AnSci Connection

September 2005

By F. Abel Ponce de León

I start this new academic year with optimism. Our achievements over this past year have been many and are important for the future of our teaching, research and extension programs.

We started the fiscal year 2005 (FY 2005) with a comprehensive Graduate School/CSREES departmental review held in October 2004. Overall, the review summary was very complementary as to how we serve our stakeholders and students.

Our teaching endeavors were recognized in several ways. Seventy-five percent of student evaluations indicated our overall quality of instruction to be very good to excellent and 20% indicated it to be good. Forty-four students received their Bachelor of Science degrees. In FY 2005, we established a new record in new high school students registering in the Animal Science major. FY 2006 has already established a new all time high record of new high school students registering in our major in the last 15 years. First year undergraduate student retention was 89%.

Two faculty members were honored with recognitions of outstanding teaching performance. Dr. Michael White received the prestigious Horace T. Morse Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. Dr. Marshall Stern was the recipient of the 2004-2005 COAFES Student Board Outstanding Teacher Award and the 2005 COAFES Alumni Society Distinguished Faculty Award.

The U of MN Livestock Judging Team won the high team overall award at the National Western Stock Show held in Denver, Colorado. The U of MN Dairy Challenge Team brought home the gold.

Our research program and the Graduate School conferred 5 MS and 5 PhD degrees in the 2004-2005 academic year. Ms. Marianna Carriquiry, PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Crooker, was awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship which provides a stipend of $17,500 for the academic year, plus full tuition for thesis credits.

Our research publications include 32 refereed journal articles, 55 abstracts and 48 invited papers, conference proceedings, research reports.

Our faculty generated $1,167,382 in grants and research gifts. Although this was 1% lower than the previous year, this reduction is within the normal and accepted year-to-year variation. Despite budgetary reductions, our faculty provided research assistantships to ~25 graduate students, and 6 post-docs or research associates during the 2004-05 academic year. Two internal DAS research proposals were funded, one to Doug Foster and one to Scott O’Grady and Scott Fahrenkrug.

The Board of Regent approved Dr. Samuel Baidoo's promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with tenure.

Animal Science was the primary sponsor of a youth program in FY 2005 – Adventures with Food and Fiber organized by Dr. Jacqueline Jacob. Similarly, the 2005 Ag Awareness, an annual outreach event organized by graduate students of the Departments of Animal Science and Applied Plant Sciences, was held in May. The 3rd Biannual W.E. Petersen Symposium "Exploring Viable Dairy Alternatives for Minnesota" was held in April 2005.

Our extension program teams have delivered outstanding educational services through workshops like Minnesota Dairy Days, Minnesota Beef Cow/Calf Days, National Poultry Ventilation School, Turkey Health School, and Multi-state Swine Ventilation Workshops to name a few.

With regards to research infrastructure, some renovations and improvements in our farm animal facilities were also carried out. The College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (COAFES) coordinated and provided support for interior renovations in the main St. Paul Poultry Research and Teaching building (~$50,000). One old building and two underutilized buildings in the poultry complex have been transferred to the experiment station for other uses. Dr. Jacqueline Jacob provided overall supervision and follow up for the poultry building renovation project. Similarly, Agricultural Experiment Station funding (~$17,000) was provided to improve the ventilation system in the St. Paul Swine Research and Teaching facility. Also, we are working on a feasibility study to convert the sheep facility into a composting, freestall space for dairy cattle (~60 dairy cows) to be annexed to the St. Paul Dairy Research and Teaching facility.

Three buildings (Turkey Media Barn, Nutrition Research Building and the office building) at UMore Park were renovated (roof repairs, door and door frame replacement, siding repair and paint) under the leadership of Dr. Phil Larsen. These renovations will extend the time these buildings can continue to be used for research and education.

The renovation of the Beef facility at UMore Park allowed us to carry on with the “Carcass Merit Program”. Dr. Alfredo DiCostanzo and Deborah Roeber provided the initiative and leadership for this project.

FY 2005 also witnessed the inauguration of the Calf/Heifer Research facility at SROC Waseca. Drs. James Linn and Hugh Chester-Jones have been involved in this initiative from its inception. Dr. Hugh Chester-Jones was responsible for the supervision and follow up of the project. Dr. Forrest Izuno provided administrative leadership to the project.

In my view, this shows a department on the move and these are certainly excellent reasons to be optimistic.

