April 2005 AgNews Links

April 29, 2005
Drive a pickup? Buckle up!  
COLLEGE STATION - A cowboy on horseback is the traditional image of a Texan.

April 29, 2005
San Angelo’s Concho Valley Safety Day Camp for Youth Scheduled June 15  
SAN ANGELO - The Concho Valley Safety Day Camp for Youth is set for 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. June 15 at Angelo State University's Management Instruction and Research Center.

April 28, 2005
Oh You Kid!: Gathering of Goat Producers IV To Be July 18-20 in Seguin  
SEGUIN - A Gathering of Goat Producers IV, presented by Texas Cooperative Extension, is set for July 18-20 at the Guadalupe County Fairgrounds in Seguin.

April 28, 2005
Efficiency Is the Only Way to Make Irrigation Pay  
AMARILLO - Leon New's phone is ringing with producers wanting to know how to deal with the escalating price of fuel.

April 27, 2005
Texas Beef Quality Producer Program to be Offered in Abilene and San Angelo May 18-19  
SAN ANGELO - West Texas beef producers will have two chances to learn the principles of the Beef Quality Assurance program at either of two educational meetings set for May.

April 27, 2005
Higher Input Costs Favor No-Till Wheat Production  
VERNON - Some wheat and cattle producers may want to take a second look at no-till wheat production. A recently updated economic analysis says there is now a definite financial advantage in no-till production, said a Texas Cooperative Extension economist.

April 26, 2005
Texas Crop and Weather Report  
COLLEGE STATION – The state's rice producers are crossing their fingers and holding their breath hoping the ideal weather lasts, according to experts with Texas Cooperative Extension.

April 26, 2005
Social Security 101: Retirement income program explained  
COLLEGE STATION - Like mom, baseball and apple pie, Social Security has been a fact of American life for about 70 years. And as with the other three, the internal workings of Social Security can be a little difficult to understand.

April 26, 2005
Rio Grande Valley High School, Junior College Teachers Invited to Biotech Training  
WESLACO - Using advanced laboratory techniques, Dr. Javier Gonzales-Ramos has moved genetic material from milk and spinach to citrus. His goal is to provide oranges and grapefruit with resistance to citrus canker, a devastating and emerging bacterial disease that causes damage to citrus trees worldwide.

April 25, 2005
Better Understanding the Most Destructive Disease of Rice  
COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University scientists are looking for ways to deal with a plant pathogen that destroys enough rice every year to feed 60 million people. The pathogen, rice blast, is so clever in it's its genetic design that it can mutate faster than breeders can develop resistant varieties.

April 25, 2005
Plastic Extraction Disks Make It Easier To Test Levels Of Atrazine In Field Crops  
COLLEGE STATION - It's ‘plastic please' when it comes to scientists' choice of pesticide-water sampling devices in field crops.

April 22, 2005
North American Hair Sheep Symposium Slated for Oct 6-8 in San Angelo  
SAN ANGELO - October is months away, but it's not too early to mark your calendars for the North American Hair Sheep Symposium slated for Oct. 6-8 in San Angelo's Spur Arena. The symposium will be sponsored by Texas Cooperative Extension, the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas Tech University and the Texas Hair Sheep Association.

April 22, 2005
Beef Grid Marketing 101 – South  
COLLEGE STATION - The Texas A&M University Research and Extension Center in Corpus Christi will co-host a free workshop on marketing strategies for finished cattle May 17. Also hosting will be the Texas Cattle Feeders Association.

April 22, 2005
Be Penny-Wise With Expensive Fertilizer in 2005  
LUBBOCK - Cotton farmers will want to be penny-wise with their nitrogen fertilizer this year, says a Texas Agricultural Experiment Station soil scientist.

April 21, 2005
Weather Conditions Warrant Rust Worries in Wheat  
AMARILLO - Would be, could be, should be a record year for wheat, unless it rusts.

April 21, 2005
Citrus Impact on Childhood Cancer Noted in Professional Journals  
COLLEGE STATION - Limonoids, a compound found exclusively in citrus, have been shown to target and, in some cases, kill neuroblastoma. Neuroblastomas are malignant tumors composed of embryonic nerve cells, and occur mainly in infants and young children

April 21, 2005
New Pecan Pest Control Environmentally Friendly  
DALLAS - A new, highly effective pecan casebearer control is derived from a naturally occurring soil micro-organism that is safe for beneficial insects and the environment.

April 20, 2005
Educational Field Day for Cattle Producers Set May 14 in Converse  
CONVERSE - Texas Cooperative Extension's 2005 Bexar/Guadalupe/Comal County Beef Cattle Field Day will be May 14 at Connell Life Skills and Livestock Center at Boysville, 8555 Loop 1604N, in Converse. The day-long program will be an educational opportunity for beef cattle producers and others involved in the beef cattle industry.

April 20, 2005
$150,000 Lab to Serve Central Texas Composters  
STEPHENVILLE - Scientists here have started up a new state-of-the-art soils analysis lab to serve this area's dairy waste composters.

