AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 9, 1991 OPINION Pseudorabies Control: The Time Is Ripe For the past decade, pseudorabies (PRV), a contagious viral disease of swine, has been causing problems for Lancaster County pork producers. The disease has caused death losses and illness in pigs. At times, it spreads to cattle and sheep, even to dogs and cats. In all these animals, the disease is dramatic and swift, ending in death. Economic losses in swine can be severe, although some herds experience little or no observable illness. Pseudorabies creates a wider circle of loss for Pennsylvania producers. Infected herds have restrictions on movement of their swine; testing posts and vaccination costs add to the dollar drain because of the virus. Neighboring herds and swine produc ers who may wish to purchase swine from the affected area are at risk. A decade ago, producer options for control of PRV were lim ited. Pork producers throughout the U.S. were uncertain if eradi cation was possible or practical. Vaccine use was limited and not permitted at all in Pennsylvania. Quarantine and depopula tion were the control measures. That was then. This is now. According to Dr. Larry Hutchinson, Extension veterinarian, Penn State University, in 1991, Pennsylvania has a new set of swine disease regulations. Several genetically-engineered vac cines are available that produce immunity but can be differen tiated from disease-producing virus by special tests. Control measures coupled with vaccine use are eliminating the virus from many herds. Both the National and the Pennsylvania Pork Producers coun cils are committed to control and eventual eradication of PRV. State funding for an accelerated PRV control has been slow in coming, but a large-scale test and vaccinate program for north ern Lancaster County is gaining momentum. All the tools and information necessary for control of PRV are available now. Lancaster County and Pennsylvania pork producers should move now to clean up this health problem. The time is ripe! Farm Calendar Venango Co. Beef Day, extension office, 10 a.m. Managing Farmland Wildlife In The ’9o’s, Dauphin Co. Ag and Natural Resources Center, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. York Co. Pork Producers annual banquet, Winterstown Fire Hall, 7 p.m. USDA CRP Sign-Up, thru March 15. Regional Christmas Tree Seminar and Trade Show, Rustic Lodge, Indiana, Pa., 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mercer Co. pork producers All- Breed Gilt Sale, New Wilming ton Auction, 1 p.m. Marylanc^tat^lolsteir^ale. Philadelphia Flower Show, Civic Center, thru March 17. USDA CRP Sign-Up, thru March 15. Pscudorabies update meeting, Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Mam St Ephrata, PA 17522 by Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Sleinmtn Enttrprea Robert G Campbell General Manager Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor Copyright IMO by Laneastar Farming Bergstrasse Elementary School, Ephrata, 7:30 p.m. Poultry Management and Health Seminar, Kreiders Dairy Farms Restaurant, Manheim, noon. Lancaster Co. Home Horticulture Seminar, Water Gardening, Farm-and Home Center, 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Jefferson Co. Dairy Nutrition School I, Unilec Building, Dußois, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Game Bird Production and Man agement of Shooting Preserves, Days Inn, State College, thru (Turn to Page A3O) Farm Forum Editor: Realizing you are a “Dairy” you to use dairy products; but Person I wanted to get this Read- ignore the thousands (millions?) ers Digest dairy ease ad to you. (Turn to Page A 35) • O -rP* - k r* NOW IS THE TIME By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agricultural Agent To Practice Safety Around Liquid Manure Pits Many manure pits will be cleaned out at this time of year for field application. This by-product of the livestock and dairy business is very useful as fertilizer. Howev er, the pit can be a safety hazard because of poisonous and explo sive gases. When the mixture is agitated in order to be removed, these gases are more plentiful and much more dangerous. Good ven tilation above the pit is very important. Also, anyone who goes down in the empty pit shouH be wearing a gas mask. These gases are dangerous and can be fatal to both humans and animals. We urge all farmers to caution their employees of this potential danger. To Be Aware Of Pesticide Law Changes Pennsylvania Pesticide Regula tions have been undergoing some major revisions during the past several years, according to Robert Anderson, Extension Agronomy Agent. These revisions have been talked about during that time and have been properly adopted. The two revisions which will have the most impact on agriculture need to be pointed out The first change is that if a person’s certification should lapse due to not complet ing the update training require ments, the person has one year to complete the training require ments without being required to take the certification test over. During that period, the person’s certification is not valid and they may not purchase or use restricted use pesticides. After