AlD—Lancaster Famine, Saturday, October 29,1983
Saturation point
BY DICKANGLESTEIN
Is there any ag area in the world that has
higher total livestock and poultry con
centrations than in Lancaster County? 1 doubt
Sure, there are counties in California with
more dairy cows and places in Virginia with
greater numbers of beef cows. Counties in
lowa have more pigs and there are places
cropping up with more chickens.
But, when you put all of these four
categories of livestock and poultry together, I
doubt if there is another county with a greater
overall density.
And with these Lancaster County densities
have come problems:
-Pseudorabies was concentrated in Lan
caster County and has hung on for a couple of
years.
-Now, there’s a very serious problem with
Avian influenza in poultry.
-And, of course, the problem of disposing of
the mountains of wastes from these livestock
densities has caused not only ag pollution of
wells and streams in Lancaster County, but
has contributed significantly to the so-called
"nutrient loading” of the Chesapeake Bay.
In the case of pseudorabies and Avian in
fluenza, the densities perhaps were not the
direct original cause of their introduction (and
Farm Calendar
Sunday, Oct. 30
Standardbred Horse Sale at the
Farm Show Complex. Con
tinues through Monday.
Tuesday, Nov. 1
Water Resources Meeting at
Honesdale High School at 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
Lancaster Conservation District
meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the
Farm and Home Center.
1983 Southeastern Seminar at
Howard Johnsons Motel,
Newark, Del.
Hunterdon County Board of
Agriculture meeting, “Ag in
Classroom,” at 8 p.m. in the
Extension Center.
Thursday, Nov. 3
Show Window Sale, at the
University of Delaware Dairy
Farm, Newark, Del.
Chester County DHIA banquet at 7
p.m. at East Brandywine
Fireball.
OKs
-iik
l,Hs-
Dauphin County Dairy Night at 7
p.m. at Camp Hebron.
Lancaster County Poultry
Association annual banquet at
6:15 p.m. at Good and Plenty
Restaurant.
Keystone International Livestock
Exposition. Continues through
Nov. 9.
Pa. Livestock Association banquet
at the Holiday Inn in Grantville
at 7 p.m.
North American International
Livestock Exposition,
Louisville, Ky. Continues
through Nov. 19. Includes dairy
division shows, sheep and beef.
20th annual Pa. Suffolk Bred Ewe
Sale at the Farm Show Complex
at 5 p.m.
IT WOULD BE. KIN
A SHAME TO LET
BEAUTIFUL MOON
THAT GO TO WAS
WOULDN'T IT 077
ry
this point could be argued), but the high
concentrations of hogs and chickens certainly
has contributed to spread of the diseases in
the county and beyond and has made it all the
more difficult to bring them under control and
eradicate.
it's a lot like having a half-dozen little kids
and one comes home from school with a cold.
You can be sure that the cold will run its
course through the entire brood before you
can get it out of the house.
While pseudorabies and the Avian have not
had direct ramifications for the consuming
public through the meat or eggs, it has caused
serious problems for hog and poultry
operators. How serious? Ask the Eastern
Lancaster County hog breeder who
depopulated his entire breeding herd, cleaned
up and literally started over. Or, the owner of
the layer operation who recently lost 11,000
out of 60,000 birds and had egg production
drop from 40,000 eggs a day to zero.
What has been the total cost of these two
diseases? The bill likely is already in the
millions and still climbing.
Perhaps, it’s time that the various livestock
and poultry organizations in Lancaster County
start policing themselves. At some point,
livestock and poultry densities are going to
have to be a factor to be considered con
cerning future expansion. And the densities
will need to be viewed not only from an
operational health standpoint, but from one of
waste disposal.
And, consideration of health and waste
disposal doesn’t even include the increasing
social problems that are being prompted by
livestock densities between farm and non
farm neighbors.
Is there a saturation point for livestock and
poultry numbers that can be satisfactorily
maintained on a given number of square miles
of land in one county?
The Lancaster County farm community
better start thinking about this question
before it - like so many other questions - is
answered for them by those outside of
agriculture.
Friday, Nov. 4
Saturday, Nov. 5
&
NOW IS THE TIME
To Check Ventilation
Equipment For Whiter
Exhaust fans in dairy and
poultry bouses have a heavy
ventilation job to do. They remove
moisture and dust, and in many
cases run almost continually from
October to April.
To make your ventilation system
ready for winter, several items
may need attention. The fan
blades, motor enclosures and
louvered shutters need cleaned
frequently. Loose belts are com
mon on belt driven fans. Fan
output varies directly with fan
speed. AlO percent loss in REM’S
of the fan means a 10 percent loss
in air delivery.
Check the thermostat for ac
curacy by hanging a thermometer
beside it for easy comparison. Be
Background Scripture:
Exodus 19: 306; Jeremiah 3:31-34;
Devotional Reading:
A new commandment has been
given to us: “If it feels good, do it.”
Well, we've been “doing it” but
I'm not sure just how “good” we’re
feeling about it. Oh, individually,
we may think it “feels pretty
good,” but as a society we seem to
sense a great void in our moral
climate. Oh the one hand, we
wildly celebrate the lifting of all
the old restraints, while on the
other we mourn the loss of our
foundations. We like the new moral
freedom for ourselves, but we’re
disturbed about what it’s doing to
our neighborhood.
THE OCCASION
In a sense, this same am
bivalance haunted the Christian
Jews of the early church. They
recognized that the old covenant of
Judaism was not enough. At the
same time, they couldn’t feel
secure without it. The writer of the
epistle to the Hebrews says, "For
if that first convenant had been
faultless, there would have been no
occasion for a second” (8:7). He
acknowledges that the new con
venant in Christ is “more excellent
than the old” and was enacted on
better promises.
Actually the “new morality” of
whether “it feels good” is built on
the perception that the old
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
sure the sensing element is clean
and free from dust.
Have your fan motor protected
by adequate overload protectors,
protection is secured by using
thermal overload switches in the
power line, or you may use a time
delay motor fuse.
To Pick and Store Apples
Whether you grow apples or just
like to eat them, it’s important to
store them properly.
Cool apples will keep longer.
Ideally, they should be stored at
33* F., at 90 percent humidity, and
in dim light or darkness.
Now as to picking, it’s a good
practice to store the fruit in shade
as it’s picked, then allow it to stand
in the orchard overnight to cool.
Then, place the apples in storage
early in the meaning before the
IT IF
FEELS GOOD
October3o,l9B3
HebrewsB:6-13,
Jeremiah 31:31-34
morality based on rules and
regulations is not adequate. Just as
in Jesus’ day, the people had
become too dependent upon rules,
so in our own times we had become
perhaps too dependent upon the
written convenants. The ab
monition to “do it” if it “feels
good,” was an attempt to take the
responsibility for our lives away
from rules and place it
within our own hearts. In a sense
this is what the prophet Jeremiah
had prophesied: “I will put my
laws into their minds, and write
them on their hehrts” (31:33). No
wonder it seemed so “right" to
regard the old rules as obsolete.
The writer of Hebrews himself had
said of the written convenants; “In
speaking of a new convenant he
treats the first as obsolete. And
what is becoming obsolete and
growing old is ready to vanish
away” (8:13).
But, the new convenant is not
something less than the old, but
something more. It is not a lower
standard if morality, but a higher
one. It is based upon, neither what
someone else says is right or what
! think is good for me, but upon
what I believe God says is good
with him. To be sure, it is harder
than the old way; it places more
responsibility upon each of us
“ And they shall not teach every
one his fellow or every one his
brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’
for all shall know me, from the
least of them to the greatest.”
MY LAWS
In our zeal to have done with the
old rules, we have tended to
misread God’s intention. It was
nev<" that we should replace the
old laws with our rules, but that the
laws of God would be written (m all
our hearts: “I will put my laws into
their minds and write them on
their hearts.” So, it is not a matter
of something feeling “good” to us,
but of “feeling good” because it is
perceived by us as being good with
God.
temperature rises too much.
If you leave apples in a packing
shed or in piles under the tree for
one week, you’ll shorten their
storage life by about five weeks.
So, keep apples cool, maintain
good air circulation during
storage, and your apples should
keep a long time.
To Rant Safely
The small game hunting season
opened on Saturday. We need to
remind ourselves to be courteous
and considerate while hunting on
farms. We encourage all hunters to
practice good relations between
farmers and hunters. Criticism of
hunting often starts because a few
hunters forget the landowner is his
host By observing a few sensible
hunting manners, hunters will
keep themselves from becoming
uninvited guests.
Most landowners permit
reasonable hunting. Asking per
mission to hunt is a small courtesy
in return for a pleasant day in the
field; yet too few people follow this
rule. Landowners may actually
need protection from indifferent,
careless and destructive hunters.
When the trouble starts, many
farmers post their land for
protection from irresponsible
hunters.
It takes very little time and costs
nothing to observe a few common
courtesy rules while hunting; ask
permission before hunting, dose
gates, pick up litter after eating
lunch and stay out of unharvested
crops. Keep a safe distance from
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