AlO-Lancaster Faming, Saturday, June 17,1989
OPINION
Thank You! Thank You!
Thank You!
American agriculture owes one Lancaster County veal pro
ducer a huge thank you for taking great personal risks to show
the public media this week what fanning is really like. This far
mer who remains unidentified for his own protection, allowed
his veal operation to be seen first-hand by TV and print news
cameras and crews as part of the American Veal Association’s
annual meeting field tour. He did this in the face of bold, public
demonstration against animal agriculture at the convention
headquarters.
The farm is impeccable. And after all negative exposure the
veal industry has received, it was refreshing to see an operation
that has put practical answers to the questions that are raised by
animal welfare groups. The calves in this 300 head operation are
not tied. They turn around in their stalls at will. A rubber coated
mesh on the floor provides comfort for the calf.
And while the calves are monitored to insure that they don’t
receive too much iron, they are never allowed to have “iron poor
blood.”
The building is clean and smells fresh. A ventilation system
features evaporative cooling that keeps the inside atmosphere
better than outside temperatures. Windows and a dusk to dawn
lighting system provide light for the calves 24 hours per day.
Non-medicated feed is provided after the calf is past the start-up
period.
Since the calves are free to move around, they lose no loco
motion capacity. Therefore, at market time, the calves move at a
lively pace in the walkways from the bam to the transportation
trucks.
These calves were content and received excellent care. And
the Lancaster Veal Farmer who cares for them did a great ser
vice for agriculture when he allowed the public to see that care.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!
Farm Calendar
Saturday, June 17
Junior Livestock Day, Ag Arena,
Penn State, University Park,
registration at 8:30 a.m.
Lancaster County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Farm & Home Center,
Lancaster, 7:00 p.m.
Sullivan County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Dushore, 7:00 p.m.
Somerset County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Somerset High
School, Somerset, 7:30 p.m.
Huntingdon County Dairy Prin
cess Pageant, Shavers Creek
Community Building, Shavers
Creek, 7:30 p.m.
Beaver-Lawrence County Dairy
FARM FORUM our readers write
T ' tor ’ Lancaster Farming turned out
I just received the current issue the most outstanding lay-out for
of Lancaster Fanning. I want to us of several publications we sent
thank you for printing the article I pictures and articles to. You peo
wrote about the Central Virginia pie are really professionals.
Livestock Show, and commend Thank you again for including
you on the great job you did with central Virginia in your fine
the pictures I sent. I thought they publication
were not very good but you were
able to print them and make them
look super.
Lancaster Farming
Established 19SS
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Sltlnimn Emtrpelu
Robert G. Campbell -General Manager
Everett R. Newiwanger Managing .Editor
e<mri|ht IM* ky LaneaMr Pttmlnf
"Tf—
Princess Pageant, Big Knob
Grange, Rochester, 8:00 p.m.
Indiana County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Sprouls Fine Arts
Building, McVittey Auditor
, ium, Indiana University, India
na, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 18
Jefferson County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Jefferson County Ser
vice Center, Brookville, noon
to 6:00 p.m.
World Pork Expo, Illinois State
Fairgrounds, Springfield, 111.;
runs through June 20.
(Turn to Pag* A2l)
Mary Louise Toms
CVLS Committee
Bedford, Va.
CAN voo unscramble: /.
TMESE letters to spell \
OUT 10' DAIRY PRODUCTS) p ]
r
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
'Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Check Lighting For Layers
One of the cardinal rules for
poultry management is to never
decrease the light period of flocks
in production. Most flock mana
gers would never intentionally
decrease the day length to a flock
in production, but we are in the
season of the year when this can
happen accidentally.
Most layers are in a light
controlled, not light-tight, hous
ing. The major sources of light
leakage are the exhaust fans and
air intake. Pullet flocks placed in
the laying house during late fall,
winter or spring can be given a 14
hour day. As summer approaches
and natural day length exceeds 14
hours, layers in non-light tight
housing will be exposed to an
increasing day length due to the
light entering the building through
fans and air intakes.
This increase in day length
causes no problem. The longest
day occurs on June 21 and
decreases until December 21. It is
this decrease in day length that can
cause layers to go out of produc
tion unless the time clocks con
trolling the lights are readjusted to
provide the layers with the day
length they received on June 21.
To Be Aware Of a Farm Statis
tic Survey
U.S.D.A. Farm Statistics Ser
vice will be undertaking its annual
June farm survey, according to
Robert Anderson, Extension
Agronomy Agent. Three thousand
Pennsylvania farmers will be part
of 117 thousand farmers national
ly asked to answer questions about
their farming operation.
The survey which will be sent
to randomly selected farms
between June Ist and 15th will be
used to gather information about
crop acreage, grain stocks, live
stock inventories, the number of
farms and the number of acres
farmed. The facts gathered on
individual farms are strictly confi
dential and will only be used to
project state, regional and national
estimates. In Pennsylvania the
survey will be conducted by the
Agricultural Statistics Service of
PDA. Anyone who receives a
questionnaire can direct questions
to them at 717-787-3904.