the one year period, the person must be re examined. The second change will require records be kept of the use of any restricted use pesticides. These records must be maintained for a three year period. The records must include the location Most “Dairy Council” ads advise of where the pesticide was used with sufficient description to allow identification of the field, the brand name of the product used, the formulation used, the dosage rate, the total amount of the pesticide used, the name of the person making the application and their certification number. To Control Wild Garlic We may like onions on our hamburgers and in other foods, but very few of us like onion flavored milk. This can easily hap pen on dairy farms where wild garlic plants are allowed to grow. Many pastures are infested with wild garlic. One of the best times to start control measures on this weed is early in the spring when the young plants are 4 to 8 inches high. An application of 2,4-D will knock them down. Follow the label for directions. When this is applied around the middle to latter part of March, little damage is Esiyl SHOULD WE WAKE GOD? March 10.1991 Background Scripture: Luke 11:5-13 Devotional Reading: Matthew 7:7-12, I have been praying for the same person for the past 30 years. It would appear that my prayers so far have been unsuccessful. So, when I find the Psalmist crying, “How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (13:1), I feel he is singing my song: “How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” That’s why Jesus’ Parable of the Importunate Friend in Luke 11:5-13 gives me some difficul ties. This is the story of a man who receives a late evening visitor and finds he doesn’t have enough bread to properly be a good host. So, although it is already mid night, he goes to the house of a friend and knocks on his door. The friend doesn’t want to get up, but finally he does because of the other man’s persistent knocking. The meaning of Jesus’ parable, thus, is that we need to be persis tent importunate in our prayers. So, he promises, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (11:9,10). FISH OR SERPENT? To make sure he gets this mes sage across, Jesus goes on to ask, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish l will instead of a fish give him a serpent?” Even imperfect earthly fathers try to respond to their children’s needs. PUT done 10-any legume in the area. If garlic plants are allowed to mature each year, the pasture area will become so contaminated that dairy cows cannn r 'c the grass. Now that the winter weather is almost gone, our fruit growers should take a look at the newly exposed grass sod in their orchards. If there are runways at the surface of the grass, it is a good sign that there are plenty of mice in the orchard, even though a mouse baiting program may have been followed last fall. The mice have used up their stockpiles of stored food and are now looking for a fresh supply. At this time of the year they will move quickly onto bark and roots of fruit trees. Fruit growers should rebait their orchards as soon as possible if there are fresh mouse signs. How much more can we expect from our Father who is perfect? The point, therefore, is that we must be persistent if we expect to be successful in our praying. So, what’s my problem? How much more persistent am I to be? I’ve spent literally half my life praying for someone desperately in need of help and instead of a fish I seem to have been given a serpent. It is not because my pray er is a selfish one. Although no prayer is completely unselfish it would give me great joy to have my prayer fulfilled still it is for another’s welfare. I am not asking to sing like Pavarotti, look like Redford, or throw passes like Montana. AN UNWILLING GOD In the parable, the man wakened from his sleep doesn’t really want to help his importu nate friend, but does so anyway because he wants to stop the ruck us and get back to sleep as soon as possible. Is Jesus saying that God is like that man? That we must get his attention with our persistence? That he will respond to us only to get us off his back? Is my apparent failure in prayer the result of a lack of persistence, the wrong technique, or sales-resistance on God’s part? No, despite my disappointment and frustration, I do not think that is what the parable means. Wil liam Barclay says that the point of the parable “is not that we must batter at God’s door until we final ly compel him for very weariness to give us what we want, until we coerce an unwilling God to answer” (The Gospel of Luke, by William Barclay, Westminster Press, 1977). The point of this parable is that God is not uncar ing, unwilling or unable. God does care and that is why we are to be persistent not because God needs us to persist, but because we do. We need to hang in there until in God’s own time the need can be fulfilled in a way that is in har mony with God’s will. (Based on copynghtcd outlines produced by the Committee on the Uniform Senes and used by permission Released by Community and Sub urban Press) THE To Control Mice In Orchards ihsHf Op/
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers