ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Arizona Cooperative Extension is an outreach arm of The University of Arizona and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). The repository collection includes current and historical Extension publications on these topics: Animal Systems; Consumer Education; Farm Management and Safety; Food Safety, Nutrition and Health; Gardening/Home Horticulture; Insects and Pest Management; Marketing and Retailing; Natural Resources and Environment; Plant Diseases; Plant Production/Crops; Water; and Youth and Family. Current publications are also available from the Cooperative Extension Publications website.

QUESTIONS?

Contact College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Publications at pubs@cals.arizona.edu.

Recent Submissions

  • 4-H Project Essentials - Livestock Feeding Glossary of Terms

    Farella, Joshua; Menges, Ashley Js (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2024-01)
    This resource is intended to give 4-H leaders, youth, and families an overview of key terminology involved in the feeding of livestock.
  • A Guide to the Hormones Used in Cattle Estrus Synchronization for Artificial Insemination

    Wright, Ashley Diane (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2023-09)
    The University of Arizona hosts several Artificial Insemination (A.I.) clinics for cattle producers each year.One of the most common points of confusion for producers navigating the A.I. process is understanding estrus synchronization and determining which products are equivalent to each other across manufacturers. This fact sheet is provided as a guide to help identify equivalent estrus synchronization products across major brands, it is not intended to promote any specific brand or product. The University of Arizona does not endorse any specific product and recommends users do their own research and work with their veterinarian to determine which products are appropriate for them and their operation.
  • Arizona 4-H Livestock Judging: Program Overview

    Menges, Ashley Js; Farella, Joshua (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2023-03)
    4-H Livestock judging is a great program opportunity where youth can strengthen their decision-making abilities, grow communication skills, and develop sound critical thinking and articulate reasoning. Youth that excel in livestock judging cultivate an ethic of research, practice, and work hard to communicate clearly and concisely to judges and peers. Livestock judging is a competitive event centered around the visual evaluation of an animal’s physical traits and at times performance data. The goal is to compare and contrast four animals in a class against each other as well as the “ideal” animal.
  • Best Practices for Healthy Horsekeeping

    Mastellar, Sara L.; Darrington, Joe; Greene, Elizabeth A. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2023-12)
    Biosecurity Basics: A New Perspective Post Pandemic. Whoever imagined that a worldwide pandemic would help highlight the value and importance of horse disease prevention processes/practices and biosecurity? Some have compared our covid pandemic experience to “The Great Epizootic”, an equine disease outbreak that brought our nation to its horse-drawn knees in 1872 (Moates, 2020). Previously, biosecurity education in the horse world was often met with the “teenage eye roll” reaction, or comments, such as “It will never happen to me”, but since COVID-19, knowledge and understanding of disease prevention has improved. Many people have been directly or indirectly affected/impacted by illness, loss of loved ones, canceled events, and quarantines. Regardless of personal views on the response to the pandemic, very few people would not be able to rattle off “wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and social distance”. One key difference between humans and horses is that horses don't have the ability to make their own decisions about biosecurity. Human caretakers can help set horses up for success or failure.
  • Honeybee Series: Fall and Winter Management of Honeybees in Arizona

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    If you have taken good care of your bees through the summer, and cooler Fall temperatures are now here, you have a new focus for success in the Fall. Usually, your hives are all equal strength, Varroa mite numbers are low, and the honey harvest is over so all honey supers should have been pulled off the hives as well as queen excluders. Now is the time to allow your bees to fill the two bottom brood boxes with honey and bee bread in preparation for winter survival, as well as raise fat bees that are better suited to live longer during the winter months.
  • Honeybee Series: Feeding Your Bees

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    Yes, bees have survived for thousands of years without human intervention, but for the Beekeeper who wants to be successful raising bees, sometimes your bees will need supplemental feed. Maybe you have your hives located where there aren’t enough floral resources available year-round to sustain the colony. Maybe the weather is too cold, wet or windy for a long time and colony resources are depleted. Maybe you’ve just installed a swarm into a new hive. All of these instances are good reasons to supplement the naturally available floral resources with feed.
  • Honeybee Series: Getting ready for your first Hive

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    Every beekeeper should make a goal to have both healthy and productive hives. The most important step to achieve this goal is lifelong learning. Research is ongoing and constantly updating the current best practices, so the successful beekeeper needs to develop connections to keep up to date with the latest and greatest discoveries, and how they affect your existing practices. Join a local beekeeping club, subscribe to a beekeeping journal, or follow your local beekeeping organization on social media.
  • Honeybee Series: Harvesting Honey in Arizona

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    For new beekeepers starting out, the investment in an extractor can be over your budget. For this reason, it is a great idea to be a member of your local Beekeeper club where they often let members borrow the club extractor. You can also find other beekeepers that live close to you that will allow you to come borrow their extracting equipment. Good extractors can make quick work out of the harvesting task. If you are going to harvest several times a year to produce specialty monofloral honeys, you should consider purchasing your own extractor and setting up a honey kitchen.
  • Honeybee Series: Honeybee Basic Biology

