AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 1, 1992
w OPINION
Alpo Petfoods is reported to be unveiling a new beverage milk
product to the nation’s food relailcrs-canncd milk for cals. In the
June issue of The Milkweed, a private milk marketing report from
Wisconsin reports that research shows that nearly 30 percent ol
the nation’s household pet cats gel milk from time to lime. So in a
few months Alpo will introduce a 5-oz. can of milk for cats. This
cat beverage will be lactose-reduced, to alleviate the digestive
intolerance some felines show for the lacteal secretion of the
bovine species.
Suggested retail price: about 50 cents per 5-oz. can
The stuff will be a bit expensive. At retail, the estimated price
of approximately 50 cents for a five ounce container works out to
$3.20 per quart or $148.80 per hundred pounds.
There has been no word from the federal government if any
dairy cooperatives have requested a special federal milk market
ing order designation C-l for raw milk sold for pet food. 1-Casin
“Cal Milk”.
Farm Calendar '
Berks County 4-H Horse
Roundup.
Pa. Shorthorn Cattle Breeders
State Field Day.
Southwest Pa. Holstein Champ
ionship Show, Fayette Co. Fair
grounds, Uniontown.
Cumberland County 4-H Dairy
Roundup, Shippensburg
Fairgrounds.
Pennsylvania 14th Performance
Tested Ram Lamb and Invita
tional Ewe Sale and Sheep Pro
ducer’s Field Day, State Col
lege, 9:30 a.m.
Adams County 4-H Fair, South
Mountain Fairgrounds,
Arendtsville.
Schuylkill Co. Fair, Auburn, thru
Union County West End Fair,
Morrison Cove Dairy Show, Mar
tinsburg, thru Aug. 7.
Clearfield County Fair, Clearfield,
thru Aug. 8.
Cochranton Community Fair,
Penn State 4-H Achievement
Days, Penn Stale University,
thru Aug. 6.
Empire Farm Days, Rodman Lott
& Sons Farm, Seneca Falls,
N.Y., thru Aug. 5-6.
On-Farm Composting Confer
ence, Penn State Harrisburg
Campus, Middletown.
Tioga County Fair, Whitneysville,
thru Aug. 9.
FFA Show, Morrison’s Cove,
Memorial Park.
Pequea-Mill Creek Incentive
Program meeting, Intercourse
Park.
Industrial Weed Control and Right
of Way Meeting, Montgomery
County Ag Center, Creamery,
9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Lancaster County Compost Tour,
departs Farm and Home Center
9 a.m., returns 4 p.m.
Summer Christmas tree meeting,
Penn Slate University, Days
Inn, thru Aug. 8.
Rural Clean Water Program, Farm
and Home Center, 8:30 a.m.-3
D.m.
Cat Milk
Lancaster Poultry Queen Pageant,
Farm and Home Center, 6:30
p.m.
Timber 1992 Hardwood Lumber
Assocation Timber Show, York
Fairgrounds, thru Aug. 8.
Clinton County Holstein Show,
Fairgrounds, Mackeysville,
10:30 a.m.
Wayne County Fair, Honesdale,
thru Aug. 16.
Wheat Threshing, Steam and Gas
Engine Show, Showgrounds,
Denton, Md., thru Aug. 9.
Cumberland Valley Steam and
Gas Show, Chambersburg, thru
Southcentral Pennsylvania Hols
tein Championship Show,
Shippensburg Fairgrounds,
9:30 a.m.
Lancaster County Master Garden
er Open Garden Tour.
Greene County Fair, Waynesburg,
thru Aug. 15.
Virginia Simmental Assocation
Field Day, Woodstock, Va.,
Bedford County Fair, Bedford,
thru Aug. 15.
Montour-DeLong Community
Fair, West Newton, thru Aug.
15.
Landscape Bull Session, Nesha
miny Manor Center,
Doylestown.
Butler Farm Show, Butler, thru
August 15.
Kulztown Fair, Kutztown, thru
August 15.
Sewickley Township Fair, West
Newton, thru August 15.
Warren County Fair, Pittsfield,
thru August 15.
Venango County Fair, Franklin,
thru August 15.
Agricultural Financial Manage
ment Workshop, Jordan Hall,
New York State Agricultural
Experiment Station, Geneva,
N.Y.
Greene County Fair, thru August
15.
Cumberland Co. 4-H Livestock
Roundup, Shippcnsburg Fair
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Elk County Fair, Kersey, thru
August 15.
To Control Mice
In Order To
Control SE
Mice and Salmonella enteritidis
(SE) seem to go hand in hand.
In an early version of a poultry
disease book, the author stated if
you have an SE problem, you also
have a mouse or rat problem.
As we study SE outbreaks in egg
flocks, the data is suggesting that
mice and rats are probably a major
player in SE. I am amazed, after all
the meetings held this year on mice
and rat control in poultry houses,
there are many poultry producers
who have not started an aggressive
rodent control program.
Each and every poultry produc
er needs to launch an all-out war
against every mouse and rat on
their farm. The goal is no living
rodent. This involves killing all
vegetation around the chicken
house; removing all litter, spilled
feed, and storage piles around the
chicken house; closing up all holes
around the foundation; and placing
bait stations where you see rodent
activity.
If you need help in developing a
rodent control program or identify
ing rodent activity, talk with you
poultry service person. They will
be able to help you develop your
program.
To control SE, we need to have
every poultry producer launching
war on rodents. In addition to help
ing to control SE, a rodent control
program will help to improve feed
conversion, reduce building repair
and maintenance costs, reduce
electrical problems, and could
reduce your insurance costs.
