Interim Farm and Industry Short Courses will be offered the weeks of Jan. 4-9 and Jan. 11-15, and Jan. 23-24 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Deer herds regularly thinned by hunting had little impact on riverbottom plant life, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has shown. “Quality deer management” and traditional deer hunts seemed equally effective in preserving plant populations along the Wisconsin River, according to Rebecca Christoffel, a wildlife ecology graduate student at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. On the other hand, a deer herd that flourished under a strict no-hunting policy took its toll on plant and animal life in the area, she found.

The patchwork of woodlands and farm fields in southern Wisconsin can support more than 100 deer per square mile – but drivers and farmers won’t support that many deer. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulates deer abundance by balancing the public’s tolerance for deer-vehicle collisions and farmers’ tolerance to crop damage against hunters’ desire for abundant deer and the public’s desire to see deer. Private woodland owners control access to and manage most wooded deer habitat in Wisconsin, making them

Deer eat a lot! As they feed, they can affect plants, animals and even insects. Deer like some plants more than others, which can lead to fewer plant species in your woods.

Both public and private spending on agricultural research pay off in similar large increases in farm productivity, according to two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. But the payback from private spending accumulates quickly and then fades, while public research investments take longer to yield their full return.

The Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association has elected a new Board of Directors for 1998-99. WALSAA is a dues membership organization, founded in 1972 as the official alumni group of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The group annually raises and awards $10,000 in student scholarships, sponsors an outstanding faculty advisor award and recognizes graduating students and alumni.

A truckload of pumpkins from the gardens of the West Madison Agricultural Research Station had patients at UW Children’s Hospital grinning like jack o’lanterns.

Visitors to the Marshfield Agricultural Research Station’s Dairy Day on Dec. 3 will pick up some tips on heifer management, along with an update on the station’s expansion project and a demonstration of silage storage in a bunker.

Kenneth H. Parsons, a life-long student of institutional economics and a pioneer in the study of economic development, died in Madison, Wis. Wednesday, Oct. 21, after a short illness at the age of 95. The University of Wisconsin-Madison economist was an international expert on land tenure and agrarian reform.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy cattle judging team took first at the Mid-South Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest, Oct. 3 in Memphis, Tenn. The team was first in Oral Reasons, Jerseys and Guernseys; second in Ayrshires and Brown Swiss; and fourth in Holsteins.