AiO-LancMtar Farming,
OPINION
Old-Fashioned Farm Frugality
In case you didn’t know, this has
been National Meat Week
(February 1-7). A number of in
dustry organizations do
promotional work to let people
know about meat during this
special week. The new promotional
line now is “Meat, A Food For
Fitness.”
Sara Lylygren of the American
Meat Institute is the national
coordinator of Meat Week. She
says the new slogan has caused a
lot of interest by health- and fit
ness-oriented organizations out
side of the farm community.
That’s good. We need all the help
we can get to promote the use of
meat. And certainly catchy
slogans seem to be the way to do
this today.
However, we can’t help but
remember a milk commercial that
uses the same idea. Milk
promotion has obviously increased
milk sales. With the new beef
Dear Editor:
Dig A Little Deeper
Dig deeper. That is the best and
the only practical solution of the
problem, and it is what every live
farmer is doing. A few feet down
and the living fountains are
reached.
We have come to a time when it
seems to a great many farmers
that their occupation is no longer
profitable as it once was. They
have to work harder and do not
receive the returns they are en
titled to. Thousands are seeking
other positions, giving up the old
farm for what can not be called
anything else than an uncertainty.
What these and all farmers of the
present day need to do is to dig
deeper if the levels of success in
fanning have retreated. They
Farm Calendar
Saturday, February 7
Lancaster Conservation District
Meeting, Farm and Home
Center, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, February 9
Sixth Pennsylvania Cornucopia
Banquet, Hershey Convention
Center.
Luzerne Co. Com Clinic, Luzerne
Extension Office, Wilkes-Barre,
7:30 p.m.
Poultry Servicemen’s Seminar,
Holiday Inn North, Lancaster,
6:30 p.m. Topic: Tax Reform in
the Poultry Industry.
Tuesday, February 10
Capital Region Turf and Or
namental School, Holiday Inn,
ijr, February 7,1917
promotion getting underway, we
think meats sales will go up, too.
But we have several questions
for which we have no answers. Will
we soon see everything grown and
produced on the farm mer
chandized as a food or drink that
will make Average Consumer
more fit? Since the stomach is only
so elastic, will each commodity
group soon be competing for a
percentage of stomach capacity?
And since so much of the “fast food
beef” is imported, will the beef
promotion increase the sale of
home-grown beef?
A lot of dollars are collected
from farmers paychecks. So we
hope an honest effort is made with
each commodity group and bet
ween groups to make sure we have
no duplication of efforts. Even
though we are talking about
millions of dollars, we must
maintain old-fashioned farm
frugality.
certainly have not dried up. New
methods may be required. It may
be men need to approach their
business from a different angle
and study it more closely but that
need not mean discouragement.
Send the pickax of thought down a
little farther.
Don’t stop on this side of success.
Just out of sight lies the unfailing
spring of successful endeavor. Tap
it before you lay down your tools
and never say, “I’m beaten.” No
man is ever beaten so long as he
has two strong arms and a strong
heart.
This sounds like today’s far
mers. But I copied it out of a 1922
Lancaster Almanac.
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Pa— j
Grantville.
Atlantic Breeder’s Co-op, N.
Western, Country Table
Restaurant, 7 p.m.
Lancaster County Sheep and Wool
Growers Annual Meeting, 7:30
p.m., Farm and Home Center.
Making Smart Farm Decisions (3
sessions), York County Ex
tension Office, 7 p.m. Also on
Feb. 17 and 24.
Making Smart Farm Decisions (3
sessions), Cumberland County
Extension Office, 12:30 p.m. to 3
p.m. Also on Feb. 17 and 24.
ASCS meeting, Acreage Reduction
Program, Lancaster County
Farm and Home Center, 7:30
p.m.
NE Region Fruit Growers
WHY X R£/V\£/V\oF£
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
The recent thaw provides a good
chance to observe water drainage
problems around barns and
stornge buildings. If surface water
drained into farm buildings or into
homes, then something should be
done about it very soon. Surface
water should be directed away
from buildings by way of terraces
or diversion dutches.
Water should not be permitted to
flow down against buildings from
upgrade. This will weaken the
structure and wash soil away from
the foundation. Water that seeps
into a budding from underground
is a different problem and more
difficult to control.
However, the surface water can
be directed around and away from
farm buildings. Also, area around
wells should be protected from
surface water contamination.
Water from feedlots and bar
nyards should not be allowed to
flow directly into public streams;
pastures or holding areas will help
prevent the possibility of pollution.
Meeting, Ramada Inn, Routes 6
and 11, Chinchilla, 9:30 a.m. to
3:30 p.m.
Organic Crop Improvement
Association meeting,
Harrisburg Ag Building, 6:15 to
9 p.m. The speaker, agronomist
Bart Hallbyer, will discuss
organic farming.
Making Smart Decisions Seminar
(session 2), Chambersburg.
Lancaster Extension Swine
Thank You,
Ben Housman
Middletown
Meeting, Farm and Home
Center.
Fayette County Dairy Day,
Waltersburg lOOF Hall, 10.30
a.m.
Wayne County Drinking Water
Clinic, Grace Episcopal Church
Hall, Honesdale, 1 to 3:30 p.m.
and 7:30 to 10 p.m.
Lebanon Valley Bank Ag Group
luncheon seminar, Prescott
Fireball, 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Mid-Atlantic Direct Marketing
Conference, Radisson Hotel,
Wilmington, Del. Continues
through Feb. 14.
Forage and Soils Day, Lemasters
(Franklin County) Community
Center, Lemasters, 9 a.m.
