—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 24,1968
4
From Where We Stand ...
Farming Fever
Statistics show that farm accidents oc
cur with much greater frequency during
peak activity periods This is'due to long
houis of work and the fact that as workers
get tired they tend to take chances to save
lime rather than using good sense This is
“fanning fever ’’
H C Tankersley, safety specialist and
Rural Civil Defense leader at the University
of Idaho’s Agricultural Experiment Station,
has outlined possible reasons for “farming
fever" and the ways it can be reduced
Why does the farmers take chances
knowing the possible results’ One reason is
that he is often the farm manager, the chair
man of the board, president of the corpora
tion marketing economist, and the janitor
toi his business. The livelihood and the stan
daid of living of his family depend directly
upon him Lack of readily available extra
labor often lequires the farmer to work ex
ceedingly long hours, or at least he feels he
must Too often the Farmer is preoccupied
with thoughts of managing his business and
with the pressure of the season and climate
while operating a piece of complicated ma
chinery. Often he is so concerned with “gett
ing the job done’’ to insure his family a
maximum income that he fails to consider
the consequences of acting unwisely at any
given moment
An obvious conclusion is that pressures
of the season, lack ol available extra labor,
the need to make management decisions,
and long hours on the job are things that
cause "‘farming fever ” Being overtired,
impatient, rushed, and taking risks are
symptoms of “farming fever ’’ If we accept
these conclusions, it- is logical to conclude
that accidents costing money, lost time, and
death are the effects of “farming fever.”
Farm work presents some hazards in
consistent with the actual task being per
formed For example, the farmer is often
taced with the task of moving his farm
equipment from the farmstead to the field
on a public highwaj Here he is in competi
tion with vehicles designed for high speed
travel, while his tractor or machine is de
signed to function in an entirely different
manner
The use of modem equipment on the
farm often presents serious hazaids because
ol the nature of their use. For example, the
farmer may actually use his rotary mower
more hours pei year than he will operate
any other piece ot equipment designed for a
specific operation, such as a combine or po
tato harvester
A ia”mer is invohed in an occupation
■which 's essentially seasonal in nature. He
must ‘make hay while the sun shines.”
This is the reason for high accident rates
Farm News Ibis Week
Inter-State Adopts Resolution To Afvnce TlfA Daut
Preserve Penna. Milk Agency—Page 13 I IK? rCllvC Itvn
Farm And Home Mortgage
Limit At $235,000 Page 1
Extension Association Meeting Sees
Soil Slide Presentation Page 1
Bull Announces Plans For
Milk Promotion Meet Page 13
Progressive Farm Family Receives
FHA Year Award Page 1
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P 0 Box 266 - Lititz, Pa 17543
Office 22 E Main St, Lititz Pa 17543
Phone Lancaster 394-3047 oi Lititz 626-2191
Everett R Newswanger Editor
Robeit G Campbell, Adieitising Dneetor
Subset iption price S 2 per year in Lancaster
County S 3 elsewhei e
Established November 4 1955
Published eiery Satuiday by Lancaster
Fanning Lititz. Pa
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz Pa.
17543
Member of Nenspapei Farm Editors Assn
which deserve most of our attention It is
the real key to preventing farm accidents
The prescription for prevention of
“farming fever” is simple but one which is
difficult to apply It is thinking safety This
requires that the farmer always consider
the consequences of his actions, identify the
hazards related to the situation, and then
act accordingly
These simple rules can reduce
farm accidents with machines
1 Keep all guards in place
2 Never dismount from a tractor or
machine without disengaging the driving
mechanism
3 Be sure equipment is in good operat
ing condition before heading into the field.
4 Permit only the operator on the ma
chine No riders’
5. Don’t allow oil or grease to accumu
late where you have to climb or stand
6. Replace worn out mufflers Loud en
gine noise can permanently impair your
hearing.
7 Keep wheels spread as wide as pos
sible to prevent tipping.
8 Keep a proper fire extinguisher at
tached to machine.
9 Refuel a cool engine only.
10 Be sure brakes are evenly adjusted
11 Use slow-moving vehicle emblems
when moving on highway or road
12. Take a mid-morning and mid-after
noon refreshment break A half-hour is
about right.
Don’t succumb to “farming fever.”
★ ★ ★ ★
Plastic Wishbones?
A little item from the Poultry and Egg
National Board about meatless turkey simu
lation came across our desk this week. It
seems according to Food Processing-Mar
keting magazine (December 1967) under
the new products listing the introduction of
a meatless turkey simulation a frozen
2-lb simulated turkey roast is now in dis
tribution from Worthington Foods, Worth
ington, Ohio
The meatless product is produced ex
clusively from vegetable proteins. The sim
ulated product is said to have the taste and
texture of a turkey roast, and to contain
all the nutritional value of the real bird
without cholesterol. Each package of the
roast contains a plastic wishbone. Suggest
ed retail price is less than $2 for the 2-lb.
i oast
We know the egg industry has been told
frequently that they appear to have a
stronger wishbone than the backbone to
finance a strong promotion program on a
voluntary basis
But. plastic wishbones?
We presume the plastic wishbone is for
people who want to wish they wouldn’t have
to give up genuine turkey tor soybeans. At
least that's the way it looks from where we
stand
“Can any thoughtful person reasonably
believe that a disorderly society can sur
vive 7 In all recorded history, none ever has.
. . . History shows that every society which
became lawless soon succumbed, and that
the tirst evidence ot each society’s decay
appeared in the toleration of disobedience
ol its laws and the judgments of its courts.”
