Highlighting Agriculture

Author Archives: Lee Publications

Social media 101

Posted in Mid Atlantic

CM-MR-2-SocialMedia1by Steve Wagner

It should come as no surprise just how fast and widespread the tentacles of social media are spreading. Pervading nearly every aspect of our daily lives, it is doing so with relative suddenness. Yet it is happening with our permission, and isn’t exactly happening under our unsuspecting noses. It is here, it has been here and it will continue to be here, certainly for the short term — and likely much longer than that. For anyone interested in acquainting themselves with this phenomenon, Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association held a seminar at the Farm & Home Center in Lancaster, PA. The aim was to help attendees expand online awareness of their businesses, particularly agri-businesses, through the further sophisticated use of social media. Continue reading→

Carroll County High School team take top honors at Maryland Envirothon

Posted in Mid Atlantic

CM-RP-1-CarrollCountyA five-member team of students from Carroll County, named Venturing Crew 202, is the winner of the 24th annual Maryland Envirothon — an outdoor natural resources competition that challenges students to identify and categorize living resources, perform soil surveys and solve other complex natural resource issues. More than 100 challengers from 18 counties across Maryland took part in this year’s competition. The event was held June 18-19 at the Camp Pecometh in Queen Anne’s County.

“It is great to see such a sincere interest in the science side of the environment,” said Secretary Buddy Hance. “With the strong leadership and scientific expertise of these students, the outlook for our natural resources and agricultural industry is indeed very bright.” Continue reading→

Using copper oxide wire particles to help control barber pole worms on Northeast sheep and goat farms

Posted in New England Farm Weekly

CN-SR-MR-3-Using Cooper 1cDr. Tatiana Stanton, Cornell Sheep and Goat Program

Barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) is the most serious parasite problem on pasture-based Northeast goat and sheep farms. Copper oxide wire particles (COWP) have effectively reduced infection of barber pole worm in studies in the Southeast US, but it is not clear how safe and effective they are in the Northeast. Therefore, Cornell University has embarked on a three-year study to look at methods for incorporating COWP into Northeast parasite control programs.

Copper oxide wire particles were developed to treat copper deficiencies in livestock in regions where copper is not readily available in soil and forages. Because of this important role, they are already approved for organic farming and may prove to be an important new tool for both organic and conventional farms. They are administered to livestock in the form of gel capsules with a dosing syringe (Figure 1). Continue reading→

FFA and Vo-Ag’s year-end festivities

Posted in New England Farm Weekly

CN-MR-1-Miss Agby Lorraine Strenkowski

Lebanon Regional Agricultural Science & Technology Center, located at Lyman Memorial High School in Lebanon, CT, finished up their year in style. First, came the “Miss Ag” Competition, in which five lovely candidates competed for the title. Each lady had to compete in four categories: their own introduction, an explanation of their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), their talent and an answer to an individual question. Continue reading→