—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Jan. 15. 1977
8
The arctic cold weather had
everything outside in a deep freeze.
The snow crunched beneath a man’s
feet and wind burned faces felt the
sting of cold air. Any moisture quickly
turned to ice, Marvin and 1 both had
some small icicles attached to gloves,
collars, and jackets.
Some of the cows and heifers were
decorated in similar fashion - their
long hair either being matted down
by clinging debris or standing
straight up for protection from the
cold.
“This door is really frozen shut,
Marv, it’ll take forever to get it loose,”
I said. “Let’s just forget it and pull the
spreader around the outside.”
"We’ll never make it,” he
curtly,
“Sure we will,” i replied,
“remember we've got that good 630
hitched up to yours - it’ll pull
anything"
“I hear ya talkin," Marvin coun
tered, followed by a few word? we
can’t repeat. We were always kidding
each other about our tractors. This
miserably cold weather and time
consuming situation took some of the
laughs out of it though.
Marvin and I took turns with a
digging iron in trying to open the door
at the far end of the loafing barn.
Then we opened a rarely used wire
gate and got ready to pull the manure
spreader out of the barnyard with
two tractors.
“Wtrich gear?" Marvin shouted
over the rumble of both tractors.
I turned back towards him and held
up four fingers.
We proceeded slowly through the
barn, followed by a bunch of nosey
cows which we had chased out just
moments before.
Farm Calendar
Tuesday, Jan. 18
Board of directors meeting
of the Lancaster County
Farm and Home
Foundation, 7:30 p.m. in
the conference room of
the Farm and Home
Center.
Inaugural meeting of the
Martic Hill Watershed
Association, Martic
Elementary School,
Rawlinsville, 7:30 p.m.
Chester County Extension
sponsors meeting on
farm partnerships,
transfers and taxes. 7:30
p m at the Russellville
Grange Hall. Fred
Hughes from Penn State
will be guest speaker.
Dairy milking school at the
Farm and Home Center,
Lancaster, 9 30 a m to 3
p.m
Crops and Soils Day, Farm
Once outside, I opened the throttle
on my tractor and left the tires chew
up the snow It didn’t take long to see
this'wasn’t going to work. Too much
snow... and no way to pick up more
speed coming out of the barn like
that.
Marvin and I both sat there on our
tractors. The engines pounded out a
perfect rhythm My mind grasped for
a solution to the problem. Things are ,
always so easy in the Summer, I
thought. It was amazing how the
snow and bitter cold could make a
man helpless and cripple his
equipment.
The cows still needed to be bedded,
the milkers weren’t washed, and
youngstock needed to be fed. There
was no time to fool around with this
now. The other work was more im
portant and more pleasant - that is if
water pipes didn’t need to be thawed
out. The thought of sponging frozen
pipes with hot water wasn't thrilling
me-at all. The hours of the day were
eroding rapidly, and we had few
accomplishments to show for it.
Later in the morning Marvin and I
tried once more to pull the full
spreader out of the barnyard. Visions
of spinning tires were as frozen into
my mind as the countryside itself.
What a lousy situation!
said
First it was a broken pipe. . water
running all over the place... a messy
barn ... and now a load of manure
which we couldn’t get to its
destination.
“What do you say we move to
Florida, Man/*” I asked
“It’d be alright, I guess. I know one
thing for sure . . we wouldn’t have
this to fool with." he replied
and Home Center, 8:30
a.m. to 3 p.m.
Vo-ag project book
workshop, Penn Manor
High School, 7 p.m.
Today through Thursday,
New Jersey Vegetable
Growers Association
annual meeting, Holiday
Inn, Vineland, New
Jersey.
Fiphrata Area Young Far
mers monthly meeting,
7:45 p.m at the high
school. Flection of of
ficers, and pesticide
applicator certification.
Wednesday, Jan 19
Dairy milking school at the
Farm and Home Center,
9 30 a m to 1
p m
Hegional vegetable glowers
meet at the Coca (ola
Building, Lancaster
Virgmville (nange meeting
Dairy records clinic for New
Jersey dairymen. 8-10
p.m. at Hunterdon
County Extension Center,
Flemington.
Thursday, Jan. 20
Commercial Pesticide
(Continued on Page I'4(
RURAL ROUTE
WEIL I'M ONLY GETTING IN
deeper - guess i'll wait
'TILL MORNING TO SET 'ER j
OUT
, * x " ■■ <• '
' ..'...X
HOME
COUNTRY?
Lesson for January 16,1977
Background Scripture:
Mark 1:14,15; Luke 4:14-30.
Devotional Reading;
Isaiah 61:1-4.
The story of Jesus’ return
to Nazareth following his
baptism by John is hardly a
good text on “How to win
friends and influence
people”!
Yet, it might have been.
Actually, it seemed to get off
to a good start. Jesus, Luke
tells us, did not return
directly from his baptism in
Judea to Nazareth, but went
preaching and teaching in
the towns of Galilee. So
impressed were the people
who heard him that “a
report concerning him went
out through all the
surrounding country”
(4:14), It was a good report,
too, for Luke says, “...he
taught in their synagogues,
being glorified by all”
(4:15).