April 19, 2005
Texas Crop and Weather Report  
COLLEGE STATION - The nation's corn acreage is on the rise, due in part to the Texas' increase in planted corn, a Texas Cooperative Extension specialist reports.

April 19, 2005
For Fast Food at Home, Try a Slow Cooker  
COLLEGE STATION - Picture this: You've just spent all day working hard. Quitting time comes and you head home. When you pull into the driveway, you catch the aroma of home cooking ... something warm and comforting and delicious. The lovely fragrance is coming from your house. You don't have to get off work only to go home and start cooking – dinner is ready and waiting for you.

April 19, 2005
EarthKind Rose Symposium Set May 21 in Amarillo  
AMARILLO - A rose may be a rose by any other name, but if the name happens to be EarthKind, it's not just any ol' rose.

April 19, 2005
Smith Named Interim Soil and Crop Sciences Department Head at Texas A&M  
COLLEGE STATION - Dr. C. Wayne Smith has been named interim department head for soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University.

April 18, 2005
Watershed Program to Host May 14 Environmental Fiesta for Houston's East End  
HOUSTON - The Texas Coastal Watershed Program is hosting a community-wide fiesta on May 14 that will feature environmental education and awareness in Houston's Greater East End.

April 18, 2005
When Shopping for Lower Prescription Costs, Do Your Homework  
COLLEGE STATION - Health care in this country can be described in many ways, but ‘inexpensive' isn't one of them.

April 15, 2005
Youth Make Significant Contributions on April 15-17  
EL PASO - Youth in El Paso and around the country will remember the weekend of April 15 not as "tax-weekend" but rather as "volunteering" weekend.

April 15, 2005
Harris Wins Harry L. Rudnick Educator’s Award  
COLLEGE STATION - Kerri Harris, president and CEO of the International HACCP Alliance, recently received the Harry L. Rudnick Educator's Award in Chicago. The award is given by the North American Meat Processors Association.

April 15, 2005
Titan Corporation Transfers Electron Beam Equipment to TAMU System  
COLLEGE STATION - Texas Agricultural Experiment Station has a new addition to its research capabilities. The agency recently signed an agreement with Titan Corp. accepting ownership of all equipment housed in the National Center for Electron Beam Food Research, located on the Texas A&M campus.

April 14, 2005
Texas Cooperative Extension’s Veterinary Youth Workshop Sign-up is Underway  
SONORA - Texas Cooperative Extension's second annual "West Texas Youth Veterinary Science Workshop" is currently taking applications for this summer's session set June 26-30 at the Sutton County 4-H Center here.

April 14, 2005
Skeen Institute Gives Keen Multi-State View of Rangeland Use  
KERRVILLE – More than 40 participants from Texas, New Mexico, Montana and Washington, D.C., attended this year's Joe Skeen Institute for Rangeland Restoration meeting, April 11 - 13, at the Y.O. Ranch Resort Hotel and Conference Center here.

April 14, 2005
Crop Production Guides Are Available On The Web  
LUBBOCK - Farming is a question-and-answer game. When to plant? When to spray? Where did these weeds come from? How do I kill them? What is that critter crawling around on my cotton?

April 14, 2005
Nayga Receives International Excellence Award  
COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Rodolfo (Rudy) Nayga has received a 2005 International Excellence Award for Faculty from the International Programs Office at Texas A&M University.

April 13, 2005
Tat Smith leaves Texas A&M forest position for Toronto  
COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Tat Smith, professor and head of the department of forest science at Texas A&M University, will become dean of faculty of forestry at the University of Toronto as of July 1.

April 13, 2005
Research Across Borders Saves Cents  
VERNON - Borders don't exist when the wind blows. So a wheat disease in Texas is only a few wind gusts away from bordering states.

April 13, 2005
Small Grains Field Day Set on May 12  
VERNON – New wheat varieties and a look at successful production practices are in store for North Texas farmers and cattle producers at a May 12 field day in Lockett.

April 13, 2005
4-H Helps 12-Year-Old Tame 'The Monster'  
FLINT – With help from 4-H, 12-year-old Oliva LeVoy has looked "The Monster" square in the eye and gone on to take Buster out to shows.

April 12, 2005
QuailMasters Set to Fledge On June 2  
SAN ANGELO - "Understanding the Quail Equation" is the theme of four quail management workshops starting here this summer. The workshop series, co-sponsored by the Texas Wildlife Association and Texas Cooperative Extension, targets serious students of quail management.

April 12, 2005
Texas Crop and Weather Report  
COLLEGE STATION - Spinach harvest is complete in Texas, and the news is good, according to Texas Cooperative Extension experts.

April 12, 2005
May 11 Tyler Conference to Tell How to Do Business with Cuba  
TYLER - Thanks to changes in federal trade sanctions law, exporting food to Cuba is now not only possible, it promises to be very profitable for Texas agricultural producers.

April 11, 2005
Healthy Feet: A Step in the Right Direction  
AMARILLO - The leg bone's connected to the ankle bone and the ankle bone's connected to the foot bone. And that's where care really counts, especially as people get older.