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    While there are 20,000 species of bees in the world, only 7 to 10 produce honey. Most of these species are solitary bees. Of those 7 to 10 that produce honey, only a few produce more honey than they need for their colony. Apis mellifera is the most common of the domesticated species which is used around the world for honey production and pollination services. Within this species there are several races. Each race has traits that make them better suited to different situations.
  • Honeybee Series: Honeybee Pollination in Arizona

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    Pollination is the process of sexual propagation by angiosperms which involves combining the male pollen with the female ovule and intermixing the genes to create offspring. Flowers can have male parts, female parts or most common, both. The male part of the flower is called the anther, and on the tip of the stamen is where the pollen grains are produced. The female part of the flower is called the pistil and has the stigma and ovule (where the seeds are formed). Each species of plants has a unique form and shape of pollen, and only compatible pollen can successfully pollinate the flower. The transfer of pollen grain from the stamen to the pistil and eventually the ovule is pollination. Flowers are what develop into fruits and vegetables for our food supply and give us seed to grow more plants. This important work is carried on by many insects, but the honeybee is exceptional because of their willingness to pollinate so many types of flowers, and our ability to manage their colonies and move them to the location of where we need pollination to occur.
  • Honeybee Series: Inside the Colony

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    Each member of the honeybee colony has specific duties they perform in the hive. The queen is mainly to lay eggs and the drones are specifically to mate with a virgin queen of another hive. The workers do all the rest of the labor needed to keep the hive functioning. Generally, inside bees are younger and outside bees are older. They can perform any of the roles needed in an emergency, but they generally follow a progression of duties. This progression can be interrupted by the queen not laying, so nurse bees would not be necessary, or as in the case of a swarm, all bees turn to foraging or making honeycomb to build a new hive. If all the young worker bees were killed, the foragers could reactivate their food glands and wax glands. If all the foragers were killed, the young bees could learn to become foragers in a short time.
  • Honeybee Series: Working the Hive

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    Once you have installed a package, nuc, or swarm into your hive box, you will need to inspect them on a regular basis. Every time you open the hive you should already have a purpose and goal in mind for that inspection. You should also make sure to have all the necessary equipment and supplies you will need to achieve your goal. That doesn’t mean that things won’t change once you start your inspection but having a clear purpose will help you keep your time in the hive to a minimum. As you start your inspection or task move slowly and carefully trying not to roll or crush bees. Only do inspections when it is warmer than 55˚F outside. In the low desert of Arizona, bees can be worked most of the year. In higher elevations you will want to stay out of the hives when temperatures drop below 55 degrees F.
  • Honeybee Series: Spring and Summer Management of Honeybees

    Lesenne, Anne (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-12)
    For successful Spring management of your honeybee colony, there had to be successful Fall and Winter management as each affects the other. Springtime for honeybees begins much earlier than we might think it does, especially in the low desert of Arizona.
  • Horse Disease: Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA)

    Thompson, Anita B.; Greene, Elizabeth A. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-01)
  • Horse Disease: Strangles

    Greene, Elizabeth A.; Thompson, Anita B. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-01)
  • Horse Disease: West Nile Virus

    Greene, Elizabeth A.; Thompson, Anita B. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-01)
  • Irrigated Pastures in Arizona

    Ottman, Michael J.; Wright, Ashley Diane (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2023-01)
    A pasture is a parcel of land sown to low growing plants suitable for grazing by animals (Fig. 1). The plants could be grasses and/or legumes. Pastures may be intended for only a single cropping season or, more typically, are more permanent in nature and based on perennial plant species although annual plant species may be over-seeded into a permanent pasture. The animals that graze pastures may include cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Irrigated pastures are used as a convenient way to feed livestock without the labor, expense, and equipment required to harvest forage particularly for small farms. Most pastures in Arizona are not productive without irrigation and tend to be intentionally seeded with particular plant species, which will be the focus of this publication.
  • Knowing What is Normal for Your Horse

    Greene, Elizabeth A.; Mastellar, Sara L. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-02)
    Early recognition of an illness or problem with your horse is easier to catch if you are familiar with what is normal for your horse. If your horse is usually a voracious eater and suddenly shows less interest in their feed, this can be a first sign that something isn’t right. Many changes in health status can be identified simply by observing your horse in his or her environment. Vital signs can be evaluated to provide indications of the type of illness or health challenges your horse may be experiencing. This article presents methods to help you make observations of your horse’s behavior and determine what is normal or abnormal and how to take and evaluate vital signs.
  • Managing Pigeons

    Gouge, Dawn H.; McReynolds, Clifton; Stock, Tim W. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-08)
    Pigeons, more accurately named rock doves (Columbalivia), are common in cities and towns around the world. The birds thrive alongside humans as we provide them with a plentiful supply of food and nesting locations. Humans have domesticated the birds for thousands of years using them to carry messages between communities. Pigeons have been used by military forces as messenger and surveillance birds. Humans have, and still do, utilize the birds as a human food source, as racing birds, fancy birds selected for size, shape, color, and behavior, and as cherished pets.
  • Poultry Disease: Avian Flu (Avian Influenza)

    Thompson, Anita B. (College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2022-06)

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