The Class of 2009 is here and ready to rock! Let us welcome them and our returning students. Be assured that we will do everything possible to help and prepare you for your future. At the New Student Convocation, President Bruininks indicated that they are the largest and the smartest based on the average ACT score and class rank for the Class.

September 11 marked the beginning of this week and, once more, reminded us about our vulnerability from man made catastrophes. Mother Nature, as well, showed us how vulnerable we are. Let us welcome with open arms and compassion the families and students coming to our neighborhoods and university looking for a place to start over.
  

Correction

This is a correction to our article "The Benefits of Making Beef Part of a Healthy Diet, Healthy Livestyle" published in the March issue of AnSci Connection. The statement "Meat, a major source of CLA, accounts for over 97% of CLA consumed, 36% of which is provided by beef." should have read:

Animal products, a major source of CLA, account for 97% of CLA consumed, 36% of which is provided by beef."

The source of the article was Beef's Role in Improving Overall Diet Quality (Beef Facts, National Cattlemen's Beef Association).
  

Scholarship Opportunity

The Colvin Scholarship Foundation, Certified Angus Beef, is awarding 2 scholarships to a junior or a senior level student demonstrating a commitment to the beef industry through the pursuit of a meat science, food science, animal science, marketing, business, communications, journalism, or other degree related to the beef industry throught activities and curriculum. A $2500 scholarship will go to the top applicant and a $1000 scholarslhip to the second place applicant. The application deadline is December 1, 2005. For details and downloadable application forms, go to http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/press/csf/index.php.
  

4th Annual Open House at the Southern ROC

"Enhancing the Rural Landscape: Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives" is the theme of the 4th Annual Open House at U of M Southern ROC in Waseca on September 15, 2005.

The event will feature displays and information on food safety, the "new" food pyramid, foods for cancer prevention and healthier living, ornamental horticulture, and renewable energy and bio-products. The College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, U of M Extension Service, and Department of Animal Science will also have booths set up to provide information and answer questions.

This Open House has entertainment for the whole family, including a corn maze, games and activities, live farm animals, wagon rides, food and wine tasting, U of M Raptor Center bird demonstrations, and door prizes.

For more information, contact Jeanette Williams (507-837-5612) or Mary Jane Stearns (507-536-6310).
  

Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, and Red Dairy Cows

Professor Les Hansen spent three weeks (May 24 to June 13) in South Africa. He was an invited speaker at the International Red Cow Conference, which was held in Zulu-Natal. Pre-conference tours included dairy farm visits as well as a four days in a wild game reserve.

Hansen presented the research results from seven dairies in California, which are providing data to the University of Minnesota (Brad Heins' graduate project) from crossbreeding Holsteins with imported semen from the Swedish Red, Norwegian Red, Montbeliarde, and Normande breeds.

Hansen reports that South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but it struggles with a 40% unemployment rate and a 30% HIV infection rate. Employees on dairy farms are required to become part-time owners by 2014, which suggests that political change is still underway.

Earlier, Dr. Hansen accepted speaking assignments to discuss crossbreeding of dairy cattle in Ireland and Mexico during November 2004 and the United Kingdom last January. Later this year, Hansen will be traveling to Australia and returning to the United Kingdom again to provide research results on crossbreeding.
  

Cairo or Bust!

Professors Tony Seykora and Marshall Stern served as workshop leaders for the Capacity Building Component of the Agricultural Export for Rural Income (AERI) Linkage Project, Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) from June 19 to 23, 2005 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Dr. Seykora led a workshop for 29 faculty members and teaching assistants from six northern Egyptian Universities who currently teach the “Introduction to Animal Science” course.

Dr. Stern led a similar workshop for 25 other faculty members and teaching assistants who teach the “Basic Principles of Animal Nutrition” course.

Seykora and Stern shared all course and teaching materials with workshop participants, including course syllabus and outlines, reading lists, examinations, recommended textbooks, as well as course handouts, class exercises and PowerPoint slides that can be used by the faculty in their respective courses in Egypt.

Seykora and Stern spent two days in Cairo where they visited the pyramids, the sphinx, and the Egyptian National museum, and took an evening cruise on the Nile River. They also became expert camel riders on a trip into the desert by Sharm El Sheikh to attend a Bedouin banquet and as they tooled around the pyramids in Cairo.

