10—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 6,1971
The economics of farming have changed
drastically in the few short months since it
has become generally known that there
would be a record harvest this year.
From high corn prices in the area of
$1.75 and up a bushel for corn, we have
suddenly gone to corn which costs $l.OO
and less. There have been comparable
reductions in other grains.
Basically, this means a rapid shift from a
high feed cost to a relatively low feed cost
situation.
While we formerly had a situation where
it was profitable to sell corn and grains on
the market and where feeding these
products to animals was at best a marginal
The State Department of Transportation
is taking every precaution to prevent
accidents due to vandalism such as
stealing stop signs. Recently a young man
in Allentown was killed because someone
removed a stop sign.
Traffic sign vandalism costs the tax
payers over $250,000 and an untold
amount of inconvenience, confusion, and
increased highway risks.
Stealing signs is not the only way vandals
strike. According to the State Department
of Transportation (PennDOT), traffic signs
are regularly painted, shot, bent, pasted
with stickers and posters, and pelted with
rocks and bottles.
Signs often are painted during the
football season, covered with political
stickers during election time, and used as
targets for practice by hunters during the
hunting season.
Letter of Thanks
Editor, Lancaster Farming
We want to thank all who have helped on
the evening of October 19 when we had the
misfortune of losing our barn and some
calves destroyed by fire.
October 27th was clean up day. Again
our sincere thanks to everyone sharing
their time and bringing equipment to clean
up the debris.
Special thanks to children, teenagers,
firemen, electricians, plumbers,
businessmen, etc., for being so kind and
courteous.
Also to the ladies in the community,
friends and relatives in a distance that
brought in food and helped serve the
dinner
Thanks again for a wonderful job well
done.
Lewis and Arlene Shore and family
Washington Boro RDI
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekl>
P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office: 22 E.Main St., Lititz, Pa. 17543
Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-219)
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Directoi
Zane Wilson, Managing Editor
Subscription price: $2 per year in Lancastei
County; S 3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published every Saturday by Lancastei
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz. Pa
17543.
Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn.
Pa. Newspaper Publishers Association, and
National Newspaper Association
Feed Costs Down Again
The Cost
operation, we now have a situation which is
very favorable to process corn and grain
through poultry, livestock and dairy en
terprises.
Because most local farmers rely heavily
on poultry, livestock and dairy enterprises,
this in general represents an improved
situation for them.
This improved economics of feeding, we
think, will more than offset the adverse
impact of a relatively poor corn crop this
year.
Farmers who have extra storage space
on their farms should consider buying
additional corn and grains on the open
market while prices remain low.
of Sign Thefts
All this is costly: it costs $25 to $2B to
replace a traffic route marker, between
$3OO and $2,000 to replace one of the
large green-and-white Interstate highway
signs. And it cost at least one life before an
Allentown stop sign as replaced.
PennDOT officials, although they admit
that vandalism cannot be completely
halted, are taking steps to combat the
vandals work, such as:
Selection of sigh material that even
when defaced will still be readable, and the
use of hardware that will prevent the sign
from being carried away.
Establishing the ownership of the sign
by placing the PennDOT symbol on it.
~ Listing all signs damaged or
destroyed in an accident by PennDOT
accident analysis field teams.
Requiring ail state maintenance
personnel to report any missing or marred
signs.
Motorists also can help a great deal by
reporting any signs they notice missing or
damaged to the nearest PennDOT District
Engineering Office or to their county
maintenance office.
The traffic sign vandal steals and
destroys not only signs, but our money and
our safety.
Editorial Noted
Editor, Lancaster Farming
Our organization would like to commend
you for the editorial published in the Oc
tober 9th issue of Lancaster Farming
entitled “Deßakey Backs Framingham”.
It is a service that certainly has had the
notice of poultrymen In the area you cover
and has, no doubt, served to better inform
folks in other segments of agriculture.
We are urging our members to
disseminate this information to the friends
and contacts they have beyond farming
circles.
The publicity you have given Dr.
Deßakey's news encourages our
poultrymen m the effort they are making to
counter unfounded attacks on our
product—eggs.
Raymond F. Delano,
NEMA General Manager
NOW IS
THE TIME..
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To Observe Stored Corn
Weather conditions during the
past several weeks have not
improved the drying out of the
current com crop. We are aware
of reports of some cribs or piles of
corn that are heating. Growers
should look into their corn
storage places and if the corn is
heating or steaming, it should be
given more air through a forced
air system, or taken out, shelled,
and dried. To permit it to con
tinue to heat may mean the loss
of the com, or com that is of very
poor feeding qualities. No doubt
the shelling and drying of the
com by use of supplemental heat
would be the safest way to
correct the problenr. 'Weather
conditions may improve, but may
not come in time to keep the crib
of com from spoiling.