Argo, 111, News
Weather Forecast
The five-day forecast for the period Sat
urday through next Wednesday, calls for
temperatures to average below normal with
daytime highs in the 30 to 40 range and the
overnight low from 10 to 20. Moderately
cold through the period.
Precipitation may total less than one
fourth inch water equivalent. Chance of
snow Saturday night and snow flurries or
scattered showers Wednesday.
a kind of addition to life which'
very nice to have but which w*
tuld quite well do without.”
Yet the sheep in the Psalm
iok to the shepherd, not for lux
.•ies, but the bare necessities,
'hey seek no little niceties added
> Me, but the hard, cold realities
’ food, diink, shelter, rest, and
lysical protection. The leader
.nip of the good shepherd is the
religion of a realist, a pragmatist
who is concerned with providing
sufficient strength for the meeting
of life’s daily problems and dif
ficulties. There is nothing of senti
mental luxury here.
~ , .... Not “Little Lambs"
lackgr-una Scnpiur* John 10. .... . . , ~
Devotional Keadmg John 10 1 5, Thus when JeSUS SayS tO them,
. , ,*1 am the good shepherd,” he is
mile \ye were driving through offering leadership to us for the
Wyoming’s Big Horn mountains ii vlllg 0 f life where we are. He
su ? ime ° ne m y s ° ns promises to provide for our
spotted and called our attention needs, not our luxuries. He does
to hundreds of white rocks on n ot guarantee us a path without
the road that climbed before us. danger, but his sustaining pres-
As we drew nearer we recognized ence in the midst of it. He is tha
that the "rocks” companion who is with us, not
were in reality on iy in our "devotional mo-,
sheep: a huge meats,” our hours of worship in
flock of sheep our churches, the circle of family
that nearly cov- prayer, but wherever we are,
ered the moun- whatever we are doing, ha
tamside was j s there. >
moving slowly Neither are we his "littla
m our direction, lambs,” regardless of how senti-
Our hoys were mentally sweet it might seem to
Rev. Althouse delighted at the flunk so. Like real sheep, we are
. prospect of see- hardly as white as snow as we
mg so close at hand the fluffy, might seem at a distance. It is not
white animals. When at last we always the odor of sanctity that
reached the sheep, however, en- hangs upon us. And there are
gulfing our car on all sides like times when we too seem incredib
a swollen mountain stream, we ly stupid, doing what we do, not
w ®f ™ a surprise. Fluffy, because it is reasonable, hut be
white, cute at a distance, the cause we are merely copyincf
sheep at close hand were not so someone else,
white, not so fluffy, and not at . . , _ ,
ail "cute,” Concept And Reality
THE SHEPHERD
Lesson for February 25, 1968
"I am the good shepherd,” Je*
Delicious Luxury sus sa jd. Yet Jesus was never
In fact, the sheep had an un- satisfied with saying a thing; he
pleasant odor. They were inhab- practiced what he preached, he
ited by huge flies. And as they embodied what he taught. In a
continued to buffet the car for s bort while the words of Jesus
no apparent reason except that wou id be turned to deeds: "The
the fust had done so it became good shepherd lays down his life
apparent that they were none too f or the sheep .. . and I lay down
intelligent either. Furthermore, m y life for the sheep . . . Noon®
the shepherd, when he passed us, takes it from me, but I lay it
was hardly die romantic figure down of my own accord’’(Joha
we had envisioned. He looked IQ: 11-18 RSV). ■>(
tired, bored, and not in the best , The cross proved the integrity
of moods. . of those words. The concept of
Instinctively the twenty-third the good shepherd became mors
Psalm came to my mind and I than an interesting theory. Itbe
remembered reading somewhere came a reality at Calvary on®,
that most people misinterpret it spring afternoon,
entirely. Many repeat its words
and envision beautiful green hill- (ias „, on ou)l!n . s e . pyr -, MK , D!v!s ;.„
Sides, lavender SKieSj SnOW~\v3llte of CHmti«n Education, National Council *f lh«
sheep, and a fair-skinned shep- c,iu «hK of chnsi m th« u. s. a. (tctnsnlby
herd who reminds us faintly of Community Pr«s S«m«)
"mother.” With this idyllic picture * >
in mind, the psalmist seems to be
suggesting that religious faith is
a delicious luxury. As G. A. Stud
ded Kennedy once put it, we
think of religion, "not as life but
Read Lancaster Farming
For Full Market Reports
To Take Note
If you ai e planning to make an
office visit to oui Agncultuidl
and Home Economics Extension
Offices, please come to the new
Farm & Home Center, 1383 Ar
cadia Road, Lancaster, and not
to the Post Office Building We
moved into the new Center on
-Febiuary 20 and everyone is
urged to learn how easy it is to
visit us there
To Recognize Horse Parasites,..
The light-horge population., of
the county is increasing, many
families are buying a pony or a
pleasure horse. At a recent
meeting of horse-men, one of our
, . Penn State Extension Specialists
To Do Farm Planning .... pointed out that in his opinion
The 1968 cropping season is nearly m%
of our horses are
rapidly approaching there are infested Wlth some klnd of m .
many details to work out and Vernal paiasites. The thrift and
many decisions to be made, we g row th 0 f horses will be reduced
urge all farmers to take time to w j ien carrying a parasite mfec
do some pencil pushing in oi- (. 10n Qwneis are urged to sub*
der to proceed according to an nut a fecal sample of their ani
organized plan Good manage- mals to their local veterinarian.
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
ment of the farm is very ijii j
poitant and time must be spent
m order to plan and manage
properly