April 11, 2005
In Central and South Texas, It’s Termites and ‘Worms’ and Ants, Oh My!  
AUSTIN - Spring is in the air, and so are billions of insects in Central and South Texas. They're also on the ground, in trees and inside homes.

April 11, 2005
Hope and Challenge Lay Ahead for Cattle Industry  
VERNON - Right now it's pretty easy to be a good beef-operation manager.

April 11, 2005
Texas Country Cleanups Planned for May  
AUSTIN – Texas Country Cleanups are scheduled for May in Runnels, Brown and Tom Green Counties. Each cleanup will be from 8 a.m. to noon.

April 08, 2005
O.D. Butler Left Legacy of Family, People and Facilities at Texas A&M University  
COLLEGE STATION – The late Dr. O.D. Butler Jr. left a legacy of family, people and facilities at Texas A&M University, Dr. Larry Boleman said Friday.

April 08, 2005
Hussey Becomes Key Liaison Between Research, Texas Commodity Groups  
COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Mark Hussey has been named Texas Agricultural Experiment Station associate director, a position he formerly split between duties as soil and crop sciences department head at Texas A&M University.

April 08, 2005
Garden City Benefit Event Slated for April 19  
GARDEN CITY – Glasscock County's second annual benevolent benefit will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 19 in the Glasscock County Community Center. The fund-raising event, hosted by Texas Cooperative Extension and Glasscock County 4-H adult leaders and youth, raises money for a local beneficiary.

April 08, 2005
Ranch to Rail South Field Day Set for April 28 in Corpus Christi  
CORPUS CHRISTI – The 2004-2005 Ranch to Rail South Field Day is set for April 28 at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center here.

April 08, 2005
Growers Anxious For New Weapon Against Pesky Citrus Pest  
WESLACO – The citrus rust mite is so small that it can't be seen by the naked eye. But for Rio Grande Valley citrus growers, the tiny critter is a savage monster that gobbles up untold millions in lost profits.

April 07, 2005
Hair Sheep Program Slated for April 16 in Sterling City  
STERLING CITY – Texas Cooperative Extension and the Texas Hair Sheep Association will present a hair sheep program at 10 a.m. April 16 in the Sterling County Community Center here.

April 07, 2005
For Better Health, Put One Over the Plate  
COLLEGE STATION – To eat a more healthful diet, start at the bottom – of the plate.

April 06, 2005
New Extension Specialist to Implement Urban Pest Programs  
SAN ANTONIO – While other little girls did their best to avoid bugs, San Antonio native Molly Keck was fascinated by them.

April 06, 2005
Spring into Tractor Safety  
COLLEGE STATION - Annual state vehicle inspections aren't required for farm tractors, but farmers and ranchers need to make a commitment to check them for potential safety problems just the same.

April 05, 2005
Texas Crop and Weather  
COLLEGE STATION - Beef cattle breeding season will begin soon. That means cattle should be receiving adequate nutrition, Texas Cooperative Extension reports.

April 04, 2005
Beloved Texas Wildflowers Topic of April 12 Garden Lecture at Texas A&M  
COLLEGE STATION – Texas wildflowers will be discussed by Stephen Brueggerhoff April 12 at the Texas A&M University Horticultural Garden. Brueggerhoff, a Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center representative, says the plants are "one of our state's most loved and valued natural resources."

April 04, 2005
Meeting to Rally Entrepreneurs and Service Providers in High Poverty-Rate Counties  
JASPER – Everyone talks about unemployment rates and poverty in deep East Texas.

April 01, 2005
Stone Named Extension Agent for Rusk County  
OVERTON - Charles Stone has been named Texas Cooperative Extension County Extension Agent for 4-H and Youth Development for Rusk County.

April 01, 2005
Texas A&M Ranching Experts To Teach In Mexico  
WESLACO – Texas A&M University System ranching experts will spend the next two weekends in northeastern Mexico sharing knowledge and information with 31 Mexican cattle ranchers who requested the visit.

April 01, 2005
May 4 Cow-Calf Financial Workshop Examines Costs, Profits  
VERNON – Cow-calf producers were blessed with another round of high calf prices in 2004, and industry analysts are predicting good prices for the next couple of years. Even so, a Texas Cooperative Extension economist says now is the time to review the cost side of beef production.

April 01, 2005
Programs Offer Goat Producers Parasite Control Insight  
COMANCHE – Effective internal parasite control is often a hit-or-miss proposition for meat goat producers. Texas Cooperative Extension has scheduled two similar programs in April to help producers even the odds in their war against these pests.

April 01, 2005
Grazing School Novices Hail from Four States, One Foreign County  
OVERTON – The East Texas Pasture and Livestock Management Workshops for beginners is not just national; it's international.

April 01, 2005
Valley and Mexican Farmers Cooperate to Conserve Water  
WESLACO – The water situation in South Texas has improved dramatically in recent months. After a decade of drought, reservoirs along the Rio Grande are now near capacity due to plentiful rainfall. In addition, Mexico has recently begun repaying a water debt to the U.S. after a lingering dispute over a 1948 water-sharing treaty.