While in Egypt, Stern and Seykora spent time with former graduate students from Egypt, Hany Gado who received his PhD in 1987 with Drs. Dick Goodrich and Jay Meiske, and Hamdy Metwally who received his PhD with Dr. Stern in 1989. Hany Gado served as an interpreter at the workshop and as a guide in Cairo. Professors Seykora and Stern are very appreciative of the time Hany spent with them.

We sure are glad to have Professors Seykora and Stern back safe and sound because Sharm El Sheikh, where they spent six days, was bombed by terrorists killing at least 64 people several weeks after they returned home.

Photo at left (L to R): Hamdy Metwally, Hany Gado, Marshall Stern and Tony Seykora inside the tomb of the pyramid engineer.

Kudos to Abby Barberg!

Abby Barberg received wonderful news on two scholarship programs for which she submitted applications. First, she was selected as one of two recipients, nationally, of National Dairy Shrine's Kildee Scholarship for Advanced Study. Applicants for the Kildee Scholarships must be among the top 25 individuals in the National Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest, and Abby placed 4th, individually, in the 2003 national contest. The Kildee Scholarship awards are based on rank in the national judging contest, academic standing, leadership ability, student activities, interest and experience with dairy cattle, and future plans. Each of the two recipients annually receives a $3,000 scholarship to be used for graduate study in a dairy-related field.

In addition to the Kildee Scholarship, Abby was selected as the 2005-06 recipient of a John Brandt Memorial Foundation Scholarship. This scholarship program is open to graduate students attending universities in the service territory of Land O'Lakes, Inc., and it is administered by a special scholarship committee. John Brandt was a former and long-term General Manager of Land O'Lakes. The scholarship is substantial—it covers the cost of the recipient's research assistantship and course work for 1 year. Abby's graduate program involves studying dairy systems management; she is advised by Dr. Marcia Endres.
  

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Awarded to Mariana Carriquiry

Animal Science graduate student Mariana Carriquiry was a recipient the 2005-2006 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) award. The DDF program is an all-University competition that gives outstanding final-year PhD candidates who are making timely progress toward their degrees (typically those entering their 5th year of graduate study) the opportunity to complete the dissertation during the upcoming academic year by devoting full-time effort to the research and writing of the dissertation.

Candidates for the Fellowship must be nominated by their graduate program's Director of Graduate Studies, and nominees must submit a research proposal along with the application. Mariana's proposal was titled "Effects of bovine somatotropin and dietary fat with Omega-3 fatty acids on lactation, reproductive characteristics and hepatic gene expression in dairy cows." Mariana's award includes a stipend of $17,500 for the 2005-2006 academic year and tuition for up to 14 thesis credits each semester. Dr. Brian Crooker is her advisor.

The DDF nomination deadline for the 2006-2007 academic year is March 10, 2006.
       

Young Gophers Claw Their Way to the Top

Nine Gopher Dairy Club members represented the organization very enthusiastically at the ADSA/ASAS Joint Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Club members attending the event held July 24-28, 2005, were: Justin Reek, Micki Czech, Missy Mussman, Jonathan Schefers, Morgan Schaff, Lana Olson, Sarah Olson, Didi Christopherson, and Amy Hazel who was serving as a national officer.

Here are some highlights of the week: Sarah Olson won the Genevieve Christen Undergraduate Student Award (top dairy student in the country); Jon Schefers was elected to the national officer team as the officer-at-large; the club yearbook "The Topline" placed 3rd; and the Quiz Bowl team won the first round but lost to the University of Illinois in the 2nd round.
  

Bruce Larson Will be Missed

Dairy producer Bruce Larson died from cancer at the age of 72 on July 29, 2005. Bruce and his wife Mary ran a Guernsey Dairy Herd in Claremont, Minnesota, until 1993. Bruce was a graduate of the Department of Animal Science and very active in the Gopher Dairy Club. He was a member of the Department's Dairy Advisory Team in the late 1980s and a true advocate for the Department.

The Larsons are known for their efforts to mentor young dairy producers and cultivate relationships with youth interested in dairying. Bruce was also very involved in the Steele County Community.

A wonderful memorial service with approximately 500 in attendance was held at the Associated Church in Owatonna on August 6. Bruce was a great man and will be missed by many.
  

A Wonderful Day at the Annual Department Picnic!

The Annual Department of Animal Science picnic was held just outside the Livestock Pavilion on June 16—one of the few truly beautiful days of the season. We ate an abundance of burgers and brats, salads, fresh fruit and, of course, chocolate brownies.

