—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 9, 1972
10
DHIA Time to Grow?
Lancaster County’s DHIA supervisors
are doing an outstanding job of serving
dairy farmers here. The only criticism that
anybody could make of the local DHIA
program is that there don’t seem to be
enough supervisors to go around.
There are a number of farmers in the
county who’d like to be on official DHIA
test, but can’t find any testers with the
time to take care of them
Some dairymen with owner-sampler
programs would prefer alternate a.m and
p m programs or twice-a-da / tests. Some
with alternate a m and p.m tests would
rather be on twice a day testing. Clearly, it
seems that if more DHIA service were
available, dairymen would be willing to pay
for it
DHIA records are a valuable
management tool They enable the dairy
farmer to assess individual cow production
on the basis of numbers rather than
sentiment or intuition Feeding programs
are much easier to plan with DHIA in
formation
Individual farmers benefit from DHIA
records, and so does the entire industry. In
most cases, DHIA records are required for
bull proofs The best sire in the world may
go unrecognized if his daughters aren’t on
test Testing improves the production
Surrounded by the most abundant food
supply the world has even seen, the United
States is fast becoming a nation ot
nutritional illiterates This is the opinion of
Mr Henry J Heinz, 11, chairman of the H J
Heinz Company Writing in The New York
Times, he says, "Despite a wealth of
scientific knowledge of nutrition, too many
of us do not know what a balance diet is,
and are igno r ant of the essential nutrients
we need and the foods that contain them
The U S Department of Agriculture
reports that the percentage of households
that met or exceeded the department’s
definition of a good diet dropped from 60 to
50 percent from 1955 to 1965 Nine
percent of families with incomes over
$lO,OOO had diets rated poor The
deficiencies broadened over the decade
due to decreased use of milk, milk
products, vegetables and fruits, and to an
increase in snacking ”
A master plan for diet is no more
workable than centralized economic
planning Individuals are as varying in their
wants and needs as geographic regions.
Thus, it is unreasonable to tell the entire
population to give up certain basic foods
because some people, for medical reasons,
are advised by doctors to restrict their
diets with respect to these foods.
Milk disagrees with some individuals but
that does not mean the nation should stop
drinking milk—or eating other dairy
products, meat or any of the nutritious
elements of a normal person's diet. Usually
there is a good reason for eating a
balanced choice of the foods that nature
has placed at our disposal An item i'n the
Chicago Tribune shows why this is so. It
seems that studies conducted by
researchers at Cornell University have
now revealed that a widespread deficiency
of calcium in the population is the primary
reason millions of people lose their teeth.
According to the science eidtor of the
Tribune, Ronald Kotulak/the report of
these researchers “ .. also gives new hope
to 35 million more Americans afflicted with
periodontal disease who are in the process
Good Food Sense
An Individual Matter
potential of every breed’s genetic stock.
The more cows that are tested, the faster
the improvements will come.
The solution seems simple enough
hire more testers. On today’s labor market,
however, that’s easier said than done. Too,
not everybody can qualify as a milk tester,
and not everybody wants to be one.
Another problem is a lop-sided fee
schedule. In one day, a tester can do one
herd on a twice a day program, or he can do
two herds on alternate a.m. and p.m. If he
does the twice a day herd, his income drops
40 percent from what he’d have gotten by
doing two herds on alternate a.m. and p.m.
If a tester feels disinclined to handle twice
a day herds, there’s no one in the world
who will blame him. Nobody wants to take a
40 percent pay cut.
Because DHIA benefits both mdividaul
farmers and the entire dairy industry, we
feel it should be available, as far as
possible, to everyone who wants it. This is
not now the case. Part of the solution may
lie in finding and developing more qualified
testers
Certainly the fee schedule needs to be
examined carefully and, if necessary,
overhauled to satisfy the needs of both
dairymen and DHIA supervisors.
The food industry authority laid the
blame for declining nutritional standards
squarely at the door of food faddism and
“changing life styles”. Many people today
seem to follow "fashions” in eating just as
they do in dress and manner of speaking.
The “m-thing” is to work certain phrases to
death, wear ties of a certain width or skirts
of a certain length or drop a basic food item
from the diet to get on the bandwagon with
no questions asked
The trouble is, speech and clothing styles
can change with no harm done Arbitrary
tampering, however, with diet can leave
lasting harmful effects. Normal people
need a balanced diet-foods that through
deliberate self-denial they are not now
getting Apparently ouf sophisticated
civilization needs to b$ taught how to eat
properly
of losing their teeth Milk is the major
source of calcium in the diet” and "... the
bone loss associated with periodontal,
disease in the human may be reversible by
dietary calcium in many subjects."
Endeavoring to tell millions of people
what they should or should not eat via
I directives from Washington or anywhere
else is no more feasible than centralized
government management of business in a
nation as diversified as the United States.
Grassroots Opinions
METAIRIE, LA., JEFFERSON PARISH
TIMES: “Wed—today’s ‘give-away’
programs, bent upon establishing the
theory that it’s silly to work for anything
you can get through assuming the role of a
drone, is a far cry from that day of PROUD
PAUPERS, who may have been a little thin
in the belt section but who boasted a well
developed pride in personal achievement
and self-reliance —through which they not
only COULD but DID share pitifully small
resources with those honestly entitled to
CHARITY.”
