Alo—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 9,1983
'I
\
The road to Number One
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
There are two fascinations that predominate
American life.
The first is youth. You see it everywhere in
advertising. From fashions to beverages, the
ads are made to appeal to a youthful audience.
And milk is no exception in its play to the
fitness of youth.
The second American obsession is centered
on being Number 1.
Concerning the first fixation, 20 years ago I
wouldn’t even have noticed it. But the older
one gets, the more it becomes apparent.
And, concerning the second fixation of being
‘‘Numero Uno,” I’m as guilty as the next
concerning a fascination for the person, group
or team that ends up on top.
I rooted just as hard for Penn State and its
quest to finally be Number One. And the other
night, I was glued to the TV set too for the
NCAA basketball finals. I waited, just like a lot
of the nation, to the final second until the
game was decided.
But sometimes, this mania to become
Number One clearly gets out of hand. And
examples of unprincipled drives to the top are
evident all too much throughout the American
way of life.
And, agriculture is no exception.
Many examples could be cited, but I’ll touch
only on two.
NOW IS THE TIME
To Start Grazing Gradually
With the amount of moisture in
the soil this spring, warm weather
will bring growth very rapidly in
most pasture areas. This will also
be true with producers that are
planning to graze winter grains
such as rye or barley. The herd or
flock should be controlled at first,
and not allowed on the area for
more than a half hour; bloating
and scouring may result if they
consume too much of the lush
forage the first few days. Also, it’s
best to feed the animals some dry
matter such as silage, hay or straw
before turning them out to pasture,
the first few times. Dairymen
should keep milking cows from the
grazing area at least 4 to 5 hours
before the milking period.
To Control Fowl Mites
The Northern fowl mite has been
particularly troublesome in many
of our poultry flocks. The mite
problems began during the winter
om
? WATCH
\INUTES _
iev or/!
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
and continues in many flocks. It is
a well recognized fact that the
Northern fowl mite can be very
difficult to control because it
spends its life cycle on the host,
and has the ability to develop
resistance to rmticides. However,
in many cases mite control is not
achieved because of the way that
the miticide is applied.
For example, when a fine spray
mist is used, the total volume of
miticide per bird is not sufficient to
control the mites. A coarse spray
or a “pencil” stream will put more
miticide on the bird with better
penetration,' thus better control.
Another point for better control is
to add a small amount (1
tablespoon per 3 gallons) of a
detergent to the spray as a feather
wetting agent. It will give better
penetration and retention of the
miticide. Some of the miticides
currently approved for use on
layers are Co-Ral, Rabon and
THAT WAY J
r
The first concerns instances I’ve noticed in
youth competition in which the drive to win
clearly outweighs the learning experiences the
youths are supposed to be encountering. This
drive to be first may not be as evident as in
Little League baseball or other youth com
petition, but it’s clearly there sometimes in the
show ring or in the ag judging competition.
I never watch the first-place winner when he
or she is named. I always watch the runner-up.
If that second-place winner thinks only of the
one ahead instead of the sometimes hundreds
behind, then something is basically wrong with
the competition.
But who's to blame? It was adults that made
a bigger-than-life thing out of events like the
slap on the rump of the Grand Champion Steer
at the Farm Show. Tnis year's grand champion
brought a bonanza to the owner and 4-H and
FFA in York County. And the benefactor is to
be congratulated. But I sure wouldn't want to
be the kid standing in the sale ring at the next
Farm Show with the grand champ. This past
year is going to be a hard act, if not an im
possible one, to follow. What’s going to happen
if the youngster comes from a county without a
special impromptu buyer to bid against
someone interested in shooting a TV com
mercial?
And the drive to be Number One in an
entirely different area of ag is now taking a
terrible toll.
And, it’s not only in this particular area that
perhaps some reassessments are overdue.
For example, the drive by breed
associations to promote and market better
producing cows is now finally evolving into a
realization that if the milk from those cows
isn't sold, what’s the sense of breeding better
cows? And if the grain isn’t sold, what's the
sense of the bigger combines?
Everyone needs goals and there’s nothing
wrong with shooting toward being Number
One. But you can't lose sight of the road that
must be followed to become Number One. If
eyes are fixed only on the goal, the road there
becomes blurred and often meaningless.
And sometimes, it's necceasry to ask the
question: Is it worth it?
Sevin. Be sure to follow label
recommendations and precautions
when using any pesticide.
Dairymen who pasture their
milking herd have the most to lose
if they do not eleminate wild garlic
from their pasture fields. This fast
growing wild onion is already
growing in pastures and other turf
areas. The young plants are much
easier to kill with herbicides than
mature plants. We suggest that the
plants be sprayed very soon with 2,
4-D. This has proven effective in
keeping the young plants from
maturing; by spraying early m the
spnhg the legumes m the pasture
area will not be injured. Since the
wild garlic plant is very well
rooted, it may take several sprays
over a period of two or more years
to eliminate the weed from the
area. Don’t wait until the plants
CAUSE. WHEN YOU <
AAV A&E, you NEEi
:r IT
ON THE REST OF THE WORLD.
To Control Wild Garlic
(Turn to Page Al 2)
rET TO BE
i ABOUTA
THE“OLD
NEIGHBORHOOD”
April 10,1983
Background Scripture:
Acts 9:32 through 12:24
Devotional Reading;
1 John 5:1-12.
You know the saying, “There
goes the old neighborhood!” And
you also know what it means:
someone is moving into the
neighborhood, someone who’s
race, color or creed is judged by
you and your neighbors as to be
detrimental to whatever it is you
think your neighborhood
represents.
