Alo—Lancaster Farming, Friday, July 3,1981
Independence Day conjures
up a feeling of patriotism and
pride in most Americans,
especially in the farming
community. Each July 4th,
Americans celebrate their
forefather’s declaration of
independence from foreign
rule and religious oppression
a celebration that has been
going on for the past 204
years.
What piece of legislation has
rivaled this document drafted
by a rebellious, proud group of
men? And what other
government policy has been
rehearsed and recited by as
many school students?
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness ..."
This eloquently written
document has established a
nation where citizens have the
greatest freedoms in the
world.
From the framework of this
205 year old act, legislators
today mold and meld ideas to
continue to govern the citizens
of the United States under the
auspices of democracy.
Just this past week, our
Commonwealth's governing
officials listened to the cries of
farmers and others interested
in preserving farmland. After
a lengthy trip through the
House and Senate, House Bill
143 was signed into law by the
Governor, creating a tool for
local municipalities who want
■============
NOW IS THE TIME
TO “TAKE CARE”
WHEN HARVESTING WHEAT
Wheat is a valuable crop to the
economy of Lancaster County.
Last year we planted nearly 23,000
acres of wheat which had a value
of nearly 3 million dollars.
We need to follow good har
vesting practices when combining
this important crop. Make sure the
combine is in top mechanical
condition, and most importantly,
be sure it is properly adjusted.
Another thing, you can have all
these things just right, but if you
travel too fast through the field,
you’ll throw more grain out with
the straw than all your proper
adjustments can save.
So, when we harvest this im
portant wheat crop, let’s take time
to do a good job.
Off the
Sounding
By Sheila Miller, Editor
to safeguard their agricultural
land.
At the same time, where
else but in these United States
could animals and vegetables
have legal rights? And where
else would governments
permit people to organize to
try to prove animals have
feelings and need to be
treated like humans
humanely? All the while these
vegetarian and animal rights
groups’ efforts are causing
concern and financial hard
ship on fellow human beings
the farmers.
And where else could a local
conservation group go on
record in opposition of a
potentially hazardous dump in
an old clay mine?
As we celebrate our nation’s
birthday this weekend, most
everyone will have count less
things to be grateful for
knee-high or higher corn,
wheat that yielded better than
expected, the freedom to
choose to continue to slave
and sweat as farmers no
matter what the economic
rewards are for each person.
Because of these freedoms
and the dedication of farmers,
other Americans are free to
choose to follow other
professions rather than
growing food and fiber. While
some American farmers will be
spending the holiday aboard a
combine that cost as much as
their suburban neighbor’s
ranch home, other Americans
will be able to recreate at the
pool, tennis courts, or on the
golf course.
One of our farmers,
however, will not be on board
a tractor or climbing the silo to
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
- TO DECIDE ON
FUTURE HERD NEEDS
What will your cows be eating
this summer, or several months
from now? This will be determined
largely by your cropping and
harvesting activities this summer.
Glenn Shirk, Extension Dairy
Agent, recommends farmers first
decide what type of feeding
program they would like to have.
Then, based on these plans, an
ticipate your herd’s needs for the
year-what feeds to grow? which
ones to purchase? how much will
be needed? What quality of feed is
needed by each segment of the
herd? how will it be stored in and
fed out?
Knowing this, you can then plan
your harvesting operations and
your storage needs accordingly. It
will also help guide your cropping
and feed purchasing decisions. As
Free to farm
you are harvesting, you might be
able to store different quality feeds
separately. For example, you may
want to keep poorer quality feeds
out of the silo. This way you won’t
have to put all that poorer quality
stuff through the milking herd.
Remember, a lot of your profit
comes from peak production of
early lactation cows, and you don't
want to sacrifice that!
TO CONSIDER
LIGHTNING RODS
ONSHADETREES
How many times have you
driven past a pasture field and
dpsfifns of cattle or other
livestock grouped together under
one or two large trees. During
severe thunderstorms, livestock
will gather under these trees. If
lightning strikes the tree, many of
the animals will be killed.
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Board
check out the panoramic view
of amber waves of grain this
Saturday. Benjamin
Oberholtzer, formerly of the
Metzfer Church area of
Lancaster County and now a
hog and beef farmer in Shiloh,
Ohio, will be watching and
waiting to see not only how his
crops turn out, but how his
future in farming will work out.
