COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE VOLUME 15 • NUMBER 3 • FALL 2006 Dear Friends and Colleagues, As I traveled the state this summer, it was obvious last year was but a brief respite in a seven-year drought in much of Wyoming. Proper planning and adequate information is the best defense against droughts we face. You may wish to visit our Drought Information Web site at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo. edu/UWCES/Drought.asp. Stock growers may find more discussion of this from my column in the summer issue of CowCountry from the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA). The issue came out in August, and copies can be obtained by calling the WSGA at (307) 638-3942. On a brighter note, one of my privileges as dean of your College of Agriculture is to recognize and “Any honor each fall those who have helped the college. The Mead family truly meets the definition of the college’s Legacy Award, which person who recognizes those who have provided meaningful and lasting support for the college. The Meads are fourth-generation ranchers in Wyoming. Pete, Matt, Brad, Muffy Mead- contributes Ferro, and their families have continued Cliff and Martha Hansen’s legacy of support for to prosperity this college. They helped with the establishment of the Cliff and Martha Hansen Live- stock Teaching Arena and the Mary Mead Educational Wing. More recently, the family must prosper endowed the Mary Hansen Mead Scholarship for Women in Agriculture to support one in turn.” or more outstanding young women in agriculture. This scholarship is named in memory of Pete’s late wife, Mary – mother of Matt, Brad, and Muffy, and daughter of Cliff and Martha Hansen. Earl Nightingale Outstanding alum Jerry Rankin received his bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1962. He began his career as an agricultural lending supervisor for the U.S. Department Dean Frank Galey of Agriculture’s Farmers Home Administration in Sheridan. He then managed large ranch operations and later moved back into banking. He is the chief operating officer and vice chairman of the board of The Jackson State Bank and Trust. Our other outstanding alum is Blair Wolfley. Blair received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW in ag business and ag economics, respectively. Most of his career has been with Washington State University (WSU) Extension. He now manages 11 counties for WSU Extension and the Vancouver Re- search and Extension Unit. Our outstanding research partner is Bayer CropScience, which has worked with the college’s De- partment of Plant Sciences research programs for more than 25 years. Research supported in part by this partnership has led to development of the micro-rate system of weed control and trials to control range- land weeds. You will be able to read more about our honorees in this quarter’s Ag News. Other stories include new facilities at the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Center near Lingle, a new endow- ment to support veterinary student externs, the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory’s response to the canine influenza outbreak in Cheyenne, two new faculty members in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and our new state-of-the-art computer marketing modeling laboratory in the department. Thank you for your support. Please stay in touch with your College of Agriculture! Dean Frank Galey College of Agriculture F I R S T C U T Two UW graduates extension clientele who face Coupal says both fac- fill new wildlife- complex decisions related ulty members will work in livestock positions to natural resources and the collaboration with other environment. departments in the College Two University of Peck adds, “I hope of Agriculture and across Wyoming graduates have my agricultural roots and campus. filled new wildlife-livestock undergraduate training in faculty positions in the University of Wyoming wildlife biology will fa- WSVL attempting Department of Agricultural graduates Dannele Peck cilitate multi-disciplinary to isolate canine and Applied Economics. and Ben Rashford have collaboration that addresses Ben Rashford and filled new wildlife-livestock influenza virus the state’s wildlife and live- Dannele Peck, who both faculty positions in the Canine influenza was stock issues.” earned bachelor’s and Department of Agricultural on the move this year in and Applied Economics. Peck was raised on master’s degrees from UW, the Cheyenne area, and the a dairy farm in upstate were hired as assistant Wyoming State Veterinary animal health (brucellosis), New York and earned a professors and started in Laboratory (WSVL) be- the Endangered Species Act bachelor’s degree in wildlife August. came heavily involved in (Preble’s meadow jumping biology and a master’s in “They will focus on confirming the extent of mice and prairie dogs), hunt- agricultural economics at anything dealing with live- the outbreak. ing, and landowner habitat UW. stock production and