The Panhandle Ag Extension Team would like to thank our email subscribers and social media followers for your interest and support of Panhandle Ag e-News in 2023. Keep sharing those emails, posts, and tweets to help us spread the word, so more farmers and ranchers sign up for this service. The Panhandle Ag e-News project began in 2012. Over the past 12 years, 2,557 articles have been published that are searchable by topic area, keyword, author, or by using the search box provided at the top right-hand corner of the website.
In 2023, the Panhandle Agriculture Extension Team was made up of 21 county agents and 22 state specialists that serve the agricultural industry in Northwest Florida. This team published 215 articles that provided timely information to farmers and ranchers related to farm management, pest management, best management practice recommendations, interesting videos, plus numerous announcements of educational events and assistance programs. Each week links to the most recently published articles were shared through 38 electronic newsletter issues (emails) to 5,919 subscribers, as well as to 2,751 Facebook and 1,183 X (twitter) followers. There were 377 new subscribers added to the database in 2023, a 7% increase as compared to 2022.
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Reader’s Choice Awards
At the start of each year, the statistics are compared for the articles that were published on the Panhandle Ag e-News website over the previous year, with the authors of the most popular articles given recognition with the Reader’s Choice Awards. There were a number of the articles that were very popular this year, but there were several that really stood out. The following are the top 25 most popular articles published by our author team members in 2023. You may want to check some of these out, if you missed them the week they were published. Congratulations to the following authors for putting together interesting articles with excellent information.
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1st Place
Chronic Wasting Disease Confirmed in a Florida Deer – 2,863 views
Kalyn Waters, Holmes County Extension, had the most popular article, published on June 16th, which announced the first Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) deer was discovered in Florida. This article provided readers with a basic understanding of this disease, as well as how it is transmitted through the deer population.
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2nd Place
Climate Outlook for the 2023 Growing Season and Winter 2023-2024 – 2,737 views
Coming in second was a guest author, Pam Knox, UGA Agricultural Climatologist. Her article, published May 5th, was very popular as it discussed the expectations of El Niño starting last fall and the type of affects it would have on our weather at the end of 2023 and early 2024. Based on this climate outlook, she correctly predicted a reduced tropical storm season in 2023.
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3rd Place
The Impact of Bottle Teats in Beef Cows – 2,128 views
Kalyn Waters, Holmes County Extension, also had the third most popular article, published on February 17th, that described a serious issue in older beef cows. Her article referenced an Australian study of 200 cow herd that showed that 5-6% of all the calf losses within this herd were attributed to bottle teats on the cow.
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Honorable Mention
Foxes and Coyotes in the Panhandle: How to Identify and Manage Them – 2,058 views
Samantha Wisely, UF/IFAS Extension Wildlife Disease Specialist, had the fourth most popular article that discussed foxes and coyotes in Florida. The Panhandle has three species of canine wildlife: red fox, gray fox, and coyotes. Each species is unique in appearance and behavior, and has a unique history in Florida.
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Other popular articles published in 2023 included:
5 – Florida Farm TEAM Card for Agriculture Sales Tax Exemption – Doug Mayo – 1,350 views
6 – Corneal Ulcers in Horses: The Importance of Keeping an Eye on Your Horse’s Eyes – Carissa Wickens – 992 views
7 – Pruning Blueberries to Boost Fruit Production – De’Anthony Price – 765 views
8 – Key Concepts to Consider Before Starting an Embryo Transfer Program for Your Herd – Angela Gonella – 725 views
9 – Is a Year-Round Grazing System Feasible in North Florida? – Jose Dubeux – 668 views
10 – New Peanut Variety Released by the University of Florida – FloRun ‘52N’ – Barry Tillman – 567 views
11 – Strip-Planting Rhizoma Perennial Peanut into Bahia Pastures – How Well Did it Work Long-Term? – Jose Dubeux – 459 views
12 – Blackberry Pruning Tips for Optimal Plant Growth and Yield – Muhammad Shahid – 457 views
13 – CalfDex: A Free Basic Record App for Cow-Calf Producers – Kansas State University – 435 views
14 – Tips to Protect Young Hardwood Trees from Deer Damage – Daniel Leonard – 421 views
15 – What is Solar Grazing? Could this Be an Opportunity in the Panhandle? – Robbie Jones – 414 views
16 – CWD Update from a Hunter’s Perspective – Kalyn Waters – 397 views
17 – Cool-Season Forages, Cover-Crops, and Wildlife Food Plots – Marcelo Wallau – 379 views
18 – Spring Pasture Green Up – Hold Off Grazing to Protect Your Pasture – Marcelo Wallau & Brent Sellers – 368 views
19 – NOW is the Perfect Time to Treat Cogongrass – Make it Count – Mark Mauldin – 357 views
20 – Elderberry – An Alternative Crop for the Back Forty – Matt Lollar – 335 views
21 – Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Damage to Fruit and Nut Trees – Danielle (Sprague) Williams – 320 views
22 – Deadly Deer Disease found in Holmes County: Implications for Deer Hunting and Management – Samantha Wisely– 313 views
24 – How Effective are New Resistant Cotton Cultivars at Managing Reniform Nematodes? – Zane Grabau – 300 views
25 – Pregnancy Diagnosis Options for Beef Cattle Herds – Angela Gonella – 293 views
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The top 10 Featured Videos of 2023
In addition to the articles shared each week, a short YouTube video was shared under the title of “Friday Features.” In general, these videos related to some form of agricultural interest, farming techniques, new innovative tools and equipment, or farm humor. The following were the top 10 videos shared in 2023:
1 – Manure Scoring for Managing Cattle Nutrition – 496 views
2 – Autonomous Irrigation Unit for Row Crops – 265 views
3 – Sheep Dog Heroically Saves Flock From A Dozen Coyotes – 257 views
Tie 4 – Clarkson’s Farm Season 2 Trailer – 233 views
Tie 4 – World’s Tallest Steer – 233 views
6 – Guardian SC1 Autonomous Drone for Commercial Crop Spraying – 185 views
7 – Florida Ag Hall of Fame Inductee: Don Quincey – Quincey Cattle Company – 172 views
Tie 8 – Automated Laser Bird Deterrent – 167 views
Tie 8 – The History of Bobcat Loaders – 167 views
Tie 10 – Southwest Georgia Sweet Corn Harvest – 152 views
Tie 10 – Ukrainian Farmers Remove Land Mines with Remote Control Tractor – 152 views
You might want to scan through the complete library of 281 videos in the Friday Feature Archive. If you come across an interesting, inspiring, humorous or something new and innovative related to agriculture, please send in a link, so we can share it with our readers. Use the share button from the YouTube or Facebook video you like and send the link via email to: Doug Mayo
demayo@ufl.edu - 850-482-9620
Follow me on Twitter
@UFCowman
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