AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 20, 1988
OPINION
Challenge Of Education
Well, they’ve done it again
brought together all segments of
agriculture onto one magnificent
research farm within a three-day
period.
If you attended Ag Progress
Days this week at Rock Springs,
you had the chance to see every
imaginable piece of farm equip
ment you will ever need for the
next five years. And some of these
pieces of equipment, you saw in
operation. For example, they had
at least 11 units in the hay mowing
conditioning demonstration that
included almost every tractor, hay
mowing and conditioning unit
available.
Or if your interests may have
been in the livestock tent or the
dairy production display, you got a
good education. Maybe you took
the Sic.Q Quiz or visited the Meat
ing Place to leant about new
recipes and the lean cuts of pork,
lamb, veal and beef.
The Paste Farm Museum cele
brated its tenth anniversary and
more than 100 farm families
attended the Dairy of Distinction
fraternal gathering to make friends
with dairy farm families from all
across Pennsylvania. Maybe you
attended one of these events.
While the Penn Slate University
faculty and staff did a “whale of a
Farm Calendar
Saturday, August 20
Central Championship Show, 6
p.m., Huntingdon Fairgrounds
Warren County Holstein Sale,
Pittsfield, noon.
Northeast District Dairy Shows,
Troy Fairgrounds, 9 a.m.
PA Cattlemen’s Association, sum
mer field day, Ag arena, PSU, 9
a.m.
Sunday, August 21
Toy Tractor Show & Sale, Preble
Co. Fairgrounds, Eaton, OH.
Franklin County Fair, Chambcrs
burg, through 271 h.
Crawford County Fair, Meadville,
through the 271 h.
Monday, August 22
Harford Fair, Harford, PA. Runs
through die 271 h.
Fulton County Fair, McConnclls
burg, through the 27th.
Mountain Area Community Fan,
Farmington, through the 27th.
Tuesday, August 23
Cumberland Co. 4-H Swine
Round-up Sale. 5:30 p.m. at
Carlisle Livestock Market
Blue Valley Farm Show, Bangor,
through the 27th.
Perry County Fair, Newport,
through the 27ih.
Elizabethtown Community Fair,
Lancaster Farming '
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Published Every Saturday
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by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Slttnrmp Entmprttt
Robert G Campbell * General Manager
Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor
C*pyri|M IMS ky Lancaster Farming
job” to showcase the reasearch and
expertise that’s available for the
use of the agriculture industry, the
Ag Days event could be a failure.
Dean Hood hinted at this idea in
his opening remarks at the govern
ment day luncheon when he said
that rehearsing ag facts for those
who already know them is like
“preaching to the choir.” “We have
the responsibility to tell the ag
story outside the agriculture indus
try,” Hood said. “People who, fora
lot of reasons, don’t understand
what agriculture is all about must
be told of the many facets in our
industry. Our educational chal
lenge is to inform the 12 million
citizens of Pennsylvania about
agriculture,” Dean Hood said.
So while Ag Progress Days,
under the direction of Joe Harring
ton, was a great educational exper
ience for the choir, we need to go
home and preach what we have
learned to our urban Mends. What
we’ve learned about this industry
called agriculture will have its
greatest value if we pass on the
information to those around us.
And the true success of Ag Prog
ress Days will in the end be deter
mined by the extent the particip
ants join in this missionary-type
educational process.
*2
Elizabethtown, through the
27th.
Hookstown Grange Fair, Hook
stown, through the 28th.
Wednesday, August 24
Northwest PA Holstein Show,
Crawford Fairgrounds,
Meadvillc.
Perry County Holstein Show, Fair
(Turn to Page A3l)
I FARM FORUM OUR READERS WRITE
Editor:
I am writing this letter in sheer
disgust, I am ashamed that the
American Congressman & Rep
resentative cannot see past his
nose.
I am ashamed that the American
dairy farmer cannot send a rep
resentative to a drought hearing
that knows anything about the
farm situation.
People make jokes about the
stupid farmer and they are probab
ly right. Who else in the world
would sell everything he markets
and not know what he is going to
receive for his product? Who else
BOV. 1 LOOK HOW MV ARM
HAS BROKEN-OUT, X
MUST HAVE GOTTEN
INTO SOMETHING"
In
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
'Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Be Alert
For Silo Gas
Wc are fast approaching silo
filling lime; 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 the
dry conditions early in the summer
and some badly “stunted” com, we
need to be aware of the increased
danger of poisonous gases, known
to farmers as “silo gas”. Wc urge
our farmers to discuss this hazard
with their employees and all fami
ly members. These gases can deve
lop from one day to 14 days after
the silo is filled. Most of the gases
have a chlorine-laundry bleach
odor and irritate the eyes and
respiratory system. Some are yel
low 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, and never work
alone. These gases arc heavier than
air and will come down the chute
and into the bam. Be careful
around recently filled silos.
To Plan Winter
Cover Crops
This is a good lime to give some
thought to a winter cover crop on
land that has been tilled this past
season. The seeding of ryegrass,
bromegrass, or winter grains fol
lowing the harvesting of the main
crop this fall, will help reduce soil
erosion.
In addition, a cover crop adds
organx matter when it is incorpor
ated into the soil next spring. Cov
er crops arc especially helpful on
slopes and hillsides where water
erosion is a problem. Just a word of
would work 15-hour days only to
find out that he did not work hard
enough so he could take a vaca
tion? Who else would gamble that
it was going to rain enough to
supply food for the'counlry at slave
wages.
1 keep reading about a 50 cent
increase in milk prices and I keep
hearing about emergency loans
and emergency feed.
Only the American farmer
would be stupid enough to believe
that these things will keep him in
business. Only the American far
mer will continue to work long
(Turn to Page A3l)
WHAT DO VOOTHINK
IT IS, POISON IVY ?
caution, some herbicides used on
com (atrazinc) may prevent the
growth of any grain or cover crop
this fall.
To Be Aware
Of Infertility
During Hot
Weather
During periods of hot weather
cows' and bulls can become infer
tile, according to Glenn Shirk,
Extension Dairy Agent. When heat
becomes too stressful, cows will
not exhibit sexual activity. If the
heat persists cows may not con
ceive; it could be that the bull has
become temporarily infertile. Or,
if the cow does conceive, she may
experience early embryonic death.
Once cool weather brings relief,
the cow will probably regain her
fertility more rapidly than the bull.
It may be weeks before the bull
becomes fertile. Therefore, if you
are interested in getting cows
settled as soon as possible after a
heat wave, you might be able to
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 6.
Devotional Reading: Deutero
nomy 6:1-9.
We are so accustomed to
bewailing “the new generation,”
that we may forget that in God’s
sight it doesn’t matter whether a
generation is “new” or “old,” but
whether it is obedient to him.
There are numerous places in the
Bible where the “old” generation
failed God and he had to go with
the next one to accomplish his
purposes.
One of those failures was evi
dent in the story of the Israelites’
wanting to go back to Egypt rather
than into the Promised Land. The
“old” generation, for all their
experience with God and the wil
derness, failed because they lacked
the faith to follow God’s plan. So,
the consequence was that that gen
eration should wander into the wil
derness for 40 more years.
Because of their timidity, that gen
eration of Israelites was disquali
fied from taking the Promised
Land.
LEARNING FROM
MISTAKES
So, it was to a “new” generation
that the Promised Land was to be
given. Presumably, the children of
the Israelites learned a lesson from
their parents. No generation can
keep from making mistakes, but
we can try to help succeeding gen
erations learn from them. Of
course it is difficult to leach a
“new” generation, but if we’re
open and honest about our mis
takes, our sins, we can at least give
them the opportunity to learn and
avoid the consequences we have
had to pay. The problem is often,
not that a generation has its fai
lures, but that it pretends otherwise
and thus increases the probability
that the mistakes will be
YOU'D BETTER LET 7f4E
DOC TAKE A LOOK AT
improve conception rates by
breeding artificially, especially for
the first month or so until the bull
regains his fertility.
To Keep Stand-By
Generators In Order
The value of stand-by genera
tors was very evident this summer
with the many power failures from
lightning and high winds. The
important thing is to have a genera
tor that is in good working condi
tion. We never know when we
have storms (rain, snow, ice or
wind) that will take away our regu
lar power source.
Highly mechanized farmers are
urged to test their generators and
be sure they arc in top condition. If
the generator is old, or not in good
condition, it might be wise to
invest in another one. Some losses
have been very high due to the lack
of electricity for a short period of
lime. Planning for emergency
action when electric power is off is
very good management
perpetuated.
This is what Moses attempted to
do when he addressed the “new”
generation of Israelites: “And
when the Lord your God brings
you into the land which he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, to give you, with
great and godly cities, which you
did not build, and houses full of all
good things, which you did not fill,
and cisterns hewn out, which you
did not hew, and vineyards and
olive trees, which you did not
plant, and when you eat and are
full, then take heed lest you forget
the Lord, who brought you out of
the land of Egypt...” (Deutero
nomy 6:10-12).
GODS WITHIN US
To the “new” generation of
Israelites, Moses also said: “You
shall not go after other gods, of the
gods of the people who are round
about you” (6:14). It sounds like
such simple advice, but it isn’t, not
if we’re to judge from human his
tory. Even when Western civiliza
tion had given up idols and graven
images, that did not mean the end
of serving “other gods.” Although
Christianity rather quickly con
quered all of Europe, the old pagan
gods were often anonymously
incorporated into the new religion.
For the acid test for religion is
not the faith to which you publicly
subscribe, but that which you fol
low in the day-to-day living of
your life. The problem is not so
much the pagan forces that sur
round us, but those which inhabit
our lives from within. We profess a
spiritual power, but live as if it
were only the material that
counted. We preach faith, but we
try to live by certainty. We talk of
venturing forth for God, but we
cling desperately to our security.
We elevate righteousness, but
spend our lives grasping at power.
Even- and maybe especially- in
our church lives.
So Moses gave ihe “new” gener
ation good advice and they were
wise enough to heed it.
(Based on copyrighted Outlines produced
by the Committee on the Uniform Senes and
used by permission Released by Community
& Suburban Press)
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