I would like to hear from you along with your drought impact. However if you hang on maybe a day or two or so I am looking at the forecast in the immediate couple days from today. Especially if you live in southwestern portions and you are looking at the greatest threat of severe thunderstorm possible today into tonight. This is the storm prediction centers forecast which is very much likely of happening. So if you live into the west of Bismarck, McLean County Ward, Montreal, Williams County and to the south of these counties and you are in the greatest threat of this thunderstorm that is to begin late this afternoon and spread into the entire state by tomorrow noon. So this is the strongest threat that I have into the next seven days. And the amount of precipitation is about one inch and possibly a large hail of one inch and damaging wind up to 60 miles per hour. So these are the immediate, the hazard that I see. The rest of the week is looking drier. And again I would like to hear your emails coming to me if you disagree with the drought monitor. It looks like this threat is the drought eraser for the western North Dakota. You might want to wait for a couple days and let me know if it didn't happen or if it happened too much. This is the report that I have so far. Very good. Thank you for that update. Any questions for Adnan? Well hearing none, we can make a quick trip around the state. We all just quickly had some here and there updates. But let's start in the northeast. Anybody in the northeast that's on would like to add to what you've heard so far? Anybody from the northeast? Yeah, this is Angie Johnson. Can you guys hear me? Yes we can. Go ahead. Thank you. Yeah, I guess seeing no one else from the northeast I can give a little update. We could use, you know, a half inch rain wouldn't hurt. There's some areas in the county that are a little bit wetter than others, but for the most part it's, we could use a little bit like they were chatting earlier. Pastures, there's been a lot of cattle went out to pastures this weekend. Grass is pretty short. I'm kind of concerned on that. They're going out pretty early with not a lot of grass out there. So that'll be interesting to kind of keep an eye on and watch. But other than that, no crops, crops are looking great. Our slews and ponds are full again. And like I said, a half inch, three quarters of an inch wouldn't hurt. Thank you. Thank you, Angie. Soil temperatures. Have you checked those lately? Yeah, soil temps for the most part they look good. They've been, you know, it kind of cooled off. We did get a little nip of frost here on what was it Friday night into Saturday morning. But checking the end-on station, it did get 29. It reached 29 Friday night in Saturday morning. A few, the crops damage, I guess it hasn't really affected it because it wasn't cold for an extended amount of time. So no soil temps look good. We're just, just saw some edible bean fields up on Saturday. They looked good conditions. Like I said, we just need some heat and things will roll right along. Very good. How about from the southeast? Anybody from the southeast who'd like to add to that? Yeah, this is Brock Shoulders in Richmond County. I guess last week we got about an inch to four inches in some places and it's very wet in some areas and definitely plenty of moisture for the time being. So are you seeing some crop losses from flooding? Not yet, but I think some in the future. Sure. Anybody else from the southeast? Yeah, this is Kelsey Eglin from Emons County. We got about another inch over the weekend. I think we're sitting pretty well actually. Nobody's complaining about the rain. I mean, they would like it to stop so they could actually get back into the fields. But at the same time, I've been told not to complain about it because we will take any moisture we can get. But as of now, I mean, people were turning their cattle out into the pastures this past weekend. And I mean, our pastures are still, you know, they were slow to get growing. They have grown a little, but I mean, everybody's getting them out there now. Hopefully that doesn't affect them too much. Sure thing. Let's slide over into the southwest. Southwest update in addition to what Kurt shared earlier. This is Becky in Dunn County. I guess this last week we kind of had two different days. I believe it was Tuesday and then Thursday again where we actually got Tuesday we had anywhere from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter in some places. And then we had another little about quarter inch shower come through again. So moisture-wise we're looking way better than we were. You know, crops are slowly coming up. A little heat here hopefully if it gets 80 degrees today will kind of help awaken some of our pasture and everything that's going on. Get them going a little better. Melfelfas kind of slow coming too because we just haven't really had that heat to help give it the jump start. Sorry folks, I muted myself and I was talking to three people in the room. Anybody else from the northwest would like to add to that. I see Chris, you're on. Yes, we're here but I would just say report as others. Okay. Chris Augustine from the northwest. Anything from the station? Can you hear me J.W.? Yes we can, please go ahead. Can you give me out or something? In Minot during the month of May we had about three and a quarter inches or three and a third inches. And we had pretty good subsoil moisture before that. And my thought was when we started this whole drought call, if we got an inch of rain we should be sitting pretty well to get at least the crops going so they can start tapping into that subsoil moisture. And we've got a little bit more than that but we haven't gotten too much rain where it's really impeded in a lot of the farming out this way anyways. And Sirius River was still flooding until about the 15th of May in the town area. So a little bit of both worlds at one point. Sure thing. Anybody else from the northwest? This is Dan, Robin Burke. And we could use a little shower but we certainly don't need much, especially right in the Bobales area. We had 260 a week ago. And but guys are pretty much getting finished up. We're looking now where it's kind of the isolated areas in the county that still are too wet and guys are having trouble getting into stuff. But I would say we're about 99% finished with planting. The crops that are in, really they just need warm weather. Soil temperatures under bare ground are about 56 degrees at the end on station right now. Pastors are a little behind normal. They just need some good growing degree days. Thanks for that update Dan. As you can tell from the short email this morning, I don't have an extended agenda. And offer this opportunity if there's anything else you'd like to bring up that would be germane to the discussion since you do have the years of about 19 participants. Plus people sitting in the room here. Is there anything crops or livestock related that somebody would like to bring up for the good of the order? This is Irene. Great. Can you hear me? You're a little weak. Would you have either closer to your mic if you could? I don't see what we can do here. Is that any better? Yes. Yes, that's better. Thank you Irene. Okay. We have, the people in the area are saying that we have a tick epidemic. The wind ticks are just rightful. At what point can they actually be detrimental to livestock? I don't have an answer for you. I'll have to look into that. Of course it's more obvious on the horses. One of the girls the other night pulled 40 ticks out of her horse's tail and more out of the mane. Yeah, it's definitely tick season. It sounds like it's in the high gear there. Definitely here. You come home at night and you see everybody sitting on the porch picking them off their dogs. Okay. Well, point noted. We're doing some recording here and we're sure to our vet medical folks for Syvelpu are not able to participate in the call this morning. According to the comments, ticks are terrible. I guess that's going to be the word for today. It's going to be a wild week of weather. Sorry for the alliteration and ticks as well. Anybody else have something you'd like to bring up that might be of interest to others or you'd like to question if others are experiencing similar challenges? I'll just bring something up here. So did Becky talked about alfalfa being a little bit slow and you put out a press release about alfalfa winter kill and things like that. Can we get a sense from people what the degree of winter kill is on the alfalfa in the counties? I'm glad you brought that up. It's one of the things I was wondering. It appeared that from earlier discussion today that crop damage from frost has not been a problem. What are you seeing for setbacks and forages, particularly in alfalfa stands? Anybody? JW, can you hear me? I sure can. Go ahead. We had some damage here in Mercer County in alfalfa canola. I know of a guys that have had to replant some canola because of frost damage. And I had a guy on Friday tell me that he replanted a quarter of corn which was over 75% damage to frost. I would say alfalfa here in Mercer County is probably 20 to 25% loss due to frost. We definitely do have some damage. It's coming back quite well, but it's going to be a little thin on the first cutting. But hopefully with the moisture availability, we'll be able to get a second cutting. Guys don't seem too concerned about it to be honest with you. They're happy that the rain came with the cold weather. So that was a mixed blessing, I guess. So we do have some damage here in Mercer County. I again end on reported two weeks ago. It got all the way down to 19 according to end on Hazen weather station here. And then on Sunday night, it showed 27 for about two hours. So we did have a frost here would have been excuse me Friday night. I got Friday night. We had a frost here again in Mercer County. So we've definitely had two frosts here in the last two weeks. So that's where we're at. Okay. Anybody else in terms of frost? Okay, Hoppy. Not much winter killing alfalfa or some frost that leaves. Yeah. All right. As you can see, Carl has added some comments in the conversation column. Anybody else? I know I've gotten a few calls and I talked with Mary Berg and she had a few calls about the winter kill issues as well. So that was what I heard. Just open winter kind of more east. But I figured I'd throw that out there to see if anybody else had other concerns out there with their alfalfa. Sounds to reaffirm what we were hearing about a month ago coming from the agronomy side. And from here east, there was over stands where we're suffering frost, open winter. Just a curiosity. So Kelsey or Brock, are you guys seeing much replant on sugarbeats? I haven't heard of any so far either. Okay. Talks to Northern Valley people and I said there's been some replants, but I didn't know anybody in the south that had that issue. A alfalfa site for Cass County. It's really spotty. We're 30 miles west of Fargo here and even some of our alfalfa fields for the family side. It's just really spotty on that winter kill. But back in Dickey County on my parents' farm, my dad's alfalfa got hit really hard. But it's kind of coming back pretty nicely, but he said he could definitely use some heat for that. Okay. Thank you. Somebody else was trying to speak there. This was Craig. I had a question for Carl. Okay. Go ahead, Craig. Any concerns, issues, cattle would be grazing this frost damage stuff, alfalfa, whatever. I don't know if anybody's really got any out on alfalfa right now, but any concern for cattle to feed frost damage forages? For the forages that we have up now, no. We get into some of those sorghum sedans and then we, of course, got some big issues. But now I guess the majority of the questions that we're fielding are people who are trying to deal with these winter kill pastures or winter kill alfalfa stands. And then it just gets going back to the whole potentials with bloat and anything else that we have concerns of just grazing the high legume content pastures. Okay. Second question. When they do this first cutting in a month from now, roughly timeframe, to be ahead of the game, do they need to manage it any differently than they would normally? Are you afraid of alfalfa, Craig? Yeah, alfalfa when they start cutting it and bailing it and stuff like that. Anything to worry about because, you know, I know some of my guys, some of that has been frosted. So to what degree, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking some of it is probably 20% or better. So the top leaves are going to definitely be probably killed off or darkened and covered in a month from now when they go out to cut it. Do they need to do anything differently as far as bailing it and storing it and things like that or nothing to worry about? I can't think of anything you'd have to worry about. Commonly questions will come up about nitrate poisoning and some of those issues. That's not a factor with alfalfa. Alfalfa converts its nitrate so quickly that you're not going to see that kind of issue. My experience over the years suggests that as I look back, people often delay cutting and it's never been a good, never been a productive practice to delay cutting on alfalfa just because you're waiting for it. Especially with this moisture would be if you can cut it, get it up and give the moisture a chance to bring on the second crop. Now I realize second crop is an anomaly for some in the West, but with the moisture you've had, I know that you've gotten more than one cutting alfalfa out there. As far as how you handle it, if it's going into silage, the silage practices still apply and if it's going into hay, those practices apply as well. Just make sure it's dry enough before you put it up so you don't have a mold issue. Otherwise you're not going to have any critical health challenges, especially with alfalfa. As Carl said, now when we get into sodium sedans, some of those issues which are going to be later in the year, who knows what later in the year has to bring. So Craig, I don't think using good production practices, I cannot think of any hidden problems that you would uncover with alfalfa. Yeah, and Craig, I can't really comment on from the production side on the alfalfa that timing of cutting in this unique condition, if that's going to impact the regrowth or anything like that. The other thing that Carl Hoppe just put up there, and I see he just had to leave for a search committee meeting, but he did put up, and this isn't really related to alfalfa or frost, but this is for that, you know, we've got a ton of moisture out there. If we do get some good heat units, we're going to have some pretty rapid pasture growth. And he just did put out a caution in his little text there about some grass tetany or potential grass tetany issues. And again, this is all about grass growth and, you know, kind of how nutrients are partitioned in these plants. Main issues or potential with grass tetany are pastures that do not have a lot of extra trash. So pastures that were grazed down heavily last year, those kind of look like golf courses when you drive by them. If we do get good lush growth on those, potential biggest impacts are cows that are right in their peak of lactation. And it has to do with a calcium balance and magnesium balance. So we can watch out for those kind of issues if we do come into some cases of tetany. And we've got a bulletin out about that, and maybe I can just kind of forward that out to people again to do a little bit of reading on some preventative measures and just a little awareness about what might be happening if this does turn into nice good grass growth weather. The other thing that's unique about that is the type of days that tetany really seems to be prevalent if it's going to be out there. It's when we still have some cloud cover. So, you know, these warmer conditions with more cloud cover, those conditions are good setup for grass tetany. Carl. Yes, sir. To refresh my memory, I'm getting old. You said when cows are at maximum or high lactating, when would that exactly be? Peak lactation is basically now, you know, 60 to 90 days after calving. Those are the cows that are going to be most critical or most susceptible. And so the way you manage that is that if you've got pastures that you know are that, you know, you left them like a golf course a year ago, we try to not put these heavy milking cows out on those. If you had good grazing