AlD—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 25,1981
There's an old saying that’s
traditionally passed down
from generation to generation
that goes “Better safe than
sorry.”
Well, in our bigger, better
agricultural industry, many
farmers have paid or are
paying the price for not
heeding the advice of their
forebears
‘‘Oh, no,” you exclaim
“Here comes the annual
reminder on farm safety Who
needs it? I haven’t had an
accident that killed me yet ”
Your right on one point This
is Farm Safety Week But as
far as not needing it, you’re
dead wrong
Let’s take a look at some
statistics
The National Safety Council
tells us agriculture is now the
most hazardous occupation
for all of industry Last year,
2,000 of the 13,000 deaths
resulting from work accidents
happened to farmers or their
employees
For every 100,000 workers,
agricultural accidents caused
61 people to die. Even though
this rate marks a 12 percent
decrease in the number of
deaths for that many ag
workers during the past ten
years (in 1970, the figure
stood at 69 deaths), it still
puts agriculture at the top of
NOW IS THE TIME
To Attend General Crop Field Day
Keeping up-to-date in the many
areas of agriculture is a continual
part of our operations. In an effort
to assist you with that, a general
Field Day will be held on July 29 at
the Southeastern Field Research
Laboratory of The Pennsylvania
State University.
The field day will feature farm
and garden crops ranging from
com, forages and soybeans to
grapes, flowers and tomatoes.
You’ll see trials on different hybrid
corn varieties, corn disease
research, double cropping of com
after barley, insect control on
potatoes, weed and insect control
on tobacco and many other
projects. While touring plots, you
will be able to discuss various farm
and garden needs with specialists
from Penn state. Lunch will be
available by the Lancaster County
Farm Women Society #5,
The Landisville research farm is
just west of Lancaster off Route
#283. Get off at the Salunga-
Landisville interchange. Go
northeast on Spooky Nook Road
about half mile; then left on Shenk
Road to covered bridge. Go
through the bridge, turn right
and you are there.
To Determine This Winter’s
Feed Needs
Harvest time is usually one of
Off the
Sounding
By Sheila Miller, Editor
Better safe than •00
the list. And, the statistics
show that farmers were more
careless in 1980 than in 1979,
with deaths resulting from ag
accidents jumping 13 percent
By comparison, mining
which is considered to be a
dangerous occupation by most
people, has cut its death rate
record in half over the
past decade In 1979, mining
accidents claimed the lives of
100 out of every 100,000
workers, whereas today that
figure has dropped to 50
Construction comes in third
with 43 deaths out of 100,000
workers last year, followed by
transportation and public
utilities with 28.
Surprisingly, working for the
government is also hazardous,
with 11 government workers
out of 100,000 dying because
of their jobs last year
The average death rate per
100,000 for all industries
combined is 13 deaths far
below agriculture's 61
Still think farmers don’t
need to be reminded to be
safe?
The statistics tell us the
cold, hard facts on how many
of our fellow farmers have
been killed, but it skirts the
morbid details of how and
why. And, most of us with
weak stomachs, are just as
glad the numbers don’t go
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
the best tunes for buying good
quality feeds at a reasonable price,
according to Lancaster County
Dairy Agent, Glenn Shirk. In
addition to prices being more
reasonable, you also have more
time to shop for the kind of feed
you need, and to negotiate prices
and purchasing agreements. Can
you afford to make advanced
purchases at current interest
rates? That depends on the price
savings you can negotiate plus the
value of any additional production
you can obtain from your cows
The added production could be
your biggest benefit if advanced
purchases enable you to assemble
sufficient quantities of fairly
uniform quality feeds far enough
in advance of need to give you
ample time to develop a balanced
ration. For example, you might
have to borrow $30,000 at 16%
interest for 9 months to purchase
feed now, which might cost you
$36,000 later. The interest on this
would be about $3600 The savings
in feed costs would be $6000; thqt’s
a net savings of $2400 The biggest
gam might be, being able to feed
the cows a more balanced ration it
this amounts to a mere 2 pounds
more milk per cow per day that’s
an additional bonus of about $75
per cow for 9 months - $3730 for 50
cow That navs the interest'
Board
beyond demographics in
description.