To Protect Water Pipes
With the kind of weather we
have had in the past month it may
be difficult to be thinking of,
-freezing weather, but it will be on
us quickly one of these days.
Water pipes that are exposed
may be a problem and should be
either buried 24 inches deep, or
wrapped with electric heating
cable; this latter method is very
common and will give good
protection. Care should be
exercised when installing the
cable to prevent fire hazards;
consult your local electrician for
details. In some cases heat lamps
may be used to prevent freezing
indoors; the lamp should- be
securely fastened and out of the
reach of all livestock.
To House Heifers Properly
The raising of dairy herd
replacements is getting more
attention because of the strong
“ALIVE AN DWELL”
Lesson for Norember 7,1971
Wckirauiul Scriphira: Pmlnii 104; Acts
14 15-17; Calassians 1:15-17.
Dcntisnal * tmdtnf. J«l> 31:1-11.
A bumper strip on the car ahead
of me read: “GOD IS ALIVE AND
WELL IN MY BACKYARD!”
I mused on that proclamation
for the next fifty miles. What did
with, it prob
ly was intended
indicate that
driver was
ic of those peo
, who do not ac
tpt the claim
at “God is
lead!” In a sense,
> was saying
.at he knows
_ .... God “lives” be-
Rev. Althouse cause encoun
ters God in his own life.
“Thou art very great!”
This is the kind of faith we find
so often in the Book of Psalms.
Very seldom is it a speculative
faith that reasons its way to God.
Much more, it is the faith of
someone who experiences that
“God is alive and well in my
backyard!” The Psalmist believes
in God because he sees him at
work in his world. For him life is
full of the sights and sounds of a
God who does things.
Many of us would like to live
in such a world today. We wish
we could hear and see God at
demand and favorable prices.
The young calf needs special
attention and the best of care for
the first year, but after that time,
she can be housed in an open shed
or pole barn with daily outside
exercise with excellent results.
We favor letting these yearling
heifers “rough it” rather than to
keep them in a warm barn in
stanchions or in box-stalls. They
should "have plenty of good
quality hay and silage and
limited grain. Some dairymen
are constructing special bams or
sheds for their young stock,
allowing them plenty of fresh air
and exercise. Labor costs will be
much lower when the yearling
heifers are not housed too closely.
To Disc Corn Stalks
The practice of growing com
after com in the same field is
becoming more common; along
-with this practice com diseases
may also become more common;
we have had a sample of this
condition with the com leaf
blights. We are told that the
“normal” strains of hybrid com
will nearly eliminate the problem
of southern leaf blight, but how
about some of the other blights
and corn diseases? I still
maintain that the old com refuse
should be put through the barns
or disced into the ground during
the fall and winter; also,
something should be done to
eliminate the amount of volun
teer. com in the field. Several
discings during late .fall might
also get this com covered so that
it will rot during the winter. The
management of corn refuse
needs more attention on many
farms.
work in our world. Ironically, we
do live in that kind of worid. The
sounds and sights are the same as
those that the Psalmist heard
and saw.-Through the trappings
of civilization have radically!
changed since the day of the
Psalmist, it is still pretty much
the same world; the sun, the
moon, the stars, the seasons, the
elements despite all that we
have learned about them exist
pretty much as they existed thou
sands of years ago.
The difference is with us. Feel
ing largely self-sufficient, we man
age to ignore the presence of
God. There is the analogy of two
men listening to a violin solo. For
one man it is a truly inspiring ex
perience, the beautiful music de
lighting the man’s ear and heart
For the other man, the same ex
perience is perceived simply as
“so much horsehair scratching
over cat-gut”
What God did and does!
When the Psalmist ‘looked at
the world, he was overwhelmed
with the evidences of what God
had done. He had created an or
derly, dependable world, set on
firm foundations. He had con
quered the chaos and established
both a moral and natural order.
The world bore stricking evi
dence of the mighty works of God
and the Psalmist could not help
but exclaim: “Bless the Lord! 0
my soul! O Lord, my God, thou
art very great!” (104:1).
When the Psalmist looked at
his world he saw a God who was
not dead or even in retirement,
but the Lord who was alive and
well and active in his creation.
When you look at the world, what
do you see?
(Based m *utl!n« copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of tho Churchos of Christ in tho (I.S.A.
Roloatod by Community Prow Sorvlco.)