,FcnTnlxi<r» .Sgtjtf dcfy. October 17, 1959
FROM WHERE WE STAND -
Measure Your
An old Arabian proverb says, "Mock
sure -your matenal ten tunes, you can
dftt it oiily once.''
‘ Farmers today are measuring 'iinafi
cial returns agonist rising capital outlay
and wondering wtiere they can cut to beat
the price squeeze. Many dairymen are
looking for a way to maintain a grade
A standing without going to the expanse
of installing bulk "taftk and bulk handling
equipment
So-called cow pools which'came over
the horizon in a blaze of publicity a few
years ago offer the dairyman some of
these advantages.' But, by and large, cow
pools, milking, cooperatives, contract milk
ing systems, dairy corporations, or what
ever else, they may be called are simply
a rffeOns by wfiicn.a person or company
with money can purchase dairy coV/s
and the feed-and-equipment Jo produce
and" hireisomeone else to do the
work.' ' 1
This all sohnds' innocent enough on
the foce of it, did the broiler con
dra'cts of a ago. Only a few
years back industry was be
ing looked upon the -deal : pattern for
efficient prodaefton and nteketing of
meat.
Following plo.se on the heels of whole
sale acbption*bf, contract broiler produc
tion came a*" slicing market, forcing
many of the smaller producers out of the
business. At the present tirrle one of the
largest hatcheries in the fcountry has
thrown itself into voluntary bankruptcy
from fincmciai troubles that may exceed
One and a quarter million" dollars. In our
Own county one of the big contractors of
& few years today dlScourdging
2 Davidson
Nikita Kruschchev was im
pressed more by the ability
of so few in this country to
produce so much food for so
many people than by any
thing else he saw.
Time and again, and espec
ially after his visit to Coon
Rapids, la , Russia’s top man
expressed his unstinted ad
miration for American farm-,
er's. They are, he admitted,
the best in the world.
Kruschchev fairly drooled
over the food surpluses
which cause many Ameri
cams so much concern. He
said, in effect, that he wished
hd had that problem in Rus
'SnS for a while anyway.
He was impressed by the
fact that American farms are
so' highly mechanized that
one or twp men are able to
operate a highly productive
200-acre farm’. In Russia a
similar farm would require
many workers.
Kruschchev Didn’t Boast
Kruschchev boasted about
■Russia’s sputniks, moon rock
ets, military weapons and in
dustrial progress, but he was
Lancaster Farming
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M< t •e S Pa Newspaper Pubisb
ers Association, National Editor,
ial »moclation.
THIS WEEK
i
Washington
With Clinton Davidson
C J
w <i
Farmers Praised
frank to admit that we are
far ahead of Russia in agri
culture.
It amazed him tq learn that
in the United States only 12
percent of the people live on
farms and that each produces
enough to feed and clothe
nine people in this country
and still leave enough to
meet the needs of one person
in a foreign country.
Krushchev didn’t say so,
but in Russia six out of every
ten people live on farms.
Each Russian farmer doesn’t
produce enough to feed him
self and one person in the
cities. That’s quite a,contrast.
Russia has an area double
that of the United States,
but her .productive farm land
is about the same as in this
country. Although, Russian
mechanization of farming has
made great strides in recent
years, more than half of all
farm work is hand labor.
Although no reliable fig
ures are available, it is known
that the American diet is
considerebly superior to that
in Russia. We, for example,
consume twice as iriuch meat,
milk and eggs per capita as
the Russians.
Surplus Worries
Khrushchev’s remarks in
-lowa made a lot of people
wonder whether our surplus
es are as much of a burden
as we seem to think they
are. They are far less a
worry than not quite enough
would be.
In this country we produce
only about 7 per cent more
food than we consume. In
Russia according to the most
reliable informtion, food
production is at least 20 per
cent below that needed to
provide a diet equal to that
of this country.
Ours is one of the few
countries in the world where
Material Again
broiler- contacting.
Layer contracts came next with Sub
sequent depression of egg pricee, but not
to the extremes j|6 which broilers Went,
mainly - because the percentage' of con
tracting was not as large.
Throughout the corn belt there is a
movement, meeting with considerable
success, to contrast hog feeding opera- _
hops. One reason hog feeding has not ’
been more completely contracted is prob
ably because of the large percentage of
home grown grain fed to hogs. " •
The broiler industry is-slowly--regain
ing its position in the nation's agricultur
al picture, but it still has a long way lo
go. There are some indications that the
egg industry has evpn farther to go. Hog
prices have not been all that farmers
would like to see, but they have not real
ly hit bottom as poultry pnces have done.
Dairy prices have not been- high in
some areas, but generally, they have
held their own about as well as" any
farm commodity!
If the time comes when.' a man or a
company con Own dairy cows without
doing the milking; dairying-may well be
on the road to Over production and low- v
ered prices, tlnless the dairymen of Ibis'"
country want to become mere farm labor
ers, they must continue to own and con
trol a substantial part of the forming bash
ness.
Contract dairying might iook like a
good pattern to follow, and at might‘look
like the available .goods can be stretched
by using this source of capital, but ddify
men had better measure their material a*
gain. They can Cut it only once.
At least that's how it looks "from
where we stand.
the constant threat of hunger
if not actual hunger, is not a,
problem. It is the only court*
try where farmers are con
stantly criticized for their
productive efficiency. In oth
er countries they are'praised.
Americans eat better than
9 out of every 10 people in
the rest of the world, and for
a smaller percentage of their
income. If Khrushchev’s vis
it taught us anything, it
should be that we ought to
be thankful for the be:t farm
ers in the world.
