AlO-Lancastar Fanning, Saturday, August 22, 1992 OPINION Keep Downed Animals At Home The fact that 75 percent of Pennsylvania’s agricultural income comes from animal agriculture is only part of the reason farmers should be concerned about animal rights and animal welfare issues. Economics is only one of three main concerns. The other two issues are social acceptance and empathy for the animals. Everyone should know that healthy animals living in good environments with freedom to excersise in uncrowded conditions produce better quality food and more of it. It doesn’t make eco nomic sense not to provide for the physical and instinctial needs of your farm animals. And farmers must now live in a society that has a growing con cern for animal welfare, food safety, and water use. This society is the farmer’s customer. So the farmer needs to satisfy customer concerns as much as possible. And while the society that is many generations removed from farming may now be able to understand, farmers do have a certain attachment to their animals. They do care for them emotionally. That’s why it doesn’t help consumers to understand the far mer’s cause when downed animals are sent to the stockyards and sale bams. While the numbers are few in comparison to the total number of animals involved it creates a situation where oppo nents of animal agriculture have a justifiable reason to promote their cause. Right now, animal welfare groups are collecting video and still photographs of animals in stockyards and sale bams that show a very bad example. A push is on for national legislation to require every downed animal in stockyards to be humanely destroyed within a very short time. While you could argue that photographs can be made to look bad by the angle or type of lense used, the fact remains that if these animals were not in the stockyards, the could not have been photographed in any way. The moral of this story is: don’t send downed animals to market. Take the loss of one animal at home rather than create a situation that opponents of agriculture can use to destroy the livestock industry. f Farm Calendar ■ w Central Pennsylvania Holstein Championship Show, Hunting dton Fairgrounds, 3 p.m. 74tJ^phrat^aiMhn^teD^6. Somerset County Fair, Arendtsvil -Ithn^Augus^9^^^^^ 10th annual Wayland Potato Festi val, Wayland, N.Y. South Central District 4-H Dairy Show, Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg. Centre Co. 4-H Roundup, Centre Hall. Pennsylvania State Grange Pre- Convention Legislative Con ference, Sheraton Inn, Harris burg, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 4-H Roundup, Grange Fair Elizabethtown Community Fair, Managing Woodlands for Wild life, Elk and Cameron counties woodlot tour, PennDOT Road side Rest, Rt. 120 west of Tru man, 6:30 p.m. 1992 Frederick County Ag Day, Eastalco Recreational Site, Buckeystown, Md., 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Annual Walker Farm Tour. Bth annual Old Tyme Days, Blaine Rentzel Farm, Manchester, thru Aug. 30; plowing contest semi nar, 12 noon. Penn-Jersey Crop Management Field Day, Snyder Research Farm, Rutgers U., Pittstown, N.J., 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Regional 4-H Horse Production Show, Shippensburg Fairgrounds. Westmoreland Co. Ag Field Day, Westmoreland Co Fairgrounds. First Southwest Pa. Ag Technolo gy Day, Westmoreland Fair grounds, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Farm Family Day, Westmoreland Ag Fair. Crop Management Field Day, Rut ger’s University, Snyder Research Farm, Pittstown, New Jersey, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Free ram breeding soundness examination, Washington County Fairgrounds, Washing ton, or the Greene County Fair grounds, Waynesburg, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. Nutrient Management Issues For imij^lCenter^ainT^Opjn. Muncy Creek Antique Machinery Show, Lycoming Co. Fair grounds, Hughesville, thru Aug. 30. Centre Co. Fair, Centre Hall, thru Sept. 3. Southeastern Pennsylvania 4-H Horse Show, Montgomery County 4-H Center, Creamery. Lehigh and Northampton Co. Farm Association annual breakfast with Congressman Don Ritter, Terrace Restaurant, Walnulpoit, 8:30 a.m. Pa. State Plowing Contest at Old Tyme Days, Rentzel Farm, Manchester, large plow 10:30 a.m., small plow noon, and anti NOW IS THE TIME By John Schwartz Lancaster County Agricultural Agent To Watch For Pinkeye Penn State extension veterina rian Dr. Thomas Drake reminds us, as fly populations increase during the hot summer months, dairy and livestock farmers should watch for signs of pinkeye in cattle. Flies readily transmit the bacter ia that cause pinkeye. They pick up the bacteria by feeding near the eyes of infected cattle, especially in the fluid that runs from the eyes, then fly to other cows, spreading the bacteria. If left untreated, the cow could become blind in the infected eye. Controlling flies is the key to preventing pinkeye in cattle. A variety of products such as fly repelling ear tags, oils, screens, and back rubbers are available. If you notice pinkeye symptoms in your herd, antibiotics are the best treatment. Contact your veter inarian for the best treatment prog ram for your farm. Drake also encourages produc ers to put patches over infected eyes. This helps the animal to Farm Forum Editor, 1 am a member of the 4-H Saus age Staffers Club. For my project this year I raised two pigs. My project is coming to a close and on Wednesday, September 2, at 7:00 p.m. at the Grange Fair Grounds I will be selling my pigs. I would appreciate any support that you would be able to give me. Thank you. Brent Connelly PA Furnace Susquehanna County Holstein Sale, Harford Fairgrounds, noon. Southeast Pa. 4-H Horse Show, Berks Co. 4-H Community Center, Leesport, 8:30 a.m. Pa. State Plowing Contest, Olde Tyme Days, Rentzel Farm, Manchester, garden tractor 9:30 a.m., horse plowing (walk ing) II a.m., and sulky 12:30 p.m. Bucks County Holstein Club Field Day