“When I look at thy
heavens..
Recently I read that as a jet
throttles for take-off, its pollution
quotient equals 6,000 automobiles,
a bumper-to-bumper line twenty
miles long. This is staggering
when we realize that two years
ago some 90 million autos con
tributed about 60 per cent of the
142 million tons of toxic waste
dumped into our atmosphere.
Some scientists tell us that the
dirty cloud that hangs over the
Eastern seaboard, for example,
may never be dispersed.
rrrrrrrrri j
i
I NOW IS
Si
I THE TIME . . .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
To Prevent Weed
Seed Development
One of the best ways to have a
bigger weed crop next year is to
permit the current weeds to go to
seed; this has always worked and
will continue to do so until land
owners stop weeds from
developing. Some weeds are
periennials and come up each
year from the roots; these can be
destroyed by herbicides or by
cutting several times during the
growing season. Owners of
vacant lots and other idle land
are urged to stop weed seed
development. Home owners are
urged to prevent all types of
weeds in the garden and lawn
from maturing. Weeds are un
sightly and compete for plant
food and soil moisture. Weed
ordinances are becoming more
common, compelling land owners
to prevent the spread of all kinds
of weeds. Let’s all cooperative.
To be Careful with Campers
The gypsy moth is a hungry
insect of the northeastern part of
the United States and is moving
to the southwest. We are in
formed that trailers and campers
that have been in the infested
areas can easily carry the moth
cocoons back into clean territory.
Therefore, we urge folks that
have been to the northeast of our
area to make a careful inspection
of all parts of their cars and
campers and remove the
brownish-yellow egg masses and
the cocoons. They gypsy moth is
very active at this time of the
year and will attach itself to
anything that is not moving, and
is capable of laying up to 1,000
eggs in one egg mass; if not
WHO’S IN CHARGE?
Lesson for September 10,1972
Background Scripture Genesis 1 24 31,
2-19, 20, Psalms B
Devotional Reading Deuteronomy
6 4-13
There is a grim irony as this
evening I read the words of the
eighth psalm: “When I look at thy
heavens the moon and the stars
which thou hast established . .
(8:3). For the fact is, I cannot see
God’s heavens this evening, nor
the moon and the
stars: all are hid
den by a thick
blanket of smog.
Something that
man has made
carelessly is ob
scuring the handi-
work of the Crea-
tor. For the past
Rev. Althouse seven days we
have barely even
seen the sun, except as a dull,
diffused glow in a dirty grey sky.
removed and destroyed this one
egg mass can start a new
testation in a new area. Gypsy
moths are heavy feeders on all
types of foliage and have done
severe damage to forest land and
trees in many northeast
counties of Pennsylvania and to
other states to the northeast. Full
cooperation is needed to help
keep them under control.
To Prepare for Winter
Grain Seeding
With improved moisture
conditions needed in most parts
of the southeast, it might be
difficult to be planning for the
seeding of winter oats, barley, or
wheat; however, this should be
done in order to get the quality of
seed needed and to get the ground
in condition. If any soil testing is
to be done, two week should be
allowed to get the results. Winter
oats should be seeded around the
middle of September, winter
barley the last part of September,
and winter wheat not until the
middle of October. All of these
grains need a well prepared soil
and may need lime this fall if the
ground is to be seeded down to
alfalfa or cover next spring or
summer. Seed supplies may not
be adequate this fall, therefore,
orders should be placed at once
for the needs of a certified seed
The demand for both the grain
and the straw looks promising for
the coming year and growers are
urged to make every effort to get
maximum production from their
land.
“When I look at thy heavens
. . Perhaps much of our prob
lem is that we forget whose world
this is. The psalmist talks of “thy
heavens,” yet men often forget
this and think of it as theirs “So
God created . . not man. The
late Dr. Aldo Leopold, a scientist
at the University of Wisconsin, in
his book, A Sand County Alma
nac, says: “We abuse land be
cause we regard it as a commod
ity belonging to us ” And it does
not belong to us; it belongs to the
Creator
“Yet,” says the psalmist, “thou
hast made him little less than
God . . Thou hast given him do
minion over the works of thy
hands . . .” Man has been given
dominion or charge over God’s
good earth. That dominion, how
ever, does not mean that creation
is man’s to possess, or exploit, or
ruin Man is given dominion for a
reason; “The Lord God took the
man and put him in the garden
of Eden to till it and care for it”
(Genesis 2:15). The Creator is
very explicit to man: “Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth
and subdue it . . .” (1:28).
“Thou hast given him
dominion ..
What this means is that one of
the answers to the psalmist’s
question, “what is man . . .?”, is
that he is a steward, a mahager
(not owner!) of what God has
created.
Yet often our approach to stew
ardship is roughly equivalent to
a man who goes into the chicken
farming business and then pro
ceeds to cat up all the feed, the
eggs, the chicks, and all the
chickens simultaneously, while
burning down the hen houses to
keep warm.
Who’s in charge?
We arc. God put us here to be
his stewards.
(Based on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Counci I of the Churches of Christ in the U 5 A.
Released by Community Press Service)
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