Educated Rural
People Will Be
InDemandSoon
“Dr. Robert B. Corbett,
president of New Mexico
State University, said in a
speech recently that a few
years ago young men were
told not to take engineering
because engineers were a
dime a dozen. Today, he stat
ed. men trained in engineer
ing are the scarcest and most
demanded in our economy.’’
“The same situation could
conceivably develop in farm
ing. Our population is in
creasing so rapidly that in
10 years, according to Dr.
Corbett, unless the nation is
careful, it may wake up and
find itself incapable of pro
viding food for that sharply
expanding population.”
(Newberry, S. C., Observer
PROTECT LIVESTOCK
Keep livestock out of fields
of frosted sudan grass ot
sorghtxm, urges Dr. Samuel
Guss, Peru! State extension
Veterinarian. When these
plants are frosted, deadly
acids are formed. Just a few
mouthfuls of this frosted
forage can kill cows In case
of poisoning, early treatment
is imperative.
The 1959 Census of Agri
culture wi|l get underway in
Pennsylvania Nov. 11. The
information will provide an
Up-to-date guide for future
farm planning. Questionaircs
will be sent through Vhe
mail to farm operators, and
a few days later a census ta
ker will call for the answers.
i
Lesson for October 18, '1959
CHRISTIANITY is a religion of
* sharin'g, but nbt all sharing is
Christian. Sharing when you have
,to isn’t it/otherwise - everybody
who pays,taxes would be a Chris
tian. Sharing. vcry,ratejy / is Mfdly
it, either, because Christian shar
ing is a constant habits not an
occasional
what you
want, cle.
out your "cl
artd giving
unteerS the
fit of your
is some di;
yet .from C
tisn aha
Sharing ;
can be' Chrii
indeed the Apos
til Johtt inquires whethef we can
imagine We have the love' of God
in us if we’ do not Share with the
needy (I Jollh 3:17). But Chris
tian sharing is something over and
beyond letting other people use
some of the things we call ours,
some of the time. •
Sharing Christ
It c«tl all be put Into two words.
At its best &nd highest, Christian
sharing means sharing Christ. But
In order to understand those two
simple Words, put together in that
way,-We Have to do some further
thinking. A short story in the book
of Acts (chap. 3) helps to mike
this clear. Peter and John have be
come such famous men that we
forget how poor they actually
were. They had been fishermen,
and they had been away from their
lake a long time. When they told
the beggar they had no silver nor
gold, they were as good as saying
they had nothing but pennies. Yet
they gave that beggar something
far better than money; they gave
him the power of Christ What
happened is recorded as "a miracle;
and miracles are not m our times
granted to most men to perform.
Yet sharing Christ is still possible.
Observe that the poorest Chris
tian, the i6ne least able to share
Now is The Time . ..
BY MAX SMITH
TO SELECT MEAT-TYPE B
HOGS—Hog breeders and feed
realize that modem markets de
mals-with a larger proportion (
fat; also, that not any one bre«
is more of a meat type than at
is largely a matter of selecting I
breeding animals within each fi
dividuals that have length and s
are preferred over short, fat, a!
hogs; animals that appear to h
ness of large muscles are also
MAX SMi i * Selection is very important if i
spring are to be of the proper type.
TO DELAY HAY CUTTINGS—Fourth or fifth c
alfalfa should not be made now until several da
Killing frost; to remove the final cutting during la
bet or early October before frost could result t
ent injury to the stand. After a killing frost, the
es go down into the roots and are stored during f
After this period, experience has shown little (
next year’s crop. Since hay drying weather is no
in October, it might be best to remove the growtli
of for greenv£ceding. In new stands of alfalfa, it
allow some cover for the winter.
TO GIVE CALVES SPECIAL CARE — The wmt
season will soon be on hand and many new born |
be housed; these dairy calves are the replacem*
few years from now and should get the best cai
job of care and growing the heifers this birst V
mean better and larger cows for your future
calves should have warm, dry, sunny, and draf'
ters. They should get regular feedings and have
to the best legume hay oh the farm. A small le*
ing Dairy Calves” is available from the E^tensiot
TO PREVENT CHILLING COW
vention is much cheaper and better than any
cure. In the fall months dairy cattle should no
to lay on the ground aftea* cold weafher
liflg of high-producing udder tissue could bring
tls condition. When frosts and freezing ' vea
dairy cows should be housed at night to P rc ' en
tion.
Sharing
'money or t hl
had what th,
who is not .
namely ChuJ
An Amazing o„ (
; Hers is a
occurred lc„
* firificie too J
twites what ", h .
mean, In the J.
alcsngr doing „
Some young hooh
see him. Th ev J
lng-about haw
money to g 0 tO .
night. So—beine
rushed this toil
only took what 8
had, onlyadolia t(
papers lepmtcd,
derod him then
were arrested a
Pennsylvania tool
them of the niur
them. All a faiilJ
familiar m big crt
restcom iction
chair.
- But the astonis
pened. The family
dent weie Koieam
They wrote to tl
Pennsylvania, ask
prosecute those ho
to help them Mot
Korean family we
of getting up p f U
selves) to be usei
tlon»—ordinal v, an
religious, of "the
killed their young
Bringing Christ In
No doubt many,
people, when they
case, felt nutated
angry. “Those hool
murder, let ’em hi
business ha\ e thos
ing religion into it
the point They di(
ion” into it, they
into the situation
sharing Chust i
him into eveiy si
Christ is (we hoj
situation, foi msti
ship on Sunday m
in the offering we
But the haid waj
way—to share Chi
about him omto e
talk about him T(
to make eveiy situ
edy and miiidei—i
you have invited i
help otheis
(Based on outline
tho Dn isioh of Oil
National Cpnnnl of
Christ m tlio I S
Commimitj Puss 1c