After plenty of good food and conversation, Department Head Abel Ponce de León presented Outstanding Staff Awards to three very appreciative employees—Scott Welch, Farm Animal Attendant at Rosemount; Wanda Weber, Scientist for Lab 105; Bonnie Rae, Executive Administrative Specialist in Haecker Hall. These staff were recognized for their outstanding service and exceptional dedication to the Department.

Doug Foster presented the Outstanding Masters Student Award to Beka Gill and the Outstanding PhD Student Award to Byung-Whi Kong—both well-deserved. And, to his surprise, Doug Foster received the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award, presented to him by Beka Gill.

Our thanks to Dana Souther, Dave Plath, and Crystal Lehnertz for planning and making all the arrangements for a wonderful day!
    

Youth Camp a Great Success This Summer

The Adventures with Food and Fiber summer youth camp was held again this summer. It was run by Dr. Jacquie Jacob with the assistance of Jessica Abbott (summer student who will be returning to Iowa State University as a sophomore in the pre-vet major) and Hope Kassube (an undergraduate student in the Department).

There were three week-long camps held in June and July and all three camps were at capacity—14 youth per week. The kids had a great time learning about a wide variety of farm animals including dairy, beef, sheep, swine, and poultry (see photos below). They also toured the large animal clinic with Dr. Susan McClanahan (Assistant Clinical Professor, CAPS) and saw a number of interesting cases including alpacas and a baby buffalo.

In the last week’s camp, Princess Kay of the Milky Way stopped by for a visit and helped the kids make butter. All the parents said their kid(s) had a great time—and many plan on returning next year.

This year’s camp sponsors were Gold’n Plump,Hy-Line International, Minnesota Holstein Friesian Breeders Association Inc., Minnesota Livestock Breeders’ Association, and Willmar Poultry Company. Thank you for your support!

For more information about the Adventures with Food and Fiber, visit http://www.ansci.umn.edu/adventures/index.html.

New on the Animal Science Web Site

PoultryU is the Animal Science Poultry web site with a whole new look. PoultryU provides links to on-line factsheets covering a wide variety of poultry-related topics as well as information on hot topics and upcoming events. Check it out at: http://www.poultryu.com.

A link to the new web site of the St. Paul Campus Career Center: http://www.stpaulcareers.umn.edu/. The new site was launched in June 2005. This on-line resource has audience information for Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Parents, Alumni, Employers, and Faculty. In addition to the audience menu tabs, the site has easy to navigate career information menus that include Career Options, Internships & Experience, Job Search Strategies (Resumes, Interviewing, Finding Openings), and Graduate School Planning.

A link to the Horse Extension web site: http://www.extension.umn.edu/horse/. This site includes News, Upcoming Events, Factsheets, and Success Stories.
  

Katie Schiller

Katie Schiller was raised in Northern Minnesota in a tiny town called Fifty Lakes with her slightly younger brother and two older sisters. Katie's great uncle also lived there. He was like a live-in Grandpa who always had time to pull them in their wagon and watch them build sand castles and ice skate. Katie got her first pet when she was four, a yellow bellied newt she named Newty-boy, and since then she has had an interest in animal medicine and animal science.

When Katie moved to Duluth to attend the College of St. Scholastica (and still had then 14-year-old Newty Boy), she worked as a TA for a sophomore anatomy/ physiology course and found she really enjoyed teaching. After finishing her BA in biology, Katie came here to the Animal Science Department for a Master’s degree and to focus on physiology with the goal of staying in academia as a professor.

Next Katie plans to complete the PhD program in cellular and integrative physiology here at the U of M. She wants both the animal and human physiology backgrounds to round out her training.

Currently, Katie is working in Dr. Laura Mauro’s lab on developing and characterizing a novel model for the exploration of fibrosarcoma of bone and bone metastasis.

In her free time, Katie loves camping and hiking, and she really enjoys flying with her husband. Katie also reads a lot—she enjoys mystery and drama. She loves to cook too—Mexican food and French desserts are among her favorites.
  

Graduate student Chikako Abe accepted a position in technical sales at Alltech, a leading animal health company. She begins in October with a one-year training program in Melbourne, Australia. After training, she'll be based in Tokyo.

