AlO-taucaatar Fanning, Saturday, Dacaaber 14,1985
NOW IS THE TIME
To Exercise Breeding Animals
Many farm animals are kept in
dope quarters during the winter
month*. This is fine for animals
being fattened for market, but may
not be suitable for breeding
animals. The flock of breeding)
ewes should have access to an
exercise lot daily; there will be
less trouble with paralysis in the
ewe flock and stronger lambs born
if ewes are exercised daily.
When the ground becomes
frozen, or snow-covered, some
shepherds will feed hay on the
ground, in the exercise lot, in order
to force the ewes to exercise. Dairy
cows need exercise to maintain
good feet and legs, and to provide
opportunity for heat detection.
Brood mares need the same daily
exercise, if they are to remain in
the best of health.
To Sort Tobacco
Tobacco stripping is underway
in this part of the state and many
hours will be spent removing the
leaves from the stalk. The days of
special handling and sizing seems
to be over; however, it is still very
important that growers sort the
injured and ground leaves from the
good tobacco. This will be required
USDA cracks down on packer’s
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
Department of Agriculture has
ordered Beef Nebraska, Inc., of
Omaha, Neb., to cease and desist
from its practice of using a country
bank account to delay collection of
its checks for slaughter livestock.
The meat packer, which pur
chases livestock in eastern
Nebraska and western lowa, has
until Jan. 27 to request review of
the order by the U.S. Court of
Appeals.
USDA Judicial Officer Donald A.
Campbell issued the order after
Beef Nebraska appealed the ruling
of Administrative Law Judge
William J. Weber, based on
testimony at a hearing in Sep
tember 1983, at Omaha.
Campbell found that Beef
Nebraska’s use of checks drawn on
a “controlled disbursement ac
count” with the State Bank of
Palmer, about 125 miles west of
Omaha, effectively created a one
day delay in the collection of funds
by livestock sellers.
Campbell said evidence showed
that State Bank of Palmer never
saw or processed the checks.
“Instead, under an ‘intercept’
agreement, Omaha National Bank
intercepted (these checks) at the
Omaha Federal Reserve Bank,
and processed and accounted for
them as if they had been drawn on
Omaha National Bank.
“This had advantages for all
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
if the crop is being sold on grade.
With some “pull off” crops this is
less important.
On the other hand growers
should be fair enough to sort out
the undesirable leaves. If this is
not done, the buyer will be
unhappy and look elsewhere for
their tobacco supplies. Some
sorting is necessary with every
crop, regardless of the method of
selling.
This is the time of year that most
people are considering the type of
Christmas tree to buy. And I hear
objections to using real trees as
being wasteful. So let’s take a look
at this situation. Actually, the
Christmas tree farmer is raising
trees as a crop, and a source of
income. This is much the same as
the farmer who raises wheat, com
or soybeans to sell or use on his
own farm. Christmas trees are
raised on land not suited for other
crops not even pasture land. It’s
mostly rolling land and highly
acid.
Also, remember that these
Christmas tree farmers are put
ting this land to good use; by
conserving the soil and providing
payment delays
concerned except the livestock
seller,” Campbell continued. “The
scheme resulted in an additional
day’s delay in the check clearing
process.”
Campbell said any delay in the
check clearing process increases
the packer’s float, thereby in
creasing the risk of loss to
livestock sellers in case of the
packer’s bankruptcy.
Campbell said legislative history
showed that Congress intended to
prevent this sort of delaying tactic
when it amended the Packers and
Stockyards (P&S) Act in 1976 to
require packers to pay promptly
UNIVERSITY PARK - Kaye
Sweigard, of Halifax, will be the
College of Agriculture student
marshall for Penn State’s winter
graduation Jan. 5. She was chosen
to represent the college because of
her high academic achievement.
Kaye will receive a bachelor of
science degree in animal
production. She transferred to
Penn State in the middle of her
sophomore year from the
Harrisburg Area Community
College to enroll in the College of
Agriculture.
Finding the transition easy,
To Use A Real Tree
For Christmas
Kaye Sweigard to he College of Ag 6 marshall 9
an excellent water shed. Keep in
mind that Christmas tree farmers
have a very slow turnover in their
capital from the time they plant
the tree till it’s ready for your
living room can be from five to six
years for small trees and 10 to 15
years on the larger trees.
Another fact to consider is there
is nothing like the fresh aroma of a
real tree in your home during the
Christmas season.
To Take Inventory
An area of our operation that is
very important at this time of year
is inventory. With the close of the
year most of our farmers close-out
their records for the year. This
means that if you are going to have
a Farm Analysis made, you should
take inventory of all your supplies.
You’ll need this to do any kind of
farm analysis, because the amount
of grain, hay and other supplies
that are in storage will vary from
year to year, and unless this is
taken into consideration, you
cannot have an accurate analysis
of your year’s operation. So, as
accurately as possible, record the
amount of hay, grain, feed, seeds
and fertilizer that are on hand.
This is the first step in an accurate
farm analysis.
for livestock.
