Alo—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, September 25,1982
Autumn is officially here in Pennsylvania.
And, just as if Mother Nature was watching the
calendar and noticed the fall equinox occurred
on Thursday, the weather in Pennsylvania has
certainly turned “seasonal."
This week, as we dug out sweatshirts and
jackets to snuggle in and keep away the damp,
bone-chilling air and incessant drizzle that
dampened all but the participants’ spirits at
area fairs, it became apparent those
sweltering days of summer have vanished for
yet another year.
And just as the weather signals a change in
apparel, it also provides the catalyst for far
mers to change gears in our fieldwork routine.
It seems those crisp fall mornings help us
shrug off the doldrums of hot-weather
haymaking for the year, revitalizing us for the
challenge of long hours in the tractor seat,
coupled with stiff necks, as the fall plowing
season begins.
Just the other morning, one farmer, with
sweatshirt hood tied snugly about his ears,
clipped down the highway enroute to a waiting
cropfield. His tractor's muffler was puffing out
a cloud of exhaust as it broke through the crisp
morning air.
Eager to begin turning under a worn-out
alfalfa stand now that this week's rains
provided the right “softening" action to
change “concrete-hard" soils into workable
land, the farmer set his plows.
As plow shares bit and tore through a tangle
of deep-reaching roots, the farmer was met by
the sweet, musty aroma of the freshly turned
ground. Making his way around the field, he
turned back toward the road. That’s when he
was confronted with a question of conscience.
“Where am I obligated to lift my plow out of
the ground?" was the nagging decision this
farmer faced. “Do I stay back away from the
road or do I farm tight up against it?"
Wisely, instead of trying to stretch his field
out almost to the centerline of the road, this
farmer chose to leave a sod strip between his
future winter grain crop and the blacktop’s
birm. But, many of his counterparts fail to see
the wisdom in leaving the highway's right-of
way unturned as they plow and plant their
crops, farming down over the banks and into
drainage ditches.
These types of farming practices have
prompted certain townships across the state
to pass ordinances forbidding this right-of-way
infringement. Repeated warnings to farmers
to keep their crops in the field and not on the
highway turned out to be ineffective. So now
they’ve enacted laws that make the decisions
about where to stop plowing cut and dry,
leaving nothing to farmers' consciences.
Every township and state road has a 33 foot
right-of-way that’s 16 l /z feet from the center
Saturday, Sept. 25 Lebanon Fairgrounds.
Pa. Swine Breeders Cooperative Monday, Sept. 27
Feeder Pig Show & Sale, Bloomsburg Fair, continues
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Off the
Sounding
By Sheila Miller, Editor
Time to clean up our act
Farm Calendar [j
of the road. And, although the highway’s
paved surface doesn’t extend completely
across the 33-foot span, that unpaved fringe
still belongs to the highway departments and
is their maintenance responsibility.
Although most farmers argue the highway
departments don't hold up their ends of the
bargain in maintaining these strips of land that
border cropfields, the fact they neglect to
spray the weeds or trim the trees doesn’t
allow farmers carte-blanche privileges to do it
for them.
According to the Lancaster Conservation
District, the ideal coexistance between far
mers and highway departments would find
grass strips bordering crop fields and road
gutters. “Unfortunately, too often the field is
plowed and' disked and sprayed and no
vegetaion is left, causing soil to erode onto the
road. This presents a traffic hazard as well as
the potential for water pollution," they say.
Another area of contention between farmers
and highway departments is the transporting
of sharp-edged equipment on macadem roads.
Road superintendents don't hide their an
noyance when they follow tell-tale tracks of
sliced and broken pavement up to a farm lane.
Turning steel-wheeled machinery on paved
roads also stirs up trouble as the blacktop is
spiked and scoured by the wheels.
One growing problem area that is becoming
increasingly annoying to township road
superintendents is manure spillage. Just
recently one Lancaster County township heard
complaints from local citizens on this very
subject.
Luckily, most rural governments and
residents understand the fact that farmers
sometimes need to haul livestock waste to the
fields via public roads. And most don't mind
driving through the accidental dribbles and
sloshes that inevitably spill from even the best
of spreaders.
But farmers can’t expect these same folks to
put up with inches of manure slopped across
the roadway through careless management.
And there are regulations under the Second
Class Township Code that can be enforced to
prevent it. Farmers who track manure or mud
out onto the road are responsible for cleaning
it off. This is the same regulation that requires
building contractors or any other guilty party
to keep mud off the highways or clean it up.
So far, we know of no' prosecutions or
warnings that have been issued to farmers
-concerning manure spillage, but it could
happen.
Getting along with highway departments
and neighbors only takes a little time and
consideration by farmers. And for our "better
image” efforts, it will be easier for these same
people to go that “extra mile" for us.
through Saturday.