At least one insurance company
is exploring the idea of reducing
the premiums to producers you
have an on going rodent control
program. Now is the time to
declare war on rodents and start
your rodent control program.
To Practice
Soil Conservation
Farming involves good soil ste
wardship. One of the reasons a
farm stays in the same family for
many generations is good soil
stewardship.
By protecting the soil, we are
insuring its productivity.
We need to remember the les
sons or art of farming taught by our
grandfathers. I still remember my
grandfather saying, “If you treat
the soil right, the soil will treat you
right.”
For our family in Adams Coun
ty, that meant crop rotations, cover
crops, soil tests, liming, fertilizing,
and never working the soil when it
was wet.
Harrold’s Fair, Greensburg, thru
August 15.
Dawson Grange Community Fair,
Dawson, thru August 15.
Intensive Rotational Grazing Field
Day, Richard Moseman farm,
(Turn to P*B« A3l)
Fanning has intensified, but
good soil stewardship is still very
important. As we team more about
crop nutrition, the nutrient value of
manure, the effects of farming
practices on water quality, and
effects of soil erosion on aquatic
life, farmers need to continue their
soil conservation practices.
By adopting these practices, we
are insuring the productivity of our
soil.
If you need assistance in deve
loping a conservation plan for your
farm, contact your local Soil Con
servation Service.
Also, a nutrient management
plan needs to be put in place,
which your local cooperative
extension can help you develop.
Now is a good time to walk over
your fields and review your con
servation practices.
To Improve Your
Herd’s Genetics
Dr. Gene Freeman, lowa State
University, recommends the fol-
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ARE YOU IN
TRAINING?
August 2,1992
Background Scripture:
1 Timothy 4.
Devotional Reading:
2 Peter 1:3-11
There’s an old saying to the
effect that “Practice makes per
fect.’’ Actually, practice may not
make us perfect, but it at least
brings us closer to fulfilling our
potential. When I was a boy 1 took
piano lessons. I wanted to learn to
play the piano and that meant, not
only taking lessons once a week,
but practicing every day. After
several years, I resisted practicing
and eventually I stopped taking
lessons. Practice had not made me
“perfect,” but it had helped me to
team to play the piano to a certain
degree.
One of the reasons I lost my
interest in the piano was my grow
ing obsession with football. (My
third grade teacher once said—a
bit unkindly, I think—” I hope
some day you break your fool
neck playing football.”) But, as it
had been with the piano, I found
that learning to play football took
a lot of training and practice. I
hardly achieved perfection in foot
ball, but I learned enough to
enable me to play for several years
in high school.
NOT BY TALENT ALONE
What I learned through these
experiences with the piano and
football is that learning to do any
thing with some degree of compe
tence requires training and prac
tice, even for those who are spe
cially gifted. Later, as a
sportswriter for our local news
paper, I observed some natural
athletes who didn’t make the
grade athletically because they
tried to get by on talent alone.
Training is even more intensive
and complicated today than it was
when 1 was a youth. People spend
lots of money, time and effort to
perfect themselves at jogging,
golfing, tennis, playing a musical
instrument, and even running for
political office. There seems to be
a general understanding that if you
are looking to excellence in any
field, the more you put into train
ing, the more you will excel.
Isn’t it interesting, then, to con
sider that many of us try to live as
lowing ways to improve your dairy
herd’s genetics:
• Have your herd on DHIA test.
• Use sires that have been
proven through the AI selection
process and purchase as much pro
duction potential as you can
afford.
• The primary emphasis in sire
selection, should be maximizing
production of the components that
contribute most to your milk
check.
• Forced culling of problem
cows should be held to less than 50
percent of the cows removed to
provide more opportunity to selec
tively cull cows for low produc
tion, poor genetic potential, etc.
• When selecting to improve a
trait such as type or calving ease,
select from bulls first chosen for
production and then for the traits
you want to improve.
Feather Profs Footnote:
“Once you are moving in the
direction of your goals, nothing
can stop you."
disciples of Jesus Christ with as
little training and practice as pos
sible? Some years ago when I was
pastor in Mohnton, Pennsylvania,
I was speaking with a teenager
about joining our Confirmation
Class so that he could join the
church. When I outlined the clas
ses he’d have to attend and the
study that would be required, he
said, “Why should I go through all
of that, when I can wait a few
years and join as an adult...without
knowing anything?”
MISSING PRACTICE
I had to admit there was a good
deal of logic in that. Lots of peo
ple I have known have assumed
that one can be a Christian without
any training or practice at all v The
fact is, even more than in the arts
or athletics, discipleship is a life
long process of learning and prac
tice. The only way we can excel in
it is to practice, practice, prac
tice. The great Polish pianist,
Ignace Paderewski, said that if he
missed practicing one dya, he
knew it. If he missed two days, the
critics knew it, and, if he missed
three or more days, everyone
knew it? That’s the way it is with
Christian living: if our practice is
not regular, sooner or later every
one knows it. Just as I found that
joining the team alone did not
make me a football player, so,
joining the church doesn’t make
me a disciple of Jesus Christ
Just think how much time and
effort we may put into our tennis
game, or spend on the golf course
trying to reduce our handicap.
That’s O.K.—l’m all for
excellence—but is it not even
more important for us to leant to
excel in our discipleship? Like the
rest of our material possessions,
when God calls us home we will
have to leave our golf clubs and
tennis rackets behind. That’s why
the writer of 1 Timothy admo
nishes his readers: ‘Train yourself
in godliness; for while bodily
training is of some value, godli
ness is of value in every way, as it
holds promise for the present life
and also for the life to come”
(4:7.8).
Practice, anyone?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stmnrmn Enhfprii*
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copyright 1892 by LoncaMor Forming