Alo— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 15,1981
tOff the
So vmdimg
By Sheila Miller, Editor
How many times have we
heard people say, “There
aren’t enough hours in the day
to get everything done 7 ”
Well, for those people,
especially our growing number
of part-time farmers who need
those extra hours more than
their full-time counterparts,
this may be a timely-tidbit of
news.
There is current legislation
in Washington DC. which
could possibly extend those
light-filled hours of the day.
No, they have not added
more hours to our 24-hour
day. What’s proposed is an
extension of the Daylight
Savings Time peViod.
Recently,' HR 3952 passed
out of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee. What
this piece of legislation would
create is a DST that would
extend from the first Sunday
in March to the last Sunday in
October
This would add about two
months of extra daylight hours
for farmers in the evenings,
even though it would mean
mornings would be darker
This should not outweigh the
benefits of extended evening
working hours since it’s
generally too cool to get out in
the fields for work early in the
morning And, for the part
time farmer, the mornings
mean driving to ‘the-other’
job, anyway.
Another proposal, Senate
Bill 879, shifts the current
start of DST from the last
NOW IS THE TIME
To Plan For Fall
Wheat Seeding
The time is fast approaching
here for our wheat growers to be
making plans for their fall seeding.
Some of the local wheat may not be
satisfactory due to the wheat scab
found in the county this year. If you
use local wheat, be sure you know
the source and have it cleaned and
treated for disease. Also, if you
had a scab problem this year, do
not plant seed in that same field
this fall; the fungus .can remain in
the soil.
Certified seed would be the best
route to take if you experienced
any problem with scab or powdery
mildew this year. The extra cost
for centifed seed is well worth it to
help insure a good crop next
summer.
Plan your seed needs now so you
are ready to plant when the con
ditions are right.
To Check Silo Size
How much silage or high
moisture corn must you feed each
day to keep ahead of spoilage in the
silo? The amount will vary con
siderably from cold days to hot
days. Can your herd consume this
much feed? The answer to these
It’s about time
Sunday in April to the last
Sunday in March. This
proposal would give us a
month of extra evening
daylight hours
There is yet one other
legislative proposal con
cerning DST S 1151 calls for
DST to run from the first
Sunday in March and end the
first Sunday in November
rather than the last Sunday m
October adding one more
week to • the HR 3952
proposal.
The last two proposals,
however, have been post
poned.
As we see it, no matter
which bill is passed, any ex
tension of the daylight' time
during the planting and
harvest season is a help to the
farmer And, since statistics
show more and more farmers
having to work off the farm
and doing the field work in the
evenings, this will surely be a
welcome change
It is surprising to us then to
find the American Farm
Bureau Federation has taken
a stand against the DST ex
tension proposals As a matter
of fact, this farm organization
has recommended that
Daylight Savings Time be
shortened They say that they
would like to see it run from
Memorial Day to Labor Day
AFB’s reasoning behind this
recommendation is they “feel
there is no major benefit to
agriculture in the proposed
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
questions depends on the diameter
of the silo, how well the feed was
processed and packed when it was
ensiled, herd size, feeding
program, season of the year and
type of storage structure, ac
cording to our Dairy Agent, Glenn
Shirk.
If you are ensiling high moisture
ground shelled corn in an upright
conventional silo, you’ll need to
remove at least 2 inches of grain a
day in warmer weather to keep
ahead of spoilage. For a 14 foot
silo, that is 1400 pounds or more of
corn per day - 24 pounds per cow in
a 60iow herd. If you’re ensiling
whole shelled corn or ground ear
corn, the material does not pack as
tightly, and up to 4 inches may
have to be removed daily. Four
inches of this material in a 4 foot
silo is 2456 pounds 41 pounds per
cow m a 60k;ow herd! In the latter -
situation, a 10 foot silo would
require 21 pounds of corn be fed. If
a limited-oxygen storage unit is
used, sizing is less critical.
Feeding 2 inches of com per day
year round would require a silo 61
feet tall; 4 inches per day requires
a total of 122 feet of silo height.
Bo&rd
yeas and ‘nays’
extension of DST. They say it
creates more rural problems
with school children waiting
for buses in the dark," ac
cording to a Pennsylvania
Farmers’ Association
spokesman
We don’t see this as a sound
enough reason to hold back on
a beneficial change for
farmers. The children who
wait for school buses have to
get through the dark-morning
winter months, too.
And, let’s face it, children
don't walk for miles along
highways to wait for the bus as
they did a number of years
back Most of those kids who
have to wait are transported
to the bus stop in a car, where
they sit in the comfort and
safety of the vehicle as op
posed to standing out in the
weather
Granted, parents will have
to stress continuing to be
careful on darker mornings
But, we don't see where this is
a problem.