Congress approved the amend
ment after American Beef Packers
(ABP) filed for bankruptcy in
January 1975, leaving producers in
13 states holding bad checks for
about $2O million worth of
livestock. ABP had used bank
accounts in North Carolina and
Washington State to pay for its
livestock purchases.
The P&S Act is an antitrust, fair
trade practice and payment
protection law. It is designed to
maintain integrity in the
marketing of livestock, poultry
and meat, and economic law and
order in the marketplace.
Kaye became involved in her
studies. “My livestock judging
classes, taught by Dr. Enddne
Cash, have been the most im
portant. Cash, professor of animal
science, was 1979 winner of the
AMOCO Foundation Outstanding
Teacher Award.
Last year, she assisted Dr. Cash
with class preparations and under
his direction helped the Penn State
Livestock Judging Team prepare
for the North Central Livestock
Competition. The team placed first
in live animal evaluation.
Animal judging comes naturally
The Christmas story is very
likely the single most familiar
story in the world. There is hardly
a culture anywhere that does not
know it.
In fact, it may well be that the
world is too familiar with the
Christmas story--so familiar,
perhaps, that we easily overlook
many of the significant im
plications of it. For example,
everyone knows that shepherds
tending their flocks in the fields
were visited by angels who
proclaimed Jesus’ birth in
Bethlehem. But, when you go back
and read the story in Luke 2, you
find that the angels’ appearance to
the shepherds is no mere sidelight
on the Christmas story. The
shepherds, it would appear, were
singled out-and apparently the
shepherds alone-to receive the
message from the angels and
make the short journey to the
Bethlehem manger “to see this
thing that has happened, which the
Lork has made known to us"
(2:15).
WHY SHEPHERDS?
Apart from the wise men, who
may have come as much as a year
later-no one else got the message
to go over to Bethlehem to see and
adore the Christ child. The better
part of Luke’s account of the
nativity of Christ is dominated by
the shepherds, their experience of
the angels and their visit to the
manger. No kings, no merchants,
no priests got either the message
Farm Calendar
Monday, December 16
Ag Legislative and Land Preserve
Meeting, sponsored by
Manheim Young Farmers, 7:30
p.m. at Manheim Central High
School ag department. The
public is invited.
Tuesday, December 17
Swine Marketing Meeting, Berks
to Kaye. During high school she
was a member of the Upper
Dauphin Livestock 4-H club,
worked on a neighboring farm with
show and sale beef cattle, and now
keeps three Angus cows herself.
For the past two summers she has
worked for Genetics Unlimited,
Inc., assisting with embryo
transfers, herd management and
show cattle.
At Penn State, Kaye won the
champion Jersey Showman award
at the 1984 Dairy Expo, was a
member of the 1984 Livestock
Judging Team and placed sixth in
CORN FED CARS?
OVER TO
BETHLEHEM
December 15,1985
or the invitation. Just a few
humble shepherds tending their
flocks by night.
Why shepherds? Well, of course,
shepherds make for a more
colorful and romantic story. But,
although I can’t claim to know
God’s mind on this matter, I am
quite confident that God’s choice of
the shepherds was based upon
something more than just a detail
for a colorful tale. It would seem
that his selection of the shepherds
was in line with his decision to keep
the principal components of the
story on a humble level; a peasant
family, an unknown maiden and
her betrothed from an obscure
village, and a stable and a manger
in an inn that was already full. And
then, it was to humble shepherds
that the angels came.
“LET US GO!”
It is as if God is emphasizing that
the Christmas story and message
is for everyone everywhere. One
does not have to be learned,
powerful or rich to receive and
appropriate the Good News of
Christmas. All that is needed is the
humble responsiveness displayed
so beautifully by the shepherds:
“Let us go over to Bethlehem and
see this thing that has hap
pened...”
Advent and Christmas are a time
when the whole world has the
opportunity to hear the angels and
to make the tuneless pilgrimage to
Bethlehem to see for ourselves the
good news that God has sent to all
humanity.
Ag Center, 9:30 a.m., Leesport.
York Crops Day, 4-H Center, 9:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 18
Mid-Atlantic No-Till Conference,
Timonium, Md., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Swine Marketing Meeting, Lan
caster Farm and Home Center,
9:30 a.m.
individual beef judging com
petition at the national collegiate
competition.
Kaye is an active member of the
Block and Bridle Club and was
chosen the outstanding member in
both her junior and senior years.
She was elected to the Coaly
Society and to Gamma Sigma
Delta agricultural honor societies
and to the Golden Key National
Honor Society.
During her two and a half years
at Penn State, she received five
separate scholarships in the
College of Agriculture scholarship
and awards program, including
the Hatfield Packing Scholarship,
the Pennsylvania Meatpackers
Association Scholarship, the Ar
thur Bigelow memorial scholar
ship, the Herman R. Purdy Award
and the American Society of
Animal Science Scholarship.
After graduation, Kaye hopes to
work with Angus cattle in herd
management and eventually move
into farm management. Kaye is
the daughter of Kenneth and Marie
Sweigard of Halifax.