Aio-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 21, 1992
OPINION
Autumn Finishes Year
The Autumn season finishes the year.
Hangs harvest moon in color atmosphere
Grain ripens, wheat and oats leap into shocks,
We hasten toward the last year’s equinox...
For Winter hides behind a northern sky.
Floats in each wavering wind that flurries by.
Thanksgiving time, com hurries toward the bam,
As ice forms isles on meadow-brook and tarn.
At borderland of evexy fertile field.
Marauding crows peck at remaining yield
Of grain dropped by machine or man, unseen...
They chatter as they sweep the furrows clean
Apples, like small, red worlds, plunge down the night
On orchards, in mounds, beautiful and bright.
Fall changes little as the years go by,
The prairie folk are glad... and so am I,
For every single blessing gives a reason
That we rejoice at this Thanksgiving season!
Farm Calendar
Mercer County annual meeting,
Extension Office, Mercer.
Farm City Fest, Mountain View
High School, 7:30 p.m.
Lancaster County Farm Open
House, thru November 22.
Mercer County Holstein Club
annual meeting. Extension
Chester County Estate Planning
Workshop, West Chester Bor
ough Hall, 7 p.m.-lO p.m.
Forage School, Days Inn,
Meadville.
Penn State Income Tax Institute,
Embers Convention Center,
Carlisle.
Annual Forage Conference, sha
dowbrook Inn and Resort,
Tunkhannock, 9 a.m.-3:30p.m.
S.W. Pa. Hay Auction, Westmore
land Fairgrounds, 11 a.m.
Dairy Nutrition Seminar, York Co.
4-H Center, Thomasville, 10
a.m.-2;30 p.m.
PFGC Annual Forage Conference,
Shadowbrook, Tunkhannock.
X, Y, Z’s of Dairy Nutrition and
Feeding, York County 4-H
Center, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Franklin Farm-City Banquet,
Clarks Recreation Center,
Irid.n, Nou'liilht 27
National Milk Producers Federa
tion Annual Meeting and Dairy
Summit, Las Vegas, thru Dec.
Chester County Estatev Planning
Workshop. West Chester Bor
ough Hall, 7 p‘.m.-10 p.m.
Goat Meeting, Lancaster Farm and
-Stella Tremble,
Lycoming Co. Extension
Home Center, basement, 7:30
Dairy Housing Ideas, Lancater
Farm and Home Center, base-
Lancaster County On-Farm Com
posting Field Days, Bob Keller
man’s Farm near Lititz, 10
National 4-H Congress, thru Dec
11.
Annual Victorian Christmas at The
Station, Manheim.
Crawford County annual meeting,
St. Hippolyte Church, Fren-
McKean County DHIA Meeting,
Robbin’s Nest Restaurant, 7:30
p.m.
Western Pa. Commercial Veget
able Growers’ Seminar, Days
Inn, Butler, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
N.Y.-Pa. Seed Potato Meeting,
First Citizens National Bank,
7th Regional meeting on Practical
Biosecurity for Popularity,
Clayton Hall, University of
Delaware, Newark, 8 a.m.
ADA/DC District 21, Bryncliff
Motel Conference Center, Var
ysburg, N.Y., noon.
Ag Service School, Bradford
County Extension, Towanda, 9
a.m.-3 p.m.
North Carolina Dairy Manage
ment Tour, leaves 6 a.m. Edin
boro Inn, Edinboro, returns
Dec. 10.
Agronomy Dealers In-service,
ISxtensiOT^fficcJOajn^^
Northeast Lamb Pool, Wyalusing
Sale Bam.
Ag-Service School, The Country
Cupboard, Lcwisburg, 9 a.m.-3
Meeting for Veterinarians, Leola
Family Restaurant. 7 p.m.
To Take A $25,000
Management Tip
Luther Smith, West Virginia
farm management specialist,
wrote about this $25,000 manage
ment tip.
An efficiency expert named Ivy
Lee was discussing ways to
improve the management of a steel
company. The president told him
he knew he was not running an
efficient company. What he
needed was not more “knowing
what to do” but “how to get it
done.”
The president said he would pay
him anything within reason if he
could help him get more things
done. Lee outlined the following
steps: 1. Take out a piece of paper
and pencil. 2. Write down the six
most important things you need to
do tomorrow. 3. Number those
things from one to six in the order
they need to be done and keep the
list in your pocket 4. Tomorrow,
when you start your day, look at
the list and start on number one. If
you can, stick with it until it is fin
ished. S. Then move to number two
and so on. 6. When all six are com
pleted, make another list and keep
repeating the process.
After Lee told the president this
plan, he directed him to send a
check for what he thought the idea
was worth. Several months later,
Lee received a $25,000 check with
a note saying his idea was the most
profitable the company had ever
adopted.
Yes, it is a simple idea you prob
ably have heard before. How many
of us are really doing it?
To Tell The
Agricultural Story
Thanksgiving marks the time
this country gives thanks for its
many blessings.
American agriculture remains
strong through its many dedicated
farm families, and agribusiness
employees.
Today, United States consumers
spend around 10 percent of their
disposal income on food. This
compares to 18 percent for Japan,
32 percent for Mexico, 48 percent
for China, and S 3 percent for India.
In addition, we have one of the
safest food supply in the country.