and Picnic, Galen Leather- i lla i m i^^^^^^^ Govemor’s Volunteer Apprecia tion Day, Maryland State Fair, Allentown Fair, thru Sept. 7. York-Adams CMA meeting, York 4-H Center, 7:30 p.m. Crops Expo 1992, York County (Turn to Pago A 26) recuperate more quickly by keep ing the eye protected from painful sunlight, and the patch helps pre vent flies from spreading pinkeye bacteria to healthy animals. To Become Familiar With Lyme Disease Lyme Disease is a relatively new tickbome disease. The disease is carried by the dear tick. This tick is smaller than the common dog tick and is typi cally found in bushy vegetation approximately three feet from the ground. The initial symptoms occur within one month of being bitten by an infected tick. The primary symptom is a red circular rash which develops at the site of the bite and expands over a period of weeks. However, not all infected people develop the rash. Other symptoms may include headaches, fever, fatigue, and swollen glands within 2 to 10 days of exposure. Lyme disease responds quickly to treatment at this stage. If left untreated, the rash and symptoms will gradually go away. However, months or years later, secondary symptoms such as migraine headaches, arthritis, diz ziness, weakness, and memory loss may occur. At this stage the disease is much more difficult to VSaeii' Br LAWRENCt W ALIHOUbt Sff/ SATISFACTION, NOT PRIDE August 23,1992 Background Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:10 through 4:8 Devotional Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:3-10. At first glance, the writer of 2 Timothy seems to be rather lack ing in humility: “Now you have observed my leaching, my con duct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfast ness, my persecutions, my suffer ings, what befell me at Antioch, at Icomum, and at Lystra.. yet from them all the Lord rescued me” (2 Tim 3 - 10) And once again- “I have loughl the good light, 1 have finished the race, 1 have kept the laith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteous ness...” (4:7,8). Those two passages arc filled with a lot of “my’s” and “l’s,” and the tone seems rather self congratulatory. 1 would feel rather embarrassed to say to someone, “Look what I have accomplished and try to be like me”. Yet, the more 1 have pondered these words, the more I have realized that the writer of this epistle is not on an ego trip. He believes that he has fulfilled the tasks that God gave to him and he takes great satifaclion in that knowledge. “Great satisfaction,” but not pride. He is not so much pointing at him self as through himself. He knows his example is good because he emulated Jesus Christ. It is Christ whom he is exalting, not himself. SATISFACTION, NOT PRIDE What the writer of 2 Timothy is feeling is satisfaction, not pride. In his letter he has given all the praise and thanks to God for what has been happening through him. He is satisfied in feeling that he has accomplished what God expected of him. He faces the pos- treat. Remember, ticks should be removed by grasping them at the head parts with tweezers and pull ing them straight out. Using heat or chemical methods to remove the tick may cause it to regurgitate its stomach contents and increase the risk of infection. To Salute The American Farmer During the past 30 years, the American Farmer has increase productivity unequaled by any other industry. Com yields now average 120 bushels per acre, an increase of over 100 percent since 1960. Soybean yields have topped 40 bushels per acre, an increase of 40 percent during this same period of time. Wheat yields in the United States have neared 40 bushels per acre, an increase of nearly 60 percent. The per-acre yield of crop pro duction of all crops is up 58 per cent since 1960. The gains in animal agriculture are very similar. The greatest advances were in milk production, which has doubled, and poultry production, which has tripled since 1960. Feather Prof s Footnote: "Do not follow where the path may lead go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." sibility of death with the sense of not having left anything undone. That he could say, “1 have fought the good fight,” was because Christ helped him to fight it. That he could say, “1 have finished the race,” was an acknowledgement that Christ helped him do so. Nor was this any less true in his claim to have “kept the faith”. Yes, he has done all of these things... but by the help of God! And his assur- J ancc that “Hcnce-forth there isl laid up for me the crown of rigluc- 7 ousness, which the Lord, the right eous judge will asfrard to me on * that day..is dependent, not upon his merit, but Christ’s lailhfulncss. HONORS, PRIZES, AWARDS Every once in a while 1 get a let ter asking me to fill out a form giving biographical information 1 am asked to list my degrees ol higher education, honors, prizes, awards, and special recognitions, Ol course, the more one fills in on these lines, the more impressive the biography. But it occurs to me that, although it is of some satis faction to list these items, none ol them are even half so satisfying as the writer ol 2 Tjmothy must have felt when he could write: “I have fought the good fight, 1 have fin ished the race, 1 have kept the faith”. Desirable as our lifetime tro phies may be, they arc not ever lasting satisfactions. These arc things that, like material posses sions, we cannot take with us. They have been bestowed upon us by the world and arc of impor tance only in this world. The only lasting satisfaction we can enjoy in both worlds is the knowledge that we have fulfilled the purpose for which God created us. Lancaster Fanning Established 1955 Published Eveiy Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St Ephrata, PA 17522 by Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Slmlnimn Enluprlu Robert C. Campbell General Mamifl*' Everett R. Newewanger Managing Copyright IM2 by Uncooter Forming
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