Giving farmers a few more
hours to get the job done is
the least our legislators can do
to help out the agricultural
community. It’s about time
To Renovate Old Pastures
Late August and early Sep
tember are good tunes to establish
a new pasture, or renovate an old
one. In fact, this is a good tune of
the year to make any pasture or
lawn seeding. The old sod should
be destroyed by cultivation or by a
herbicide. After the soil has been
treated with lime and fertilizer,
according to a complete soil test, it
can be seeded and should produce
good grazing for next summer.
The advantage of a fall seeding
is to permit tune for the new plants
to become established before the
1982 hot weather arrives. The cool,
moist fall months should give the
plants a good start. The Agronomy
Guide lists some good seeding
recommendations.
To Plan Herbicide Changes
For Next Year
By this tune of year, any weed
problems m your fields are fairly
evident and probably beyond
controL But now is a good tune to
develop an effective program for
next year.
The easiest way to cheek for the
effectiveness of different her
bicides is to leave a small part of
(Turn to Page Al 2)
THE STEP BEYOND
BEING SORRY
August 16,1981
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 29:16-28; 30:1-10
Devotional Reading:
1 Kings 3:5-14.
Earlier this week a young man
sat in my study and wept softly as
he confessed all the ways in which
he had hurt and saddened his
parents. "I can’t understand how I
could have done that to them,” he
said, tears streaming down his
face.
This afternoon his father sat in
the very same chair and with tears
barely hidden m his eyes he told
me that, despite the young man's
apologies the evening after his
session with me, this morning his
son was back into the same
destructive pattern, seemingly
indifferent to the feelings of those
who love turn.
Return and Obey
Was it that the son had deceived
me? No, I think he was genuinely
sorry as he spoke to me. The son
cared deeply enough to feel sorry,
but not deeply enough to take the
next step beyond being sorry.
Repentance is more than feeling
remorse, it is acting out of our
remorse in a positive way that is
calculated to keep us from feeling
remorse once again over the same
cause.
In Moses’ final discourse to the
people of Israel, he calls them to
OUR READERS WRITE,
AND OTHER OPINIONS
In the recent issue ot "The
Voice,” published by the Penn
sylvania Farmers Association,
there was an article on changing
Daylight Savings Tune to run from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. 1
would like to express my opinion
on this subject, plus hear what
other farmers have to say on this
change.
In response to changing Daylight
Savings Tune tronj Memorial Day
to Labor tor the safety ot the school
children, 1 ask; “Why impose this
HAV HAWS
“No, I'm not over-staffed, i do the work and the
others keep the records for the government.' ’
"return to the Lord your God”
(.30:2). It we teel sorry tor what we
have done, there is s sense m
which we need to ‘come back” or
"return” so that We may be
torgiven. But repentance calls, not
only tor a return, but tor a positive,
obedient course once we have
returned. Thus, Moses calls the
people to both "return to the Lord”
and “obey his voice . . . with all
your heart and with all your soul”
(30:10).
It we are truly sorry, we will
change the course of our lives. We
will give up the things that cause
us remorse. We will begin to do the
things we know God wants ot us.
"And you shall agam obey the
voice ot the Lord and keep all his
commandments which I command
you this day” (30:8).
God Will Gather You
I realize it is much easier to say
than to do and the tact is that
sometimes the smtul, destructive
patterns are grooved so deeply into
our lives that, despite our genuine
remorse, we'' tmd ourselves soon
slipping back into the old ways. I
once watched some scouts con
struct a rope bridge across a
ravine. They began by throwing
one single strand of rope across the
chasm and then returning it to the
other side. Back and torth went the
strands until the bridge could bear
the weight ot many hikers.
Habits are formed the same
way—one strand after another is
added to the pattern, until at last
the pattern is so strong that it has
become a part ot our lives. But,
just as bad habits are tormed
through repetition, so are good
habits to replace bad ones. If we
are truly sorry whenever we tail
and resolve to change our lives, we
can take that extra step beyond
being sorry and begin to build a
new set ot habits that is pleasing in
God’s sight
Saving time
on many part-time tanners who
would like very much to be able to
get mto the tields with at least an
hour ot daylight?” Remember
some ot these guys have already
put in a lull day somewhere else,
and tatigue and darkness adds up
to a potentially hazardous
situation.
Why not ask the local school
boards to just start school an hour
later?
Edwin S. Garhck
Montoursville, Pa.