—Uncasttr /arming. Saturday. F«b. 21, 1976 10 EDITORIAL COMMENTS Earl Butz’s Some very interesting comments were made at the meat standards meeting on Wednesday night, but the one which lends itself to speculation more so than any other is this: How might it all affect Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz? The general feeling among the several persons who discussed the matter after the formal presentation was that he might go the way our own former agriculture secretary, James McHale, went. Out. To begin with, people haven’t forgotten the rotten gram deal of 1972. As is true of anyone in a leadership role, Butz has made some enemies during the past five years. There’s no doubt he’s controversial. The meat grading proposals have evidently split the meat industry and no one seems to know for sure why it’s even taking place. The reprecussions are certainly being heard in Butz’s office. So Butz has had the gram people after him, then the cattlemen, then the dairymen, now the cattlemen some more - not to mention other segments of this mu mi Nixnutz’s Corral By BARNEY NIXNUTZ "All the news that's unimportant, ' but still interesting.” Weighing tip Here's a tip from the Philadelphia Phillies Ag Extension Service, namely Gene Garber, who plays for the Phillies and is fond of his connections with agriculture. To find out how much milk your cows give, run each cow onto a scale before you milk her, record her weight, milk her, and weigh her again after milking. The difference between what she weighed before and after is the amount of milk she gave Clever! Trapped tongue Then there’s this story about a York County dairyman and his helper as they prepared to milk a herd of cows (Names are fictitious, but the story isn’t). The dairyman, Sam, already had his two machines suspended from the first two cows' bellies when the hired man rushed into the barn without saying a word and carrying a milker in each hand. Possibly a little uneasy » ' f • r»' i) * Tr i»* i t r \ BY DIETER KRIEG, EDITOR last stand? country's vast agricultural network. According to some knowledgeable persons within the meat industry, Butz's ouster could come now if the price of gram drops much more - and this could happen. Cattlemen now find themselves faced with a market which penalizes the formerly "choice" and “prime" grades because of the newly im provised "yield grades” which call for leaner carcasses. That means feeding cattle for shorter periods of time and with an average of 245 pounds less gram per head. That could add up to having a huge stockpile of gram on hand later this year if it’s not going through cattle like it used to. The gram boys are already upset because of having lost a significant share of their export market. Take away a part of their market here at home by changing beef grading, and they’re likely to make more noise than ever before. The noise could be loud enough to force Butz.right out of his office. Some cattlemen are already betting on it. about not being exactly on time, he rushed back and forth from the milk house to his end of the-stable. Finally, he had everything ready to go. But he still hadn’t said a word. "Hey, Marty!" the dairyman called, “you’re a little late I have my first two cows just about milked out." Marty remained silent, only acknowledging the remark with a sheepish grin, as he walked in bet ween the cows to attach the black vacuum hose. "You know, Marty, since I’ve been milking for a few minutes already, all of the vacuum is at my end of the barn and you don’t have enough at your end to get the milking done,” Sam said with a big grin. Marty stopped for a second to ponder the situation and then proceeded with his work as if nothing had been said. “Since you don’t have enough vacuum on your end, Marty, and I have most of it here at my end, you might want to suck some of it down your way," Sam said. Marty, always willing to take a joke, tried it, and found out in a hurry that there was plenty of vacuum in his end of the line. "iIiIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIi OF CROSSES AND CHURCHES Lesson for February 22,1971 Background Scripture: Matthew 16 through 17. Devotional Reading: Micah 4:1-7. It is sometimes said that Peter’s * confession at Caesarea and Christ’s well known response are the Church’s basic charter. When Simon Peter con fesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,’’ he is enunciating for all of us the basic faith upon which the Church of Jesus Christ is founded. Furthermore, it is maintained that when Jesus responds, saying: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! ... and on this rock I will build my church ...” (Matthew 16:1/;, the “rock” to which he is referring is the confessed faith of Peter and all disciples who make that same confession. So, it is customary to say that the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is the touchstone of Christian disdpleship. “Lost Sheep” and “dogs” This is fine, as far as it goes, but there is more to the story. There are actually two promises. The first of these is the promise of the “keys of the kingdom,” the authority of those who would follow Jesus. For long periods in the history of the Church it has possessed enormous authority in the world. The church has frequently dominated history and few people today in the world are not affected in some way by the power of the Church. In your own state many of the laws on the books such as the Sunday “blue laws,” movie censorship, “dry legislation,” etc. are the direct or indirect result of the Church’s secular power. Today the church seems