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Agriculture news goes mobile

June 1st, 2010 by Karlie Justus

Last month, Dairy Today launched a new digital version of its magazine to allow readers to view its dairy news, features and columns online. But what if you’re not in front of your computer screen?

mobile

Several industry outlets also have mobile options for agriculture professionals:

  • AgWired Mobile: Sign up by texting 46786 to “agwired” and you’ll receive updates from the sites. AgWired.com is also optimized to be viewed using your mobile phone’s browser.
  • Brownfield: Brownfield Mobile, a customized news service that stays on top of agriculture industry news, also hosts market figures, audio updates and weather forecasts.
  • Truffle Media: Truffle publishes several podcasts, including PoultryCast, DairyCast, SwineCast, BeefCast and CropVillage. These are available for free via iTunes, which makes it handy to upload to an iPod and listen on the go.
  • Dairy Herd Management: This publication utilizes scan codes, which look very similar to the bar codes you see in the grocery store, to allow readers to access content on their smart phones and learn more about advertisers. Find the scan (or “QR”) codes in the front and back of each month’s magazine.

Do you know of other handy mobile ag applications? If you have a smart phone, what apps have you found useful?

Mycotoxins in corn silage

April 19th, 2010 by Karlie Justus

After receiving our Truffle Media update last week and seeing its latest PoultryCast podcast Food Borne Mycotoxins, The Threat to Poultry, we started thinking about the threats mycotoxins can pose to dairy farmers.

Moldy corn silage continues to be a concern for dairy farmers, thanks to a wetter than usual fall. Mycotoxins can seriously impact herd health and milk performance. This article from Progressive Forage Grower does a good job of breaking down the current situation and the potential risks associated with mycotoxins.

If you or your customers are struggling with mycotoxins, this tip (along with two others) from Dairy Herd Management can help you cope:

Put the rumen first: Incorporating buffers and mold inhibitors can help reduce the impact toxins have on the digestive system. Feed buffers to help improve rumen performance, maintain dry matter intake and stabilize acid production in the rumen. To keep the rumen functioning efficiently, feed rumen-fermentation enhancers to provide rumen bugs with the building blocks necessary for peak performance.

What have you seen relative to mycotoxins this year?