Dairymen, Inc. District 8 meeting,
(Turn to Page Al 2)
Board
IN THE MIDST
OF EVIL
September 26,1982
Background Scripture:
Genesis 37; 42 through 45; 50.
Devotional Reading:
Genesis 37; 12-28._
They were both wrong and they
were both right.
The sons of Jacob had every
reason in the world to be furious
with Joseph, their youngest
brother and clearly their lather’s
favorite. While they labored in the
fields, he played and loafed. For
their labors they barely received a
word of appreciation from Israel,
their father, while “that brat” was
rewarded for his indolence with a
coat of many colors. But the last
straw was the arrogance with
which he bragged of a dream in
which they all had bowed down to
him. Who could blame them for
resenting this obnoxious brat?
All The Evil We Did
At the same tune, who could
blame Joseph for hating the
brothers who almost killed him in
jealous rage and sold- him into
slavery to get him out ot the way?
No matter what they held against
him, nothing could justify their
terrible conduct towards him. If
Joseph had vowed that some day
he would get his revenge, who
could blame him?.
And who would be surprised had
not his family feud been carried on
from one generation to another
NOW IS THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Uncntar County Africutture Atent
Phone7l7-394-6851
To Beware of Frosted Crops
Colder weather means frost. In
fact this is good news to many of us
who have had enough of hot humid
weather this summer. Livestock
producers who have fields of
sudan-sorghum hybrids, should
keep in mind that when frost hits
these crops they could be toxic to
livestock for seven to ten days
following the freeze. After this
period, and the plants are dead,
they may be used safely. However,
any growth coming from the plant
after a killing frost might also be
toxic.
Another frost hazard would be a
permit livestock to graze alfalfa or
clover stands while the frost is still
on the plants. This can cause
severe bloating. Allow the frost to
melt and the plants to dry before
grazing. Good management is
needed on various forage crops
after a killing frost.
For Increased Lamb Production
Proper nutrition and health is a
must for increased pounds of lamb
marketed per ewe. Ewes should be
provided adequate energy and
protein to insure breeding and
lambing efficiency as well as
desired levels of milk production.
Ewes should be fed according to
body weight and condition during
breeding and gestation. After
lambing, ewes should be sorted by
number of lambs they are caring
for and fed accordingly. The most
up-to-date health management
practices possible should be
maintained on the farm. Increased
lambing rates accompanied by
increased lamb mortality defeats
the purpose. Lambing rates should
be increased to that level where
management can properly care for
until, at last, the original reasons
for it had become obscurred by
new depredations in each
generation? Once an evil deed has
been done, it is easy for the evil to
be perpetuated in an endless cycle
of revenge.
Yesterday the Irish
Army detonated a bomb in
that killed and injured many in
nocent people. Although you and 1
cannot condone this act of sen
seless terrorism, we can at least
understand the bitterness that
gave rise to it: the Irish anger over
what they consider to be centureis
of British domination and sub- .
jection. "Who is right?” "Who is
wrong?” we ask.
God Meant It Fur Good
Yet, reasonable as these
questions are, they usually cannot
solve the problem, particularly
when the neutral observer con
cludes as we often do that "both
are right and both are wrong.”
What kept the tragic enmity
between Joseph and his brothers
from being' perpetuated was
Joseph’s recognition, not th t what
they had done to hun hadn’t been
all that bad, but that in the midst of
that terrible deed God had beemk
working to turn the bad into
God had not caused the evil—that
rested squarely on Joseph, his
brothers and even their father—
but he did use that occasion to
bring some good out of then-
human folly.
In every tragic human failure
there are opportunities for God to
bring forth some flowers from the
rubble. Vengeance makes good
sense to the human mind. Logic
demands that we pay back in kind
those who harm us. Gut the divine
mind, working in the midst of the
evil ot human deeds, calls not for
vengeance but forgiveness and
reconciliation.
and maintain a lamb mortality
rate of less than' 5 percent. Labor
should be intensified in and around
lambing time. Health costs at
lambing will pay for itself in lambs
saved, remarks Chester D.
Hughes, Extension Livestock
Agent.
To Consult Your Veterinarian
Being on excellent terms with
your local veterinarian is a very
good thing. Most producers need
some veterinary assistance once in
a while. The developing of a hr''
program and sanitary i
for the form operation is
suggested. Veterinari:
trained in disease prevei
treatment with the most'
part being disease pi
When this is successful
little need for high v
costs.
We suggest that .
regard their veterinariai
valuable resource person
farm operation; there .
times when it might be ex|
however, the preventior
factions and the saving of
are things that must be
order to make the most pr
him a chance to help.
To Store Pesticides Saf<
Most producers an
finished with their spray.
for the year. Many of these
held over until next year
results. However, it is alws
to buy only enough for one
at a time. When storinf
materials, always keep
their original containers