o—Lancaster Farmim
li
New Cattle Price
All that flap which was stirred when
slaughter cattle prices finally reached a
new record high after 20 years was almost
enough to make the farmer feel guilty
about finally being able to make a
reasonable rate of return on his in
vestment.
But we suggest that cattle producers
think the thing through before they hang
their heads in remorse.
Recall the lean years, the many times
when prices were below costs. How many
other segments of the U.S. economy pay for
the privilege of producing?
Recall how dramatically nearly all
production costs have risen in the past 20
years. Fortunately, one of the biggest costs,
feed, has remained relatively stable. But
machinery and labor costs are up sharply.
It seems that nearly everybody today
expects to earn more this year than last,
more next year than this. Farmers who
keep up with the national news are cer
tainly aware that workers in industry after
industry expect and get large annual wage
increases.
But the same laborer-consumer who
gets large annual increases apparently
expects the farmer to be willing to tighten
his belt, accept smaller profit margins and
increase his efficiency in order to hang in
there.
In the past, the farmer has done just
that —tightened his belt. One result
nationally has been increasingly larger
farm units; it takes larger farms with
more capital investment to make enough
profit to survive when profit margins are
continually tightened.
It’s another way of saying: the constant
price-cost squeeze on the farmer which
has made it possible for the consumer to
spend less and less of his income on food
has had its impact—in the form of larger
farm production units and fewer farmers.
The impact of the price-cost squeeze has
Oh, That Sudden Stop!
Local egg producers have been getting
much advice lately on how to stop cracks
and breaks.
One favorite quip of Kermit Birth, Penn
State Extension poultry specialist, is: ‘‘lt’s
not how fast the egg travels, it’s the
sudden stop which breaks it.”
Which leads us to Operation Eggdrop, a
ninth grade science project by students at
Lincoln Junior High School. On March 9,
the students will drop eggs from a
On Attending
The local farm community is now in the
midst of its banquet and meeting season.
In the summer the farmer generally has
twice as many jobs to do as he has time in
which to do them; it’s a matter of working
at the most important jobs until time runs
out.
£j-XvXv;-:-:*x-xW;;^
k LANCASTER FARMING ;i;
A *■&
■I; Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
V !»!•
v >5
P.O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
$ Office: 22 E. Main St., Lititz Pa. 17543 ■$
p Record-Express Office Bldg. g:
|:j Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191 :$
v
Zane WUson, Managing Editor
Subscription price; $2 per year in Lancaster $
: :*3 County: $3 elsewhere
$
:•;! Established November 4,1955
•S Published Saturda;
every . iy
caster Farming, Lititz, Pa.
I Second Class Postage paid at Lititz,
Pa. 17543. v
Members of Newspaper Farm Editors i|j
m Assn., Pa. Newspaper Publishers
Association, and National Newspsper
:;3 Association
Saturday, March 4,1972
i
a
»y Lan-
Record—Finally
not been nearly as severe in Southeastern
Pennsylvania as it has been elsewhere, but
the national trends are evident here also. A
combination of favorable climate, ready
markets, knowledgable and industrious
farmers have made it possible for the local
farm community to prosper in the face of
the price-cost squeeze with a minimum of
change and problems.
Looking ahead, we can see the day when
belt tightening won’t be enough. While the
farm community has been fantastic at
coming up with new machinery and
techniques to continually lower cost of
production, there certainly must be a limit.
There must come a time when the con
sumer is willing to let the farmer have his
fair share.
We suggest that if the consumer does
not willingly let the farmer share in the
national prosperity, the consumer even
tually will be forced to let the farmer have
his share.
As we see it, the consumer can continue
to force the farmer to deal with the agony
of the price-cost squeeze; more farmers
can be forced to consolidate and expand in
order to keep up.
But with the national farm population
continually shrinking, how much more can
it shrink? Before farmers recognize the
necessity of action to get a fair break?
Farmers have never asked for more than
a fair break. But the dock strike during the
past year illustrated what farmers face;
dock workers sought their high annual
wage increase and were willing to tie up a,
huge share of the farm export market in
order to get it; in this case, farmers were
asked to take it two ways—through lower
farm prices because lower export volumes
contributed to market gluts and through
payment of the higher wage costs of the
dock workers.
So the cattle producer finally got a 20-
year record high price for his product? So
who else had to wait 20 years?
helicopter hovering from 800 to 1,200 feet
above the school.
The goal: to package the eggs so they
don’t scramble on impact.
Or, as Birth would put it: Don’t let them
stop too fast.
One thing for sure. If ninth graders can
stop eggs from breaking after a fall of 800
to 1,200 feet, farmers ought to be able to
figure out how to stop them from breaking
after a roll of only a few inches or a few feet.
Ain’t so?
Meetings
But in the winter the pressures aren’t
quite as severe and the farmer has some
time “to take stock," to review what
happened during the past year and to plan
ahead for the coming year.
If this “quiet" time is used wisely, it
could be the best spent time”of the year.
It’s increasingly true for farmers as it is for
eveyone else: it’s not how hard you work,
it's how well you work. Making the right
decisions at the right time is increasingly
critical.
Attending banquets and educational
meetings, we suggest, is a sound way to
spend some of the slack time in the winter.