On February 21,
Oberholtzer's farming career
was brought to a tragic halt
when he was crushed under a
wall of frozen silage which he
had been trying to pry loose in
his upright silo. He was pinned
•beneath the frozen heap for
more than 20 minutes until
farmers and emergency crews
could free him. The accident
left him with a broken pe/vis
and internal injuries for which
he was hospitalized for 20
days.
Still handicapped from his
injuries, Oberholtzer has had
no way of farming his 80 acre
farm, or the additional 50
acres he rents, since he was
released from the hospital.
But, in the truly American
spirit, friends and neighbors
have come to Oberholtzer’s
aid, lending helping ‘hands’.
Actually, they donated their
time and equipment and lined
up 10 abreast to plow 90 acres
and plant 20 acres of corn.
People helping people
that’s the tradition of the
American farm family.
Tomorrow, as we watch the
fireworks dance across the
blue-black sky and wave those
red, white, and blue flags, let’s
keep in mind how lucky we are
tobe farming in America.
THE REASON WHY
July 5,1981
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 5.
Devotional Reading:
Romans 5:6-11.
“Tell me why!” is one of the
signs of the times in which we live.
Many people look back wistfully to
a bygone time when as we
remember it it was sufficient to
lay down the rules, laws, mores
and moral principles. Not
everyone followed the rules, but
few people questioned them.
But that is not our world of
today. People no longer are
satisfied with an authoritarian
approach to living, whether the
authority be governmental or
religious. Our age-old goal of
teaching people to “think for
themselves” seems to have
backfired and we long for the
“good old days” when people
essentially did as they were told.
The Lord Who
We might long debate whether
the “good old days” were as
“good” as we remember them in
retrospect, but perhaps the
questioning of authority is neither
so unusual or decadent as it may
seem. The Book of Deuteronomy is
helpful to us in this regard. When
we examine it closely, we see that
it represents Moses’ legacy to the
people of Israel. The book opens
with the tribes of Israel poised on
the plains of Moab for an attack on
the promised land of Canaan.
Farm Calendar
Monday, July 6
Pa. Vegetable Growers Assoc,
annual summer tour, York
County, continues into
tomorrow.
Cumberland County, New Jersey
Fair, Millville, New Jersey,
until Saturday 11.
Rural Clean Water Program.
Tuesday, July?
Franklin Co. Conservation District
HAV HAWS
1 brewed some of my own 140-proof ethanol and
put in a tankful. But I just can’t steer it in a straight
line.
Moses knows that be will not be
crossing into the promised land
with them and so he calls together
the people of Israel for three ad
dresses to prepare them.
Most of us remember only the
second address in which he sets
forth for them once again the Ten
Commandments.-But in order to
rightly understand the Ten
Commandments and all the rules
and regulations that follow, we
must see them in the context of the
first address in which he gives
them the reason WHY behind the
WHAT of the commandments. In
effect, Moses is explaining why
they should obey the com
mandments which he brings to
them.
We can see this WHY even in the
statement which introduces the
first commandment: “I am the
Lord your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage” (Deut. 5:6).
Thus, before he commands them to
“have no other gods before me,”
he tells them the reason, which is:
what he has done for them again
and again throughout their history.
Actually, the whole first address of
Moses which constitutes the first
four chapters of Deuteronomy
(through 4:40) is a detailed
recitation of all the things God has
done for them. It is only in the
context of what he has done,
therefore, that he asks them to do
certain things.
That It May Go Well
Even so, God lays down the
commandments not as payment
for what he has done, but for the
sake of the people. Each one of the
commandments represents, not an
arbitrary whim of a capricious
God, but behaviour that in the long
run will provide for the welfare of
the people in general, and each
person in particular. The com
mandments of God, like
everything else in this world, are
intended, not for the satisfaction of
the Creator, but the welfare of his
Creation.
directors meeting, County
Admin. Building, Franklin
Farms Lane, Chambersburg,
7;30p.m.
Wednesday, July 8
Pennmarva Young Cooperator
meeting. Hunt Valley Inn, Md.,
concludes tomorrow.
Pa. Junior Judging school,
Clarence and Earl Stauffer
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