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Feature Story from 2009

Fourth-year Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine student Katie Ebers and faculty member Dr. Phil Bushby provided services to security dogs working at the National Governors' Conference in Biloxi. Here they are giving a bath to a dog with irritated skin. (Photo by MSU College of Veterinary Medicine/Dr. Carla Huston)
July 23, 2009 - Filed Under: Animal Health, Disaster Response

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The top-notch security team at the National Governors’ Conference includes canine members, and Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine was on hand to lend them support.

CVM’s Disaster Animal Response Team works with the Mississippi Board of Animal Health’s Mississippi Animal Response Team to provide emergency care and services to animals around the state. The team gives support to companion animals and sometimes livestock during and after disasters such as hurricanes. They also participate in large events involving pets or livestock.

Peter Drackett, 11, of Long Beach scrapes the bark of a dead tree at the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge to find pine bark beetles. (Photo by Kat Lawrence)
July 23, 2009 - Filed Under: 4-H, Wildlife Youth Education, Insects

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University’s 4-H Entomology and Horticulture Camp is one of the few of its kind to offer overnight stay for nocturnal collecting, which attracts participants to the event just like moths to light.

“We introduce campers to the technique of attracting night insects using black lighting, which opens up a new world for them,” said retired MSU Extension Service entomologist Mike Williams. “You could jokingly say we end activities with a last call for the appropriate type of alcohol.”

July 28, 2009 - Filed Under: Children and Parenting

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book was released this week and includes information on the needs and conditions of Mississippi’s children and families.

The book presents national and state data to determine the degree to which children and families benefit from and are supported by their local environments. The data helps each state determine how they are doing compared to other states and the nation as a whole. Data for Mississippi reveals that trends in child well-being have improved in some areas and declined in others since 2000.

July 30, 2009 - Filed Under: Environment, Forest Ecology, Forestry

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippians with timberland in production are looking at carbon as a new source of income, and they are learning to manage their land for the most profit while participating in efforts to lower greenhouse gas levels.

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, often called simply carbon, is one of several chemical compounds known today as greenhouse gases, or GHG. These gases occur both naturally and as byproducts of fossil fuel use in various transportation and industrial processes.

The University Florist staff stays busy preparing arrangements for weddings, parties and other special occasions. Lynette McDougald is preparing these floral arrangements for an event at the Union.
July 30, 2009 - Filed Under: Community, Flower Gardens

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The University Florist has operated for most of its history in the heart of Mississippi State University, where it serves as both a full-time business and a design laboratory for students.

The University Florist began 75 years ago and predates the professional program by quite a few years.

Gregory A. Bohach
August 3, 2009 - Filed Under: About Extension

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A senior agriculture administrator at the University of Idaho is the new vice president for one of Mississippi State University's oldest academic units.

MSU President Mark Keenum announced Monday [Aug. 3] that Gregory A. Bohach is being named vice president for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. His appointment is pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning.

U.S. farm-raised catfish are being netted out for harvest from this Mississippi pond. The state's catfish industry is facing obstacles from very high feed prices, declining acreage and imported fish. (Photo by Marco Nicovich)
August 6, 2009 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Catfish

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The state’s catfish industry is facing some major obstacles as producers are dealing with very high feed prices, declining acreage and fierce competition from imported fish.

John Anderson, Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economist, said the most significant influence on catfish prices since the fall of 2008 has been the condition of the overall economy.

August 6, 2009 - Filed Under: 4-H

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H program received a $10,000 grant to improve the state’s after-school programming by training 500 of its providers.

The MetLife Foundation and the National 4-H Council provided the grant. Mississippi was one of 11 states to receive the grant aimed at improving after-school programming offered across the state.

MSU landscape architectural professor Robert Brzuszek, left, and ornamental horticulture professor Richard Harkess examine Black-eyed Susans, which can be a good choice for landscapers who desire to use native plants. (Photo by Kat Lawrence)
August 6, 2009 - Filed Under: Environment

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Southeast has an opportunity to capitalize on the green movement, according to a Mississippi State University consumer survey.

Richard Harkess, an ornamental horticulture professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Robert Brzuszek, a landscape architecture professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Contracting, wanted to determine if the green movement is influencing the purchase and use of native plants.