To Control Weeds In Your Gar
den
Every farm and nearly every
homeowner has a garden, and with
that garden comes weeds. Well,
it’s not generally a good idea to
use chemical weed killers in the
home garden.
There are several good reasons
DAIRY MONTH (
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for this. Among them are: difficul
ty of applying proper rates under
home garden conditions, lack of
proper equipment, and danger of
injury to near-by crops and valu
able ornamentals.
The home garden is also limited
in the number of chemicals that
can be used on more than one
crop. In many cases, only one
material can be used on a single
crop. There may be problems by
having to buy more than you need
and not having a good place to
store these materials.
Wherever possible use mulches
or cultivation and good cultural
practices to help eliminate weeds,
in other words, a hoe operated
with two good hands is a very
effective and efficient method.
To Renovate Strawberries
Since the harvest of the straw
berry crop is nearly over, it is a
A CHARGE
TO KEEP
June 18,1989
Background Scripture: Joshu
a 18:1-10; 21:43 through 22:6.
Devotional Reading: Isaiah
40:1-5, 9-11.
' Of course I’ve read this passage
before. But I must confess that
somehow in the past I have consis
tently failed to appreciate its signi
ficance. Actually, it is one of the
supreme moments in the life of
Israel - at least the tribes of
Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh - for
it is the one time in this people’s
history when, it would seem, they
have been completely faithful to
God’s commands.
Joshua speaks to these people
rare words of praise: “You have
kept all that Moses the servant of
the Lord commanded you, and
have obeyed my voice in all that I
have commanded you; you have
not forsaken your brethren these
many days, down to this day, but
have been careful to keep the
charge of the Lord your God”
(Joshua 22:2,3).
A PERSONAL CHARGE
“Careful to keep the charge of
the Lord your God”! Can you
think of a higher commendation
than that for a person, a group, a
nation, or a world? What more
might you want said of you than
that? Can you think of a higher
accolade for a church?
Unfortunately, we become so
involved in the daily living of life,
particularly in meeting its short
range demands, that we tend to
forget that each of us has a charge
to keep in God’s sigbf, We know
God has expectations of other
people - Mother Theresa, Albert
Schweitzer, Thomas Merton et. al
- but we need to be constantly
reminded that God also has expec
tation» for each of us.
Some people will retort: "Well.
m J
good time to plant for next year. In
most cases, plants that have
yielded two or more crops cannot
be expected to do well in the
future. However, if the current
planting is to be used for another
year we suggest that the rows be
worked by the use of mechanical
cultivation and followed by top
dressing with fertilizer. These
practices will keep the berry
plants in a row and encourage
additional runners to increase next
year’s yield.
In the case of a new planting of
strawberries, we urge you to fertil
ize them in June and again in early
August. This extra plant food will
enable the setting of runners and
will help increase yield next year.
The Cooperative Extension is
an affirmative action, equal
opportunity educational institu
tion.
I’m not aware of any charge God
has given me!” probably lots of us
feel that way and our lives show it,
too. If we are unaware, however, it
is not because God hasn’t made
known his expectations to us, but
that we have not paid attention to
them. If we want to know what we
are charged to keep-for God, we
can.
ENOUGH SAID
Mother Theresa probably
knows precisely what God wants
of her in thd years just ahead. (I’m
assuming that; I don’t really
know.) In contrast, at this moment
I’m not really sure just what it is
that God wants of me in the next
few years. There seems to be sev
eral possibilities. Perhaps you’re
pretty much in the same situation.
But that doesn’t mean that we
don’t have a charge from God.
Even in the general terms with
which Joshua spoke to the three
tribes, there is enough specifica
tion of what God wants of me --
and you --: “...to love the Lord
your God, and to walk in all his
ways, and to keep his command
ments, and to cleave to him, and to
serve him with all your heart and
with all your soul” (Joshua 22:5).
Of course, all of us would like
things spelled out a bit more than
that. I could quibble over just how
to “love” God, what “ways” of his
in which I need to walk, and speci
fically which “commandments”
upon which to concentrate. Still, if
we never get another communica
tion from God than the charge of
which Joshua speaks, it is enough
to give us a charge that will claim
our deepest inspiration, our
staunchest faith, our greatest
efforts and highest
accomplishments.
(NOTE: Mr. Allhouse's new
book. What You Need Is What
You’ve Got - Finding, Develop
ing and Using Your Inner
Resources, has just been pub
lished by Samuel Weiser, Inc. If
not available locally, you can
order it autographed for $10.95
from New Dimensions Center,
First United Methodist Church,
Ross & Harwood Streets, Dallas,
TX 75201.)
(Based on copyrighted Outlines produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Senes and used
by permission Released by Community A Sub*
urban Press)
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