management practices or you had the luxury of being able to leave some excess forage standing out there, we try to get cows onto those types of pastures. Now, if you've got yearling cattle or replacement heifers or whatever else, those cattle aren't really susceptible to that. If you've got bulls that need to be pastured somewhere before breeding season here for a bit, I would certainly put those cattle out if we need to graze those pastures that have that rapid growth. And again, it's not an alfalfa issue. This is a cool season grass issue. And so we get into some of the crested wheat grass and things like that. Those are the types of forages that are really going to leave cows susceptible to tetany. Thanks, Carl, for that update. And recall, all this stuff is online in bulletin form. It's good to refresh your memory of what some of the challenges might be. Anybody else? This is an open forum right now. Anybody would like to ask a question or further extensive discussion related to livestock, weather, or other current happenings? This is Alicia. Is there any updates about birds at fairs? Is there anything changing since last call? No idea. I've not heard a thing. Thanks for asking. We'll have to use some checking, but have you heard something or is there anything? I haven't. I was just trying to see if there was anything else that we should know about. General recognition around the areas. I'm sorry, it sounded like somebody else was responding. Go ahead. Yeah, I don't know anything about the North Dakota decision on poetry, but I know Minnesota shut everything down. There's no shows at all in Minnesota. That message came out about a week ago. To my understanding, they're supposed to be meeting June 10th again. The North Dakota state vet, not sure who they're all meeting with, but they're supposed to have a meeting on June 10th to relook at things from what I was told about a week ago. Craig, you are correct. I was in Minnesota last week. All in the news, every cultural exhibit from county to state fair has been shut down for the year, and they're using the opportunity to use it as a teaching opportunity for H&F, FFA, presenting like related demonstrations, and otherwise it really encouraging a lot of outreach to help understand as well as appreciate the importance of animal health. I think North Dakota, the last discussion that we had is that we should probably do likewise, but I don't think that I've heard from the state veterinarian that they were cancelled. So we'll get some clarity on that or ask Susan if there is a proclamation. That's the right choice of words if there is a recommendation and get that out on our listserv. Hey, Jared, are you still on? Yeah. So your fair is like the 11th of June, is that correct? Correct. Okay, so you're one of the earliest. Have you guys done anything about any policies on your poultry side at all? Yeah, we cancelled the poultry show completely. Okay, has anybody else out there gone ahead and done some of these cancellations? This is Alicia, we did too, after the state fair cancelled there as we did ours too. But I'm just kind of, the one I'm really worried or wondering about is the eggs, the people she's bringing the eggs to. Hey, Alicia, this is Kelsey. I talked to Dean the other day about the egg situation because I had some members asking it, and he contacted Susan Keller at the state and she said if the eggs are clean and dried prior to be taking to the show for an exhibit, that they shouldn't be a concern of any sort as long as they're coming from a non-infected farm. And so those are obviously just in Dickey and LaMoure County. So she said that the eggs are fine. Okay, thank you. Yep. And I see Carla's added to the comments, Carla Ryan, that there are July 9, 10, 11 fairs cancelled poultry, as well as address the petting zoo, which is an important point here. And other people type in a way, feverishly. The comments Rowan and Becky said the same thing. Well, great. It looks to see that everybody is on top of that and exercising on the side of caution. Becky's cancelled. Because of the magnitude of the issue. And so I think it's good practice to cancel the poultry shows. Any other issues? We certainly don't have to take any more of your time today. If there's nothing else that you wish to bring up. Since we have still have 18 participants online plus folks in the office here. Is there anything else anybody'd like to bring up still an open form? Yeah, J.W. I got another question. Sorry for all the questions today. I'm just curious. And I can't even remember what, but this pig deal, is that good to go now? I mean, obviously, I think we've read the problem has been solved. But has there been any more updates or anything on that deal with the pigs that we were fighting last year? Are we good or is there still issues out there? Just curious. I kind of just popped into my head when we started talking about canceling poultry shows. Craig, it's a valid question, and I'm guilty of not looking into it before this meeting, not anticipating that question. My sense is because we've not heard anything that pigs are good to go, but I can't. That's off the record. Alan's taking some notes here. And by the way, these notes and the archive will be up for those that want to review this or weren't able to attend today because of prior commitments. But since we've not heard anything, I'm not anticipating there's a problem, but we should get some clarity on that as well. Judging by the silence, I think we've exhausted most