News

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Horses can be intimidating and unpredictable, but Mississippi State University programs that have equine components can help people feel more comfortable with these powerful, large animals.

Animal Health …

Some students at the MSU College of Veterinary Medicine do not have any riding or handling experience with horses. Dr. Bob Linford, a veterinary surgeon and professor, uses his experience as a teacher and horse enthusiast to help them gain confidence.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Veterinarians are the doctors of the animal world, and certified veterinary technicians are the “nurses” who are trained and certified to care for patients and provide much of the medical care the animals receive.

Only veterinarians can legally diagnose, prescribe and perform surgery. Veterinary technicians, commonly called vet techs, can perform all other procedures and tasks completed in veterinary practice. Mississippi State University will soon offer a new degree program to train future vet techs for this important work.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two Mississippi State University pathology laboratories work together to diagnose animal diseases across the state and also serve two important yet different missions.

The College of Veterinary Medicine laboratories in Starkville and Pearl work within the Mississippi Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Laboratory System to provide veterinarians, producers and researchers with quality diagnostic services.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The tradition of passing parenting skills from one generation to the next is being lost as traditional family structures change, but the Mississippi State University Extension Service is nurturing a program that helps young mothers and fathers cope.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Gardeners can rejoice since it is pansy-planting time across much of the country. While this is a good thing, the question is always asked, “What do I plant with them?”

One of my favorites to partner with pansies is sweet alyssum. No matter where you live in the country, at some time during the year you can grow both pansies and alyssum together for a magnificent olfactory experience.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University entomologist Richard Brown and two co-authors will be given the Editor’s Choice Award for writing one of the best entomological articles of 2008.

Brown and his colleagues will receive the award in December from the Entomological Society of America. The article, “Tracing an Invasion: Phylogeography of Cactoblastis cactorum in the United States Based on Mitochondrial DNA,” was published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Harvest season rains have robbed soybean growers of strong yields and bean quality, reducing profits in an already challenging year.

“We were harvesting a beautiful crop with outstanding yields before the rains came the last two weeks of September,” said Trey Koger, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “Now that farmers are finally back in fields, we are seeing average yield losses of 5 percent to 10 percent.”

In addition to the yield losses, damage estimates average between 5 percent and 20 percent.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University program is doing its part to address rising childhood obesity rates by educating young children about healthy living, aiming to stop obesity before it starts.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Turkey hunting is a popular sport throughout Mississippi, and the sound of a gobbler responding to a call is unrivaled for the more than 30,000 hunters who spend mid-March to May in search of the elusive bird.

While the season is set in spring for the entire state, many hunters have expressed concerns over the time frame as it relates to peak gobbling activity.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi beef producers who want to keep current on innovative herd health and profitability research can attend the Beef and Forage Field Day on Oct. 24 in Prairie.

The field day will be at the Prairie Research Unit of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the main facility at 10223 Highway 382. There is no cost to attend, and lunch will be provided. Field day sponsors are MAFES, Mississippi State University and the MSU Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Live snakes, alligators and turtles are just a few of the Mississippi wildlife that will be on display at the Oct. 17 wildlife festival at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Newton.

The 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. event will include bird dog and falconry demonstrations, and tours of wildlife management areas at the experiment station.

Wildlife experts will be on-hand to provide advice on managing white-tailed deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, bobwhite quail and mourning doves. Other topics include preserving hunting trophies and historical weapons.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The audience gasped as I gave the pot of mums a big bear hug, thinking I was going to squeeze the life out of it. That was the scene last week when I spoke at a Spirit of Women Conference.

Gardeners know that squeezing mums is normally a recipe for disaster as branches break like crumbling pretzels. But these were Belgian mums, so the hug didn’t hurt them.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Nearly 80 percent of the state’s corn crop is safely in storage, and the remaining acres are ready for harvest but stuck in wet fields getting rain-drenched for days.

Erick Larson, grain crops agronomist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the corn harvest is largely complete in the southern part of the state, including the south Delta. However, the corn in the northern areas of the state was planted later and most remains in the fields.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Thousands of people will attend the State Fair in Jackson Oct. 7-18, and the novel H1N1 flu virus, commonly called “swine flu,” may have some attendees unnecessarily on edge.

“Swine are not responsible for spreading this virus,” said Mark Crenshaw, swine specialist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service. “It is very unfortunate that it was ever given that name. The virus actually has many other components to it and it is being spread by people, not by pigs.”

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

HOUSTON -- Small communities that are courting industry often turn to the county Extension office for help, and for Houston, that help has led to a beautiful new park.

Across the street from the historic Chickasaw County Courthouse stood a vacant, grassy lot. The Chickasaw Development Foundation owned the property but had been turned down on attempts to obtain grant money for refurbishing.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you would like to give your garden a festive fall atmosphere, then find a prominent place to put in ornamental peppers. Their blooms are not noteworthy, but varieties like Sweet Pickle and Garda Tricolore have fruit that will show off like Christmas lights.

Ornamental peppers are one of the plants that leap off the garden center shelves this time of the year. If you love them in the fall, try growing them all season.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – About 4,000 fourth-graders and their teachers from across the state will be at Mississippi State University in late October for the annual Wood Magic Science Fair.

The goal of the Oct. 19-23 fair is to introduce students to the benefits of forestry, forest products and wildlife to the state. The Wood Magic Science Fair is sponsored by MSU’s College of Forest Resources and the Department of Forest Products. It is held at MSU’s forest products complex.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Thousands of garden and horticulture enthusiasts will converge on Crystal Springs in October for the 31st annual Fall Flower and Garden Fest.

The Oct. 16 and 17 event at Mississippi State University’s Truck Crops Experiment Station celebrates “Living Well – Greener and Healthier” with 3 acres of vegetables, flowers and herbs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Heavy rains, limited sunshine and high humidity in mid-September are threatening to damage the state’s major row crops unless dry weather returns soon to allow harvest to finish.

Soybeans are most at risk now because the bulk of the state’s crop was ready or almost ready for harvest when wet weather rolled into the state mid month.

Trey Koger, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the crop is only about 25 percent harvested.