—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 24.1971
4
On Making Da
Dairjmg is the largest farm income
producer in Lancaster County and ranks
\ er\ high in most of the neighboring coun
ties
The thousands of cahes the lo-
cal dairy cou s produce each \ ear is of ma
jor economic importance
But w e w under it all danw men ha\ e put
some reallj serious thought into how to
achiei e the best returns from these cah es?
The alternate es are numerous
Many of the bettei calves are held as
replacement stock or for sale to other dairj -
men
A few of the better bull cah es are held
as breeding animals
Many are sold at an early stage as i eal
cah es
And some are held for varying lengths
of time as feeder stock.
How main farmers have seriously an
alyzed which of these alternatives or com
bination of alternatives can make them
the most profit?
The answer for the individual farmer
will depend in large part on his present
farm set up Whether he wants to hold them
beyond the vealer stage will depend on such
factors as housing space, feed availability
and cost, and labor, including whether or
not he can take on additional work neces
sary to keep the dairy beef stock or dairy
replacement animals and still maintain his
existing farm program
It all boils down to what system the
farmer can use to make the most money
from farming.
On the Farm
The USDA recently released some farm
labor statistics which confirm other reports
we receive on this topic and indicate what
farmers can expect in the future.
Overall, the report showed the number
of persons in the hired farm working force
declined during 1970 w'ith most of the drop
in the migratory group.
The report by USDA's Economic Re
search Service states further utilization of
farm labor-saving technology was mainly
responsible for the cut in the number of
hired hands from 2.6 million in 1969 to 2 5
million last year.
In 1970 about eight per cent, or 196,000
persons, were listed as domestic migratory
workers. Tins was a sharp 24 per cent de
cline from the previous year when there
were 257,000 persons m this category. The
remainder of hired farm workers declined
by only one per cent
ERS stated that of the 2 5 million per
sons in the hired farm work force, only
22 per cent or 539,000 weis engaged chiefly
for wage work Only 12 per cent or 306,000
persons were year-round farm workers.
These persons averaged 318 days of work
and annual earnings of S 3 467
The ERS study also renorted Mem
bers of the 1970 hired fain working force
were mostly joung with a median age of
23, some 78 per cent wei r w h.te and 73 per
cent lived in non-farm places
As a group, they averaged 81,640 in
cash wages, including SBB7 for 80 da\s of
farm wage work at Sll 10 a da\ and 5752
from 46 days of non-farm woik at an a\er
age of Sl6 35 per day.
Among the trends and facts this go\ em
inent analysis shows, we beheie. are
Despite rising unemployment and in-
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Ov i< ram Weekly
P 0. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa 173-13
Office 22 E Main St, Lit , \ 17543
Phone- Lancaster 394-3047 oi Lititz 626 2191
Robert G Campbell, Ad\ei ang Director
Zane Wilson, Managing F' m i.
Subscription puce S2pm. ,n Lancaster
County. S 3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published every Satin day by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage mud at Lititz, Pa.
17543
Member of Newspaper Fa.m Editors Assn
Pa. Newspaper Publish."'<• Association, and
National Newspaper A r """’'’ f ion
iry Calves Pay
But we would suggest that while veal
cah es may be the easiest and fastest meaps
of disposing of the new 7 calf crop, perhaps
more farmers should consider the alterna
te es.
Obi louslj the farmer who has cows with
good blood lines, good production, and a
high classification is in a position to raise
dairy replacement stock or stock for sale.
But many farmers also are finding that
dairy cattle held as feeder stock can be
profitable.
Because of the large numbers of these
dairy cahes available locally, we think
farmers who raise these animals have
some natural competitn e advantages in
relation to conventional beef growers.
These advantages include, ready ac
cess to the dairy feeder stock from local
farms, possibly a lower initial cost for the
feeder animals, possibly reduced transpor
tation costs. In addition, many local per
sons familiar with dairy animals should al
ready know how to handle these animals for
best results.
There have also been reports that in
dicate the trend toward a meatier type of
animal may actually benefit dairy beef
production, because dairy animals have a
relam ely high proportion of meat to fat.
While many dairymen already hold a
few ot their cahes to fatten as beef ani
mals. we think there is room for more of
this and possiblv even for some beef pro
ducers who specialize in dairy animals.
Labor Trends
creasing numbers of persons needing jobs
there were fewer farm workers in 1970.
This trend probably surprises few
farmers, who are faced with relatively
stable or declining prices and rapidly rising
costs. Because labor costs are rising faster
than any others, this is the first place the
farmer looks to cut back, particularly as the
cost of unskilled labor in many instances
rises beyond its return. Increasing paper
work required by law and by fringe bene
fits hastens the squeeze on labor
At the same time, rising welfare bene
fits and growing non-farm employment op
portunities increasingly divert labor away
from the farm.
The experience of the California grape
and lettuce producers was a deep shock to
farm employers nationally. To see large
farming operations totally dependent on un
skilled workers boycotted at harvest time
compelled farmers across the country m a
similar condition to begin to take action to
assure the same thing would not happen to
them.
One result has been a major new trend
toward mechanization of some areas of ag
riculture, particularly key fruits and vege
taoies, wmcn preuouslj relied very heavily
on large numbers of unskilled farm work
ers This trend likely will continue and even
accelerate
The report shows there is now only
somewhat more than a quarter of a million
of farm workers w’ho are engaged '‘year
round’’ or full time Compared to the coun
try’s total population of around 200 million,
that is relatu ely small, about the size of the
total population in Lancaster County or a
little more than one tenth of one per cent of
the national population.
