Dot Com Comes to Dairying

Dot com comes to dairying

If you’ve held off using the wide world of the Internet for your dairy business, fear not. With time and practice, it can be a useful tool.

By Ed Staehr

When Tim Fessenden, a King Ferry, N.Y., dairy producer, wanted to learn more about worms for an innovative manure-composting project, he turned to the Internet. (See page 22) Fessenden’s search put him in touch with a worm aficionado in Florida from whom he ordered equipment.
    What dairy producers would have thought a computer and electronic communications could become the tool of choice to find information and products?
    What started in the early 1960s as a project to research the potential of sharing information via communications networks has become a full-blown business tool. More dairies and their agribusiness providers are using the Internet to buy all sorts of inputs from milking supplies to used field equipment, to market products from videos to registered cattle, and to gather information.
    As exciting as some of these uses are, most people use the Internet almost exclusively for electronic mail (e-mail).
    Listservs, or discussion groups, are well-established e-mail formats that enable producers to ask questions and get answers. DAIRY-L, one listserv, is so popular that as a subscriber you can receive hundreds of messages a month on dairying. Graze-L, another listserv, deals with intensive rotational grazing and seasonal dairying.
    Agriculture is catching up with other sectors in using the Internet to buy inputs. In some cases, buying over the Internet can provide cost savings and convenience. But be specific about what you want. And realize that that you might not be able to return products or have support services.
    The number of possibilities to buy on-line is too numerous to list here, but www.usagribuy.com and www.directAg.com are two options.
    A smattering of other sources for information and services include:

For news, www.agweb.com
The “price line” for agriculture is www.XSAg.com
Find useful tools such as spread sheets at www.wisc.edu/dairy-profit/tools.html
For updates on Federal government actions, see http://agriculture.house.gov
The Holstein Association recently announced its on-line buying site at www.e-farmstore.com

People make it work
    Onondaga County, N.Y., farmer Warren Abbott regularly uses the Internet to search for used equipment. He also comparison-shops for computer components, which he buys on-line. Abbott, who realizes how important the Internet is becoming for agriculture, has designed a Web site for Abbott Farms. Check it out at www.abbottfarms.com.
    More dairy producers realize the importance of public relations and some, such as Chris Fesko of Fesko Farms in Onondaga County, have established their own Web sites. Fesko set hers up four years ago to promote her farm video business and to educate viewers about agriculture. Find her site at www.fesko.com.
    Fesko paid $100 to register her domain name for the Web site and pays $50 annually. Web site design costs can range from $150 to $300 per page and cost $25 per month for hosting on a server. Free hosting is available.

Search and find
    If the whole notion of Internet use seems overwhelming, begin with the many search engines available on-line to help you find what you’re looking for. Common engines that helps you locate a specific topic include Netscape, AltaVista, Excite, Hotbot and Lycos.
    To avoid some of the frustration that comes with conducting a search, be specific. For example, a search on “agriculture” would produce more than 2 million potential sites on agriculture.
    Another option is to try a search engine specific to agriculture. Consider:

www.agrisurf.com.
www.cpdmp.cornell.edu, the home page for Cornell’s Program on Dairy Markets and Policy, has a specific search engine for dairy-related sites.

FYI
Ed Staehr is an Extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County.

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