May 30, 2003 News Releases
Released 5/28/03 & 5/29/03
THE
BASICS OF CLONING
LOGAN- Cloning has occurred in nature for billions of years
in plants and some animals. Cloning is asexually producing offspring
that are genetically identical to a parent plant or animal.
For example, a plant grown from a leaf cutting is a clone of
the original plant because they are genetically identical.
In the laboratory, scientists use somatic cell nuclear transfer
techniques to produce animals with genetic material identical
to just one parent. At present, 10 species have been successfully
cloned.
Using microsurgery techniques, scientists remove the nucleus
from an egg cell which contains the cell’s genetic material,
creating an enucleated egg. The genetic material from a somatic
cell – which can be any body cell other than an egg or
sperm cell – is removed from the cell and injected into
the enucleated egg. An electric pulse fuses the egg cell and
new genetic material. The cell is then treated in media that
allows it to develop into an embryo that can be implanted in
a surrogate mother’s womb and carried to term.
Cloning will not replace sexual reproduction in animals, but
allows scientists to increase the impact important genetic traits
in populations of animals and may be the only means of reproducing
some animals. For example, cells from endangered animals may
be used to increase populations of some species, but cloning
them also requires surrogate mothers that are genetically similar
to carry the embryos to term.
The birth of the mule Idaho Gem, the first cloned equine, presents
other important opportunities. Mules are crosses of horses and
donkeys and, like most hybrids, are sterile. The only way to
produce genetic copies of an outstanding mule is through cloning.
Understanding the unique requirements for developing cloned
equine embryos may also open the way to cloning horses with
important genetic traits. For example, Funny Cide, this year’s
winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness is a gelding, a genetic
dead end unless cloning could produce copies of him.
May 29, 2003
Contact: Kenneth White, (435) 797-2149, [kwhite@cc.usu.edu]
Writer: Lynnette Harris, (435) 797-2189, [lynnette@agx.usu.edu]
TO CLONE A MULE: HISTORY OFFERS MIXED
MESSAGES
MOSCOW, Idaho – For a mule, the only option for reproduction
is cloning. A mule is the sterile hybrid that results from the
crossing of a horse and donkey.
Of millions of mules produced through the millennia, only a
tiny fraction have proven fertile.
A basic tenet of biology, in fact, argues that mules must be
sterile because horses and donkeys are considered separate species.
A key test of a species is whether it can produce fertile offspring
when paired with a close relative.
In the case of a mule, a mare horse is the mother and a male
donkey, a jack, is the father. If horses paired with donkeys
routinely produced fertile offspring, they could be considered
the same species.
The basic reason nearly all mules are sterile is genetic incompatibility.
A donkey has 62 chromosomes and a horse has 64. Mules typically
have 63.
So rare are fertile mules that cultures have developed apocryphal
myths surrounding their offspring. In November, a woman in Morocco
greeted the arrival of her mule’s new foal with horror
because superstition said such an event presaged the end of
the world.
Farmers in Albania in 1994 considered executing a mule there
that aborted a foal because village elders feared the fetus
was an evil omen.
Near Champion, Neb., the owners of a mule named Krause saw things
differently
when she produced a foal, Blue Moon, in 1984. They saw it as
an event blessed enough to be announced from the pulpit of the
United Methodist Church in Imperial, Neb. In 1987 Krause produced
another foal, White Lightning.
Two mule foals were also documented in China. In October 1985,
the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reported one of
them produced a foal that was named Dragon Foal.
Many people prize mules because they are considered more deliberate
than horses. Mule advocates say their animals inherit their
donkey sires’a tendency to stop and analyze situations
before reacting. Horses, in contrast, yield quickly to a powerful
instinct to flee. Their horse mothers give mules greater size
and strength.
Prized as saddle animals by many, mules also can work longer,
harder and in greater heat than horses, according to research
by the late Melvin Bradley, a University of Missouri professor
of animal science for 42 years, who died in March.
Recorded praises of mules’ abilities exist since at least
Roman times. The mules heyday in the U.S. occurred in the late
19th and early 20th centuries. Missouri became a focal point
for mule breeding.
Bradley found that one town, Lathrop, Mo., shipped 350,000 mules
to Britain to aid forces engaged in World War I. The Missouri
mule answered the bugle again in World War II when some 8,000
served Allied forces hauling howitzers and supplies in the rugged
highlands of Burma, China and India.
