As you read this issue of eHay Weekly, you'll notice some changes to it and the Web site that supports it – hayandforage.com.
From now on many of the stories we provide in our enewsletter will finish on our Web site. That may seem annoying the first few times you have to click on our "Full Article" button. But we have a method to our madness.
Let's say you want to reference back to last week's lead eHay Weekly story on videoing hay lots for sale. You could try to find the story in your email Inbox or its Trash folder. Or now you can type key words such as "video hay for sale" into hayandforage.com's new search engine. Sure enough, you'll find that story quickly and rather painlessly.
As you peruse the eHay Weekly offerings, we'll provide you with related stories listed at the end of each story. This Web-site feature will keep readers up to date on the latest in forage research and news beyond what you get in eHay Weekly.
Our enewsletter will continue to provide you with the forage news we scour the country to report. That includes our lead stories and State and Regional Reports, written by our eHay Weekly editor, Rick Mooney, or by Hay & Forage Grower's editors, Fae Holin and Neil Tietz. The major difference: Our State or Regional Report designation will go by the wayside. We'll certainly continue to provide the accounts from growers, Extension workers and forage industry experts – we'll just package them as regular stories in the enewsletter that can be easily found by our hayandforage.com search engine.
By the way, while you're in hayandforage.com, try that new search engine. It's a robust tool that can help you find the forage information you need without having to sort through the bulk of the stories we provide each week, month and year. As a bonus, we'll constantly be adding more photos, videos and related materials to the stories on the Web site. In fact, we've delved into Hay & Forage Grower's morgue and downloaded nearly 200 photos that tie to past stories – just to give you a sample of what we'll be providing in the future.
Change isn't always fun, but these changes can make your life easier. They won't be comfortable at first, so give us a few weeks and then let us know what you think. And what we could be doing better. You can reach us at hfg@hayandforage.com, or through twitter.com/#!/hayandforage or www.facebook.com/HayandForageGrower.
Thanks for your patience as we go through this transition!
The Editors of eHay Weekly, Hay & Forage Grower and hayandforage.com.