The report shows most of the farm
labor force is young, white and living in
non-farm places a combination which
probably is sharply different from the
image most persons ha\e gotten from the
news media.
While the individual can be hurt if he
needs labor and it's not available at the
price he can afford. v\e do not think the
trend overall necessarily represents a set
back for the farmer.
As farm laborers become scarcer, those
who remain, particularly those who are
both hard-working and competent farmers,
become more valuable.
The labor of the farm owner will also,
we believe, become more valuable.
To Plant Corn
Many acres of corn have al
leady been planted in the south
eastern counties of the state and
we feel this is the thing to do
this year Many local groweis
aim to plant corn the eaily part
of May under normal conditions,
however, this year with the
thieat of the southern leaf blight,
u is suggested that the corn be
planted a week or 10 days earlier
in order to try to get maximum
maturity before the leaf blight
appeals We have no way of
knowing the time of the last kill
ing frost in this area, but plant
ing corn now does not appear to
be too big a gamble
To Be Careful
With Pesticides
ihe stoiage of all kinds of
chemicals and spiaj materials
r verv impoitant during the
growing season In the first
place, these pesticides should be
kept avvav fiom childien pets
and livestock, this is very im
portant and needs the attention
of everv gaidenei and farmer
Emptv containeis mav contain
sufficient materials to poison
AN OUTSIDE
AGITATOR
Lesson for April 25,1971
Eockfround Scripture: Amos 1:1; 2 4
through 3 15 6 8 84 7
Devotional Reading Ezekiel 13 19 27,
We’ve been asking. “Who’s a
prophet?” and one of the answers
that we might g*ve is; someone
who appears to be an outside agi
tator, if Amos is any example.
We need to remember that in
dr thr were two Hebrew
nations, not just
one. The twelve
tribes had been
joined together
briefly under Da
vid and Solomon,
but after the lat
ter’s death,the
kingdom split into
two hostile na
tions Isiaelinthe
Rev. Althouse North and Judah
in the South. Although the people
of these two nations had much in
common, they also differed in
many ways. They were constantly
acting like two biothers who
might stick together when threat
ened by others, but quarrel in
cessantly at all other times.
O seer, go away!
Amos, thus, was an outsider
when he went to Bethel, the ic
ligious center of Isiael He was
a citizen of Judah, not Israel.
Who did he think he was, criti
cizing Israel when everyone knew
there was so much conuption in
Judah? Why didn’t he stay home
and prophecy among his own peo
ple and concern himself with
their sins’
He was also an outsider in that
he was not a professional proph
et. He was a layman, a shcphei d
and dresser of sycamore tices by
trade. Where did he get the au
thority to presume to speak the
Woid of God? Who was he to
criticize the legitimate religious
leaders of Israel? Thus, it is not
surprising that the high piiest of
Bethel, Amaziab, greets him with.
NOW IS
THE TIME..,
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
some youngster or some animal.
Keep all materials in the or
iginal containers and be sure
that weed killers (herbicides)
are not stoied near any seeds,
plants, feed, or food items
To Be Alert For Termites
This humid climate is favor
able for the activities of the
te/mite, all property owners are
urged to be on the lookout for
these small insects that can
weaken the wooden parts of any
building At this time of the
year the termites may swarm
and be found on or near sunny
windows of the building; they
are sometimes confused with
winged ants that also collect in
these warm places The termite
may be identified by having only
one section to its body with four
laige wings, the ant has a two
section body and two wings are
larger than the other two. Ter
mites live in the soil and travel
to and from the infested build
ing Effort is needed to locate
the colony in the soil and treat
it with materials such as chlor
dane Commercial exterminators
may be needed to complete the
job.
“0 seer, go away, flee away to
the land of Judah, and eat bread
there, and prophesy there”
(Amos 7.12),
When God says “Go!”
Peter and John, Jesus’ disci*
pies, were also regarded as “out
side agitators.” Warned to cease
preaching Jesus Christ, they had
said to the Jerusalem authorities:
“Whether it is right in the sight
of God to listen to you rather
than to God, you must judge; for
we cannot but speak of what we
have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19).
And later when again they were
hauled before that same Council:
“We must obey God rather than
men” (Acts 5-29).
What had been said of Amos
was also applicable to Peter and
John. They were from Galilee,
not Jerusalem or Judea. In fact
that had been true of Jesus too.
Jesus and his disciples, like Amos,
were laymen, not recognized
clergymen. These northerners, it
seemed to the Jerusalem Council,
had come to their city simply for
the purpose of stirring up the
people and creating a crisis situa
tion.
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning
book, GHANDI’S TRUTH (W. W.
Norton & Co, 1969), Erick H.
Enkson tells us that as the great
Indian leader went throughout the
vast nation of India, identifying
and assisting the causes of the op
pressed and victims of injustice,
he was often denounced as an
“outsider.” But it was Ghandi’s
conviction that “a man who takes
it upon himself to redress a local
injustice even m a place remote
from his own ‘home,’ if he could
only prove welcome as a helper
to the victims of that injustice,
may consider himself a native
theie, provided only he is willing
to accept the suffering thus in
vited and to play the game with
the fairness dictated by a more
inclusive identity.” Ghandi did
not feel himself an “outsider,”
just as Amos had refused to be
turned back by that charge.
Neither had Jesus regarded
himself as an “outsider”—though
others did I —for wherever sin,
evil, and coemption exist, no man
with God’s message is really an
“outsidei”! ’•
(Based on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA#
Released by Community Press Service*)
* -<