In the United States, Mule Days, held since 1969 in Bishop,
Calif., serves as one of the new epicenters for mule enthusiasts.
Organizers scheduled this year’s event May 21 to 25, the
week before Memorial Day, and expect to draw some 30,000 competitors
and fans.
Bishop is northwest of Death Valley National park where the
image of borax wagons hauled by 20-mule teams still persists.
The University of Idaho also has a Bishop connection. The UI
mule project was chosen as grand marshall of the parade in 1994,
the event’s 25th anniversary. The year before, the Northwest
Equine Reproduction Laboratory had produced four sibling mules
using embryo transfers and surrogate mares. Representing the
UI project were Post Falls businessman Don Jacklin, the owner
of a stable of racing mules, and UI Professor of Animal and
Veterinary Science Gordon Woods.
May 29, 2003
Contact: John Devilbiss, (435) 797-1358, john.devilbiss@usu.edu,Whitney
Wilkinson, (435) 797-1429, whitney.wilkinson@usu.edu
Writers: Kathy Barnard and Bill Loftus, (208) 885-6291, kbarnard@uidaho.edu,
bloftus@uidaho.edu
MULE RACING
ENTHUSIAST PLAYED MAJOR ROLE IN RESEARCH
POST FALLS, Idaho – Don Jacklin is a businessman with
a passion for mule racing.
His best racer, Taz, inspires that sort of passion in a lot
of race fans. Last year, the rivalry between Jacklin’s
Taz and Black Ruby, another racing mule, won the TVG television
racing channel’s Viewer’s Choice Award for the Top
Rivalry in horse racing.
Jacklin, who joined his brothers Doyle and Duane in building
Jacklin Seed into a national force in grass seed production,
was the major private sponsor of the University of Idaho –
Utah State University project that cloned the first member of
the horse family, a mule.
The cloned foal, born May 4 and named Idaho Gem, is the full
brother of Taz.
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey, a jack, crossed with
a female horse, a mare. Mules are almost always sterile, although
five reports have been verified of female mules producing live
foals in the last two decades.
A donkey has 62 chromosomes and a horse 64. A mule has 63. It
is that basic genetic difference that is thought to make mules
sterile. Cloning, as a result, is the only feasible way for
a mule to reproduce.
Jacklin has long supported the work of Dr. Gordon Woods, a University
of Idaho professor of animal and veterinary science and a veterinarian.
Woods directs the Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory on
the Moscow campus. Jacklin donated funds to directly support
Dr. Dirk Vanderwall, a UI assistant professor of animal and
veterinary science. Woods said Vanderwall’s expertise
was essential to the project.
In 1994, Jacklin and Woods represented the UI program when it
was chosen grand marshal of the Bishop Mule Days Parade in central
California. The focus of the program then was using pioneering
embryo transfer techniques to produce four siblings within months
of each other.
Mule racing is gaining popularity throughout the country, and
in particular in the West where it began, Jacklin said.
California race tracks such as Los Alamitas, Pomona and Del
Mar have scheduled mule races with strong fan support, including
a daily record turnout at one track.
The TVG vote was exciting, Jacklin said, because it showed broader
interest.
“They picked up eastern fans who didn’t even know
that mule racing existed,” he said. “Seeing the
Taz-Black Ruby rivalry attract so much attention was surprising
because they were up against the best races, the best horses
and the best jockeys in the world.”
That strong will that makes mules famous makes them intense
competitors, Jacklin said.
“People were amazed these two mules would compete so hard.”
Mules are fast, although not as fast a thoroughbreds. They can
beat some horses like paints, Arabians and Appaloosas but typically
run in the middle of the pack for quarter horses.
Mules typically race their best over short distances of 300
to 440 yards.
Jacklin makes clear that he is proud to have been a sponsor
of the research that led to the first cloned equine, and proud
that it produced a mule.
Jacklin and his brothers were honored by the University of Idaho
at its May 17 commencement with honorary doctoral degrees to
recognize their contributions to the institution and the state.
The businessmen led the drive to establish the university’s
Post Falls Research Park and provided major support for the
new Jacklin Science and Technology Building there.
“Even though the animals are important, what this is really
about is the opportunity to work with quality people like Gordon
Woods, Dirk Vanderwall and other members of the team,”
Jacklin said.
