AlO-Lancastar Farming, Saturday, April 27,1985
NOW IS THE TIME
To Plant Cora
The dry warm weather has
developed excellent conditions for
planting com. So be sure your
planter is ready to go when your
fields are ready to plant. If you
plan to change the row width, be
sure to calibrate your planter to
the plant population you desire. If
you need new plates-pick them up
and install them. Also, your pest
control programs should be
worked out.
If you are on a no-till program
and have a cover crop of rye,
wheat or barley, then it should be
sprayed when the vegetation is 18-
24 inches tall. Paraquat plus a
surfactant does an excellent job.
As far as control goes, research
data collected from numerous sites
over the past several years in
dicates that soil insecticide
treatments for com rootworm
control have not significantly
increased yields except in a small
percentage of the fields. If root
worm was not a problem in the
past, treatment will not be
necessary. If the field was in
anything but com, there would not
be a rootworm problem because
they only survive on com roots.
To Think Ryelage
Many farmers plant rye as a
forage crop for their cattle. Rye
can provide a lot of much needed
high quality forage-if it is handled
properly. For top quality feed
value, rye should be cut around the
boot stage of maturity, and wilted
before ensiling. After this stage,
feed value drops rapidly. Some of
our rye fields will be heading out
soon. That means we should be
thinking about cutting rye,
perhaps even before we finish
planting com.
Grange outlines legislative priorities
HARRISBURG - Grange
Master Charles E. Wismer only foreign-owned operations hpIILo Pl nn^
outlined the Pennsylvania State from receiving PIDA money F en i d 1°" 3 n ° n ’
Grange’s legislative priorities and required that applicants 3 ™
at the Grange Week banquet employ at least 25 people. The This bill name
Tuesday night. Grange’s objection here is that f *
Turning to members of the this latter requirement ef- Agriculture as responsible for
state legislature in attendance, fectively excluded small family m
Wismer praised “both sides of farm operations. Agri-business ft I d H
the isle” for working for concerns would still be eligible nmnuee. T . „ n .
agriculture in rural Penn- for loans. Both the above bills L.,!,!, ™
sylvama. have received House Ag £ H i if” pf
Here’s where the Grange will Committee approval. hif l d by S Edward
be concentrating its efforts; • H. 8.976 - A bill introduced by ‘
• H. 8.236 - Introduced by Rep. Rep . John Broujos, would if™'. R , J"'
Carville Foster, this bill would require payment for poultry traduced by Rep. Ruth Rudy
limit foreign investors to the and eggs within 21 days unless 1 ff!
ownership of not more than 10 otherwise stated m a contract. thl
acres of land. The present limit Producers not being paid within hI.XpJ Jh.hnn
is 100 acres. this time period could place a ederal budget t J[! e resolutl °"
• H. 8.237 - Also introduced by hen on the debtor’s property. .
Foster, this bill would prohibit This bill also passed the House _ ““ r J ee mp c „°'
all on-site farm operations from Ag Committee. r ® quir k e .. Process ( >rs to
obtaining PIDA (Pa. Industnal . H. 8.479 - Introduced by Rep. absorb the cost of inspection.
0779, DO >OO
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
To Evaluate Sewage Sludge Before
Using
Many farmers are being ap
proached to have sewage sludge
applied to their land. Several
things must be evaluated before
considering this step. First of all,
many of our farms are presently
producing more animal and
poultry manure than they have
land to apply it on, so we just don’t
have the acreage. You should also
be aware of potential pitfalls in
sewage sludge.
Sludge is a by-product of
wastewater treatment and can
contain many different elements
and compounds from municipal
and industrial sources. The
wastewater goes through several
stages of treatment, but the sludge
that is removed from the effluent
may contain heavy metals and
trace elements such as copper,
zinc, lead, nickel, chromium or
cadmium. These elements can be
toxic to plants at low levels and
some represent a hazard to the
food chain.
To avoid heavy metal or other
Farm Calendar
Saturday, April 27
Cumberland Blue Genes Sale.
York Sheep and Wool Field Day,
York Fairgrounds, 9:30 a.m.
Dairy Exposition, Penn State
University, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A Day, Delaware Valley College.
Ag Day, University of Maryland
Dairy Goat Seminar, Montgomery
4-H Center, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
>0 VOL) LIKE
problems, sludges musi ue
analyzed to determine their
suitability. Ideally, your soil
should also be tested. Sludge and
soil testing is absolutely essential
for the safe and beneficial use of
sewage sludge on cropland. Costs
of analyses are usually paid by the
municipality involved.
To Develop Safety Habits
We are aware that farming is not
the safest occupation. In fact the
average farm worker can expect
that once every four years he’ll be
injured so severely that medical
attention is needed. We also know
that farming is even more
dangerous than industrial work.
Farmers have a work accident
rate that’s two and a half times
greater than the average for all
industries. The problem is, that
unlike industry, farmers work with
a minimal amount of supervision
and they may not be properly
trained for the job. We urge far
mers during this busy season to
take time to be safe.
The Peon State Extension Service is an
affirmative action, equal opportunity
educational institution. *
Tour of “The Goat Works,” the
largest goat cheese producing
farm in the United States,
Washington, NJ, 1 p.m. to 4:30
p.m.