The home synagogue
It wasn’t long before his
reputation spread to his own
home town of Nazareth, so
that when it was learned that
he had at last returned
home, his presence in the
synagogue was anticipated
with much interest. Because
of the reputation that had
reached them, the
authorities of the synagogue
treated him as an honored
guest, passing to him to read
the scroll of Isaiah, a mark
of respect.
Jesus stood to read the
scroll - as was the custom -
and turned to a passage that
he chose in order to com
municate his mission to his
own people. Part of what he
read was from Isaiah 58:6
and part from Isaiah 61:1,2,
passages in which the
Prophet Isaiah speaks of the
role of God’s “servant.”
Luke describes the tense
moment as he closed the
scroll: “...and the eyes of all
in the synagogue were fixed
on him” (4:20). Anxiously
they waited for his comment.
“Today,” said Jesus,” this
scripture has been fulfilled
in your hearing” (4:21). That
was all, nothing more.
It wasn’t quite the
message they might have
expected from one whom
some said was the Messiah.
B’ew people associated
Isaiah’s servant passages
with the expectation of the
Messiah. They were looking
for a powerful ruler, military
leader, a liberator to throw
off the Roman oppression.
Jesus, however, saw his
mission as one of preaching
“good news to the poor,”
proclaiming “release to the
captives, and recovering of
temperature dropped
QUITE A BIT LAST NIGHT-.,
CROPS AND SOILS
DAYSLATED
Lancaster County
Cooperative Extension
Service will bejiolding Crops
and Soils Day on Tuesday,
January 18th at the Farm
and Home Center, Lan
caster. The annual program
begins at 8:30 a.m. and
adjourns by mid-afternoon
with a noon lunch available.
This educational event is
planned to help farmers with
their 1977 crop production
practices, says Arnold G.
Lueck, Associate County
Agent, in charge of
arrangements.
Three Penn State Ex
tension Agronomists will
present timely information
on field corn production,
forage crops, including red
clover and alfalfa, minimum
tillage practices, weed
control in crops and an
update on pesticide cer
tification.
In addition to the crop
program some twenty
agribusiness firms who work
with and provide services to
farmers will set up exhibits
and displays in the
auditorium.
TO RESPECT DRUG
WITHDRAWAL PERIOD -
Again we feel it is necessary
to remind all livestock and
poultry producers to follow
the directions relating to the
withdrawal periods with
antibiotics and drugs. Many
drugs are approved for use
and will render good results;
however, every producer
should be very strict in
sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are op
pressed, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord”
(4:18,19),
A local boy
Even to this, however,
they responded favorably at
first, but then they began to
question: “Is not this
Joseph’s son?” (Not only did
other people believe
“nothing good” coaid come
out of Nazareth, but ap
parently they did too!).
Sensing this, JeSus said:
“...no prophet is acceptable
in his own country” (4:24).
Jesus then went on to
remind them of two passages
of scripture in which God
bestowed his grace, not upon
one of his “chosen people,”
but upon a gentile. The
meaning, of course, was that
their perception of God was
too provincial, narrow, and
limiting. That is the real
reason why they could not
accept him in his own home
country.
...BuT I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS
—s FROZE THAT HARP-
NOW IS
THE TIME •
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
adhering to the time between
treatment and slaughter or
time to keep the milk from a
producing cow. To take
short-cuts in this respect is
only endangering your
market and the consumer.
All drugs will have in-
structions on when to ad
minister and the amount;
these directions should be
accurately followed.
take chances and be we
loser.
TO ERADICATE
RODENTS - With snow cover
on the ground for the past-
several weeks, no doubt the
rat and mice problem is
more severe on many farms.
The cold weather chases
them toward the buildings
and a ready food supply. We
urge everyone to make an'
effort to reduce the rodent
population around their
premises; this starts with a
clean-up program and the
removal of their nesting
places; in some cases
concrete may be needed to
eliminate their holes and
breeding places; in addition,
several poison bait stations
will attract a number of the
rodents and kill them.
Rodents are dangerous and
destructive; we,see no place
for them in a well-managr£
farm operation. If some are
present now, there will be
others in a few weeks; the
problem will get worse in
stead of better, unless some
action -is taken.
TO INSPECT VEN
TILATION SYSTEMS - The
weather recently has been a
good test for many
automatic ventilations
systems; this is especially
true in confinedlivestock and
poultry buildings. If there
has been condensation on the
walls or ceilings, then there
is need for some attention.
Extra insulation may be
needed to keep the warm air
from direct contact with the
colder air; the covering of
the bam floor with hay,
straw, or com fodder will
help with the insulation of
the ceiling below. Exhaust
fans should remove the foul,
moisture-laden air from til 0
interior of the building. Good'
ventilation and insulation
lengthens the life of the
building, and results in a
more healthy and productive
herd or flock.
TO BE CAREFUL WITH
WASTE DISPOSAL -
Livestock or poultry waste
scattered on top of snow
might bring some reaction
from ecology-minded folks in
the community; however,
this is a common practice
[Continued on Pace 14|
By Tom Armstrong
•••