AlO-Lancatter Fanning, Saturday, January 18, 1992
OPINION
Positions Eliminated
In recent years, the long list of markets we cover has provided
a special service to our readers as well as a service to the market
ing organizations.
We mention it here because recently we have been notified
that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has or will
soon cease to report a number of these auctions. While some of
these markets provide their own information, the PDA reports
have been the source of many of them. But because several peo
ple have retired and will not be repl aced, the personnel is no lon
ger available at PDA to cover these auctions. Especially hard hit
are the western Pennsylvania livestock and hay and grain
markets.
While we know government is slashing these services to far
mers because of budgetory restraints, we think cutting budget in
this area is not good. But once a position-has been eliminated, we
doubt it will ever be restored.
To help everyone involved, we have opened contact with all
the markets that will no longer be covered by PDA. Whenever
possible, by fax or by phone, we will obtain reports from these
markets so that the coverage can continue as it has in the past.
We plan to bridge the gap so that you can continue to be
informed of auction results and their trends. In more and more
cases, we will need to depend on the market’s own reports for
inclusion in our market pages.
Farm Calendar
w
[ Saturday, .Unman IS
Franklin Co. Holstein Club meet
ing, Lemasters Community
Center, 7 p.m.
Franklin Co. annual meeting,
Lemasters Community Center,
Lemasters, 7 p.m.
Beaver/Lawrence annual meeting.
New York Beef Cattlemen’s Asso
ciation annual meeting, Com
ing Hilton Inn, Coming, N.Y.,
thru Jan. 18.
Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.
bus trip to Poultry Expo in
Atlanta, thru Jan. 24.
Susquehanna Valley Dairy Day,
Paxtonville United Methodist
Church, 9 a.m.-3;15 p.m.
Satellite Crop Production Prog
ram, Penn State Worthington
Campus.
Satellite Forage Crops Seminar,
Lincoln Intermediate Unit,
New Oxford, 9:30 a.m.
Ag Education Day, Port Allegany
Vo-Tech, 9:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m.
Adams Co. forage crops meeting,
Lincoln Intermediate Unit,
New Oxford. 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday, January 21
Dairy reproduction workshop, Ml
View Restaurant, Clifford,
repeats Jan. 28.
Dairy/Crops Day, Ramada Inn,
Dußois, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Lancaster Extension 28th annual
banqueL Farm and Hon.c Cen
ter, 6:30 p.m.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Sfanrmn Enterprise
Robert G Campbell General Manager
Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor
Cspyrifht IMI by Lin cm tor Farming
Beef producers meeting, Ship
pensburg H.S., 7:30 p.m.
Pa. Lime, Fertilizer, and Pesticide
Conference, Days Inn Penn
State, thru Jan. 23.
Winter Grounds Maintenance
Seminar, Ramada Inn, Allen
town, 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m.
York Co. Dairy Day, Winterstown
Fire Hall, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Dairy quality assurance meeting.
Embers Restaurant, Carlisle, 7
p.m.
Area tax meeting, Holiday Inn,
Edinboro, 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m.
Beef Evaluation Program, live
evaluation, Leesport Fanner’s
Market, Leesport, 7 p.m.
“Improving Swine Production
Efficiency,” television short
course, downlinked to Berks
Campus, Reading.
Ag bankers meeting, Lancaster
Farm and Home Center, 9:15
a.m.
Woody Ornamental Plant Identifi
cation Course, Neshaminy
Manor Center, Doylestown, 10
a.m.-4 p.m., thru Jan. 22.
Warren Co. annual meeting, Sugar
Grove Fire Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Perry Co. Extension annual meet
ing, Perry Valley Grange Hall,
Area tax meeting, Days Inn, But
ler, 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m.
Coping With Labor Problems In
me ’9os, Penn State Great Val
ley, repeats Jan. 29,9 a.m.-3;30
p.m.
WHAT DO THEY MEAN/THE SNOW REALLY
DRIFTS INTH/5 VALLEY WHV JUST LOOK,
THERE'S AT LEAST A FOOT OF THAT
FENCE POST STICKING
ABOVE THE SNOW. WHV
THAT SNOW CANT BE
MORE THEN
THREE FEET DEEP.
To Prevent
Hearing Loss
Farm noise levels are extremely
high and may cause permanent
hearing loss.
Research has shown that noise
levels above 85 decibels may
result in hearing loss when some
one is exposed to that level for at
least eight hours. Duration and
intensity of noise exposure is
important to degree of hearing
loss.
A chain saw at 110 decibels may
result in damage after only one half
hour. Tractors produce noise
levels at 100 decibels or more
well above the OSHA standard of
85 decibels for an 8-hour duration.
In order to control these expo
sures, the EPA has developed rat
ings for hearing protection using
items such as foam earplugs and
ear muffs. These standards are
referred to as “noise reduction rat
ings,” or NRRs, and range from
0-30 decibels. This rating is the
number of decibels being reduced
to the operator when wearing the
hearing protection device.
It is important for all persons
who arc exposed to potentially
damaging noise levels to wear
hearing protection. Remember,
hearing damage may occur in both
young and old.
Hearing aids do not restore hear
ing loss, they only amplify sounds.
Protect your hearing with the new
generation of hearing protection
before hearing damage is done.
To Consider
Hillside Farrowing
Pens
Woody Ornamental Plant Identifi
cation Course, Neshaminy
Manor Center, Doylestown, 10
a.m.-4 p.m.
Bradford/Tioga Dairy Repro
Workshop, Sylvania Commun
i^HaJL^jSOajnij-^Djin
Pa. State Association of County
Fairs, Hershey Lodge, thru Jan.
25.
Dairy quality assurance meeting,
Lancaster Farm and Horn'' Cen
ter, 7 p.m.
Tax meeting, Ramada Inn,
Dußois, 9 a.m.-3:45 p.m.
(Turn to Page A3l)
C o
Dan McFarland, capitol region
agricultural engineer, reports that
many producers arc finding “hill
side” farrowing pens a good way to
allow sow freedom of movement
and reduce crushing of little pigs.
The overall dimensions of the
pen range from 6 feet by 6 feet to 6
feet by 8 feet. The pen slopes,
along the width, from 8 to 12
inches.
An 18-inch creep area is placed
along the lower side of the pen. As
the theory goes, newborn pigs will
slide into the creep area, dry off,
and return to the sow to nurse when
they have a little more vigor and
are in less danger of crushing.
Sows lie with their heads up or
down, but most always with their
udders facing the creep area. When
building new farrowing pens, con
sider the hillside design.
To Purchase
Cattle Wisely
Good herd health is vital to herd
Background Scripture: Song
of Solomon 2:8-17,
Devotional Reading: I Corin
thians 13.
Christians and Jews alike have
often not known what to do with
The Song of Solomon (or The
Song of Songs). In this ancient
book there is no overt religious
content, no mention whatsoever of
God. There is no literary or drama
tic structure to the book and it uses
many Hebrew terms that are rare in
the Bible.
Just what is this book supposed
to be? Is it an allegory? A drama?
A Syrian wedding ritual? A
Hebrew poem that reflects the
influence of Canaanite fertility
religion? Or is it a series of secular
love songs that got into the Old
Testament canon because it was
erroneously assumed that they
were written by King Solomon?
These are some of the answers pro
vided by various scholars.
Even if one treats it as an alleg
ory of the relationship of Christ
and his Church—one which is fre
quently used by Christians—there
are passages of the book which
most of us would be hesitant to
read in a worship service. There is
hardly anything in the book that
could be called "devotional" in
nature.
Let's assume for a moment that
these are secular love songs, that
their original intention was to cele
brate romantic and carnal love. Is
there anything that God can say to
us through these songs? Can we
leant anything about love from
them?
The very fact that this book is in
the Bible should dispel once and
for all the latterday Christian
notion that sexual union is inhe
rently either evil necessary or
otherwise or, at best, an experi
ence that is essentially secular. The
Song of Solomon's presence in the
profits.
So are good cows. When you
purchase cattle, you could be buy
ing more than good genetics and
good production. You could also
be purchasing some unwanted
health problems.
A good rule of thumb is to con
sider all purchased cows guilty
until proven innocent and infected
until proven healthy. Check on the
vaccination and health status of the
cattle you arc buying.
Consider having some tests
done yourself before making the
purchase. Purchase from a single
source if possible. Transport them
in clean trucks.
Discuss with your veterinarian
the vaccines that might be needed
to protect your herd.
By taking some precautions,
you could eliminate a very serious
and expensive situation.
Feather Prof s Footnote: "Take
time to pray it is the greatest
power on earth."
Old Testament assures us that sex
is a gift of God. Like any of God's
gifts, sex can be misused,
exploited, prostituted, or serve as a
substitute for God. But our prob
lem is not in what sex is, but what
we make it.
The writer of this book says "for
I am sick with love" (2:5). That's
right, in its romantic and erotic
forms, love is a kind of sickness,
sometimes even with aberrant
physical and emotional symptoms.
In the throes of this love, some
people can't think straight, lose
their appetites, run a slight fever,
act obsessively and irrationally,
and behave in a manner contrary to
their normal state of intelligence. It
is one of the few sicknesses of
humanity that can be either pleas
ant or painful, or both. During the
most chronic phases of this being
"sick with love," we are governed
more by our hormones than by our
intellect.
Would anyone want to say that,
in ordaining this state of affairs,
God had done something less than
divinely good or wise? We may
not understand these overwhelm
ing attractions, and some of us may
not handle them very well, but that
doesn't say that they are not with
out their appointed place in his
plan of creation. If, then, we are
squeamish about reading this book
in public worship, if some of its
passages make us uncomfortable,
the problem is with us, not with
those who wrote the book, nor our
God who created us this way.
If we have experienced love in
its deeper dimensions, we know
that although love may begin with
the hormones of attraction, that is
just the beginning of the process.
From attraction, we must move to
genuine mutual regard and we
see some of that in the Song of Sol
omon to commitment, and,
most of all, friendship, the deepest
form of friendship in which love
has grown from wanting to giving,
from possessing to sharing, and, as
Jesus Christ demonstrated for all
of us to see, being willing to lay
down one's own life for the sake of
the other.
THAT'S) A
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