OsceolaCounty
OsceolaCounty Extension
301 W. Upton Avenue
Reed City, MI49677-0208 / P: 231-832-6139
F: 231-832-3381 / E-mail:

Web: msue.msu.edu/Osceola

March 2008

MSU Extension turning
Osceola County green
For several years MSU Extension has been making a positive impact on the environment in OsceolaCounty. In 2005, the Osceola County MSU Extension (MSUE) office staff played a major role in one of the largest privately funded cleanup projects in the state, when nearly 100dilapidated mobile homes were removed from a local site.
In 2006 MSUE assisted the county in establishinga Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and was the lead organization in the cleanup of a large non-registered scrap tire site. In 2007,MSUE assisted the county in obtaining two $200,000 brownfield assessment grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
This year MSUE will be involved in two more projects. The most significant will be the cleanup of one of Michigan’s largest non-registered scrap tire sites. In 1997 itwas the site of the largest tire fire in Michigan history.
MSUE’s involvement began last fall, when it submitteda scrap tire cleanup grant application to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on the county’s behalf. In January the county was notified that it had received $1.6 million. The project will take place throughout the summer and will be coordinated by Dan Massy, the MSU Extensioncommunity andeconomic development educator.
The second project will be administration of a grant to the Osceola County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. Massy serves as the authority’s director and he will use the grant funds for planning and outreach activities. / He’ll also use them to identify and inventory sites, and performing up to 22 site assessments. The assessments will help the county promote economic redevelopment, identify potentially contaminated sites, address how to handle contaminated sites, as well as preserve green spaces and natural resources. In four short years with the leadership of MSU Extension Staff the environmental landscape of Osceola is definitely a shade greener.
Contact Dan Massy
Project FRESHhelps families improve nutrition and farmers improve profits
Project FRESH(Farm resources expanding and supporting health), a USDA-supported program to encourage the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, is healthy not only for the families who participate, but also to the farmers who grow the produce that they consume.
The Osceola County Project FRESH program is in its third year, and is just starting to build and grow. Project F.R.E.S.H. is open to USDA Women, Infants and Children (WIC) eligible families, including pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding or have children up to age 4.
Participants attend a nutrition education program facilitated by MSU Extension program associate, Renee Bisel, who teaches the food skills that helps participants use the produce they can get.
Continued
/ Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facingcommunities. Citizens serving on countyExtension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming. MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners,the state through MichiganStateUniversity and federally through the US Department of Agriculture. /

Project FRESH—continued
The participants learn to stretch their food budgets and improve their diets by adding fresh fruits and vegetable to their meals. Each participant also receives a cookbook with information on how to buy, store and use fresh fruits and vegetables.
Participants receive coupon booklets that they can redeem for fresh, locally grown produce at area farmers’ markets and farm stands.
Project FRESH supports Michigan families, enabling them to buy fresh produce for their family, and Michigan farmers, through coupon redemption.
Last year Osceola County participants received 300 coupons and redeemed 74 percent of them for fresh produce.
Contacts: Shannon Lindquist or Renee Bisel

MSU Extension helps Osceola’s beef industry remain strong
According to the Michigan Agricultural Statistics Service, Osceola County has more beef cattle than any other Michigan county. Though small by national standards, the feeder calf industry generates more than $1 million annually across the county and it serves as a good source of supplemental income to the families who raise calves. / Osceola County MSU Extension conducts educational programs geared at helping beef producers remain competitive. In the past year, two local programs were of special benefit to this industry.
A series of three focused on assisting cows at calving time drew large crowds to Kettunen Center near Tustin in January. More than 60 people attended, gaining valuable information on such topics as solving difficult birth presentations, avoiding birthing injury to the cow, calf and manager and keeping calves healthy.
With rising fuel costs, veterinarian emergency calls are becoming more costly, so farms that can prevent and correct more of their own calving problems will remain more profitable. Nearly all of the participants surveyed said this series will help them to reduce calving-related costs.
Calving video, model cows with calves to manipulate for hands-on exercises, presentations from three veterinarians, two Extension beef educators and one producer were all used in the series.
MSU Extension offered another event in March in cooperation with the Michigan Cattlemen’s Association at Salinas Farms near Marion. A beef bull breeding soundness examination day was held to determine the breeding soundness of bulls that will be used on area beef farms this summer.
Historically, 18 percent of the bulls tested at such events are infertile. One infertile bull can cause a loss of revenue of $6,000 to $12,500 per year. This year, possibly because of below normal winter temperatures, 38 percent of the bulls tested were at least temporarily infertile, more than twice the normal amount.
In total 41 bulls were tested and 15 were identified as infertile or suspect, allowing the owners time to search for a new bull or test them again closer to the breeding season. Gaining this knowledge of their bull’s infertility could potentially save these area beef farms $90,000 to $187,000 this year.
ContactJerry Lindquist
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity institution. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, MichiganStateUniversity, E. Lansing, MI48824