to be losing much of that secular power, but the loss may be more apparent than real. “Get behind me, Satan! ” The second promise is that of the cross: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things... and be killed.. (Matthew 16:21). The disciples were not happy about this promise; in fact, Peter in his usual “subtle” fashion, blurted out his view: “God - forbid, Lord!” Worst of all, however, was the extension of that promise to themselves: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (16:24). They liked that promise even less! If we are really quite honest, we would have to admit that the Church still isn’t very enthusiastic about that promise. Although Matthew 16:24 is frequently quoted in our churches and although we sometimes talk about “sacrificial giving,” (usually in reference to our own church budgets), the concept of cross-bearing seems entirely alien. Comfort, not sacrificial living seems to be the goal of To Test Farm Grown Seeds The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at Harrisburg will test seeds for farm and garden plan tings at a reasonable cost; prices for timothy, red clover, and spring oats is $2.50 per sample while the cost for testing soybeans is $3.50 -per sample. The amount needed is one cup of timothy or clover seed and two pounds of oats or soybeans. The laboratory will test for germination, weed seeds, and estimate purity. We strongly urge farmers and gardeners to have their seeds tested if they are to be used this spring. Seeds offered for sale must be tested by the Department of Agriculture. To Spring Plow Land that has been plowed last fall or during the winter can be worked earlier than land plowed later this spring. If weather permits, we urge early spring plowing on level land that is t 6 be seeded as early as possible this spring. I'm thinking of crops such as spring oats or straight seedings of alfalfa where very early seedings are favored. Even though the ground may be on the wet side when plowed during February or March, many times freezing weather will make it much easier to work. After the danger of freezes are over, the ground should not be plowed or worked in a wet condition. Seedings of spring oats or alfalfa made during late March are preferred over April or May seedings. To Stress Weed Control Listening to the speakers at the recent Crops and Soils Day we got the message that good weed control is still one of the most important practices in good crop production. This is not an -easy task and on most farms hundreds of dollars are spent each year in trying to keep the weeds under control. This is still very important because poor weed-control can reduce yields as much as 50 percent. I realize that it is a bit early in the season to be talking about killing weeds because very few of them are growing at this time, (except duckweed and wild garlic), but it is time to be planning the weed control program for the rest of the year. Materials need to be ordered, or custom spray operators secured. Don’t fail to make every effort to control more weeds this year. To Be Careful When Buying Feeders Many local cattle and hog feeders are often on the market for replacement many .of us. Still, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me!” (Based on outlines copyrighted by the Division of Christian, Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Released by Com munity Press Service.) mmmxmmssmmsetm NOW IS I THE TIME. . J .Max Smith County Agr. Agrnt Telephone 'I'M-CK.'.i steers or pigs. This is a very important step in any feeding operation because the kind and quality of the animals purchased can mean profit or loss on the deal. Fresh cattle are ones that have not been handled through a number of dealers or auctions; many severe health problems have been experienced with “stale” cattle. Pig feeders are still reminded of the need of buying from reliable sources and on pigs that carry of ficial health papers. In too many cases pigs that are light in weight may not be „ that way because they are i' younger; they may have had health problems and are being “run through” again. Farm Calendar Feb. 22 National Peach Growers Convention at the Con vention Center, Hershey. Meetings last through the 25th. Feb. 23 Swine management meeting, Gettysburg High Schools (Adams County). Feb. 24 Swine' management meeting, 9:30 a.m. p.m. at the Lancaster w Farm and Home Center. Atlantic Breeders meeting, District 4, Blue Ball Fire Hall, 7 p.m. Lebanon County 4-H Livestock banquet, 7 p.m. at Schaefferstown Fire Hall. “Lancaster County’s Beauty,” a slide presentation by noted photographer - lecturer Grant Heilman; spon sored by the Lancaster County Conservancy. 7:30 p.m. in the Coca Cola Building, 1428 Manheim Pike, Lancaster. Free. Dairy herd health management seminar on mastitis control and prevention, Ephrata Young Farmers, 7:45 at the high school. - Feb. 25 ™ Franklin County Crops Day, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chambersburg Holiday Inn. Southeastern Pennsylvania Com Growers Clinic and Trade Show, Westover Inn and Golf Club, Jef fersonville, Pa. Meetings begin 8:30 a.m. and last through 3:30 p.m. More meetings follow on the 26th. Feb. 26 Commercial Pesticide Certification, Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estate Planning wills and taxes Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 7:30 p.m. York - Adams - Franklin Council of Cooperatives and Cumberland-Perrv-v Council of CooperativeJU sponsor seminar for all Young Cooperator [Continued on Page 15]
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers