Alo—Lmoslt Fanwit, Saturday, Jaty 16, 1983 Penny-wise and Pound-foolish BYDICKANGLESTEiN Every farmer at one time or another has learned the lesson of being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Delaying a machinery repair, skimping on fertilizer or planting the cheaper variety usually are always more costly in the long run. We hope Pennsylvania’s legislators have learned the same lesson. They’re gonna be just as penny-wise and pound-foolish if they don’t restore needed ag funds to the state' budget and then bite the fiscal bullet to pay for any supplemental allocations. The amount needed to get PDA’s budget back on sound footing is relatively small when you consider the overall contribution that agriculture makes to the economic health of Pennsylvania. Actually, it’s an amount equal to about four-hundreths of one percent of the annual farm income that’s generated annually in Pa. If you consider the 7 to I multiplier effect in which each ag dollar generates $7 toward the state economy, the relationahip of the extra ag budget funds to the economic good it can do becomes almost infinitesimal. NOW IS THE TIME To Feed New Grain Carefully The winter barley and wheat crop is now in the bin on many farms. If these grains are to be fed, it is suggested that the feeder go easy at first in order to prevent scours or bloating in animals. If the gram is allowed to “cure” or go through the sweat period for two to three weeks, it will be safer to use. A small percentage of the feed mixture (10 to 20 percent) would be a starting place and then gradually increase the amount. In the case of wheat, use a smaller amount because of the nature of the cracked grains and the danger of digestive trouble. Make changes, in any ration, gradually for best results. To Readjust Time Clocks This is. the time to readjust tune clocks controlling the lights m laying houses to provide the layers with the day length they received on June 21, according to Dr. Forest Muir, Poultry Specialist at Penn State University. QJl£ or/s, I HEfKO THAT. 7HAM Mf/IN /WO OBHER y OLD HOUSE OF YOUf?S> / YOP, X'/Vl X BROKE FtlEGr f QjOmOTO \ LAST Nl&tiT? j HWB TO GBT ) SM m§Mw By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agriculture Agent Phone 717-394-6851 One of the cardinal rules of poultry management is to never decrease the light period of a flock in production. Most managers would never intentionally decrease the day length of a flock m production, but we are in a season when this can happen accidentally. The longest sunrise to sunset period occurred on June 21. Thereafter the day length will decrease until December 21. It is approximately the third week in July before this decrease in day length is apparent. Some Pennsylvania layers are in light controlled not light tight housing. The two major sources of light leakage in these buildings are from exhaust fans and air intakes. Therefore, layers housed in light controlled or in housing ' with windows may be subjected to a naturally decreasing day length unless the tune clocks controlling the lights are readjusted to provide the layers with the day length they received on June 21. And, if those funds are not restored, it could be among the most classic cases of being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Some of the specific items cut from the ag budget are such things as filling personnel vacancies in the PDA so that farmers can be better served in both areas of production and even more important -- product promotion. Also, such things as the unique cooperative diagnostic effort between the PDA, New Bolton and Penn State in which a diagnostic team went right to farms to solve special unique problems. Just ask some hog farmers concerned about pseudorabies or poultry farmers facing Avian flu whether they think such on-farm diagnosis is necessary. In recent years, there has been something of a rebirth in the appreciation of what agriculture means to the Commonwealth. This renaissance has been due to a number of things, including a more sympathetic ad ministration, a more progressive PDA, helpful farm-born and farm-oriented legislators and continuing efforts of state farm organizations. This is not the time for this momentum to be slowed or even reversed. As a kid, I remember that one of the dirtiest jobs was cleaning out the chicken coop. That coop could fit into just the corner of today’s poultry houses, but to a little boy it looked just as big. As she pushed the hoe and shovel into my hands and shoved me toward the coop, my grandmother would say: ‘‘Get on with it." I soon learned that by waiting and putting off the chore, it would just get a little hotter the next day and a little more stifling and the litter would just be a little deeper. Well, meeting the state’s economic needs, and specifically those in ag, may be considered something of a dirty job in Harrisburg. But, let's get on with it. AND... Cindy and Robert Scott, who have a 154- acre dairy farm at R 1 Saxton, submit the following dairy promotion slogan: “If you must Drink and Drive. “Drink Milk and Stay Alive." To Graze Sudan and Sorghum Grasses Carefully Some livestock producers plant sudan grass or one of the hybrid sorghums for extra summer pasture. These grasses have the ability to grow well during the beat of the summer. However, they should be managed carefully in order to prevent livestock poisoning. When the sudan is grazed or green-chopped before it is 18 in ches high, and if the sorghum hybrids are used before they are 24 to 30 inches high, there is danger of prussic acid poisoning. There is greater danger with the sorghum hybrids. After the herd or flock has grazed the area, it should be clipped high, and then the regrowth allowed to reach the same length before using as fresh feed. Horses should not be allowed to graze or eat either of these two forage crops; it has been blamed IT VVf&H T HER LECr SHE BROKE .' Jephtha made a promise and kept it. Hannah also made a promise and kept it. It would seem that their stories were somewhat similar. Both wanted to insure God’s help. Both made an offer to sacrifice something to God in return for that help. Jephtha gave up his daughter and Hannah gave up her son. But that’s as far as the similarities go and even those we’ve looked at are more apparent than real. For Hannah’s un derstanding of God was far beyond the distorted understanding of Jephtba. He had assumed that the Lord was a God who could be appeased by human sacrifice. His daughter was the one who paid for his terrible bargan. Hannah, .however, sacrificed, not the life of bo son, Samuel, but only her own ties of love. The end result of Jephtha’s deal was death, but of Hannah’s it was life, a life dedicated to both God and his people. WHAT SEEMS BEST Jephtha made a promise that he shouldn’t have made and, having made it, shouldn’t have kept. Hannah, however, made a worthy promise and she was faithful in keeping it. She willingly gave over her son into the Lord’s keeping and it does not appear that she ever thought of doing otherwise. It was a promise she would keep. We cannot help admiring Elkanah, her husband, as well. As the father of the 'boy it was traditional for the father to have Farm. Calendar Saturday, July 16 Hunterdon County, N.J. Con servation Field Day, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Herman Panacek’s Sycamore Lane Farm, Quakertown, N.J. Open House & Field Day, Red & White Assn., Matt-Will Farm of Bill and Ginny Davis, Troy. Pa. State Beekeepers Summer Picnic, 4-H Fairgrounds, for causing urinary bladder in fection in equmes. Manage sudan grass and sorghums carefully for best results. To Keep Dogs Under Control The summer months increase outdoor activity with your dog. Keep in mind that a dog owner’s responsibility is to keep their pet under control at all tunes. Free roaming dogs cause accidents, bite, damage property and can be a general nuisance. They also carry diseases from farm to farm. Dogs are personal property and the owners are responsible for any damage caused by their pets. Many dog related problems would be alleviated if owners were more aware of their respon sibilities. All pet owners really need to do is to have their dogs licensed and keep them under control. Remember, that all dogs six months of age or older must be licensed. A license is an inex pensive means to identify your dog if it should stray. It also shows you care for your pet. w •—f"^—*^m*^—*******— '/'%/ r'\ mmi'. BV lAVVRfNCf VV AITHOUSi 'sbonui PROMISES, PROMISES July 17,1983 the say in anything that affected the boy’s future. Sons belonged to their fathers. Fathers looked for. depended upon having sons, for it was through sons alone that the man’s name and lineage were perpetuated. Hannah may have pledged the infant Samuel to the Lord, but Elkanah could easily have renounced that promise. So we are impressed as he tells his wife, “Do what seems best to you.” Next there follows an incident in which we get a profound look at the kind of sacrifice which Hannah made. When at last the baby is weaned, she took him to Shiloh, made an animal sacrifice, and then informed Eli the priest that Samuel had been given to her as the result of her prayer in Eli’s presence and now she was giving him back to the Lord. I HAVE LENT HIM But note the language she chooses in making this sacrifice: “Therefore, 1 have let him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” Samuel is not taken from Hannah by the Lord. Rather she gives the Lord what she could have rightly kept. She gives Samuel to God, not because' she is fulfilling a bad bargain, but because she is grateful to God tor tus goodness in answering her prayer. Thus the truly admirable thing about Hannah is the spirit in which she fulfills her promise and makes her offering to God. For her it is a privilege to keep her promise to God. That same privilege could well be ours, too. Venango County. Lancaster 4-H sheep fitting workshop, John Kim bark farm, north of Manheun, 10 a.m. Monday, July 18 Kimberton Community Fair, Chester County, continues through Saturday. Jefferson County Fair, SkyesviUe, continues through Saturday. Adams County Beekeepers, 7:30 p.m., Penn State Fruit Research Lab, Biglerville. Tuesday, July 19 Pa. Forage and Dairy Day, Her shey Farms, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. McKean County Fair Directors, 8 p.m., fairgrounds at Smethport. Wednesday,'July 20 Lancaster 4-H Dairy Show, 9 a.m., Solanco Fairgrounds. Plainfield Fanners Fair, Pen Argyl, continues through Saturday. Lancaster County Holstein Show, 10 a.m., Solanco Fairgrounds. Ked Rose Alliance, 7:30 p.m.. Blue Ball Fire Hall, directors to be elected. Kabbit Conference, continues tomorrow, J.O. Keller Bldg., Penn State. DHIA Supervisors Conference, banquet, 6:30 p.m. State College Elks Club. Saturday, July 23 Stuppensburg Fair, continues through next Saturday. Pa. Ayrshire Field Day, 10 a.mi - 2:30 p.m., Delaware Valley College. Thursday, July 21 Friday, July 22
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