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Feature Story from 2015

September 10, 2015 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- Home gardeners and industry professionals can hear research updates and see the top performing plant varieties of 2015 during the Ornamental Horticulture Field Day.

The event will be held Oct. 1 at the Mississippi State University South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville.

Katherine Weatherby is surrounded by her 2-year-old grandchildren (from left) Zirean Davis, G’Niereya Alston and Bryson Ward at her home in Sallis, Mississippi, on Aug. 20, 2015. (Photo by MSU Human Sciences/Amy Barefield)
September 10, 2015 - Filed Under: Family Dynamics

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Grandparents provide a loving, low-cost and flexible alternative to center-based child care for many families across Mississippi. The benefits to the parents, children and grandparents in these situations are significant for many reasons.

Nearly 11 million children under the age of 5 in the United States go to some type of child care for an average of 36 hours each week. Some children are in multiple child care settings because of their parents’ nontraditional working hours.

September 11, 2015 - Filed Under: Rural Development

INDIANOLA, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service is partnering with stakeholders in the Delta to offer preparation courses aimed at prospective entrepreneurs.

Applications are being accepted for the Simply Effective Entrepreneur Development program, which begins at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 at the Mississippi Delta Community College Capps Technology Center in Sunflower County. Classes will meet each Monday night for seven weeks.

September 11, 2015 - Filed Under: Landscape Architecture

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Four prominent landscape designers and Mississippi State University alumni are returning to campus to share ideas with amateur and professional gardeners.

The 60th Edward C. Martin Jr. Landscape Symposium will be held Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. to noon at the MSU Bost Extension Center Auditorium.

Speakers for this year’s symposium, themed “Landscape Rehab 101,” are Christian Preus, Kirk Cameron, Phillipe Chadwick and Carol Reese.

Educational signs, such as this one on properly managing riparian forest buffers, are placed at each demonstration area at the Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station in Newton, Mississippi. Three of the planned five demonstration areas are complete, including the backyard habitat, the nature trail and lake, and an 80-acre mixed pine and hardwood timber stand. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kevin Hudson)
September 17, 2015 - Filed Under: Natural Resources, Wildlife Economics and Enterprises

NEWTON, Miss. -- Mississippi State University’s Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station is completing a transformation from the state’s premier dairy research facility to a site that focuses on land management.

Charlie Culpepper, a graduate student in the Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center, is studying methods to better manage and optimize crappie reproduction. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kat Lawrence)
September 17, 2015 - Filed Under: Fisheries

By M.K. Belant and Keri Collins Lewis
MSU Ag Communications

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Nature offers a narrow and unpredictable window for breeding fish, and Mississippi State University scientists are studying ways to help hatcheries stock the state’s lakes.

What if conditions could be controlled within hatcheries so the intense seasonal workload could be dispersed over time? This ability would be especially beneficial for the popular black, white, and hybrid triploid Magnolia crappie.

Palo Alto Farm near West Point grew this and many other pasture-raised pigs to meet the increasing demand for locally grown foods. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kevin Hudson)
September 17, 2015 - Filed Under: Swine

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Specialty markets in pork production are cropping up across the U.S. in response to a growing interest in pasture-raised pigs.

Before the 1960s, most U.S. pork was raised in outside lots or on pasture systems. Commercial pork production today generally relies on large warehouse-like buildings or barns that house sows and pigs in stalls or pens.

Mississippi State University researcher John Linhoss set up test heaters at 4, 5 and 6 feet above the litter in poultry houses to calculate the total thermal energy hitting the floor. He used this information to calculate the efficiency of heaters. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kevin Hudson)
September 18, 2015 - Filed Under: Poultry

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- When brooding chicks are warm, they grow well in poultry houses, but when heaters are not operating efficiently, it drives up the already high cost of broiler production.

This is the problem John Linhoss, an animal environment specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, took on for his doctoral research. The study was done in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service’s Poultry Research Unit in Starkville.

September 18, 2015 - Filed Under: Water, Rural Water Association

HAZLEHURST, Miss. -- South Mississippi homeowners in small communities and rural areas can learn how to better manage, operate and protect their private wells during an Oct. 13 program in Copiah County.

Greg Walker, director of human resources for Mar-Jac Poultry, left, talks to Tom Tabler, a poultry specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, during a bird flu information meeting at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency office in Pearl on Sept. 11, 2015. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
September 21, 2015 - Filed Under: Animal Health, Poultry, Avian Flu

PEARL, Miss. -- Representatives from the Mississippi poultry industry and state agencies realize that information is key in bird flu preparation, response and recovery if the foreign virus lands in the state this winter.