May 29, 2003
Contact: Whitney Wilkinson, (435) 797-1429, whitney.wilkinson@usu.edu
Writers: Kathy Barnard or Bill Loftus, (208) 885-6291,kbarnard@uidaho.edu
or bloftus @uidaho.edu
KENNETH
WHITE BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
LOGAN- In the final weeks of completing his bachelor’s
degree in the late 1970s, Kenneth White learned about embryo
transfer techniques that were then the newest, cutting-edge
of animal reproductive science. He was hooked.
Now, some 24 years later, White is among those helping advance
the current cutting-edge of animal reproduction — somatic
cell nuclear transfer, or cloning.
White, professor in Utah State University’s animal, dairy
and veterinary sciences department, hopes his involvement in
producing the first cloned mule (and first successfully cloned
equine) will inspire his students the way those lectures about
embryo transfer inspired him.
“The idea of harvesting and fertilizing multiple eggs
and transferring them to recipient animals was amazing to me
and I just had to get involved,” White says. “I
got a list of who was doing embryo transfer research and based
on that list I applied for graduate school at (University of
California) Davis.”
White completed a master’s degree in animal science and
a doctoral degree in physiology at UC-Davis. He was assistant
and then associate professor at Louisiana State University from
1986 to 1991. He joined Utah State University’s College
of Agriculture in 1991 and was named a full professor and director
of the Center for Development and Molecular Biology in 1995.
White is a member of the International Embryo Transfer Society
and chaired the organization’s education and foundation
committees from 1994-1999. He is a member of the American Society
for Cell Biology, Society for the Study of Reproduction, and
the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
White’s current research interests, which he shares with
graduate and undergraduate students in the courses he teaches,
include identifying factorsz associated with oocyte activation
in domestic animals, understanding early embryonic development,
evaluating early gene expression in mammalian embryos, enhancing
disease resistance in animals, and computer enhancement and
analysis of preimplantation embryos.
May 29, 2003
Contact: Kenneth White, (435) 797-2149 [kwhite@cc.usu.edu]
Writer: LynnetteHarris, (435) 797-2189 [lynnette@agx.usu.edu
FIRST MULE CLONED
[EDITORS: Four releases providing more information about this
story are included. They are titled “To Clone A Mule:
History Offers A Mixed Message”; “Mule Racing Enthusiast
Played Major Role In Research”; “The Basics of Cloning”
and “Kenneth White Biographical Information”]
MOSCOW, Idaho – A University of Idaho-Utah State University
research team was the first worldwide to clone a member of the
horse family, a mule, according to a paper published online
by the journal Science.
The research team included Gordon Woods, UI professor of animal
and veterinary science, Kenneth L. White, Utah State University
professor of animal science, and Dirk Vanderwall, UI assistant
professor of animal and veterinary science.
The baby mule, Idaho Gem, was born May 4. It is the first clone
of a hybrid animal. A mule results from a cross between a female
horse, a mare, and a male donkey, a jack. As hybrids, mules
are sterile, except in extremely rare cases.
Veterinary examinations of the foal and its surrogate mother
showed them to be in good health, Woods said. The foal romped
with its surrogate mother during a news conference on the UI
campus to announce its birth.
The DNA comes from a fetal cell culture first established in
1998 at the University of Idaho.
As scientifically and commercially significant as their accomplishment
is for the horse industry, Woods said he is most excited because
the project provides a new animal model, the horse, to advance
understanding of human cancer.
Woods believes the breakthrough understanding of cellular biology
necessary for horse cloning to proceed may offer new insights
into cancer development in people.
Woods, UI professor of animal and veterinary science, began
working on the cloning project five years ago in 1998. As director
of the Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory on the UI Moscow
campus, he has spent much of his career studying horse-breeding
issues.
Horses present a large challenge to those who would use advanced
technology to assist them. Only two “test-tube”
horse foals, babies conceived in a test tube, resulted from
in vitro fertilization experiments worldwide.
The mule clone born in May is the full sibling of a champion
racing mule owned by Idaho businessman, UI benefactor and mule
enthusiast Don Jacklin of Post Falls.
The team’s success is expected to attract widespread interest.
Its paper will be published at the Science Express web site,
on Thursday, May 29, at www.sciencexpress.org and also http://www.aaas.org.
Science and Science Express are published by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general
scientific organization.”