Ideas and inspiration are to be found in
abundance at these meetings.
We predict that the numbers and quality
of meetings for farmers will grow. And
farmers who recognize the value of these
meetings and take advantage of them will
be in a better position to adjust to the ever
changing farm scene.
We suggest that every farm family
should consider keeping a meeting
calendar.
To Broadcast Legume Seeds
Alfalfa and red clover growers
who are going to establish their
new stand by broadcasting on top
of winter wheat are urged to
make this seeding as soon as
possible and at least by the
middle of March; some growers
may have already seeded during
late February. The early
broadcasting will permit the
seeds to work into the topsoil
during the alternate freezing and
thawing of early spring days.
Most research and experience
will favor the very early seedings
when the broadcast method is
used. We would favor a straight
seeding of alfalfa later in March,
if the grower has open ground
and can prepare a good seedbed.
Certified seeds should be used
and they should be well
inoculated.
To Topdreas Wheat
Many winter wheat growers
have learned that a special ap
plication of nitrogen fertilizer
during the month of March will
increase wheat yields. This
practice is strongly recom
mended on soils with con
siderable sand, shale, or gravel;
in these cases the nitrogen may
have leached out more severely
during the winter months. The
amount of nitrogen to apply will
vary, depending upon the fertility
of the soil and whether or not the
wheat is to be seeded down to
alfalfa or clover; in the latter
cases 25 to 30 pounds of actual
nitrogen per acre is recom
mended. To get a maximum yield
of wheat and straw regardless of
legume seedings, 50 to 60 pounds
“MY CHURCH”
Lesson for March S, 1972
Badcgreund Scripture Isaiah 23:16;
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 16:
13-20; Ephesians 2-19-22.
Devetienal Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34,
“It’s not our church any more,”
the man said bitterly, ‘They’ve
taken it away from us!”
The “us” he referred to were a
group of people who for many
years had comprised the small
rural congregation. The “they”
were the new su
burbanites who
were beginning to
join the little
church—no long
er rural—in grow
ing numbers.
How do you tell
a man like this
„ .... that it was never
Rev. Althouse hj s church in the
first place? How do you convince
him that it also can never be
“their” church? There is only
One who can properly call it “my
church,” but we tend to forget
about him. For, even if we don’t
use the possessive pronouns “my”
and “our,” we may still act as if
the church, in fact, belonged
to us.
Christ the Cornerstone
For example, many of the de
cisions which we make concern
ing the church will reflect our in
terests, not those of Christ. When
we have to make important de
cisions for the church we are
often likely to speak of what we
of nitrogen per acre should give
good results.
To Fertilize Failures
Livestock producers who retain
some permanent pasture can
increase the forage per acre by
spring applications of fertilizer;
in the case of mixed pastures,
including some clovers, a
complete fertilizer such as 10-10-
10 is suggested. In the case of
straight grass pastures only
nitrogen is needed, provided
previous soil tests show the
potash and phosphorus levels to
be satisfactory. Some producers
will fertilize only parts of their
pastures (Vi-acre per animal)
early in the spring to push that
forage ahead of the rest of the
field. Old sods that are to be
improved should first get a
complete soil test, followed by the
lime and the fertilizer recom
mendations. It is accepted that
an acre of good corn will produce
more feed nutrients than an acre
of most pastures; however, some
land is suited only for permanent
pasture and the farmer should
attempt to get as much forage as
possible from this land.
To Delay Field work
Weather conditions during the
past week favor outside work and
the starting of early spring
practices; however, it is only
early March and the topsoil is
very wet and full of moisture. It is
suggested that the fanner be
patient in getting out into the field
for plowing and other work with
heavy equipment until the soil.
dries out; working in wet soil, or
driving over it this time of the
year with heavy equipment when
it is wet, may mean that it will
get hard and be of very poor
physical conditions for the rest of
the summer. Heavy clay soils
need special handling early in the
spring.
“will accept” or what we “won’t
stand for.” The question of what
Christ might desire, if it is con
sidered at all, is often dismissed
as impractical, “pie-in-the-sky”
idealism.
Then there’s the whole ques
tion of the church’s financial re
sources. “You’re not going to
spend my money like that!” we
may protest when we see the
church doing something to which
we object. What we seem to for
get is that it cannot be “my
money.” If the church belongs to
Christ then the money we have
given is his. To continue to speak
of it as “my money” or “our mon
ey” is little short of blasphemy.
The writer of the Epistle to
the Ephesians wanted there to be
no doubt as to whom the Church
belonged. To be sure, the Church
is like a household, but we are
not the owners of the household.
We are there by the grace of
God. It does not belong to us, but
we belong to it. Only in that
sense can we call it “my church”
or “our church.” The foundation
of that household consists of the
apostles and prophets, “Christ
Jesus himself being the chief cor
nerstone, in whom the whole
structure is joined together . .
(Ephesians 2:20, 21).
No power prevail against it
At the scene in Caesarea Phil
ippi in Matthew 16. Jesus says of
Peter’s declaration of faith, . .
on this rock I will build my
church” (v. 18). Jesus, we need to
note, does not say to Peter: “you
will build your church.” There
can be no doubt about to whom
the church belongs.
Perhaps people might see the
Church differently today if they
would remember that it is Christ’s
Church.