But, despite the un
comfortable feelings that
sweep from stomach to head,
it’s important to learn just how
fatal farm accidents occurred
for the mere reason of
preventing the same situation
from happening to you
As horror story after horror
story is recited, one
horrendous fact leaps out in
an .effort to warn farmers
about the consequences of
being careless “in too much
of a hurry ” Most fatal ag
accidents were the result of
farmers not taking the time to
turn off the equipment.
teach children and hired
hands to use the equip
ment properly get the right
tool get help . install a
fence around the pond or la
goon . aerate silo chutes
and manure pits before climb
ing in and the list of care
less causes goes on.
Everyone in the ag
profession likes to boast about
being on top, but this is one
statistic where farmers should
want to strive to be on the
bottom of the list. It’s a way of
life that’s meant to be enjoyed.
Like the saying goes, “safety is
no accident ”
To Understand the pH Effect
on Pesticides
Many pesticides, particularly
the organophosphates such as
Cygon and Diazmon and Carbonate
insecticides such as Sevin and
Furadan are decomposed quite
rapidly by alkaline water (ph 7.0).
The decomposition is due to
alkaline hydrolysis of the molecule
which is converted to a form that is
frequently inactive.
For this reason, in areas where
water supplies are greater than pH
7.0, better pest control will be
obtained if the pH is lowered to a
range where pesticide stability is
optimized. For most insecticides,
the optimum pH is below 6 0 Let’s
look at a few examples of how pH
affects the stability of pesticides
Dylox decomposes rapidly above
6 0 pH at a pH of 8.0 only 63
minutes pH of 7.0 only 386
minutes and a 6 0 pH will require
89 hours for decomposition Sevin
will be 50% decomposed within 24
hours in a 9.0 pH water
Asf a general rule, most
pesticides undergo some degrees
of h' dioU’Ms in alkaline solutions
If vour expenem c a situation with
a high pH water we Miegest you
look for another source of water
with a lower pH rather than tr v to
(Turn to Page Al 2)
TO SEEK THE PLACE
July 26,1981
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 12:1
through 14:29
Devotional Reading:
Amos 5:18-24.
Despite the tact that John had
been brought up in a tine church
taimly, when he went ott to college
it soon became apparent that he
was "through with the church ” It
wasn’t just our church, but all
churches and his exodus was not
one of angry rebellion, but ot quiet
skepticism. On a few occasions he
talked with me about his teelmgs
and thoughts on this subject, but to
no apparent ettect. We parted
friends, but nonetheless friends in
disagreement. He might continue
m some way to believe in God, he
assured me, but he didn’t feel that
the church had any ettect on his
religious convictions.
Not At Every Place
Therefore it was with some
surprise recently when 1 returned
to that church and found John once
agam a member and substantially
involved in its lite. A member ot
the congregation told me that John
had come back to the church
several years after marrying and
the arrival ot his first child. I need
not have been surprised, tor John’s
experience is something that has
been repeated agam and agam m
lots ot families and congregations:
a youthful rejection ot the church
that may be tollowed later by a
return when the person tmds him
HAV HAWS
"I’m sure he’ll just love this new perfurme
Le Ferme Fatal. Guaranteed to get a country boy,
it’s a combination of the scent of new mown hay
curing on a warm July afternoon and freshly baked
bread cooling on a crisp December morning.”
or hersell in the midst ot adult
responsibilities.
When I later spoke with John
about his return, he told me that
despite his dissatisfactions with
some facets lof church life, the
establishment ot his own family
had led him to realize that it was
nevertheless something that he
needed. When the tune was ripe,
his own inner voice had led him to
seek out the church once again.
It was to this same inner voice
that Moses was speaking when he
challenged the people ot Israel:
"...you shall seek the place which
the Lord your God will choose out
of all your tribes to put his name
and make his habitation...’’ (Deut.
12:5). In the promised land ot
Israel there was to be a central
place ot worship in contrast to the
multitude ot local altars at which
the Canaanites worshipped. 'Take
heed that you do not otfer your
burn offerings at every place that
you see; but at the place which the
Lord will choose...” (12:13,14).
Filling The Sojourner
This did not mean that the
Israelite could or should not
worship God within his own home
or his own town, but that there was
an underlying need to come to a
central location to join in worship
with others. We may say that we
can worship God in our own homes
(or on the golfcourse) and
theretore do not need the church—
and we can—but we still have a
need to come out from the narrow
confines of our own lives to wor
ship God as part of a community ot
laith.
In tact, the call to worship
corporately is a call from a selt
centered life in which we assume
we need no one else. True worship
calls us to "open wide your hand to
your brother, to the needy and to
the poor, in the land” (15:11). And
that is why God calls us to "seek
the place” where we may hear and
respond to that challenge.