10—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 26, 1975
Farm Commentary
It seems almost a foregone con
clusion that President Ford will veto
the Emergency Farm Bill which
reached his desk on Wednesday
afternoon. At least that’s the im
pression we got this week during the
annual Washington conference of the
Newspaper Farm Editors of America.
Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz
told the editors he’s opposed to the
bill, and added that the President had
told him he’d veto it. Congressman
Tom Foley, chairman of the House
Agriculture Committee, told the
group that he believes the bill is a
good one, that it’s moderate and that
he’d like to see it signed into law. But,
Foley said, he feels it will be vetoed
and he doesn’t think there are
enough votes in either house to
override the veto.
There was some speculation
though that m his veto message,
President Ford would increase loan
rates on feed grains. The loan rate for
corn was expected to go to $1.85 from
Cutbacks and
We had a chance this week to talk
with farm editors from all over the
country about the affect of the farfner
movement to cut back corn and other
gram production to boost prices in
the fall.
There was a lot of interest in the
movement. And a lot of people at
tended meetings like the one we
reported on earlier, where 5000
farmers gathered m Ames, lowa. But
the net effect of all the effort seems to
have virtually ml, according to the
editors we talked to, who were in
Washington to attend the annual
conference'of the Newspaper Farm
Editors of America.
We discussed our findings with Lou
Moore at Penn State, and he said his
sources reveal the same thing. Moore
said farmers are expected to plant
only three percent less corn than last
year, and that favorable weather
would bring the price down to bet-
Cattle on Feed Hit 12-Year Low
Cattle and calves on feed April 1 for
slaughter market in 23 States
estimated at 8,452,000, that’s down
31 pet. from a year earlier, 37 pet.
below the April 1, 1973 total and
the lowest April 1 total since 1963.
Sharpest declines from a year ago
were in California, Texas, New Mexico
and Montana. California’s total (at
479.000) was down 50 pet. from a
year ago. Texas’ total (at 1,122,000)
was down 49 pet., New Mexico’s (at
125.000) and Montana’s (at 62,000)
down 47 pet. and 46 pet., respec
tively. Nebraska's total (at 960,000)
head was down 30 pet., lowa’s (at
1.160.000) was off one-third but it
Chick Hatches Under Year Ago
Chick hatches continue to run
below year ago levels. March broiler
type hatch, at 2774 million chicks,
down 6 pet. from a year earlier.
This marked the 12th straight
month this hatch has run below that
of a corresponding month a year
earlier. March totals brought the
broiler-type hatch for the first 3
months to 768.4 million, down 7 pet.
from a year earlier.
by Dick Wanner
The Farm
BUI Veto
its present level of $l.lO.
To find out how increased loan
rates would affect farmers in
Southeast Pennsylvania, we talked on
Thursday to Penn State farm
economist H. Louis Moore. Moore saio
he doesn't feel loan rates have any
great impact here. He said gram
prices seem headed lower. While a
$1.85 loan rate could keep the
market from dipping under that level,
a completely open market wouldn’t
be likely to slip much under that
anyway.
So, if corn producers here are
willing to put their crops under loan,
they’ll be able to insure themselves a
$1.85 price, which by all accounts is a
modest loss. And livestock feeders
who buy gram on the market can
probably expect to see drastically
reduced feed costs m the months
ahead. But the costs to feeders and
the returns to growers are more likely
to reflect market conditions than a
low level of government support.
$ 1.75 Com
ween $1.75 and $2.25 per bushel for
the 1975 crop. This is at or below the
cost of production, which last year
was pegged at $2.21 for Illinois
growers. A lot of farmers are un
derstandably scared of the market.
“Nobody wants to see gram prices
fall out of bed," Moore told'us. "Even
livestock producers would rather get
higher prices for their products so
they could pay the gram farmers at
least enough to give them a fair
return."