August 10, 2009 - Filed Under: Soybeans, Plant Diseases

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Soybean rust was found in Mississippi in two fields near Thornton on Thursday, but experts are not recommending producers spray fungicide for the disease.

August 10, 2009 - Filed Under: Fruit

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service are hosting a Muscadine Field Day Aug. 21 at the McNeil Experiment Station Vineyard which has been set up as a repository of muscadine varieties.

The field day is from 9 a.m. to noon. The vineyard is located at the McNeil Unit of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station in Pearl River County.

Mississippi State University researcher Craig Tucker collects catfish from ponds, immediately fillets and microwaves them and then tastes the product for any off-flavors. (Photo by MSU Delta Research and Extension Center/Rebekah Ray)
August 13, 2009 - Filed Under: Catfish

By Rebekah Ray
Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE — Consumers expect nothing less than the best from Mississippi’s pond-raised catfish industry, and this keeps researchers at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center conducting taste tests on the popular fish.

Mississippi State University animal scientist Brian Rude, left, and graduate student Jonathan Greene of Trussville, Ala., feed Peaches the steer a ration containing refined distillers grains. The two studied the ability of cattle to digest this substance. (Photo by Kat Lawrence)
August 13, 2009 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Beef

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Corn-to-ethanol manufacturing has created huge amounts of a byproduct suitable as an ingredient in cattle feed, and Mississippi State University researchers want to know if a more refined version packs the same nutritional punch.

August 20, 2009 - Filed Under: Soybeans, Plant Diseases

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University Extension Service specialists are hopeful that incidences of soybean rust across the state will continue to be minor and only occur after plants have passed the at-risk growth stage.

August 20, 2009 - Filed Under: Community

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A research scientist with more than two decades of experience with cropping systems is the first recipient of an endowed chair in Mississippi State University’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

Daniel B. Reynolds, a professor of weed science at MSU, has been named the first Dr. Glover B. Triplett Endowed Chair in Agronomy. The Triplett Endowed Chair recognizes major contributions to Mississippi State by Triplett and his wife Imogene.

August 20, 2009 - Filed Under: Community

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Dreams often drive the will to live and the courage to endure, and one organization based at Mississippi State University is helping fuel these dreams for young people across the country who face life-threatening health conditions.

The Catch-A-Dream Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides special hunting and fishing expeditions to young people age 18 and under with a disease or condition that will become terminal if not cured or interrupted. Marty Brunson is a professor with MSU’s Extension Service and director of the foundation.

Dr. David Christiansen , a large animal reproduction specialist at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, answers questions on herd health during a recent livestock field day in Winston County.
August 20, 2009 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Animal Health

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- For almost 25 years, a Winston County self-help cooperative has been doing what its name implies -- helping people help themselves -- by providing educational information and establishing partnerships with experts.

A partnership with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service and MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine are an important part of the co-op’s monthly programs. The partnership also makes it easier for specialists to assist producers when needed. Such was the case when the co-op hosted a recent cattle field day for its members.

Dean Schmidt , 15, uses a special tool to cut watermelons at his family's farm near Okolona.
August 20, 2009 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Farming

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

OKOLONA -- Chickasaw County farmer Jay Schmidt wants to leave a lasting legacy for his four children, so slumping catfish prices and volatile row crop markets made him step outside his comfort zone to find a solution.

Jay has grown soybeans, corn and catfish for many years. He, his wife, Sonya, and their children, Andrea, 13; Dean, 15; Laura Beth, 10; and Emily, 5; have worked hard to make the farm a family operation.

August 27, 2009 - Filed Under: Environment, Lawn and Garden

MISSISSIPPI STATE – As the “green” movement expands, Mississippians can now turn to two Mississippi State University experts for advice on using green technology to roof their homes and buildings.

Bright Lights Swiss chard partners well with the giant Taro elephant ear. Bright Lights can be eaten like fresh spinach and its stems cooked like asparagus. While we grow it for its tropical foliage, some cultures cook the giant taro's roots as a starch substitute, calling it "poi" or "dasheen." (Photo by Norman Winter)
August 27, 2009 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Quick. What is colorful, architecturally interesting and tasty? Up until “tasty,” lots of answers come to mind, but one that fits all three descriptions is edible landscape plants.

Norman Winter, horticulture specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said edible plants are often grown for their looks rather than for the table.

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