Alleghany 4-H’er Inducted into Honor Club

An Alleghany County 4-H’er received one of the highest honors a 4-H’er can achieve during the annual state 4-H Congress.

Congress is the high point of the 4-H year, bringing young people from across the state to the North Carolina State University campus and Raleigh for a week of activity. This year’s Congress was July 20-24 and included a celebration of 100 years of 4-H in North Carolina.

Cate Hall, 19, daughter of Bonnie C. and Al Hall of Sparta, was inducted into the 4-H Honor Club. Cate, a student at Wilkes Community College, has been active in the 4-H program for nine years.

New Honor Club members were tapped during a candlelight ceremony Monday night, July 20. Membership in the Honor Club is based on service to the 4-H program, leadership, moral standards, 4-H activities and project achievement. Less than one-half of 1 percent of North Carolina 4-H’ers are selected for membership each year. Members must be at least 16 years old and have a minimum of three years 4-H experience.

Approximately 800 4-H’ers, volunteer leaders and North Carolina Cooperative Extension agents attended 4-H Congress.The 4-H program is the youth education program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, based at North Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State universities. More than 239,000 young people between the ages of 5 and 19 participate in North Carolina 4-H activities each year with the help of 23,000 adult and youth volunteers.

For more information about 4-H in Alleghany and how you can get involved, please contact Amy Lucas at (336) 372-5597 or amy_lucas@ncsu.edu.

2009 Farm Expo

The Ashe and Alleghany County Cooperative Extension, the Ashe and Alleghany County Christmas Tree and Cattlemen's Associations and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture are hosting an all-inclusive Farm Expo on Saturday August 29 from 12:30 pm until dark at the Upper Mountain Research Station in Laurel Springs, NC.

The 2009 Farm Expo will highlight research projects at Upper Mountain Research Station, farm diversification opportunities, and have vendors showing off new farm equipment, conservation opportunities, farm related funding, area banks, and many other for profit and nonprofit agricultural services.

The Ashe and Alleghany County Cattlemen's Associations will be grilling fresh roast beef for dinner and the NCDA will be providing a "Taste of North Carolina" exhibit with strawberries, and other farm fresh produce to highlight the abundance and diversity of crops grown in North Carolina.

The 2009 Farm Expo is being co-sponsored by NC Farm Bureau and Carolina Farm Credit. NC Farm Bureau's ice cream truck (free ice cream all day) will be on hand for the Expo.

Click here for the brochure that gives all the information needed about attending this event.

Open Youth Horse Show

The first Open Youth Horse Show of 2009 will be held on Saturday, July 25th. The gates will open at 7:30 a.m. and Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. Click here for the Show Program which lists all the classes for the day. The cost to participate in the show is $3 per class or $15 to show all day. Friday night (July 24th) there will be a show pre-registration as well as an open ring from 7 - 8:30 pm.

Alleghany County Fair

The 22nd Annual Alleghany County Agricultural Fair will be August 22-29, 2009. Click here for more information about the fair. There is a complete Schedule of Events, as well as Rules and Entry forms for the Demolition Derby, Livestock Shows and the Exhbibition Building.

We hope to see you and your family at the fair!

Community Health Fair

Be Happy Be Healthy Community Health Fair

Friday, June 19, 2009

3 - 6 pm @ the Alleghany Memorial Hospital Lawn

Alleghany Memorial Hospital and the Wellness Center will be having a health fair on hospital grouds and will include health services information, lab work for adults, as well as tons of fun activities for the kids. Everything is free except for lab services. Snow cones, bounce house, jump rope, climbing wall, train rides, live music, and a FireHouse to learn about fire safety and calling 911 for help. The helicopter will also be on site. Bring the whole family and enjoy a fun afternoon to learn about healthcare services from our local hospital.

Insulin Resistance in Horses

I’ve had several questions about insulin resistance – here’s a good abstract from the late Dr. Kronfeld from Virginia Tech (J. Animal Science, 2005). Take home message is to avoid high starch, high fructan, high glycemic feeds in these types of horses.

Insulin resistance in the horse: Definition, detection, and dietetics1,2
D. S. Kronfeld*,3, K. H. Treiber*, T. M. Hess* and R. C. Boston
* Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Middleburg 20117; and and School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square 19348
3 Correspondence: Dept. of Anim. and Poultry Sci., Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0306 (e-mail: kronfeld@vt.edu

Specific quantitative methods for determining insulin resistance have been applied to obesity, activity/inactivity, reproductive efficiency, and exercise in horses, but only nonspecific indications have implicated insulin resistance as a risk factor or component of equine diseases. Insulin resistance derives from insulin insensitivity at the cell surface, which regulates glucose availability inside the cell, or from insulin ineffectiveness due to disruption of glucose metabolism inside the cell. Interplay of insensitivity and ineffectiveness should be considered in regard to patterns of disease, such as laminitis. Detection of insulin insensitivity is made weakly on the basis of fasting hyperinsulinemia, more strongly with a statistically validated surrogate, such as the logarithm of the reciprocal of basal insulinemia, or best by a specific quantitative method. Subjects found to be at risk can be managed to improve their insulin sensitivity by dietetics. Claims for dietetic prevention of a disease should be distinguished from claims for avoidance of a dietary risk factor. The evidence required for a claim of prevention is a controlled intervention trial as for a therapeutic drug, according to the U.S. FDA. In contrast, the evidence required for a claim of avoidance is association revealed by population studies plus causation shown by mechanistic experiments, as formulated in the Surgeon General of the Public Health Office’s (1988) Report on Nutrition and Health. In this view, no appropriate evidence is available for the prevention or treatment of insulin resistance in an equine disease. Evidence is available, however, to justify avoidance of high-glycemic feeds, such as high starch intakes in grains, clover, and alfalfa, and high fructan intakes in grasses, to decrease the risk of acute digestive disturbances associated with rapid fermentation, and chronic metabolic disorders associated with insulin resistance. During submaximal exercise, high-glycemic meals have been shown to increase glucose utilization immediately. On the other hand, chronic adaptation to feeds that exchange corn oil and fiber sources for sources of sugar and starch confers benefits to athletic performance that may be due to several aspects of fat adaptation, including the regulation of insulin sensitivity, as well as glycolysis and lipid oxidation by signals from insulin receptors. Information regarding insulin resistance suggests methods for protecting health and promoting horse performance.

J.Tim Potter, Ph.D., PAS
Area Specialized Agent-Equine

RC Car Race

During the intermission of the 2009 Carquest Spring Mowdown Lawnmower Race on Saturday, May 9th there will be a RC(remote control) Car Race. If you are a student in grades 6-8 or an adult and would like to participate in the race, click here for your entry form. Entry forms are due to Joe Whisnant or to the Extension Office by Thursday, May 7th.

There is also a raffle taking place. If you would like a chance to win a RC Car (valued at $200) stop by Carquest in Sparta to enter. Tickets for the raffle are $1 each or 6 for $5.