Moore said he’d talked to one man
who’s been driving from Penn
sylvania to Indiana every year in the
spring. This year, he said he saw more
land ready for corn planting than ever
before. “There was so much fall
plowing and early fertilization that
farmers just went ahead and com
mitted themselves to planting as
much as they could."
still left it the Nation's leader.
A couple of switches in the pattern:
Wisconsin’s total, at 125,000 head,
was up 6 pet. from a year earlier;
Illinois total was unchanged. It should
be noted that the Illinois total was
500,000 a year earlier, 500,000 on
Jan. 1, 1975, and 500,000 on April 1.
Jan. - March placements in the 23
States totaled 4,712,000 head, down
19 pet. from a year earlier. Fed cattle
marketings for the period from those
states totaled 5,487,000 head, down
9 pet. from a year earlier, 17 pet.
below the same period two years
earlier.
Meanwhile, the egg-type hatch
totaled 46.0 million during March,
down fractionally from a year earlier,
and this marked the 11th straight
month this hatch has been below that
of a corresponding month a year
earlier. The Jan. - Mar. total - 118.3
million, down 1 pet. from a year
earlier.
STRANGE LOVE
Lesson tor April 27,1875
Background Scripture:
Psalms 136, Isaiah 55
, Devotional Reading: Psalms
117; 118; 1-6.
A week ago I stood at
Jacob’s Well just outside the
city of Nablus in Israel's
occupied West Bank. The
well, believed to be dug
thousands of years ago by
the Patriarch Jacob, is also
thought to be the well Sychar
where Jesus encountered the
Samaritan woman.
“Can we drink the water?”
our group wanted to know.
“Of course,” said Elias, our
guide,” but remember what
the Lord Jesus said;
‘Everyone who drinks of this
water will thirst again, but
whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will
never thirst ... ” (John
4:13).
He was right: the water
was refreshing, but it wasn’t
long until we were thirsty
again.
“Why do you spend
your money...?”
This is one of life’s lessons:
material goods do not bring
us either long-lasting relief
or satisfaction. The lure of
the material is that it seems
to promise us something
which it cannot deliver.
Have you ever looked
forward to going to an ex
pensive, well-known
restaurant? If you have, you
have probably realized that,
no matter how good the food
is, the satisfaction it gives is
but momentary. Someone
told me recently of a friend
who will sometimes when he
is at a fine restaurant will
spend a hundred dollars or
more for a bottle of wine.
“Frankly,” my friend told
me, “it didn’t taste any
different than a three-dollar
wine.”
I’m sure that a wine
connoisseur would take
exception with that last
observation, but it is at least
indicative that what we pay
for a material good does not
necessarily insure that its
benefit will be longer
lasting. This is what Isaiah
meant when he cried:
Why do you spend your
money for that which is not
bread, and your labor for
that which does not satisfy?
(Isaiah 55:2)
God offers us something
that nothing can dissipate:
his love.
“While he is near...”
While this love of God
cannot be puuchased,
neither is it delivered with
the morning milk! If we
want this gift from God, we
must be receptive: “Seek the
Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is
near.” (55:6). It is our
human nature to put off
accepting God’s gracious
gifts.
Furthermore, something
else is required of us:
.. let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous
man lus thoughts; let him
return to the Lord, that he
may have mercy on him, and
to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon” (55:7)
From man’s point of view,
the love of God is a mystery.
It satisfies our deepest
thirsts and hungers and yet it
NOW IS
To Evaluate
“Clean and Green”
Recent publicity regarding
this special farm land tax
assessment program should
cause local land owners to
consider the program. After
talking with Leo Crasser at
the County Tax Assessment
Office, there are still many
uncertain facts in this
program; however, there is
a law to give special
assessment to farm land
based upon the capability of
the land and not on the
current market value. The
timing of this assessment is
still uncertain, but it is
suggested that land owners
who want this special
assessment consideration
for the 1976 tax year fill out
an application form by July
1. These are available from
the County Tax Assessment
Office, 37 North Duke St.