Tiffany Bobendrier, Junior Scientist at the Swine Research Facility, received her M.A. in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary on June 11, 2005. Then on September 8th, Tiffany left us for a position with Land O'Lakes as a Data Management Coordinator with their feed division in Shoreview, MN. Also, Tiffany and husband Dave will be starting a family. They are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia and hope to bring him home sometime in December or January.

Chris Buzzetta resigned as the Department's Computer Support Supervisor effective August 31, 2005. The Osseo/Maple Grove school district offered him a 50% teaching appointment as a Parent Educator in their Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program. In addition to that, he was offered an adjunct faculty position at Concordia University in St. Paul where he will be co-teaching classes in Child/Adolescent Psychology, Educational Psychology, Education Foundations, Child Growth and Development, and similar courses beginning in the spring. Chris will continue his assistantship in Family, Youth, and Community (U of M College of Education) and plans to complete his PhD in Family Education in the spring. Chris was with the Department for 11 years and will be dearly missed.

Julie Densmore is our new Coordinator for Animal Science Graduate and Undergraduate Programs. Julie comes to us with a number of years experience at the University. Most recently, she was the Program Administrator for the Graduate Medical Education program in Laboratory, Medicine and Pathology at the Medical School. Her first day with us was June 29th.

Michelle Duong is our new Principal Accounts Specialist as of August 17th. Michelle has previous U of M experience in the Department of Pediatrics. Michelle will be supporting both the payroll and the accounts
receivable/payable functions.

Payroll Accountant Amy Goerger left us on July 20th for a position in SPA as a Grant and Contract Administrator. In her new position, she'll be setting up and monitoring grants.

Animal Science graduate student Jamie Larson will be serving as Regional Extension Educator-Livestock for the U of M Extension Service for 6 months replacing Gene Krause who is on a temporary leave of absence. We'll still see her on campus and she will be back to finish her PhD.

After 6 years with Animal Science, Principal Accounts Specialist Beth Magee-Beyer has transferred to CLA. She accepted an Accountant position in CLA's Fiscal Administration Unit. Her last day with us was July 21st.

Nitin Muley is the new post-doc working with Jerry Shurson. Nitin spent the previous two years as a post-doc at North Carolina State University.

Mindy Spiehs, Regional Extension Educator at Morris and former Animal Science graduate student, gave birth to a baby girl on June 26. Hannah Jo weighed 7 lb 8 oz.

Our Undergraduate Advising Counselor Sharon Thielen and her husband, PhD candidate Kevin Thielen, returned to their home state of Kansas in July to tend to family matters. Sharon secured a position as Assistant Director of Admisssions/Transfer Coordinator at Ft. Hays State University, and Kevin will be operating the Thielen family farm. We'll see Kevin again when he returns for his PhD defense.

Gang Xi accepted a post-doc fellow position with Dr. David Clemmons of the Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He will be working on IGF binding proteins systems in diabetes. Gang's goal is to secure an academic position in the near future.
 

Sally Noll (principal investigator) was awarded $13,138 from the Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council. Title: Maximizing alternative protein ingredient use in market turkey diets. Period: 04/01/05 - 02/28/06.

Abel Ponce de León (principal investigator) was awarded a USDA competitive grant for $37,000 as part of a collaboration with the University of Nevada. Title: Comparative functional map of the ruminant Y chromosomes. Period: 05/01/2005 - 04/30/2006.

Gerald Shurson (principal investigator) received $40,000 from the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. Title: Amino acid digestibility of DDGS sources for swine. Period: 07/01/2005 - 06/30/2006.

Department of Animal Science seminars are held September through May on Mondays at 3:00 p.m. in Room 365 Haecker Hall. Everyone is welcome. Please join us.

Sep 12: Ted Labuza - Can shelf life be based on microbial safety?

Sep 19: Byung-Whi Kong - Molecular changes in turkey and vero cell propagated avian metapneumovirus

Sep 26: Speaker & Topic TBA

Oct 3:   Pedro Urriola - Topic TBA

Oct 10: Ted Labuza - Biosecurity and the food distribution system

Oct 17: Mariana Carriquiry - Topic TBA

Oct 24: Abby Barberg - Topic TBA

Oct 31: Mary Raeth-Knight - Topic TBA
  

With all the craziness that comes with updating software, combating evil viruses, and keeping spyware from infiltrating our systems, we needed to find a way to simplify some of this process.