Dr. Brigid Elchos, deputy state veterinarian for the Mississippi Board of Animal Health, invited communication officers who may be involved in a bird flu outbreak to meet at the Pearl office of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency on Sept. 11.

Updated features in a free phone app from the Mississippi State University Extension Service can help deer hunters improve their outdoor experiences and herd management abilities. (Photo by MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center/David Ammon)
September 23, 2015 - Filed Under: Wildlife, White-Tailed Deer

By Sarah Buckleitner
MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Hunters can go into the woods armed with the knowledge of Mississippi State University deer experts, thanks to a newly updated MSU phone app called “Deer Hunt.”

Developed by the MSU Deer Lab and MSU Extension Service, Deer Hunt enables hunters and wildlife managers to use mobile technology to easily collect critical deer observation information.

September 28, 2015 - Filed Under: Agriculture

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy has planned a day full of educational seminars for its annual meeting Nov. 4 at the Grenada County Extension office.

Experts from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will join other scientists in sharing the latest information about a wide range of crop-related subjects.

Cattle graze at the Mississippi State University Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station in Newton, the site of the 2015 Mississippi Forage and Grassland Council Annual Conference on Nov. 6. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kevin Hudson)
September 28, 2015 - Filed Under: Forages, Beef

NEWTON, Miss. -- Mississippi cattle producers can learn about the latest research on forage management during a Nov. 6 meeting.

The 2015 Mississippi Forage and Grassland Council Annual Conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Mississippi State University Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station in Newton.

September 28, 2015 - Filed Under: About Extension

CHOCTAW, Miss. -- The 2015 Choctaw Challenge Mud Run and Health Fair will be held Oct. 31 at Lake Pushmataha in Choctaw.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service, along with other state and federal agencies, is partnering with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to organize the event.

The mud run is open to anyone age 10 and up. Registration begins at 7 a.m., and the race begins at 8 a.m. Cost is $15 per person.

The health fair is free. It opens at 8 a.m. and closes at noon. Informational booths will be located at the starting line of the race.

September 30, 2015 - Filed Under: Children and Parenting

POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- Early childhood education proponents pulled together to establish Mississippi’s 17th resource and referral center on the Pearl River Community College campus.

The Early Years Network, a program of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, partnered with Excel By 5 and the community college to open the new center.

October 1, 2015 - Filed Under: Food, Health, Nutrition

STARKVILLE, Miss. --The executive vice president and provost of the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon, has been named head of the Mississippi State University Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion.

Marion Willard “Will” Evans begins his position December 1. A master certified health education specialist and certified wellness practitioner, Evans brings experience and leadership in health promotion and wellness.

October 1, 2015 - Filed Under: Farming

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. -- The Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production will hold its second statewide field day in conjunction with Mississippi State University’s Fall Flower & Garden Fest in Crystal Springs on Oct. 16.

The Fall Flower & Garden Fest is set for Oct. 16 and 17 at the MSU Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs. This collaboration is part of the agricultural alliance’s efforts, with its partners, to hold field days across the state at local demonstration farms.

Paula Threadgill, associate director of the Mississippi State University Extension Service and state leader of 4-H, reviews a poster that will hang in the 4-H Village in the Trademart in Jackson during the Mississippi State Fair from Oct. 7-18. The photo was taken at MSU on Oct. 2, 2015. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
October 2, 2015 - Filed Under: 4-H

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi 4-H members and volunteer leaders are active every month, but the State Fair in October usually signals the pinnacle of their year.

“The State Fair provides many opportunities for our 4-H members to show off their livestock projects, as well as other projects and activities they have been working on during the last year,” said Paula Threadgill, associate director of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “The 4-H Village at the fair also highlights the opportunities available through the youth development program in Mississippi.”

October 5, 2015 - Filed Under: About Extension

BILOXI, Miss. -- Mississippi State University’s Coastal Research and Extension Center launched a new web site Oct. 5.

The updated site is mobile friendly and gives clients of the MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station access to the region’s research-based educational resources with a modern look.

“All of the same information is available to our customers; it just looks fresher and is easier to navigate than the former site,” said Andy Collins, web developer with the center.

Fall offers many opportunities for families to enjoy the outdoors, including agritourism businesses with corn mazes and pumpkin patches, such as this one at Mitchell Farms in Collins, Mississippi. (File photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kevin Hudson)
October 5, 2015 - Filed Under: Wildlife Youth Education

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- As the leaves begin to change colors, Mississippi State University experts have several suggestions for getting children more involved in outdoor activities.

Leslie Burger, assistant Extension professor in the Mississippi State University Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, said kids copy the actions of their parents. If parents want their children to go outside this fall season, they must lead the way and become active and connected with nature themselves.

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