For three years, from 1998 to 2000, the team worked without
apparent success. After transferring the nuclei from the mule
cells into 134 horse eggs and implanting them into mares, two
apparently “false pregnancies” resulted, but both
failed to proceed past four weeks.
In 2001, the team began to focus on the calcium levels in the
fluid surrounding the eggs during the cloning procedure. The
change led to the first fetal heart beat, signifying the team
had crossed a significant hurdle in the experiment. That year,
researchers transferred 84 eggs, establishing five apparent
pregnancies.
“The results were impressive and immediate,” Woods
said. The first change led to a significant advance in the development
of cloned embryos.
In 2002, Woods, White and Vanderwall continued to adjust the
calcium levels in the fluid surrounding the egg during the cloning
procedure. That change dramatically increased the team’s
success.
The team established 14 pregnancies using mule DNA in 113 attempts.
Eight of the pregnancies continued to at least the 40-day stage
when heartbeats were detected.
To test whether mule DNA could be limiting success, the team
also made 61 attempts to use horse DNA. The test resulted in
seven apparent pregnancies, two of which developed heartbeats.
Neither of the horse clone pregnancies developed past the critical
60-day threshhold, however.
The UI-Utah State team is the first to succeed among several
worldwide attempting to clone a member of the horse family.
The 2002 preliminary testing showed the method developed by
the researchers to successfully clone a mule should work equally
as well with a horse, Woods said.
“It basically came down to a matter of numbers and we
wanted to focus most of our attention on cloning a mule, which
was our original objective,” Vanderwall said.
White is widely recognized as an expert on cattle cloning and
brought cloning expertise to the team. Vanderwall, who like
Woods, earned his doctor of veterinary medicine and Ph.D. degrees,
brought extensive clinical expertise to the team.
Woods had taken an interest in basic horse physiology after
becoming intrigued by the observation that stallions, male horses,
do not develop prostate cancer.
The horse’s basic metabolism is “slow” compared
to humans and many other mammals, Woods said. He speculated
that difference in cellular activity might play a role in both
cancer development and reproduction.
He formed an outside company, CancEr2, to investigate that observation
with the backing of private investors. The studies showed a
fundamental difference between men and stallions in the calcium
concentrations within the cells and surrounding fluid.
Jacklin and Woods formed another company, ClonE2 to offer horse
cloning services commercially.
Woods said the UI-Utah State team will explore other lines of
scientific inquiry opened by this year’s success.
May 29, 2003
Contact: Kenneth White, (435) 797-2149, kwhite@cc.usu.edu, John
Devilbiss, (435) 797-1358, john.devilbiss@usu.edu, Whitney Wilkinson,
(435) 797-1429, whitney.wilkinson@usu.edu
Writer: Kathy Barnard& Bill Loftus, (208) 885-6291, kbarnard@uidaho.edu
or blouftus@uidaho.edu
ASK A SPECIALIST: WHAT PERSONAL FINANCE PAPERS
DO I KEEP AND WHAT DO I TOSS?
LOGAN — Do you keep all your financial documents, or do
you throw everything away? No matter what your circumstances,
it is important to keep some documents and shred others. Here
are guidelines to help organize your personal finance papers.
• Shred unneeded documents. This is important since identity
theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States.
Every day we toss out papers with personal information. Identity
thieves search for this information to sell or use for their
own profit. To minimize your risk, routinely shred any papers
that include personal identification and account numbers. This
includes pre-approved credit card offers. The best shredder
is one that turns your documents into thin vertical strips or
confetti. You can purchase a shredder at an office supply store
or large discounter for $30 to $40.
• Keep some papers indefinitely. Store these hard-to-replace
documents forever
- Your will. Have a back-up copy filed with your attorney.
- Birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, prenuptial
agreements, alimony and child-custody agreements, divorce decrees,
adoption papers, military records, citizenship papers and passports.
- Your health care power of attorney, which gives someone you
trust legal right to make medical decisions for you if you become
incapacitated.
- Copies of your IRA and 401(k) participation plans. These forms,
not your will, determine what happens to the money in these
accounts when you die. If you haven't kept copies of the forms
that name your plan beneficiaries, contact your IRA or 401(k)
custodians. Keep your beneficiary names and addresses current.
- All current insurance policies home, health, disability and
auto.
- Deeds, property titles, mortgages, stock and bond certificate
sand employment contracts.