wild- The virus appeared at conservation strategies. She will graduate this life,” says Roger Coupal, the Cheyenne Animal Shel- “A lot of their work fall from Oregon State associate professor and ter in June. The outbreak will be outreach and re- University (OSU) with a interim department head. resulted in the euthanasia search related. We believe doctorate in agricultural “We’ll be reaching out to of a large number of dogs, the state will find both po- and resource economics. new clientele on issues that but approximately 20 dogs sitions very useful,” Coupal Her thesis focuses on opti- are truly Wyoming- and were saved, says Donal says. mal drought preparedness Rocky Mountain-based, O’Toole, head of the De- Rashford will split and response in irrigated and we’ll be reaching out partment of Veterinary the majority of his time agriculture. to traditional clientele but Sciences and director of the between extension and re- Rashford graduated asking them different ques- WSVL. search but will also teach. this summer from OSU tions.” Assistant Professor Peck has a teaching and with a doctorate in ag- Coupal adds, “When Nicky Bratanich, who research assignment. ricultural and resource you look across the state, I joined the department ear- Peck says, “We both economics. His dissertation think you can start seeing lier this year as the WSVL’s look forward to sharing our examined the design of all kinds of issues relating virologist, her chief techni- enthusiasm for economics cost-effective wildlife man- to private land and wild- cian, Jackie Cavender, and with students. We hope to agement on agricultural life.” other personnel in the labo- inspire them to think criti- land. He says many issues ratory tested the surviving cally and creatively about He grew up in upstate affect both livestock/private animals to see how many western issues.” New York and earned bach- lands and wildlife includ- were infected. Rashford notes he elor’s and master’s degrees ing such things as predation “Most were, and Dr. looks forward to assisting in economics at UW. (wolves and grizzly bears), Bratanich’s laboratory is 2 TING currently attempting to turkeys, which are serving try via the greyhound dog isolate the virus,” O’Toole as blood donors,” O’Toole industry and then via the says. “Isolates of the virus says. shelter dog population, he are needed to develop He emphasizes it is reports. vaccines and laboratory likely canine influenza is reagents, and as challenge here to stay but notes the Head of molecular strains to confirm that new Cheyenne outbreak was biology gives vaccines are effective.” controlled in the short term keynote address Several companies by the shelter’s controver- Jordanka Zlatanova, contacted the WSVL once sial decision to euthanize professor and head of the they heard of the Cheyenne many of the dogs. Several Department of Molecular outbreak, he notes. privately owned dogs in Biology, gave the keynote Bratanich’s laboratory the city also contracted the address at the Chromo- Professor Jordanka is putting in place addi- disease, and some died. somes at the Nano-Era Zlatanova tional assays for canine in- “One of the veteri- international meeting in with an equal part of each fluenza, including a blood narians in Cheyenne, Dr. Tokyo in March. set of chromosomes traveling test, which will make it Mike Driscoll, was very The conference to each new cell. Six years easier and cheaper to screen helpful in repeatedly sam- brought together physicists, ago, the Japanese govern- large numbers of dogs. To pling dogs that recovered biologists, mathemati- ment provided money for a do this, she needed access so the WSVL could have cians, computer scientists, consortium to use state-of- to a regular supply of fresh ‘gold standard’ positive bioinformaticists, and re- the-art technology to study blood from turkeys. blood samples to use in the searchers from related fields chromosomal dynamics at “She is now the proud, event the disease becomes trying to unravel chromatin the molecular level. if somewhat reluctant, widespread,” O’Toole says. structure in chromosomes. Zlatanova’s department owner of a small flock of Canine influenza is a Zlatanova presented utilizes instruments that new disease that emerged “Chromatin Dynamics allow researchers to look in Florida two years ago. Studied by Single-Molecule at the fluorescence of indi- “This was a strain of Approaches.” vidual molecules. equine influenza virus that “This is a lot of pres- “This was unheard underwent mutation, al- tige for the University of of five years ago,” says lowing it to infect dogs. Wyoming,” she says. “I was Zlatanova. “We look at Most dogs recover, but a the only speaker from the each individual molecule small proportion (less than States at the conference.” Assistant Professor Nicky as part of the complex and 5 percent) may die. The Chromatin is the por- Bratanich and her col- how they interact with each leagues at the Wyoming mutated virus was probably tion of the cell nucleus that other.