The Information Superhighway can be thought of as a global network of smaller interconnected computer networks and associated software technologies. Effective use of the Information Superhighway requires utilization of various computer software technologies. The six main technologies are electronic mail (e-mail), telnet, ftp, news groups, Gopher and World Wide Web (Web). They have been developed during the 1980's and 1990's in the order listed above. The software associated with the Web has been available for approximately the last two years, and this software attempts to integrate the five technologies into one easy-to-use package.

The objective of this paper is to describe five of these six technologies. Examples of sites for dairy-related information are provided, along with the detailed contact information. Sources for more information on some technologies are provided, as is information on commercial computer hosts that provide access to the Information Superhighway and its technologies. Information on the Web is contained in Chapter 8 entitled "Surfing the Net".

General resources that explain the Information Superhighway are available in print and, of course, on the Information Superhighway. An excellent book that describes the Internet and its technologies is available. A set of 27 lessons for beginners concerning use of the Information Superhighway are available by either e-mail or Web. A Web site that leads a tour of the Information Superhighway highlights is also available.

Electronic Mail

Electronic mail is the most popular software technology on the Information Superhighway. Individuals with common interests get together and exchange electronic mail. Software programs, like Listserv, Listproc, Almanac, MajorDomo and many others, have been developed to automate the distribution. These automated e-mail software programs have allowed for the development of broad-based e-mail groups. A number of these groups are related to dairy and beef production. Tips for effective use of listserv software are available by e-mail.

Dairy-L was the first of these groups on the Internet. Subscribing to Dairy-L is simple and detailed instructions are available by electronic mail. AABP-L is a useful e-mail group only for members of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. To get information on subscribing, contact the association (AABP-L@cornell.edu).

Examples of Dairy-L messages are shown below. These messages demonstrate a series of related messages starting with a question and following with associated responses. Together, these messages can be thought of as a "message thread". Examination of these message threads demonstrates several common features. First, questions are frequently direct and they provide as much support information as possible. Replies are provided rapidly and are often received before replies could typically be obtained by other communication technologies like telephone, facsimile, or letter. Replies often contain research results, including interpretations that do not appear in written form. Some topics, like milk urea nitrogen testing, are asked at frequent intervals.

Question Concerning Milk Urea Nitrogen Test Strips

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 21:04:00 EST
From: Willem DeHoogh <0006637899@MCIMAIL.COM>
Subject: MUN TESTING

I am sold on the theory of MUN testing based on previous postings as well as several good articles written on it, but am doubtful on the results I've seen in the field. I have been using the MUN test strips made by the Pestell Company out of Canada. I have always gotten the same result across a variety of herds. The strip reads about 30 mg/dl which is in the normal range according to the chart on the bottle. I know this is high using values I've seen elsewhere. Can those who do a lot of this comment on whether they are strictly using DHIA results or the cow side strips?

Willem DeHoogh, DVM

Reply Within 24 hours
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 17:18:55 -0500
From: Daniel Lefebvre
Subject: MUN TESTING -Reply

The units shown on the Azotest bottle are grams of UREA per litre of milk whereas DHIA values are reported as milligrams of urea NITROGEN per decilitre. The conversion from one value to the other therefore not only involves the grams vs. mg and litres vs. dL but also from urea to urea N. Urea is (NH2)2CO, and therefore contains 46.7% N. The conversion is: g urea per litre x .467 x 100 = mg urea N per dL.

I have seen considerable variation across herds and within a herd with both methods. The strips have to be read right away as I found they do tend to fade after a few minutes. I am not sure how much a bulk tank sample can tell though. I think a lot of the potential problems could be masked by the variation between cows in a bulk sample but could be picked up by sampling groups of cows and determining the proportion of those that have elevated MUN. I think we still have a lot to learn about interpretation of MUN but I think it has a real potential as a diagnostic tool. Hope this helps.

