Feature Story

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A horse’s retirement last fall means Mississippi State University’s Extension Service needs one additional safe, gentle horse for hippotherapy and therapeutic riding sessions.

The MSU Extension Service’s 4-H TEAM (Therapeutic Equine Activity Member) Program is one of two accredited therapeutic programs in Mississippi. The selection criteria for their horses require they be in reasonably good health, have a current Coggins test, and be people friendly and extremely calm.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- An upcoming goat sale in Raymond will help youth become involved in the rapidly expanding 4-H and FFA junior livestock program.

The Mississippi Club Goat Association will be holding a sale on June 10 at Hinds Community College. About 60 meat goats born this spring will go on the auction block. All will be age-appropriate for the 2007 Dixie National Junior Livestock Show. Vaccinated and dewormed, they have been weaned and are on feed.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Dr. Kent Hoblet, a native of Ohio, has been named dean of Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Currently a faculty member and administrator at Ohio State University, Hoblet will assume his new duties at the Starkville campus June 16.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Hurricane Katrina has flooded the timber market with trees as landowners try to salvage some of their investments. The storm of the century also provided insights into which species might hold up best in future hurricanes.

Bob Daniels, forestry professor with Mississippi State University Extension Service, said landowners with smaller tracts of timber have not been able to salvage as many trees as the owners of larger tracts.

By Bonnie Coblentz

By Robert Wells

STONEVILLE -- Mississippi State University is using genetically modified plants in its cotton breeding program to create better cotton varieties for producers.

“We hope something great will come out of this to help the farmers,” said Peggy Thaxton, a cotton breeder at MSU's Delta Research and Extension Center.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Commercial plant growers, retail garden centers, landscapers and people planning to enter one of those professions can preview the plants of tomorrow during an upcoming conference in Raymond.

The Mid-South Greenhouse Growers, Retail Garden Center/Landscape Conference will be held June 5-7 at Eagle Ridge Conference Center in Raymond, just south of Jackson on Highway 18.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi landowners interested in earning additional revenue from their land can take part in a one-day workshop May 23 focusing on natural resource enterprises.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Everyone involved in Mississippi’s dairy industry is invited to the Statewide Dairy Field Day May 25 in Tylertown.

“Mississippi has lost a lot of dairy producers in recent years due to extreme fluctuation in the price they are paid for their milk coupled with increasing production costs,” said Lamar Adams, event organizer and Walthall County director with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

By Linda Breazeale

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Warm spring temperatures have pushed corn quickly through its most vulnerable stages and given fields the potential for a good year.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Dogs, cats and sometimes people are targets of fleas and ticks as warm weather brings out these annoying parasites.

Dr. Stanley Robertson, Extension veterinarian at Mississippi State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, said fleas and ticks are a problem from spring to early fall in Mississippi.

“These are external parasites that use animals and humans for a blood meal,” Robertson said. “Ticks and fleas can transmit diseases and animals, especially dogs, can become allergic to a protein in the flea's saliva.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Many people work hard to keep weeds out of their yards, but other troubling pests, such as moles and voles, need aggressive treatment as well.

Moles are small, furry creatures with beak-like noses, tiny weak eyes, no visible ears, paddle-like front feet with large claws and stubby, hairless tails. Moles are not likely to be seen, but they leave behind unmistakable evidence.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A colorful, interactive human body exhibit is part of an effort to change nutrition and health decisions Mississippi's children are making.

Body Walk is a fun-filled exhibit of the human body with nine interactive learning stations. Each station teaches children to make healthy choices for their mind and body. The free exhibit has been seen by thousands of school children across the state in its first semester of use.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Conditions have been favorable to produce a large crop of big shrimp, but with record-high fuel prices and uncharted debris in the shrimping grounds, it may be a struggle to land this crop.

The coast is about 14 inches behind normal rainfall for the year, and this drought means salt content is higher in the bayous and inland waterways where young shrimp mature. The young shrimp are growing well in these favorable conditions, and adult shrimp not caught last year because of the hurricane's disruption are even bigger this year.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi's agricultural industry is poised to minimize the second year of soybean rust after the disease overwintered in Florida and northeast Mexico.

“As of late April, we haven't seen any rust in the state this year,” said Alan Blaine, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “Winter weather beat it back to where it overwintered in south Florida.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A generous donation has helped advance the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s ability to diagnose cases and reduce hospital stays.

The veterinary college recently dedicated the Mimi and Russell Gaines Imaging and Diagnostic Unit. The room will house a CT scanner for the college's Animal Health Center. A gift from Russell Gaines outfitted the room in memory of his late wife Mimi, a Starkville radiologist and an MSU alumna.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi farmers are expected to plant the same number of acres as they did in 2000, but the outcome should be drastically different.

The year 2000 was the last time the state's farmers planted as much as 1.7 million acres of soybeans. That year, the average yield was 22 bushels. In the last three years, growers have averaged 37 to 39 bushels per acre.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Financial management instruction is close at hand for Mississippians filing for bankruptcy.

Bobbie Shaffett, a specialist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service, said Extension family resource and management area agents have been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide instruction in person to bankruptcy filers.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Agricenters and horse facilities are attracting barrel racers and spectators to Mississippi by the thousands each year, and the numbers are growing.

When Bricklee Miller, manager of the Mississippi Horse Park, says “the numbers are growing,” she is talking about several important figures.

“The number of events, the number of participants and spectators, the prize money, the economic impact -- all of these numbers are growing,” Miller said.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi's dairy farms continue their downward spiral with no relief in sight as a result of low milk prices, high fuel costs and damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Bill Herndon, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the state had 235 dairy farms in August before Hurricane Katrina. On April 1, Mississippi was down to 198.