If the saying had been popular in
the first century A.D. it would have
been more than appropriate on
that day recorded in Acts 11 (also
10) when, in a vision, Peter was
made to realize that the Gospel of
Jesus Christ was to be available to
all people, Jew and Gentile.
MAINTAINING
OUR “PURITY”
From our perspective today the
importance of this event may not
be too apparent. But there was
hardly a more important event in
the life of the early church. It was
an experience that would
irrevocably change the churches
“ old neighborhood. ”
Jesus was a Jew whose entire
mininstry—with a few ex
ceptions—was to Jews and, even
though his ministry was rejected
by many, the Way, as it was first
called, was regarded both from
within and without as a movement
within Judaism and limited to
God’s children of Israel. Jesus’
earliest followers were Jews who
would not have even entertained
the thought that the Gospel had
freed them from the strict ob
servance of the law. And one of the
Farm Calendar
Saturday, April 9
Pa. Ayrshire Breeders Assn.
Project calf sale, 1 p.m., farm
of Cletus and Mary Rhode, New
Alexandria, Huntingdon Co.
Penn State 4-H and FFA Spring
Dairy Cattle Judging Contest,
Penn State Dairy Bams, 9 a.m.
Hunterdon County, N.J., Soil
Conservation District annual
meeting 7 p.m., Quakertown
Fire House
Red and White Dairy Cattle Sale,
Farm Show Complex
Monday, April 11
South 4-H dairy meeting, 6 p.m.
Fayette County Fairgrounds
Bradford County 4-H Livestock
Committee, 8 p.m., Extension
Office
Hunterdon Co., N.J. Farmland
Preservation Information
meeting, 8 p.m., Tewksbury
Municipal Bldg.
Chester Co. Equine Council lecture
on Acupuncture for Horses, 7
p.m., Chester Co. library
Franklin Co. Conservation
District, 7:30 p.m., 4-H room.
County Adm. Bldg., Cham
bersburg
Tuesday, April 12
Lancaster ASCS banquet, Bird-in-
Hand Restaurant, 6:30 p.m.
Hunterdon Co. Farmland
Preservation Information
meeting, 8 p.m., Lester D.
Wilson School, Alexandra Twp.
Wednesday, April 13
Surplus food distribution meeting,
PDA, Harrisburg
features of that law was the
maintainance of strict boundaries
between the Jew and all others.
These boundaries maintained a
religious “parity” which contact
with Gentiles could only stain and
violate.
Thus, when Peter objects to
God’s command to eat the animals
which have been lowered before
him, he is quite in keeping with his
Jewish conscience in responding,
“No, Lord; for I have never eaten
anything that is common or un
clean.” Peter is not referring to the
food as being unsanitary or
physically inedible, but as being
religiously forbidden.
Do you catch the irony of Peter’s
words? God is commanding him to
“Eat,” but Peter refuses on the
grounds that to do so would be
“wrong!” Imageine turning down
a command of God because it is
“wrong”! Yet, maybe that’s not so
rare as it may seem. How often
does our religion get in the way of
God’s will?
WHATGOD
HASCLEANSED
God’s response to Peter went far
beyond food: “What God has
cleansed, you must not call
common.” At first, Peter was
perplexed as to the meaning of the
vision, but when some Gentiles
came knocking at his door to take
him to Cornelius, a Roman Cen
turian, he realized what God was
saying to him: “God has shown me
that I should not call any man
common or unclean.” Later, he
was led to exclaim: "Can anyone
forbid water for baptizing these
people who have received the Holy
Spirit just as we have? ’ ’
When Peter arrived in
Jerusalem, he was challenged to
explain his scandalous behavior in
baptizing Gentiles. But when he
told them of his experience, they
acknowledged, “Then to the
Gentiles also God has granted
repentance unto life.”
Yet, although they admitted
God’s design for their “old
neighborhood”, they continued to
struggle with it and over it for a
long time. And even today we still
have not learned that lesson
completely.
Hunterdon Co., N.J. Farmland
Preservation Information mtg.,
U p.m. Franklin Twp Municipal
Bldg.
Paradise Grange organizational
- meeting, 7:30 p.m., Paradise
twp. Municipal Bldg.
Octorara FFA banquet, Christiana
Fire Hall
Thursday, April 14
Pa. Poultry Federation Fun
draising banquet, Hershey
Convention Center, 6 p.m.
Cumberland Valley FFA banquet,
7 p.m., high school,
Mechanicsburg
Elizabethtown Fair Board
meeting, 8 p.m., Ag Room, high
school
Hunterdon Co., N.J. Farmland
Preservation Information mtg.,
8 p.m., County Parks Bldg., Rt.
31 Clinton Twp.
Lancaster County Fanners Union
meeting on ag/bridges, 7:30
p.m., Leola Family Restaurant
Friday, April 15
Beiics Conservation District and
ASCS banquet, 7 p.m., Virginville
Grange Hall
Fayette Co. Holstein dairy tour, 9
a.m.
Farm Credit Assn, of York Open
House at Chambersburg Office
Penn State Ag Arena ground
breaking, 4 pjn.
Saturday, April 16
All-Ag banquet, 7:30 p.m.,
American Legion, Eldred, Del.