Daniel M. Lefebvre

Reply With Research Results
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 14:36:37 -0400
From: Luis Alberto Rodriguez
Subject: Re: MUN TESTING

In 1993 and 1994 we conducted a research to measure the effect of dietary protein degradability and fat on MUN. In the same study we compared the Azotest strips with a MUN lab methodology. We found that the strips predicted 85% of the samples equal to or above 25 mg/dL of MUN and the lab analysis verified only 23% of them. I think interpretation of the strips is difficult. Timing and intensity of rinsing can result in reduction of color intensity. The correlation of the two methods was r2 = .38, not as high as we expected. Results from this research study will be in the Journal of Dairy Science in the near future. I hope this give you some guidance.

Luis Alberto Rodriguez

Reply With Research Results
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 13:30:25 -0400
From: "Jordana J. Calaman"
Subject: Re: MUN TESTING

When I was at Cornell, I did work that specifically tested the Azotest strips. The major finding was that they worked best as a rough qualitative tool rather than being able to give accurate quantitative results. Remember, when analyzing MUN results it is important to take into account things like time of sampling and feeding frequency. I think that the variation of MUN within a herd depends a lot on the feeding system that is being implemented. For example, I would expect a lot more variation in a herd that is being grain fed twice a day than in a group that is fed a TMR. This work is being submitted to the Journal of Animal Science, where this is discussed in greater detail, especially in relation to pregnancy rate. Hope this was of some interest.

Jordana Calaman

Subscribing to E-Mail Lists

Dairy-L.

(http://www.wam.umd.edu/~markv/Dairy-L.html). Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listserv@umdd.umd.edu

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB Dairy-L Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB Dairy-L Jane Doe

The listserv software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to Dairy-L and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

Beef-L.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:

listproc@listproc.wsu.edu

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB Beef-L Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB Beef-L Jane Doe

The listserv software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to Beef-L and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

Graze-L.

(http://pluto.taranaki.ac.nz/tlbdt/grazel/grazel.html). Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listserv@taranaki.ac.nz

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
Subscribe Graze-L

Goats.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listproc@listproc.wsu.edu

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB GOATS Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB Goats Jane Doe

The listproc software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to goats and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

Sheep-L.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listserv@LISTSERV.UU.SE

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB Sheep-L Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB Sheep-L Jane Doe

The listserv software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to Sheep-L.

Equine-L.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listserv@psuvm.bitnet

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB Equine-L Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB Equine-L Jane Doe

The listserv software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to Equine-L and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

Forage-mg.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
almanac@oes.orst.edu

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB forage-mg

The almanac software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to Forage-mg and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

PLTRYNWS.

Send an Internet electronic mail message to the following address:
listserv@SDSUVM.BITNET

Modify the following line and put it in the body of the message and NOT the subject:
SUB PLTRYNWS Firstname Lastname

For example, if your name is Jane Doe, then you would send a message that had the following line in the body of the message: SUB PLTRYNWS Jane Doe

The listserv software will send you an acknowledgment of you subscription to PLTRYNWS and provide you with some key instructions for its use.

Searching for Lists

There are over 20,000 individual e-mail groups. The main animal-related groups are listed in this paper. People are sometimes curious about other kinds of e-mail networks or groups for their own personal interests. Two World-Wide-Web sites have been set up to allow people to search for e-mail lists, networks, or groups on different topics. One is entitled Liszt, and it has archived e-mail groups done by all major e-mail automation software programs. The uniform resource locator (URL) is: http://www.liszt.com/

The other site is called tile.net, and is a demonstration of their commercial software. This archive is only for listserv mail automation software, and the URL is: http://tile.net/lists/

Telnet

Telnet is a software utility and a communication protocol for connecting to a remote computer via the Internet. An analogy to telnet is the use of telecommunication software and a modem to communicate with a bulletin board. With telnet, you connect using Internet communication lines instead of normal telephone lines. An account with a login id and password is usually required on the remote computer, but some systems allow for public or guest logins. Users can utilize the telnet utility if their workstation is connected directly to the Internet. Users not directly connected can use telnet from a local host computer, often running the Unix operating system. These latter individuals use a telecommunication software package and normal telephone lines and link to an Internet host. Example telnet sites with dairy information: