AKttincttter Farming, Saturday, October 14, t§B9
UanssiS
OPINION
According to Alexander Pope, who lived in the early 1700’s,
‘To error is human, to forgive divine.” And that’s what hap
pened this week when State Secretary Boyd Wolff brought Gov
ernor Robert Casey’s apologies to the livestock industry at the
Stockmen’s Gala Monday night.
Earlier this year, a proclamation went out under the gover
nor’s signature in support of a “meatout day” that called atten
tion to the position of Animal Rights groups who want to elimin
age animal agriculture as we know it. But Secretary Wolff said it
was a mistake done by staff persons who did not understand the
position of the governor.
Reading from a letter to William Ringler, master of the State
Grange, Wolff quoted the governor as saying:
“Every year, thousands of proclamations and citations arc
issued by branches of state government in order to acknowledge
the efforts of particular groups and oiganizations. In this specif
ic case, however, the proclamation released by my office did not
and does not represent the position of my administration as it
relates to meat production and the agricultural industries that
depend on it.
“When I became aware of the proclamation, I immediately
directed that the document be rescinded because of my strong
belief that Pennsylvania should do all it can to promote our num
ber one industry-agriculture. It is important to me that you
know that I strongly disagree with any suggestion that farmers
abuse animals. To the contrary, I cannot imagine a group more
dedicated to the health and welfare of farm animals than farmers
themselves.”
And Ringler accepts the appology at face value. When con
tacted at his office later in the week, he said he was quite satis
fied with the letter. “The governor has a nice tone to his letters
and the man did all he could,” Ringler said. “I understand how it
could have happened and very frankly, he rescinded the procla
mation and I have no more problem with it.”
Neither do we. Case closed.
\ FARM FORUM OUR READERS WRITE
Editor:
Hi! My name is Kelly Dutrey
and this is my first year in the
York County 4-H Lamb Club and
The Swine Club. I have been help
ing my parents raise sheep since I
was really little. I am nine years
old. At the York Fair, I got first in
my weight class. My sheep
weighed ninety pounds. He’s real
ly doing well. I hope to do well
with him at this coming Roundup.
I really enjoyed working on my
animals this year and have had fun
keeping their records on my
parents computer.
By the way, I would like to
invite you to our Roundup. We are
going to be selling cattle and
sheep.
Our sale will be held on Mon
day, October 16 at Weikert’s Buy
ing Station in Thomasville. The
Lamb Sale will start at 6:30 p.m.
and the cattle sale will start at 7:00
p.m.
I hope you can make it to the
sale. We have a buyer’s social
with refreshments at 6:00. Thank
You.
Kelly Dutrey
Dallastown
Lancaster Fanning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaater Farming, Inc.
A Sltinman EMtrprS*
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
C«pyrl|M lat ky Lancaakr Piraln(
r r _
Case Closed
P.S.: (If you cannot attend the
sale, or cannot use my lamb at this
time, you can still support the sale
and get some public advertising
by contacting the York County
4-H Extension Office and talking
to Tony Dobrosky at 757-9657, or
my parents at 244-7307 and
arrangements can be made for my
lamb to be resold to the Buying
Station at an announced market
price. All buyers are recognized in
the York newspapers, Lancaster
Farming and at our annual club
banquet.
Saturday, October 14
Stock Dog Clinic, Tripoli; runs
through October 15, call
215/285-2021 for information.
Sunday, October 15
York County 4-H lamb roundup,
Weikert’s Buying Station, Tho-
Farm Calendar
*
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Graze
Cautiously
During this time of year we
receive many phone calls concern
ing the damages of pasturing for
age crops after being hosted. All
of the permanent grasses such as
bluegrass, orchardgrass or brome
grass can be safely grazed at any
time of the year, this is also true of'
any of the small grain cover crops
such as rye, wheat or barley. All of
these are not toxic when frozen
and usually do not present any
bloating problems.
However, the legumes such as
clover and alfalfa should be
grazed very carefully. They are
not toxic after being frosted, but
will cause severe bloating if con
sumed while the frost is on the
leaves. Allow the host to thaw,
and the plants to dry off before
turning in the herd or flock.
Also, any of the Sudan grasses
or sorghum hybrids should not be
grazed for at least a week after
being frozen. Neither should the
new growth, after being frozen, be
consumed.
To Reduce
Egg Breakage
Egg breakage is costing poultry
producers a great deal. You would
be surprised how much. Some
poultry producers do not realize
how many eggs they are losing
because they’re not keeping an
accurate record of them. In studies
where this has been checked care
fully, the percentage of eggs bro
ken range from 2% to 5% up to
10%. With a flock of 60,000 lay
ers averaging 75% production, a
loss of 4% is 1,800 eggs per day or
150 dozen. This loss comes to $9O
per day or $2,700 per month when
eggs sell for 60 cents per dozen.
Check the nests or cages for
needed repair. Often we find eggs
being broken right in the cages.
Check the egg trays. If these are
bent, they can break many eggs.
Careful handling will reduce
breakage if eggs are gathered by
masville, 1:00 p.m.
Monday, October 16
York County 4-H beef roundup,
Weikert’s Buying Station, Tho
masville, 9:00 a.m.
York County 4-H lamb, beef
roundup sale, Weikert’s Buy
(Turn to Pago A:3l>
hand. Trying for too much speed
in gathering may cause more loss
than a little extra time.
With mechanized gathering,
check the escalators to be sure
they are timed properly and are
not breaking eggs. Check the
orientors to be sure eggs are not
piling up. This is an egg cracker
on many farms.
To Plan Winter
Weed Control
In Alfalfa
As the alfalfa plant slows down
and prepares to go into dormancy,
other plant populations in that
same field can be increasing in
vigor and growth. These are the
winter annual weeds: chickweed,
shepherds purse, yellow rocket
and some grassy weeds which
overwinter. All are in their young
stages of growth.
You’ll not see crop injury now,
but wait until that first cutting
comes off next May. Those same
little weeds all will have flowered
and set seed by that time. Not only
do yield losses occur but field cur-
POLITICAL
POWER
October!, 1989
Background Scripture:
Daniel 12.
Devotional Reading:
Matthew 13:36-43.
People have argued over the
meaning of Daniel and his visions
almost from the first day that they
were recorded. Was Daniel speak
ing only of his own times, or was
he foreseeing a distant future that
still lies beyond us and our world
today? I don’t wish to become
embroiled in that argument
because I think it fruitless.
Besides, the scriptures are not
really for argument, but for inspi
ration and performance.
Regardless of those arguments,
there is something valuable in
Daniel 12 that quite transcends the
vagaries of interpretation. As in all
of the Book of Daniel, the mes
sage is one of both warning and
consolation and this two-fold mes
sage is for us as well as for those
who lived in Daniel’s time.
UNPRECEDENTED
TROUBLE
Daniel’s visionary dreams told
him that “there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never has been
since there was a nation til that
lime” (Daniel 12:1a). Quite unlike
many of our contemporary visions
of the future, things do not gradu
ally evolve into some kind of para
dise. In fact, according to Daniel,
the culmination of God’s plan is
directly preceded by a time of
trouble that has no precedent.
So this is the warning Daniel
gives the people of Israel: before
God’s victory, a time of trouble.
Daniel doesn’t tell us anything
about this time of trouble, but in
the rest of the book he has consis
tently indicated a recurring
ing problems and lower hay qual
ity results.
Fall applied herbicide(s) will
largely eliminate the costly winter
weed problem. The Agronomy
Guide lists a number of effective
materials. Follow label instruc
tions for application rates. *
For Farm
Show Entries
January, and Pennsylvania
Farm Show time, seems like a
long time away. But, really it is
not, because now is the time to be
making your livestock and dairy
entries for the Pennsylvania Farm
Show. Just a reminder that
November 2 is the deadline for
these entries - and that is close at
hand. So, if you ate interested in
exhibiting at Farm Show, you can
obtain entry blanks and a premium
book from your County Extension
Office. The Farm Show runs from
January 7 through 12, 1990.
The Penn State Cooperative
Extension is an affirmative action,
equal opportunity educational
institution.
struggle between God’s children
and their enemies. The reason for
the struggle, it would seem, is
failure of God’s children to do ana
be all that they could. The latter,
of course, earn “shame and ever
lasting contempt” (12:2).
What this says to us some two
thousand years later is that times
of trouble don’t “just come,” they
are caused. The causes are many:
human greed, enmity, injustice,
unrighteousness, and so on. So
whenever we find ourselves in a
time of great trouble, we need to
ask ourselves what we need to
learn from it. Illness, for example,
is often an outer signal that some
thing is wrong with us within. Per
haps it means we are consumed by
bitterness or prejudice, or that we
live a lifestyle that takes too great
a toll on us. Whenever trouble
cqmes and in whatever form it
comes; it has a message for us.
GOOD OUT |
OF EVIL -
Secondly, trouble is God’s
opportunity and ours t0...1um our
troubles into something else.
There is never a trouble so great
that we can’t leam something
from it. There is never a concern
that we can’t turn into something
positive. This is one of the great
themes of the Bible; that God is
able to bring good out of evil and
life out of death. This is the mes
sage of many of the Old Testa
ment prophets and all of the New
Testament. In a sense, the whole
Bible is based on this theme.
Many of us would probably prefer
that the Bible told us how to avoid
trouble. It doesn’t. But it does tell
us how to meet trouble and with
the help of God to turn it into
something redemptive.
If we do the rewards are bound
less: “those who are wise shall
shine like the brightness of the fir
mament” and “those who turn
many to righteousness, like the(
stars for ever and ever” (12:3). In
times of trouble that we cannot
escape, we need to remember that
by God’s grace we can be victors
instead of victims.
(Btced 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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* © •
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