AlD—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 7,1981
Lancaster Farming says...
There’s an old rural saying, “A fat
wife and a full barn never did a man
any harm ” The adage doesn’t ad
dress possible harm to the obese
wife
Indeed, if there is one object in
today’s society which conjures up
revulsion, it’s fat Millions of dollars
are spent trimming fat from
Americans' bodies Politicians
promise to cut the fat out of budgets
Beef, hog and sheep operators
wisely are producing leaner animals
And dairymen should be thinking
about eliminating fat as the basis for
dairy pricing
The National Milk Producers
Federation has called for a review of
the current milk pricing formula
In its meeting last week the 53
member groups of the Pennsylvania
Council of Farm Organizations
supported the Federation’s position
Both groups say the Mmnesota-
Wisconsm formula, used to establish
ISJSILIS J
THE SPIRIT HAS
A BODY
Februar> 8, 1981
Background Scripture:
Matthew 13.53 through
15 39.
Devotional Reading
Jonah 3.1-10
“Would you like me to
pray for healing’” I asked
NOW IS
THE TIME
5* By Max Smith,
;1 Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent
% Phone 717-394-6801
I'
TO CONSERVE TOPSOIL
No doubt you’ve heard this
suggestion dozens of time m recent
years. Our Extension Agents and
Soil Conservationists have been
preaching “save the soil” for the
past 50 years or more. However,
there is still a need for more at
tention to this problem on many
farms. We contmue to hear reports
of the vast losses m tons of topsoil
each year from our farms Due to
the trend toward continuous corn
in the past generation, the problem
of soil losses becomes harder to
prevent I’m thinking of those
practices such as terraces and sod
waterways m fields that are
growing row crops year after year
I notice from the local ASC report
that a large part of the funds
available are being used on these
two practices This is very much in
order and I’d like to encourage
more farmers to adopt these
practices In most cases some cost
sharing will be available, if
desired.
the man in the hospital bed
He stared at me as if I had
proposed something
outrageous Then he said
'Sir, you may pray for my
soul, but not my body It is
only my soul that Christ will
save ”
I wasn’t all that surprised
by his response to my
question, for many
Christians seem to share
that same point of view: that
Christianity and the Good
News of Jesus Christ are for
the soul or spirit and the
body is at best of no concern
or at worst even a hindrance
ffi
Living In our Heads
As a result, Christianity m
many churches has been
reduced to a rather cerebral
TO PLAN YOUR ESTATE
During my lifetime the
management of farm labor,
livestock, crops, and machinery
have been very important in order
to obtain maximum production.
Many farmers have excelled m
these areas. Now looking into the
eighties, I feel that money
management is of growing im
portance to the farmer and
warrants more attention and
knowledge The planning of your
estate including the making of a
will; also, the proper farm transfer
stipulations are very important.
Today, the average farmer is
handing much more money than
his ancestors; the value of his
estate is much greater We urge
more attention to estate plannmg
and money management, as a part
of good farm management.