Lancaster Extension Annual
meeting, Farm and Home
Center, 6:30 p.m.
Dairy Cattle Reproductive Clinic,
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Extension
meeting room, Courthouse,
Honesdale. Continues
tomorrow.
I*
NOW IS
THE TIME
To Correct
Drainage Problems
Wednesday, February 11
Thursday, February 12
(Turn to Page A3l)
To Evaluate
Manure Plant Food
Agronomists have told farmers
for 40 years that a ton of dairy
manure is equivalent to 100 pounds
of 10-3-5 fertilizer, but recent
research indicates that much of
the nitrogen is lost when manure is
spread daily and left exposed to the
elements.
Current data have confirmed
that a ton of stored dairy manure is
equivalent to 100 pounds of 104-0
fertilizer (page 22 of the 1987-88
Agronomy Guide).
The nutrients in fresh manure
are equal to those of inorganic
fertilizers for crop production, but
more slowly available. If the
manure is incorporated im
mediately, no nitrogen is lost; if
incorporated after 2 days, 40
percent is lost. After 4 days, 60
percent is lost and 7 days or longer,
80 percent is lost. Studies concur
with this and show that com fer
tilized with fresh manure applied
and plowed down in the spring
produced the most com silage.
Yields were lowest when the
manure was applied in the fall, left
exposed on the soil surface all
winter and plowed down in the
spring. Be sure to include the
nutrient value of manure when
calculating your crop needs. It’s
important to manage manure
application just as you manage
other areas of your operation.
To Check
Poultry Waterers
Hens without water can cost you
money. In one experiment, birds
deprived of water for only 24 hours
required 24 days to return to
normal egg production. In most
experiments, after a period of only
36 hours without water, birds never
returned to normal. A flock
without water for 36 hours or more
may molt, then go through a
BELIEFS
OR VALUES?
February 8,1987
Background Scripture: James
2:8-18; John4:7-12.
Devotional Reading: 1 John 4:13-
The scripture passages from
Galatians and Ephesians that we
looked at last week firmly
established that we are saved, not
by what we deserve, but by the
grace of God; “For by grace you
have been saved through faith;
and this is not your own doing, it is
the gift of God... ” (Ephesians 2:8).
On the basis of that passage and
others like it, many have
depreciated the role of “works” in
the Christian life and there have
been formidable theological
battles on the subject of “works”
vs. “faith.” But, in the passage
from Ephesians, if we go on from
verse 8 to verse 10, we find the
writer saying; “For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.” In the very
same passage in which grace and
faith are exalted, the writer goes
T HAD TO
DIG DOWN
TWO FEET
TO (ErET
TO rT y
prolonged period of restricted
production. This is especially so in
older flocks. If water is restricted
for 48 to 60 hours, severe mortality
can result from dehydration.
As you walk through your house
each day, check the waterers to
make sure none are dry or a line is
plugged. I am aware of a case
where the water line was
restricted by a faulty valve in the
middle row of cages for nearly
three days. Mortality was high and
production was seriously affected
in that row.
A few minutes a day checking
waterers can well mean saving a
lot of dollars - don’t wait until
molted feathers are under the
cage.
To Train and
Prune Trees
General pruning of apple trees
should be in full swing at this time
of year, especially if you have a lot
of pruning to do. I’d like to remind
growers and homeowners not to
overprune young trees or those
which haven’t yet started to bear
fruit. There is a tendency to either
prune the small trees too heavily,
or simply to leave them alone. A
middle-of-the-road course is best.
The training of young trees
should involve just enough cutting
to maintain a healthy central
leader and to develop the desired
number of well-spaced scaffold
branches. Branches that are either
poorly spaced, or ones making
narrow-angled crotches, should be
removed.
Keep in mind, when you start
pruning early - start with your
hardier trees, the apple and pear
with plum and sour cherries next.
Leave your peach till near the end,
since they’re quite tender.
The Cooperative Extension Service u an af
firmative action, equal opportunity educational
institution
This is also the view of the writer
of James, who asks: “What does it
profit, my brethren, if a man says
on to say that the purpose of all this
is “good works in Christ Jesus.”
The writer of Ephesians does not
see it as “faith” or “grace” vs.
“works," but of all of these
together.
he has faith but has not works?”
(James 2:14). A man may say he
has faith and he may believe it, but
the saying and the believing mean
nothing if he does not act as if he
thinks it true. There are lots of
things we say we believe and, for
the most part, we are sincere.
When we process these ideas
through our minds, we have no
trouble in accepting them and
saying, “This I believe.”
But very often these are nothing
more than empty words and un
practiced beliefs. We may attack
anyone who says he doesn’t share
them, but that doesn’t mean we are
so convinced and motivated by
these beliefs that we are going to
do anything about it. Let someone
propose, “There are millions of
starving people in the world and as
Christians we ought to minister to
them.” Should someone disagree
with this sentiment, we would
likely get up in arms over that
disagreement. How can you
disbelieve in feeding the hungry?
The key, however, is not in what
we believe or say about feeding the
hungry, but what we do about it.
“If a brother or sister is ill-clad
and in lack of daily food, and one of
you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be
warmed and filled,’ without giving
them the things needed for the
body, what does it profit?” (2:15).
It is at this point that James
reduces the theological problem to
a level everyone can understand:
“You believe that God is one; you
do well. Even the demons believe
and shudder” (2:19). Belief is not
what makes a Christian. If belief
were all that there is, the demons
of this world would qualify. Anyone
can hold an idea in his mind. The
real question is whether that idea
can hold us. We may believe all
sorts of things, but real faith is a
matter of the things we value. For,
if we value something, it will
motivate our actions.