- Store these important documents in a safe deposit box at the
bank or in a fireproof box in your home. Large fireproof boxes
are available at office supply and hardware stores for about
$100. The fees for a safe deposit box can range from $10 to
$75 a year, depending on the size of the box. If you choose
to rent a safe deposit box, make an inventory of the contents
and put the list in your financial notebook or permanent file
at home.
• Store these documents for at least seven years in a
file cabinet at home or in multiple file boxes. These are considered
long-term files.
- Income tax returns, both state and federal, and supporting
documentation. Supporting documents include receipts for business
expenses, charitable contributions, casualty losses and cancelled
checks for any other tax-deductible expenses. Usually tax returns
will be audited within three years. In some instances an audit
may be held six years after the return is filed. Therefore it
is wise to keep tax returns and supporting papers for seven
years. If you haven't kept copies of recent federal tax returns,
you can buy them from the IRS. Tax returns often contain information
about earnings and assets that you may need. To obtain tax forms,
send form 4506, "Request for Copy or Transcript of Tax
Form" to the Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 9941, Photocopy
Unit, Stop 6734, Ogden, UT 84409. The cost is $23 for one year's
return.
- Wage and salary records and annual payroll check stubs.
- Cancelled checks, bank statements and savings account records.
- Monthly statements including information from the bank, brokers,
mutual funds, 401(k) and other retirement plans, individual
retirement accounts (IRAs), Roth IRAs and 529 college savings
plans. Staple multi-page documents to keep them together in
the file.
- Automobile, truck and farm machinery titles. When you sell,
give maintenance records to the new owner.
- Guarantees and warrantees. Write the date and place of purchase
on the guarantee or warrantee. Keep records of all repairs.
- Keep documents showing improvements to your house. These records
can help in the case of a dispute over damage from flood, fire
or other disasters and can help the insurance company cover
your losses.
• Store these documents in a file cabinet or file box
for up to three years. These are considered short-term files.
- Papers that confirm the selling or buying of stocks, bonds,
etc. Discard quarterly statements once you receive the year-end
statement.
- Pay stubs. Keep monthly stubs to match your year-end statement,
then shred the stubs. Keep year-end stubs for at least three
years.
- Credit card statements. These may list tax-deductible expenses
or charitable gifts. If so, keep those with your tax papers.
If not, shred at the end of the year.
- Utility and telephone bills. You may shred as soon as they
are paid, or keep them for financial records. When selling or
renting property, tenants may want to review recent utility
bills.
- ATM receipts/deposit slips. As soon as they appear on the
bank statement, shred.
- Medical bills. Hang onto these for a year in case you have
a dispute over a reimbursement or you are billed for something
you have already paid. Shred unless they support a tax deduction,
in which case, file with your tax documents.
• Plan for a yearly overhaul. Even the best record-keeping
system won't fill your needs forever. Changes in employment
or lifestyle require adjustments in record keeping. At least
once a year, review your files and clean them out. January is
a great time for a record-keeping overhaul since tax time requires
you to look at your financial picture.
* Visit http//extension.usu.edu/publica/news/aska/ to see
other "Ask A Specialist" columns.
________
Direct column topics to Julene Reese, Utah State University
Extension, Logan, UT 84322-4900; 435-797-1363; julener@ext.usu.edu
May 29, 2003
ASK-A-SPECIALIST
Answer by Barbara R. Rowe, Utah State University Extension
Family Resource Management Specialist and Heidi LeBlanc, Utah
State University Extension family and consumer science agent,
San Juan County
UTAH STATE NEWS RELEASES FOR 05-28-03
MEDIA ADVISORY
[EDITORS: The University of Idaho will provide a satellite
feed with highlights from Thursday’s news conference as
well as file video between 12:30 and 12:45 p.m., PDT, Thursday,
May 29, at Ku band, AMC 3, Transponder 15, Polarity: Horizontal
87 degrees W, Downlink frequ. 12000, Audio 6.2/6.8. In addition,
reporters from the United States can join the news conference
by telephone by calling (800) 553-0318; reporters from outside
the U.S. can join by calling (612) 288-0340.]
MOSCOW, Idaho – A University of Idaho and Utah State
University scientific team plans to announce a research finding
of major importance to the livestock industry at a news conference
planned May 29 at 10 a.m. PDT at the University of Idaho in
Moscow, Idaho.
