hen Bobbie Brewer walked into her barn last winter and saw a female goat lying dead on the ground and another perilously ill, she did what comes naturally in a farming emergency: She went online. Within minutes of logging on to the Internet, Bobbi learned that her does were dying of chlamydia, a contagious disease that chokes off the blood supply to the uterus. Bobbi's chat group advised treatment with a powerful antibiotic, chlortetracycline. It saved her herd. "Chlamydia is extremely infectious," says Brewer. Luckily, since she began treatment, no more goats have died.
It wasn't the first time Bobbi was saved by the Net. When her veterinarian failed to diagnose a mysterious illness that felled several goats earlier this year, her chat group had the answer. She's bought new animals -- a burro, two horses, and a guard dog -- and even hired a spinner to weave the mohair from her goats all via email. And on America Online she found a forum on -- you guessed it -- goat-milk soap. Early samples proved so popular that Bobbi is converting her milking barn into a soap factory to keep up with orders.
Located 30 miles from Valentine, Nebraska, Bobbi's farm is deep in the heart of rural America. But you can't call her remote. With access to tools such as AOL and Netscape, "I can find anything I need in a matter of moments," she says proudly. "All my news, my weather -- everything comes through the Internet."