TO RECOGNIZE SEWAGE
SLUDGE LIMITS
Due to the increase of our
population in most counties,
sewage disposal plants are going to
Cut out the fat
market price for Grade A milk, has
grown obsolete There is no doubt
the time has come for such a change
But to be effective, pricing changes
must cut deeper Fat should be
phased out as the basis for milk
pricing
As the system stands today, the
dairy producer’s milk check revolves
around fat, the DHIA program puts
big fat producers at the top of its list,
and a high fat test is seen as a mark
of good management
But the realities of dairy marketing
run in the opposite direction
Pennsylvania Farmers' Association
took a step in the right direction this
year when it amended its dairy
pricing policy to recommend “PFA
promote a pricing and advertising
policy for milk based on protein and
fat"
It would be better if the policy went
one step further and read "protein
level we listen to sermons
and lessons, read prayers,
and our bodies are seldom, if
ever, involved But this is not
representative of the view of
the early church, let alone
Jesus and his disciples The
Hebrews and Jesus was a
Hebrew thought of a
person as a whole being a
body-mind-spirit The whole
person was involved in the
covenant of Israel, not just
the mind or the spirit
And Jesus himself
displayed as much concern
for the physical needs of
people as he did their
spiritual needs In the
Gospels we find hur not only
preaching and teaching, but
healing and even feeding the
hungry In fact, you’ll find
not fat,” but the first moves have
been taken by that group to
recognize the wave of the future
Sa'es of lowfat milk are increasing
annually The premium placed on
high fat ice cream has lost status to
the ice milk and sherbet market The
consumer, right or wrong, goes to
the store to buy food value for the
family and doesn’t want to be caught
dead putmg something fatty in the
cart
On the other hand, protein pricing
would fit in well with current ad
vertising and marketing programs
supported by dairy farmers
After all, the real selling point for
milk is its natural wholesomeness
Without the healthful difference
between milk and its competitors,
there is little or no reason why a
consumer whould reach for milk
rather than Coke or coffee
Dairy producers, we suspect, have
some fear of the unknown But there
the gospels devote as much
or more time to his healing
ministry as they do to his
preaching and teaching The
reason Jesus ministered to
the whole person
Centuries later the Church
came under the influence of
Greek philosophy that held
that the body was essentially
evil and spirit good, and
therefore people began to
seek to free the spirit from
the evil clutches of the body
Under the influence of Pope
Gregory, Christians began to
abuse their bodies in the
belief that the more pain and
discomfort the experienced,
the closer they would be to
God. As Clyde Reid has
written "So today, in the
late twentieth century, we
HAV HAWS
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•<&
il I»
I m
having an effect on Dilbert.”
be faced with a problem of getting amount that should be applied per tilizer content of the sludee and the
nd of sewage sludge One good acre in your lifetime Chemical amount of heavy metals B It’s this
place for this material is back on tests of the sewage at Penn State £Se™ item thaT brings the
the land as a source of fertilizer are available for each sewage Imutotions When we annly too
However, there are limits as to the plant This will include the fer- Wtien we appy
(1 urn to Page A 34;
BY CURT HARLER, EDITOR
still think of our bodies as
somehow unacceptable We
try to live in our heads as
totally mental beings while
both ignoring and abusing
our bodies" (p 48, THE
RETURN TO FAITH,
Harper & Row)
The Sick And The Hungry
We might imagine that
there were some who would
have tried to dissuade Jesus
from doing his healing,
reasoning that he must
devote himself to
proclaiming the Gospel and
leaving their physical needs
to someone else But Jesus
knew that the Gospel was
good news not only foi the
spirits and minds of God’s
children, but also their
ng care of 200,000 chickens is
probably would be no great shift m
production methods or breeds if
protein rather than fat were the price
basis
Jerseys lead the DHIA fat list with
4 94% and are tops in protein at
4 2%
Holstems, the lowest average
DHIA fat producers at 3 7% also
have the lowest protein, 3 45%
In between, in decreasing order,
are Guernseys, Brown Swiss, and
Ayrshires
Protein production is a genetically
inherited trait, so breeding for
protein improvement is possible
A push for protein production and
protein pricing would be a winner in
all areas, enhancing milk’s image
consumer sales, and eventually farm
prices
Dairy producers should move to
cut out the fat and get with protein
pricing
bodies he ministered to
whole persons, in his deep
compassion helping them
wherever he found them
wanting, for he knew that
body, mind, and spirit are
interdependent you cannot
touch one without affecting
the others
To manifest our concern
for the physical needs of
people does not dimmish in
any way the spiritual thrust
of the Gospel. If we minister
to the spirit, let us
remember the spirit has a
mind and a body
(Note tor a fuller discussion
of this issue, see Rev
Althouse’s book,
REDISCOVERING THE
GIFT OF HEALING,
Abingdon Press)