of your questions. So last chance, if you've been thinking about something and hesitating, give you a few more seconds to ask a question. This is Becky in Dunn County. I guess I don't have a question as much as I just wanted to let everybody know if anybody's interested. Dunn County was able to secure one of the sites for the FEMA tabletop exercise that they're going to be having. It'll be June 18th. It's going to be based off of how to handle a livestock emergency at a county fair if we would have an outbreak or something that way. So if anybody is interested and would like to attend or come with and join us, you are more than welcome to just contact me. And I can get you the information on that as well. Thank you, Becky, for offering that. And since you have our ears, could you give us the date and the place again? It'll be June 18th in Kilder at our ambulance hall starting at 10 o'clock Mountain Time. Okay. And that will be a hands-on enactment of a pending emergency? Yep. It is basically going to be how to, you know, if something would come up, you know, kind of the step-by-steps that you should take, you know, to help combat that as well. It's going to be actually, it's a nationwide tabletop exercise. They're having it three days. And we'll actually be over Ivan Network with nine other facilities throughout the nation that are all going to be participating in it. Okay. Yeah, very good. If you have the opportunity to participate, one of those I highly encourage, most of the specialists here have been involved in them, some sort of another, usually to our national affiliations with the breeds or species that we work with. I participated one a couple of years ago in Kansas City on FMD and they are quite revealing. There's a lot to think about that. It's well worth your time. I encourage you to participate if you can fit it into your schedule. And so I'm assuming, Becky, that's an invitation for agents and others to come on over and sit in. Yep. Very good. Thank you. Anybody else? J.W., I got one more thing, I guess. This is Craig. You said one more last time. I know. Go ahead, Craig. I'll just throw it all up there since quite a few are on the call here. If anybody's interested on the 15th and 16th of June, I'll be conducting a tractor safety school for kids 13 or 16 years of age. A lot more information or if you have any kids that would like to attend that, give me a call. Thank you. They should be thanking you. You're a glutton for punishment to take on tractor safety schools. I'm doing it good for you. Craig, can you give the times and locations for that? It's 15th and 16th of June here in Beall at the Beallis Civic Center from 8.30 to 5.30 those two days. They can call me for more information. It's $50. Actually, Rick Smith is going to be helping me also. I didn't realize it, but according to North Dakota law, which isn't very well enforced, if there is any kids the ages of 13 to 16 years old, that do not have a valid driver's license, they need this class in order to work on a farm other than their parents to be according to the specs of the law. I just learned that about three months ago. So anyway, it's available. If you want more information, call my office and we can get it sent out to you. I did send it out email to MPU 9 and 10, but if kids want to travel, we'll take them. There's still room. Craig, do you know how long that law has been in existence? Is this one of the new child labor things or is this something dating back beyond that? From what I can tell, it's been on the books for at least 20 years. Craig, I hear people breaking that law everywhere. I can remember going to tractor safety school. Oh, I'm lying. 30 years ago, I went to one and I was told then. So I went to one in part paper 30 years ago. Brad wasn't there yet, but he was close. Craig, you're right. It has been on the books. I participated in my first as an agent. My first tractor camp 40 years ago this month and at Western 4-H. Yeah, that's been on the books. It's because nothing really counts or is enforced when it goes in the family. But then as soon as you start working for relatives or others, you're supposed to have this training. And I know one of the challenges we had at that time was just sending us kids that... We were getting to the point where we were transferred kids that didn't even have tractor experience level in their safety. So we were teaching them how to drive a tractor and that got to be a bit of a challenge. And I imagine it's going to be more than that with you. But yeah, they need to be aware that that is in place, but that really hasn't been enforced to my knowledge. Okay, everybody. Last chance. Good timing. Perfect. All right. Well, hearing none. I wish you all good and prosperous, safe and prosperous in June. Remember, June is Dairy Month. On June 14th, the Van Vidoff Dairy in the Carrington area is hosting breakfast on the farm. That's a Sunday. And if you want to see a well-run operation, this is one of the top operations in the state, the pumpkin 1200 cows, you can add that to your calendars. I guess at this point it's really a question whether we set up another meeting. This one was a drought or not. And since you fixed that, I guess unless there's some other crisis, now if somebody would suggest that you'd like to meet again in about a month, we can certainly do that. Any thoughts on that before parting? Hearing none, I will presume that everybody's busy enough this summer and we'll add one if the situation arises. So with that...