The College of Human Ecology (CHE) and the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (COAFES) have collaborated on an automated software patching system to serve Windows computers in both colleges. This system, called PatchLink, enables us to quickly and efficiently address vulnerability and security problems in the Windows operating system and many Windows applications without requiring technical staff to visit every computer.

The frequency with which patches are needed, the increasingly short amount of time between the release of a patch and exploitation of the vulnerability, and the need to comply with new and upcoming University data security standards have made it clear that we needed to be able to respond quickly to potential problems while still offering quality day-to-day technical support service. The PatchLink system is an invaluable tool in achieving these goals.

PatchLink is designed to work behind the scenes so that it doesn't interrupt your work. For those of you on the COAFES Novell Server, the installation of PatchLink has already taken place if you have logged into the server anytime since May 2005. Those of you not on the server will need to have PatchLink installed manually onto your machine.

When an update is deployed through PatchLink, you may get a message "The system is being updated which may take a few minutes longer. The install does require a reboot, so please save your work now." During the testing of the software, very few, if any, problems have occurred as a result of these deployed updates.

We will not automatically reboot your computer. If we need to encourage you to reboot, you will get a "Computer reboot status" alert. You can choose to delay the reboot by either clicking "Snooze" or ignoring the dialog box. You will be reminded of the need to reboot once an hour, up to 15 times. The 15th time you receive the reboot alert, your computer will give you a 2-minute warning before rebooting.

As a rule of thumb, regardless of PatchLink, it is important that you save any open documents before walking away from your desk. Also, we ask that you always shut down your computer when you leave for the day. Leaving unsaved documents open on your system can lead to corrupt files and/or lost data in the event of a power failure, a system hiccup causing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), or other such events. Leaving your system on at all times opens you up for many more opportunities for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities.

We hope that this new system will save everyone valuable time and energy. If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to anscihelp@mail.coafes.umn.edu or contact Faraz at 612-624-3435.
  

September 2005

15 - Waseca Open House, Southern ROC in Waseca, MN.

17 & 20 - Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, St. Paul RiverCentre, St. Paul, MN. Contact: Veterinary Continuing Education, 1-800-380-8636.

20 & 21 - 66th Annual Minnesota Nutrition Conference, Holiday Inn St. Paul-East, 2201 Burns Avenue (off Interstate 94), St. Paul, MN. On-line registration: http://register.cce.umn.edu/Course.pl?sect_key=178023. For more information, call 612-624-4000.

22 - Rotational Grazing Demo, Medina, MN. Contact: Betsy Gilkerson, 612-596-1175.

October 2005

4-8 - World Dairy Expo. Alliant Energy Center of Dane County, Madison, WI. Contact: World Dairy Expo, 608-224-6455 wde@wdexpo.com.

8 - Horse Information Booth, Maple Plain, MN. Contact: Betsy Gilkerson, 612-596-1175.

11 - Fall Agricultural Education Invitational (horse, dairy, general livestock, soils, and poultry Career Development Events), U of M, St. Paul Campus. Contact: Doug Hanson, 320-212-6525 or 612-624-4245.

20-23 - 6th Annual Minnesota Beef Expo, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, St. Paul, MN. For more information, see http://www.mnbeefexpo.com.

21 & 22 - Northeast Dairy Challenge, Morrisville State College, Norwich, NY. Contact: Sheila Marshman, 315-684-6106 marshmsa@morrisville.edu.

November 2005

24 & 25 - The U is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

30 - SE Minnesota Forage Day, location TBA. Contact: Lisa Behnken or Paul Peterson.

December 2005

1 - Central Minnesota Forage Day, location TBA. Contact: Dan Martens or Paul Peterson.

1 & 2 - Artificial Insemination (Swine), Southern ROC, Waseca, MN. For more information, contact Mark Whitney at 507-389-5541. To register for the workshop, please contact the Minnesota Pork Board at 507-345-8814.

6 - NW Minnesota Forage Day, location TBA. Contact: Doug Holen or Paul Peterson.

6 & 7 - Midwest Dairy Expo, St. Cloud Civic Center, St. Cloud, MN. For more information, contact Minnesota Milk Producers Association at mmpa@mnmilk.org.

15 - Winter Agricultural Invitational (Events: small animals, agribusiness sales, extemporaneous speaking, public speaking, creed speaking, job interview, farm management, parliamentary procedure, floriculture, nursery landscape), U of M, St. Paul Campus. Contact: Doug Hanson, 320-212-6525 or 612-624-4245.

21 - End of Fall semester.