Annual Meeting, Pa. Association of
Meat Processors, The Embers,
Carlisle.
VOL) BET IDO,
ESPECIALLY
ONE FART OF /T?
vStT?
Sunday April 28
EMPTY NOTHINGS
April 28,1985
Background Scripture
Job 20 through 21
Devotional Reading:
Job 23:1-13,
Zophar is another of the three
“friends” of Job who come to
“comfort” him. But like the other
two, Zophar is not much of a
comfort to Job. Job sits before him
in utter misery-physical, mental
and spmtual-and Zophar’s idea of
“comfort” is to preach Job a little
sermon on how the prosperity and
good fortune of the wicked is brief
and always certain to be punished.
Zophar has a way with words
and it is a beautiful sermon:
Do you not know this from of old, since
man was placed npon earth, that the
exulting of the wicked is short, and the
joy of Mo godless but for a moment?
(lob 20:4,5)
THEN, MOCK ON!
There’s only one problem with
these noble sentiments, as far as
Job is concemed-they are ab
solutely wrong! Just look around,
challenges Job, there are lots of
wicked people who live to a ripe old
age and are surrounded with
prosperity. Why, even “Their bull
breeds without fail”! (21:10).
Some of these wicked people die
with a smile on their lips—what
kind of justice is that anyway?
It is really God’s justice, not
Monday, April 29
Pa. Sheep and Wool Growers
annual meeting, Keller
Building, Penn State Univer
sity.
Tuesday, April 30
Pa. Wool Sale, Nittany Lion Inn,
Penn State University.
Wednesday, May 1
Lancaster County Conservation
District, monthly board
meeting, Farm and Home
Center, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 3
Pa. National Arts and Crafts Show,
Farm Show Complex,
Harrisburg.
Two-day Bio-Ag Seminar, Farm
and Home Center, 10 a.m. to 9
Delaware farmers increase
crop insurance coverage
NEWARK, DE Delaware
farmers have increased their use
of crop insurance as a
management tool to protect
themselves against devastating
income losses caused by ab
normally low yields.
“We anticipate .that farmers in
this state will buy more than $3.5
million worth of crop insurance
this year,” says University of
Delaware assistant extension farm
man’s that Job is questioning, “As
for me, is my complaint against
man?” (21:4). No, it is a complaint
against God and Job’s friends are
aghast at the boldness of Job to say
such things in God’s presence.
Yet, just as the skeptical
questions of the Apostle Thomas
gave Jesus the occasion to utter
some of his most profound sayings,
so the dogged protests of Job are
obvious!" "'—er to God’s heart
than the “empty nothings” of
Eliphaz, who seems to keep
faith by pretending that evil men
always get their just deserts.
When we hear Job’s complaints,
we cannot help agreeing that that
is often the way it is in our world,
too. A brutal mobster all too often
dies “in full prosperity...his body
full and fat” (21:23,24). Yet,
although Job is absolutely right in
his judgement that justice often
does not prevail in this world, he is
absolutely wrong in attributing
that failure to God.
DOWN TO SHEOL
Justice is God’s will for his
children, but he does not compel us
to be just, just as he does not
compel us to be good. Justice and
equity are not part of the “given”
of human existence, they are part
of that which is to be achieved. So,
if the world is unjust, it is we who
have to change the world.
The key to Job’s frustration is
found in his statement to Sheol”
(21:13). In the day this book was
wntten most people believed that
there was no conscious life after
death. Sheol was the end. Thus,
God’s justice after death was too
late.
But if you believe in a life beyond
this earth, then you can begin to
understand that it is in that realm
that justice and evil receive their
ultimate rewards and punish
ments.
p,m.
Saturday, May 4
Apple Blossom Festival, South
Mountain Fairgrounds.
Md. Sheep and Wool Festival,
Howard County Fairgrounds
(continues Sunday),
Northeast Pa. Mountain Dairy
Goat Association meeting,
Madison Township Fire Hall, 1
p.m.
Two-Day Bio-Ag Seminar, Farm
and Home Center, 9 a.m. to 5
p.m.
Annual Spring Sale, Pa. Shorthorn
and Polled Shorthorn Breeders
Association, Mercer 4-H Park.
Saturday, May 11
Western Pa. Sheep and Club Lamb
Sale, Mercer County 4-H Park,
Mercer, 6:30 p.m.
management specialist Mark
Kooker. “That’s a 25 percent in
crease over 1984. Looked at
another way, you could say this
figure shows that Delaware far
mers are sharing $3.5 million of
their product risks with other
producers from across the nation."
Multi-peril crop contracts insure
against essentially all unavoidable
production hazards such as
drought, freezes, hail, excessive
ram, wind damage, insects and
diseases. The policies do not cover
losses due to neglect, theft or
failure to follow recognized far
ming practices.
if
r $
Delaware farmers can find out
about insuring their crops in
several ways. They can contact an
agent who sells crop insurance, a
county ASCS office, or the county
extension office in Newark (451-
2506), Dover (736-1448) or
Georgetown (856-7303).
They can also call Kooker
directly at 451-2511. He has
prepared a fact sheet, “Multi-Peril
Crop Insurance; A Management
Tool,” whidi is available at all
county extension offices.