AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 12, 1991 OPINION Eat Beef: The following information was prepared by the National Cattle men’s Association; Myth: By “eating lower on the food chain” (eating less meat), Americans would improve the environment and they would free land and other resources for the production of food crops rather than meat and other animal products. Fact: The optimum use of natural resources in the U.S. as well as other parts of the world involves use of both animals and plants to produce the nutrients which humans require. For example, about half the land area of the U.S. is strictly grazing land - not suitable for crop production. That land would be of no use as a food resource if it were not for grazing livestock. Background: Cattle are more “environmentally friendly” and more effective m their use of land, gram, water and energy than sometimes is claimed. Only through ruminant (four-stomach), grazing animals can we harvest food from the more than one billion acres of range and pasture land in the United States. At least 85 percent of the grazing land is too high, too rough, too dry or too wet to grow cultivated crops. The availability of grazing cattle more than doubles the U.S. land area that can be used to produce plants for food purposes. Cattle production is not preventing production of plant-source foods for domestic and overseas use. The U.S. has more than enough cropland to grow both feed grains and food crops. In fact, because of gram surpluses, government crop programs involve removal of land from gram production. Cattle are fed just enough grain, in feedlots, to make beef produc tion highly efficient and to make beef more affordable. Grain feeding makes beef more palatable. Feedlot feeding helps even out the beef supply, avoiding the seasonal gluts and shortages which occurred when beef was produced only on forage and roughage. If cattle had to spend more lime on grass, the size of the cattle herd would have to be reduced, beef supplies would be smaller, and costs would be higher. Actually, the nutrient values of plant and animal-source foods can not be directly compared. Livestock serve as a means of gathering, concentrating and storing nutrients essential to human health. In the United States, foods from animals supply 68 percent of the protein, 35 percent of the energy, 83 percent of the calcium, 60 percent of the phosphorus, 42 percent of the iron, 89 percent of the vitamin B-12 and large amounts of other essential nutrients. So, eat beef, it’s good for you! tr 4 , Farm Calendar Saturday. January 12 North Country Food First Work shop, St. Joseph School, Malone, N.Y., 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Forest Landowners’ Workshop, Mountain View Inn, Greens burg, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. , Sheep and Lamb Health Manage ment Seminar, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, 9:30 a.m.-4;30 p.m. York Co. Fruit Growers annual banquet, Rutter’s Family __t Centre Co./Clinton Co. Crops Day, Logan Grange Hall, Pleas ant Gap, 9:30 a.m. York Co. DHIA Workshop, York Co. 4-H Center, 9 a.m.-noon. Northumberland Co./Penn State eighth annual winter confer ence, First Baptist Church, Mil ton, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Lancaster Fanning Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E Mam St Ephrata, PA 17522 by Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Slemman Enterprise Robert G Campbell General Manager Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor Capyrlflht IMO by LaneMtor Farmlnf IPs Good For You Basic water quality management. Penn State. Potter Co. DHIA meeting, 8 p.m. Huntingdon Co. pasture manage ment meeting, Juniata Valley Lancaster Co. dairy farm rental and business agreement meet ing, Farm and Home Center, 7:30 p.m. New Jersey annual vegetable meeting. Trump Castle Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City, thru Jan. 17. Woody Ornamental Plant Identifi cation Course, Neshaminy Manor Center, Doylestown, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., repeats Jan. 16,23, and 25. Berks/Monlgomery Weed Man agement Course, Oley Valley High School Vo Ag Room, repeats Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5, (Turn to Page A 33) ( Boy, talk. ABOUT UNLUCKY iPgTj IEIH He s rajl NOW IS THE TIME By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agricultural Agent To Be Aware Of The Meeting Season This is the time of year that a lot of educational meetings are held and they’re held during this sea son of year for a good reason... you have more time to attend meetings. During the spring, the summer and into the fall, there’s just too much field work that must be done. Take the time to become acquainted with the meetings of interest to you and your operation. Some meetings are designed to reach certain production groups such as Dairy Days, Cattle Feed er’s Day, Crops and Soils Day and Poultry Day, but others are prog rammed to reach all agri-business people like the Financial Manage ment, Estate Planning and Farm Transfer Arrangement meetings. Also, many agri-business and lending institutions conduct meet ings to keep you abreast of the changes in their organizations. To Handle Waste Oil Properly Many car, tractor and truck owners are able to save money by changing their own engine oil. Performing this simple mainte nance operation can save time and money. But, according to Jeffrey Stoltzfus, Nutrient Management Agent, this simple task often cre ates a big problem. How do I get rid of the waste oil? Used motor oil is a widespread pollutant. Each year millions of gallons are dumped deliberately into streams or poured carelessly in backyards, roadside ditches and sewers. Motor oil eventually ends up contaminating streams and riv ers, as well as groundwater. The besy wat protect streams and groundwater from oil pollu tion is to recycle waste oil. Waste oil can be recycled by reprocess ing it into heating oil or refining it into lubricating oil. Take your used motor oil to a local collection center. Your local service station or home heating oil dealer should be able to refer you to the nearest collection center. To Control Lice On Animals When animals arc penned up lor the winter, buildups of lice can become a problem. Lice spend their entire life cycle on their host animal and can spread from am- mal to animal by direct contact. According to Glenn Shirk, Exten sion Dairy Agent, the preferred sites of lice buildups are over the tail, head, back, shoulders and neck regions. Infested areas may have rough, blotchy haircoats and excessive rubbing may result in loss of hair. Unthrifty and shabby looking animals arc more susceptible, and large populations of lice can cause animals to become anemic. This can result in poorer weight gains, and reduced productive and repro ductive performance. Lice can be controlled by using ivermectin or organophosphatc dusts and sprays in accordance with label instructions. To Control Mid-Winter Rat Problems Rats arc dirty, they arc destruc tive and they carry disease spreading pests. We all know that, THE CRY AT MIDNIGHT! January 13,1991 Background Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13. Devotional Reading: Ephe sians 6:10-20. Have you ever noticed that sometimes the New Testament is surprisingly understanding of human failure, while at other times equally harsh. The answer, I suppose, is that Jesus often had rather different standards. He look a very liberal interpretation of the sabbath laws, but he could also be very uncompromising in judging hypocrisy. The parable ol the wise and foolish maidens is a good exam ple, for here we find a rather harsh judgement rendered on that which is usually regarded as a minor character flaw rather than an important sin. The five maidens who failed to provide for them selves enough oil for their lamps were not only late in getting to the wedding celebration, but they were refused admission: “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you,” said the bridegroom and he did not open the door. That seems somewhat strict, doesn’t it? After all, these five maidens hadn’t meant any harm. They just came to the feast unpre pared. They had forgotten to check their lamps to see if they had enough oil for the evening. Yes, that’s a social faux pas or even a stupid mistake - that’s why they were called the “foolish maidens” - but hardly a sin or an offense. CONSEQUENCES! But the bridegroom wasn’t pun ishing or penalizing the five fool ish maidens. He simply didn’t rec ognize them for he knew how rude it was for anyone to try to gain admission to the marriage feast “TAX PREPARER but did you know that one rat can cost you $2B a year and that rats cause an estimated 25% of all farm fires. Rats spread more than 35 diseases (which have killed more people than all the wars in history). Rats arc very prolific, they have new litters every 30 days... they multiply so rapidly that a pair could have 15,000 descendants in a year’s life span. Rats have sharp teeth, they can gnaw through lead pipes, sheet metal, cinder blocks and wiring. It’s estimated thdt rats destroy about 20% of all crops planted each year. This is an excellent time to check your bail stations and make sure they have fresh material. And be sure that children and dogs ans cats cannot get to the bait. Let’s do all we can to keep these expen sive, destructive pests out of our buildings. after the door was dosed. Jesus, it would seem, is saying, then, that there are certain consequences for unpreparedness. If you’re not ready when the cry comes at mid night, that’s your problem because you know better. To fail to prepare when we know belter is really a callous disregard for others. Sometimes people will say, “I’m sorry, I forgot,” as if that is a justi fication. But the question is: why did you forget? We rarely forget something that is really important to us. Thai’s the clue right there, isn’t it? If something is important to us, we arc not caught unprepared. If we arc unprepared, it is legitimate to assume that it was not important to us. So the five “foolish maidens” were more than just foolish - they had an attitude problem. They didn’t count this important event important enough to them to make the proper preparation. In Jesus’ day the wedding feast was one of the most important social and religious celebrations in any village. The high point of the celebration came when the bride groom escorted die bride from her father’s house to the couple’s new home. The 10 maidens went on ahead to wait for the bridal parly at their new home. But the bridal parly was delayed and so the maidens fell asleep as they waited. Midnight hardly seems a decent hour for a wedding party, but that’s when the bridal party came to their new home. It wasn’t until the bridegroom and bride arrived that the five foolish maidens checked their lamps for oil. They wailed until the very last minute. Although Matthew related this parable strictly to the second com ing of Jesus - “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” - it has broader implica tions for all of life, too. Many of the best opportunities and chal lenges come to us like the cry at midnight in the parable. When that cry comes is no time to begin to check on our preparedness. The time to make ourselves ready is before the cry. (Based on copynghted Outlines produced by the Committee of the Uniform Senes and used by permission Released by Community & Subur ban Press) ■you finished out theyear ] WITH A <3OOO PRDF/T AMD j NO MAJOR EXPENSES^/
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