Lancaster, Pa. If the
program cannot be initiated
in 1976, then these ap
plications will be on file for
the 1977 tax year.
To Check Waste
Disposal Practices
Many folks are on the alert
for both stream and air
pollution this time of the
year. Local livestock and
poultry producers are urged
to be extremely careful in
the spreading of this current
manure crop. Field ap
plications should be made
early in the day rather than
late afternoon; also, manure
spread on fast drying days
will produce less odors. Soil
injection of the manure or
incorporating into the soil as
quickly as possible, after
spreading, will give more
general satisfaction and
preserve more fertilizer
values. Do not spread
manure on slopes close to
public streams or on fields
close to streams without
adequate sod buffer strips.
Farm Calendar
Saturday, April 26
8:00 a.m. - Little In
ternational Livestock
Exposition, Ice Pavilion,
Penn State.
8:30 p.m. - Lebanon Valley
Expo. Corp. square
dance, Lebanon Fair
Grounds.
Wednesday, April 30
8:00 p.m. - Land application
of sewage sludges,
educational meeting at
Lancaster Farm and
Home Center.
Monday, May 5
10:30 a.m. - Ayrshire
breeders tour of Masonic
Homes Farm in
Elizabethtown.
Wednesday, May 7
7:30 p.m. - Lancaster County
Conservation District
board of directors
meeting, Lancaster
Farm and Home Center.
Thursday, May 8
7:00 p.m. - Testimonial
is freely offered to us for the
taking.
It is a strange love. But,
then, as God tells us; “my
thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways. It is not'
necessary to understand this
strange love, just enough to
receive it.
THE TIME... |
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone SHI-ftXSI
To Protect Gardens
Many gardeners find that
birds and rodents also like
flowers and vegetable
plants. The control of wild
birds is very difficult and the
covering of the plants with
cheesecloth, or some other
very light material, gives
best results. Rabbits are
very damaging in many
places and especially in the
suburbs. Repellent sprays
are not too successful and
trapping and removing from
the area is a very slow task.
The enclosing of the garden,
or area, with 24 to 30-inch
chicken wire (or small
mesh) fence works the best
for rabbit control. If the
problem included muskrats,
raccoons, or groundhogs,
then control is much more
difficult because these
animals can climb over the
fence. Local game wardens
can be constuled for
recommended control
practices.
To Feed Hay On Pasture
The pasture season is at
hand when many herds and
flocks will be glad to fill up
on the lush grass. We urge
special handling of the
animals on fresh grass to
avoid bloating and digestive
trouble. One if the most
successful practices is to
continue to feed hay, or other
dry matter, during the entire
pasture season. This will not
only prevent bloating but
slow down the passage of the
lush forage through the
digestive tract and enables
more tipie for the digestive
juices to extract the feed
value. Animals on forage
containing legumes such as
alfalfa or clover, need more
,dry matter and more at
tention in order to prevent
bloating.
dinner for J. Lin Huber,
retiring after 39 years
from the Pennsylvania
Milk Marketing Board,
Hershey Country Club.
Saturday, May 10
9:30 a.m. - Bth Annual Ag
Alumni of PSU meeting,
117 Borland Lab.
7:00 p.m. - PSU Ag Alumni
Banquet, HUB dining
room AB
8:00 p.m. - Lebanon Valley
Expo. Corp. square
dance, Lebanon Fair
Grounds.
Friday, May 16
Lancaster Horse Show,
Lancaster Riding and
Tennis Club. Continues
through May 18.
Saturday, May 17
12:30 p.m. - Southeast Grape
Industry Association
field day, starting at
Pequea Valley Winery.
Reservations required.
Tuesday, May 20
7:30 p.m. - Ephrata Area
Young Farmer monthly
meeting, baler trouble
shooting, Ephrata H.S.
vo-ag room.
Saturday, May 24
8:30 p.m. - Lebanon Valley
Expo Corp. square
dance, Lebanon Fair
Grounds.
V,