I hurstlii\, I K'l'i'inlht 10
Ag Issues Forum, Kreider’s
Restaurant, Manheim, 7:30
a.m.-9 a.m.
Dairy Production Diseases and
Economics Seminar, Farm
■ Show Complex, Harrisburg, 9
a.m.-3 p.m.
Ag-Service School, Embers
(Quality Inn), Carlisle, 9 a.m.-3
p.m.
Grounds Managers’ Winter Semi
nar, Warrington Motor Lodge,
Warrington.
Recent media reports have ques
tioned our food supply. We need to
point out many of these abuses are
the exception rather than the rule.
I find it interesting that it was
not very long ago people were cri
ticizing the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture for having too
many employees while the number
of farmers were declining. We
.now have an opportunity to
explain the Department of Agri
culture has a very important func
tion of insuring food standards and
safety.
Also, the department serves all
people, not just farmers. At this
holiday season, let us give thanks
for our favorable climate and pro
ductive soils and for the men and
women who have combined the
resources made available to them
into a very efficient food produc
tion, processing, and distribution
system the envy of the world.
To Deal With
Wet Corn
The cool weather this summer
and fall have resulted in more
GETTING IT “RIGHT”
November 22,1992
Background Scripture:
Micah 6.
Devotional Reading:
Micah 6:9-16.
One of those stories that my
father and mother used to love to
tell us was about one of the fust
Christmases of their marriage. My
mother’s present to my father was
a beautiful bridge lamp. Now, my
father didn’t want or need a bridge
lamp, beautiful or not But my
mother liked the lamp so much so
taht is what she gave him.
The reason we all liked that
story so much was thatit is'so rep
resentative of human nature: often
what we give someone is not what
they want or need, but what we
like. No one knows that more cer
tainly than God, for throughout
human history we have given him,
not what he wants and asks for,
but something else.
In Micah, the prophet asks rhe
torically: “With what shall I come
before the Lord, and bow myself
before God on high? Shall I come
before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old? Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of
rams, with ten thousands of rivers
of oil? Shall I give my first bom
for my transgression, the fruit of
my body for the sin of my
soul?”(6:6).
HE HAS SHOWN YOU
Whenever human beings have
felt a need to respond to God or
seek his help, they have come up
with somtf rather elaborate sys
tems which, although quite
human, they have ascribed to the
Lord. So, they have made animal
sacrifices, burned offerings, parti
cipated in elaborate rituals,
afflicted their own bodies, deliv
ered copious incantations, and so
forth-all for the sake of pleasing or
pacifying God.
The problem, as the prophet
makes clear, is not that we don’t
know what God really wants from
us, but that we prefer to give him
something else. It is not because
his will is hidden, for “He has
showed you, O man, what is
good”(6:8). After all these thou
sands of years, after all these reve
lations God has given us, we still
immature and higher moisture
levels in com.
This is the year to test your com
silage and high moisture grains.
High moisture and immature com
may contain less energy.
Also, com silage may test lower
in protein and higher in acid deter
gent fiber (ADF) and neutral deter
gent fiber (NDF). Com grain and
com silage ensiled at higher mois
ture levels generally is more acid
and less palatable.
Dry matter intakes may be a
problem. Feeding cows more buf
fers might help this situation. The
higher acidity levels may cause
more breakdown of the protein
fraction, releasing more ammonia,
etc.
Soluble or degradable protein
levels might be higher and unde
gradable or bypass protein might
be less. Thus, it is very important
to forage test and work very close
ly with your nutritionist.
Feather Prof s Footnote:
"Other things may change us, but
we start and end with family."—
Anthony Brandt
don’t get it right—because we
don’t want to. We like it our way.
“And what does the Lord
require of you, but to do justice,
and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God”? It is
amazing how really simple it is to
give God what he wants: do jus
tice, love kindness, and walk
humbly. No secret words, no hid
den teachings, no towering moun
tains to climb or unending deserts
to cross. Nothing but justice, kind
ness and humility!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
But it is in the nature of human
ity to stall and ask, what does he
mean by justice, kindness and
mercy? So Micah spells it out in a
way that could hardly have
pleased his listeners. What it does
not mean, said Micah, is cheating,
lying and doing violence—the
three most popular activities of
their society. And what about
ours? Isn’t that what our society is
all about: cheating and lying, and
if that doesn’t work, violence?
Isn’t that what television and the
movies tell us?
Micah’s message is just as
relevant for our world as it was
his. “You shall eat, but not be
satisfied, and there shall be a hun
ger in your inward parts”(6:l4). It
is interesting to note that in the
day when Micah spoke or wrote
these words, people worked daily
just to eat. Most of their labor was
spent on getting enough food, not
to satisfy them, but to survive.
Today, despite the millions who
are starving around the world,
ours is a world of relative plenty
so far as food is concerned (it just
isn’t distributed very well!) yet,
despite all of this food, we are no
more satisfied than the people of
Micah’s time. There is in us that
same “hunger in your inward
parts” that food never seems to
fill.
If we gave God what he really
wants from us, we would receive
what we really need and that hun
ger in the “inward parts” would be
gone. It is really so simple—isn’t
it about time we got it right?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stmnmtn Entvpri—
Robert C. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newtwanger Managing Editor
Copyright IM2 by Lancaster Farming