AiO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 22, 1992
OPINION
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Leadership
fora growing
planet
This week FFA members from all over the country promoted
FFA, agricultural education and the food and fiber industry.
This year’s theme is FFA Leadership for a Growing
Planet. During FFA week and throughout the year, FFA chap
ters pursue activities which show that they are leading the
effort for a better environment. Planting trees, starting com
munity recycling efforts and restoring mining areas are just a
few of the initiatives planned by various chapters across the
country.
The week also provides FFA members in thousands of chap
ters across the U.S., Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
the chance to create awareness of and support for agricultural
education and the FFA. Public service announcements at the
local, state and national levels will help spread the message.
Agricultural education classes stress hands-on experience in
diverse areas of agriculture. FFA activities provide leadership
development, career training and award incentives for young
people.
Lee Thurber, national FFA president from Roca, Neb., said
FFA Week is an opportunity for members and communities to
recognize achievements and activities available through FFA
and agricultural education. This year’s theme challenges FFA
members to make a difference in their communities by thinking
globally, but acting locally.
We agree!
“No one cares more about the environment than those of us
who work in agriculture,” said Thurber. “Through agricultural
education and the FFA, our members put their values into prac
tice as they leam about the causes and solutions to the
challenges being posed to our environment.”
Each year FFA Week is held during the week of George
Washington’s birthday to recognize his leadership and commit
ment to American agriculture. The National FFA Center is
located on part of Washington’s original Mt. Vernon estate
near Alexandria, Va.
FFA is a national organization of 382,748 members in 7,744
local chapters throughout the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands preparing for leadership and careers in
the science, business and technology of agriculture. Local, state
and national activities and award programs provide opportuni
ties for students to apply knowledge and skills acquired
through agricultural education. FFA members strive to develop
agricultural leadership, cooperation and citizenship.
Our young people represent the future of agriculture. And
FFA is our youth. Therefore it can be said that FFA is the future
of agriculture. Long live FFA!
Farm Calendar
Holstein CatUe Sale, Sandy
Maryland Holstein Convention, Cove.
Sandy Cove, Northeast and Second toastmaster s meeting.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stoinrmn Entorprm*
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copyright Iggl by Lancaster Farming
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To Install
And Check
Smoke Alarms
Most fires in the home happen
between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Most
victims die from smoke and poi
sonous gas inhalation long before
the flames reach them.
This winter, several rural fami
lies have died in their homes
because no smoke alarms had beat
installed.
Everyone should install UL or
FM labeled smoke detectors that
sense smoke and sound an alarm
that will awake you in time to
escape. Detectors should be placed
on the ceiling or high on the walls
outside bedroom areas.
In a multilevel home, each level
should have a smoke detector.
Smoke detectors should be tested
weekly, especially when children
are present This allows children to
learn what the smoke detector
sounds like and what they should
do when they hear it.
The batteries should be replaced
annually. Non-working detectors
are a growing problem and about
one-fourth of all U.S. homes have
non-operational detectors. Dead or
missing batteries was the main
cause for non-functional detectors.
By installing and checking
smoke detectors on a regular basis,
you could save your family’s lives.
Lactations Begin
With Dry Periods
Glenn Shirk, extension dairy
agent, reminds us a cow’s dry per
iod is the foundation for her next
lactation.
A cow’s lactation will be no bet
ter than the care she received dur
ing her dry period.
Providing dry cows the care
they need requires extra effort and
an investment in proper facilities.
Dry cows need a special feed
ration that is formulated to meet
their specific needs.
Your regular lactating ration
Lancaster Farm and Home Cen
ter, 8:30 a.m.
Breeding efficiency and pasture
management for the small beef
herd, Washington Co. Fair
grounds, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
McKean/Potter horse leaders
meeting, Smethport.
(Turn to Pago A3l)
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simply will not accomplish this.
Cows. also, need special attention
2 to 3 weeks before calving and 1
week after calving. This means
you need to have two dry cow
groups and a recently freshen
group. You will need facilities that
permit you to manage these groups
separately.
When we get cold, we put on a
coat, turn up the thermostat, or
stroke the furnace or fireplace.
When animals get cold, they
have to generate more body heat
by burning up body fat or by con
suming more energy.
Calves are bom with very little
Br LAWKtNU W ALIHOIAt
Background Scripture: Reve
lation 15:2-4; 19:1-8.
Devotional Reading: Colos
sians 1:9-20.
There is a cartoon by Stan Hunt
that I clipped from The New
Yorker some years ago. The
scene is inside a church. The con
gregation is standing and singing.
Turning to her husband who
appears to be singing lustily, a
wife says: “Easy on the hallelujah,
Harry.”
I guess it is possible to get car
ried away with hallelujahs, but the
problems with lots of us is just the
opposite: too little, not too much
of them. In our church we sing the
Hallelujah Chorus by Handel
twice a year, at Christmas and
Easter, and these, of course, are
appropriate occasions. Most of
Handel’s great work is based upon
the Book of Revelation and its
great panorama of God’s ultimate
victory, especially Revelation 19.
WHAT WE NEED
I’ve often noted that on these
occasions, regardless fo what else
may be happening in our personal
lives tragedy, sorrow, depress
ion and so forth the Hallelujah
Chorus feels “right” because the
great significance of Christmas or
Easter over-shadow our own per
sonal concerns. That is, blessed
with the vision of God’s ultimate
triumph, we see our own personal
situations in perspective and we
realize that, no matter how painful
they may be, the promise of God’s
victory is greater.
Of course, 'what we're talking
about here is not the singing of the
Hallelujah Chorus but the victori
ous faith upon which it is based.
The word Hallelujah comes from
the Hebrew meaning, “Praise
Yahweh,” or, as we’d say it today.
“Praise God!” That is what we
could have a lot more of in our
lives.
The interesting thing about
praise and thanksgiving is that,
although we assume it is some
thing that God wants from us, it is
° a
Calves Need
Energy In
Cold Weather
''Susan
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body fat. Therefore, to replace lost
body heat, they need to consume
more energy.
We help them to do this by feed
ing more milk or milk replacer,
feeding higher fat replacers, or by
feeding more grain and forages.
We also help calves reduce body
heat loss by providing them with a
clean, dry, well bedded, draft free
pen or by moving them indoors to a
warmer environment.
Remember, it is much more
important to provide a calf with
fresh, germ-free air than with
warm housing when the bam is
damp and stuffy.
Feather Profs Footnote: "The
man who rolls up his sleeves sel
dom loses his shirt."
much more something that God
wants from us, it is much more
something we need than God
does. What is missing from the
lives of many people today
both inside and outside the chur
ches is the experience of prais
ing and thanking God in a manner
that goes somewhat beyond the
perfunctory. Paderewski, the great
Polish pianist, used to say that if
he missed practicing one day, he
knew it. If he missed several days,
the critics knew it. And if he
missed a week, everyone knew it.
In a sense, that is what happens to
our lives when we fall to give God
our Hallelujahs.
SOMETHING TO
CELEBRATE
Why are Hallelujahs in such
short supply in our lives? In my
own case, I waste too much time
waiting for something to celebrate
—Christmas, Easter, a birth in the
family, a book of ours published,
something good happens to a
friend and so forth. In other words,
we reserve our Hallelujahs for
those times when we obviously
have something to celebrate. But,
as the writer of Revelation indi
cates, we always have something
to celebrate. Hallelujahs are
always appropriate in our lives
because we live by the assurance
that ultimately God’s purpose will
be fulfilled and the great scene in
the Book of Revelation will
become a reality.
So, no matter what happens to
us in our daily lives, we focus, not
upon our defeats and disappoint
ments, but upon our promise,
singing or saying; “Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power
belong to our God, for his judge
ments are true and just” (19:1b).
And when we take the time and
effort to praise God in the midst of
our lives no matter what the cir
cumstances may be—we gain the
power to meet those challenges
and go on to the ultimate victory.
“Hallelujah” gives us the power
to live victoriously here and now.
So when is the right time to sing
Hallelujah? When all is going
well, when all is not going well,
and for every situation in between.
(Have you read Mr. Althouse’s
What You Need Is What You’ve
Got? Copies are available from:
L. Althouse, Ist United Methodist
Church, Ross & Harwood Sts.,
Dallas. TX 75201, $11.30 includ
ing postage.)
VIL B>£T Uie> OLD,
'SATTERV- HEATED'
SOCK’S SHORTED
OUT ON HIM " /
AGAIN.
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