Alo— UncwtT Fanning, Saturday, August 25,1984
BYDICKANGLESTEIN
This week we found out what happened to
all the "BULL” after artificial insemination
took hold down on the farm.
A lot of it was in Dallas at the Republican
National Convention. The rest was out in San
Francisco a few weeks ago when the
Democrats gathered for their beauty pageant.
The sheer stupidity of national nominating
conventions is illustrated in the fact that only
politicians and their journalistic camp
followers are dumb enough to travel to Texas
in late August. The sultry, hot Texas tem
peratures were exceeded only by the hot air
generated inside the convention hall. At least,
the Democrats had sense enough to pick a city
with a reasonable climate.
This country fought a revolution to get rid of
a king, but still continues to idolize pseudo
royalty at things like presidential nominating
conventions, which combine the shallow pomp
and ceremomy of a Miss America Contest with
the mentality of a kindergarten show-and-tell.
And now the campaign begins in earnest.
More empty words and promises from empty
heads.
Candidates will criss-cross the country
courting all types of voter groups - labor,
women, blacks, Hispamcs -- just to name a
few. Like the virile young male who cruises for
pickups, they’ll promise anything to try and
get the one and only thing the/Want.
But you can bet your last bushel of corn that
one important group will be entirely
Farm Calendar
Saturday, Aug. 25
Centre County Grange Fair,
continues through Thursday.
Monday, Aug. 27
4-H South Central District Dairy
Show, 9 a.m., Farm Show
Building.
Indiana County Fair continues
through Saturday.
Wattsburg Fair continues through
Saturday.
West End Fair continues through
Saturday.
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Tuesday, Aug. 28
Methane digester meeting, 9 a.m.-
4 p.m., Lancaster Farm &
Home Center.
Northumberland Conservation
Tillage Field Day, 4 p.m., Jeff
Pontius farm, 3 miles south of
Sunbury on Et. 147.
Greene-Dreher-Sterling Fair
continues through Sept. 3.
Flemington, N.J. Fair, continues
through Labor Day.
Allentown Fair continues through
overlooked when the politicians make their
barnstorming, biff-bam, courting swings. That
totally ignored group will be the farmers of the
Northeastern United States.
Just as the major farm equipment
manufacturers build machinery for the plains
and prairies and ignore the Northeast, so do
the politicians. Why it wasn't until the Avian flu
that the USDA even noticed that there is quite
a bit of agriculture in its own backyard. And
only then because the price tag topped $5O
million.
Northeastern agriculture - as the largest
industry from Maine down through Delaware --
deserves much more than it gets out of
Washington. There are some pretty serious ag
problems here in the Northeast where silos
are piled one on top of the other and literally
hang by a thread to existence like the weed
that tenaciously sprouts in the crack in the
pavement.
--First, Northeastern ag needs some
representation on Congressional ag com
mittees. Then perhaps, things like
Congressman Robert Walker's active mouth
could be put to better use than just playing
sophomonc word games with that fat Irishman
in the House of Representatives.
-Ag trade regulations need to be stiffened to
give our farmers a fair chance in everything
from pork to mushrooms.
--The economic, ecological and sociological
pressures felt by the Northeastern farmer are
the worst in the nation in this populous region.
-I doubt if even Avian flu has raised the
animal health red flag sufficiently in the face of
Washington concerning the problems of an
area where livestock and poultry con
centrations are unequalled.
-Farmland preservation, soil erosion and
water pollution are crying out for innovative
and bold solutions
It seems that the agricultural mentality of
Washington moved west permanently with the
covered wagons and completely forgot about
the Northeast. Those Hollywood cowboys and
others in Washington got to reopen their eyes
to the ag community that is the very basis of
the economy of the Northeast. But how can
you recognize this when the only parts of the
Northeast you see are Washington, D.C., a
retreat in the Maryland mountains and a
fleeting glimpse as Air Force One takes off for
another vacation in California.
If Northeastern farmers ever got their act
together, they could be the single deciding
factor in who sits in the White House for the
next four years. Perhaps then, they'd get the
attention they deserve.
But the chances of either of these things
ever happening are about as remote as
making an honest living off Jerusalem ar
tichokes.
Sept. 3.
Mifflin County conservation tillage
demonstration, 9:30 a.m.
Elizabethtown Fair continues
through Saturday.
Mid-Atlantic Soybean Association
summer meeting, 12:30 p.m.,
Adelphia Research Farm,
Adelphia, N.J.
Sullivan County Fair, continues
through Saturday.
No-till forage seeding demon
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CONSEQUENCES
August 26,1984
Background Scripture:
2 Kings 24 through 25.
Devotional Reading:
Jeremiah 12:8-16.
The tragedy of Judah under
Zedekiah doesn’t seem all that
remote to us. The last days of
Judah as recorded in 2 Kings 25 are
not all unlike what some of us have
witnessed in our century: a brave
defense, ultimately overwhelmed,
a city and nation devastated.
For Judah it was no halfway
measure. The army was utterly
defeated. The king was captured,
forced to watch the execution of his
sons and then blinded. The
Babylonians destroyed the temple,
the king’s palace and the walls of
Jerusalem. And the population was
carried into captivity with only a
few peasants left to inhabit the
once-proud capitol.
WHAT WAS EVIL
What happened to Jerusalem
and Judah was no mere accident.
Nor was it fate, for the writers of 2
Kings make it clear that all of it
could have been avoided if the
people had changed their ways.
No, it was neither chance nor fate
that brought upon them this great
disaster. It was, however, a matter
of consequences. Judah finally
paid the check for its moral and
NOW IS THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717 394-6851
To Be Alert
For Silo Gas
We are fast approaching silo
filling time, in fact many farmers
are servicing their equipment now.
This is one of the best methods of
harvesting the com crop to obtain
maximum feed nutrients. With our
large tower silos, the danger of
poisonous gases becomes more
important. We urge our farmers to
discuss this hazard with their
employees and all family mem
bers. These gases can develop
from one day to 14 days after the
silo is filled. Most of these gases
have a chlorine-laundry bleach
odor and irritate the eyes and
respiratory system. Some are
yellow and some are colorless.
Don’t take any chances warn all
your people of this danger.
Never enter a partly filled silo
without running the blower for at
least 15 minutes. These gases are
heavier than air and will come
down the chute and into the bam.
spiritual decline.
Like almost all the kings that
had preceded him, Zedekiah “did
what was evil in the sight of the
Lord” (24:19). The writer of 2
Kings doesn’t tell us what that was,
but says simply “...according to all
that Jehoiakim had done.” In other
words, it was more of the same
moral sickness that had inflicted
Israel almost from its very
beginning.
But Jud-'h suffered the final
disaster, not just because of an evil
and follish king, but because the
people followed him down the road
to decline. Under his leadership,
they also “did what was evil in the
sight of the Lord” and the disaster
that followed was simply the
consequence of that decay.
INTO EXILE
Life is a series of consequences
for choices we have made and
courses we have taken. Racial
problems in our country today are
largely the consequence of
slavery. Many of our deepest
concerns of today are obviously the
consequences of discarded stan
dards that have not been replaced
by something better. Drug addition
in our world is a consequence on
our culture’s growing dependence
on chemicals to solve our problems
(alcohol, nicotine, barbituates,
etc.). And most of our in
ternational tensions and dangers
are the consequence of societies
that have placed material things
ahead of spirtual values.
If we poison our atmosphere, if
we irreversibly pollute our earth, if
we destroy each other in one
iridescent moment of nuclear
madness, it will not have been
either fate or accident. It will be a
consequence of what we as a
society have done, are doing and
seem bent on continuing to do.
Exile was a picnic compared to
what faces humanity today.
Be careful around recently filled
silos.
• For Local Fairs
We are rapidly approaching the
time for local fairs. These times
should be happy events but once
in a while they are not because
planning was not done ahead of
time. This is the time to take
necessary precautions to help
prevent the possibility of your
taking disease to the fair with your
animals or bringing infection home
to your farm. Keep in mind that
poultry cannot be exhibited due to
the avian influenza problem.
Many fairs require health charts
and specific tests or vaccinations
for animals. Be sure to read the
health regulations carefully. And,
it doesn’t hurt to be more strict
than what the regulations may
require. Animals with any form of
communicable ailment should be
left at home.
When animals leave the fair and
go home, it’s important to have a
place where you can isolate them
and observe them closely for a
period of time before returning
them to their herd mates. If in
doubt, consult your veterinarian
for advice.
&
To Fertilize Alfalfa
The fall of the year, after the
removal of the last cutting, is a
good time to topdress existing
alfalfa stands. The application of a
phosphorus-potash fertilizer
(according to a soil test) in the fall
will strengthen the alfalfa roots
and result in higher yields next
summer. Nitrogens should not be
needed on established alfalfa
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To Prepare