Further details are available to media representatives who register
with the American Association for the Advancement of Science
website at www.eurekalert.org
Media representatives desiring accreditation to attend the news
conference independent of AAAS must submit a letter from a news
supervisor at a media outlet that is a member of a recognized
news organization. Requests for credentials must be received
by the University of Idaho Communications and Marketing Office
by 9 a.m. PDT, May 29, to be considered for news conference
attendance.
Requests for accreditation may be e-mailed to sciencenews@uidaho.edu
or faxed to (208) 885-7251. Questions may be directed to Kathy
Barnard or Bill Loftus by calling (208) 885-6291.
May 28, 2003
Contact: Kathy Barnard or Bill Loftus,(208) 885-6291, kbarnard@uidaho.edu
or
bloftus@uidaho.edu
DISCUSSING THE
BIRDS AND THE BEES
LOGAN — When it comes to the birds, Utah State University
Extension horticulturist Jerry L. Goodspeed has a bit of a different
outlook on the discussion than the average person.
“I have often wondered why people refer to discussing
the birds and the bees as having 'that' conversation with their
kids,” said Goodspeed. “Have you ever considered
just how bees actually do their job? After describing the wonders
of a bumble bee and the work and effort they put into pollination,
most children are either confused, overwhelmed or in a complete
state of denial.
“In an attempt to help concerned parents and set the record
straight with many children, let me explain the miracle of bumble
bees and pollination. This miraculous process is the main reason
we have such abundant fruits and vegetables.”
Pollination is the transferral of pollen from the male stamen
to the female stigma in a flower. Although we often worry about
pollination, the more important process is fertilization, he
said. For fertilization to take place, the pollen grain must
actually grow down the tube to the ovary, where it can then
fertilize the egg. Although many plants have the ability to
do this without the aid of a pollinator, most important horticultural
crops need a pollinator, or third party, to carry the pollen
from one flower to another.
There are many insects that can carry pollen from flower to
flower, Goodspeed explained. The bumble bee is probably the
most famous, but others that perform this important function
include the honey bee, leaf-cutter bee, mason bee, alkali bee
and the shaggy fuzzy-foot bee.
As the insect travels from flower to flower collecting nectar
and pollen to feed themselves and their young, pollen collects
on their legs and body and is transferred from one flower or
plant to the next. This process not only ensures fruit production,
but also helps transfer genes from one plant to another, increasing
the plant kingdom diversity and producing improved plants, he
said.
“Bumble bees have been referred to as the workaholics
of the insect world,” Goodspeed noted. “They work
from just before dawn until a little after dusk, seven days
a week. They even work in rainy, cool temperatures. Of course
the downside to this is they only live an average of 10 weeks.”
Bumble bees build their colonies in underground cavities, old
mouse holes or in rough, undisturbed grass or moss clumps. This
explains why there are fewer bees in many locations, he said.
As we build more subdivisions and insist on well-manicured yards,
we are slowly wiping out their natural habitat, leaving them
with no place to live. To protect pollinators, some people are
leaving areas in the landscape undisturbed so bumble bees can
establish a colony.
These wonderful members of the insect world survive throughout
the year in their colony, pollinating and reproducing. In the
fall they produce a male which flies from the colony in search
of a female, Goodspeed explained. Once the male mates, he dies.
The female then finds a location to over-winter so she can start
a new colony the following spring.
“One problem for bumble bees is the reduced number of
native flowers and plants where they normally gather pollen
and nectar,” said Goodspeed. “The Internet and other
publications list plants that are popular with bumble bees.
A few plants that are preferred by these industrious insects
include heath, mint, columbine, monkshood, crabapples, currants,
lilacs and most purple, blue, white and yellow flowering annuals.”
A major concern to beekeepers is the overuse of many insecticides,
he continued. Never spray a plant when it is in full bloom and
bees are active. Try to control harmful insects using alternative
control methods. If an insecticide is required, follow the label
directions carefully. Spray after the bees have retired to their
hive in the evening or before they begin working in the morning.
“I hope this helps clear up some of the mysteries about
the bees,” Goodspeed concluded. “As far as the birds
are concerned, I’m still confused as to where they fit
into this whole discussion.”
May 28, 2003
Writer: Julene Reese, 435-797-1363
Contact: Jerry Goodspeed, 801-392-8908
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