News

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The mortgage crisis and high fuel costs are working against timber markets in 2008.

James Henderson, assistant forestry professor with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said prices for pine pulpwood were increasing early in the year, but higher fuel costs are pressing midyear prices downward, and pine sawtimber prices have been trending downward since the summer of 2007.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- At 8 years of age, Joey Burt assisted a prominent veterinarian with an emergency cesarean section on a cow, and a career was born that night.

Burt's family owned a small beef cattle farm in Columbia. Burt's father was away on an offshore job, and his mother called Dr. Cassie Price to deliver a calf. Assessing the situation, Price decided he had to operate.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University’s equine reproduction program lost its top stallion to a catastrophic leg injury during a severe thunderstorm on the afternoon of July 11.

Minister Slew, a grandson of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, was alone in a paddock when he apparently spooked or took a misstep during a sudden thunderstorm and fractured a front leg above the knee. He was euthanized a short time later.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Challenged by rains throughout the planting season, Mississippi's soybeans now face make-or-break conditions as they await uniform showers to complete their growth and fill out beans.

“This crop is later than in recent years because early spring rains kept us from planting much of the crop as early as we would have liked,” said Trey Koger, soybean specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service. “We are at a crossroads where we need a rain to keep most of this crop going in the right direction.”

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A natural disaster often means no electricity, telephone service or safe transportation, but it does not have to mean no food, clean water or medicine if these essentials are ready and packaged in a disaster survival kit.

Herb Willcutt, safety specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the kit should have two parts: a traveling disaster kit to bring along during an evacuation and a home disaster kit to use when staying home during a storm.

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A recent excavation effort will enable Mississippi harness racing enthusiasts who love attending good races actually to see some.

A hill in the center of the Mississippi Horse Park's five-eighths-mile all weather track obscured the audience's view of the back of the track for more than half a decade after the park opened in 1999. The harness track reopened on June 20, after the removal of 65,000 cubic yards of dirt from its center.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I have traveled a lot this summer, and I have seen the Lily of the Nile strutting her stuff from coast to coast. Mention summer bulbs and your first thought is probably the caladium, the elephant ear or even the rhizome of the canna lily. Or, you may be like many gardeners who are finally giving the Agapanthus, or Lily of the Nile, a try.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The phrase “eye of the tiger” may signify immediate danger or attack, but in the garden it will soon mean incredible beauty. As you look into the new rudbeckia called TigerEye, you will see orange and yellow with a dark brown eye lined in gold.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Row crop farmers and consultants from across north Mississippi will have the opportunity to learn about current research during the upcoming field day at the Lee County Agri-Center just south of Verona.

The North Mississippi Research and Extension Center Agronomic Row Crops Field Day, which takes place every other year, will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 14.

The program will include educational and industry exhibits and field research plot tours. This year’s featured speaker will be Mississippi Farm Bureau President David Waide.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi’s Master Clothing Volunteers will meet soon in Rankin County to learn some of the latest developments and trends in textiles and home decor.

The annual state meeting at the Rankin County Extension Office is open to nonmembers on July 31 and Aug. 1. A business meeting for Master Clothing Volunteers is scheduled on Aug. 2. Registration fees are required, with $5 discounts if made before July 18.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Two undergraduate student teams from Mississippi State University with an interest in muscle foods took top honors during their first appearance at the American Meat Science Association Intercollegiate Quiz Bowl.

The two MSU teams, a collaborative effort between the Departments of Animal and Dairy Sciences, and Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, won first and second place among 20 collegiate teams from across the country. They competed at the 2008 Reciprocal Meat Conference in Gainesville, Fla., June 22 and 23.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The price of shrimp is up this season, but so is the cost of getting Mississippi's shrimp harvest to market.

The Mississippi harvest began June 17, with early-season wholesale prices up from 10 cents to $2 a pound, depending on size, said David Burrage, professor of marine resources with the Mississippi State University Extension Service in Biloxi.

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A well-planned budget and smart shopping can help prevent the pain at the pump from spreading to the classroom.

Bobbie Shaffett, family resource management specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said families should save money for occasional expenses like back-to-school and the holidays.

By Courtney Coufal
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Shopping for back-to-school clothes does not have to stress family finances if parents plan their spending and stick to the basics.

Bobbie Shaffett, family resource management specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said there may not be much room left in the family budget for clothing this year because of rising prices and energy costs.

This does not have to keep parents from treating their children to an annual back-to-school shopping trip if they follow a few tips.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The cost of getting an education is high, and with gas prices hovering near $4 a gallon, just getting to school has never been more expensive.

Traffic picks up when school starts back as school bus drivers, carpooling parents and commuting college students hit the road en mass to get an education or take someone to class.

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Both children and adults must follow safety rules to protect children from the dangers of riding, entering and exiting school buses.

Karen Benson is an area child and family development agent based in Neshoba County with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. She said children who move throughout the bus while it is moving risk not only falling, but also distracting the driver.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The need to manage diabetes goes to school or daycare with the child who has the disease, but parents and teachers can lessen their anxiety about the child's welfare with communication.

“Communication must be open and ongoing between parents and a child, and also between parents and school personnel, to help the child cope with diabetes,” said Tabitha Staier, family education specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

By Steven Nalley
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Freshmen and international students in college can deal with homesickness by getting involved in new activities and establishing strong social networks.

Tabitha Staier, family education and policy specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the cause of homesickness often is not only a detachment from family and social networks at home, but also adjusting to newfound independence.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Black Pearl was made famous a couple of years ago as both a pirate ship in the movies and as one of the most intriguing ornamental peppers grown in the landscape.

The same company that brought us the Black Pearl now is bringing us Calico, Purple Flash and Sangria -- three more incredible peppers.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Strong market prices and the ability to cope with less moisture than most crops have Mississippi's peanut growers expanding their acreage again this year.

Peanuts have been increasingly popular since the Farm Bill ended the quota system in 2002 and allowed farmers to plant as many acres in peanuts as they wanted.