AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 10,1993
OPINION
BST:
Dairy Farmer’s Decision
The opponents of animal agriculture say they are ready to
launch a national advertising and public relations campaign
against milk, in anticipation that BST will be approved to
increase milk production on the farm. In “The Pure Food Cam
paign,” activist Jeremy Rifkin plans to authorize full-page ads
and TV commercials advocating the boycott of meat, milk, and
dairy products from cows treated with BST. On April 17, more
than 2,000 activist teams in 800 cities are said to be ready to hand
out one million anti-BST leaflets at McDonald’s restaurants in
the U.S. and Canada.
The problem here is two-fold. All milk contains natural BST,
and there is no test to show if the BST in any milk sample came
from nature or from an injection to the cow on the farm.
In addition, since there is no way to scientifically disprove the
presence of syntethic BST in the milk, you have the perfect situa
tion for half-truths and emotional projections to be made against
agriculture and in support of animal worship.
We don’t think the issue here is food safety. And fortunately,
we have milk marketing organizations with check-off dollars to
tell the farmer’s side of the story.
But the decision to use BST in the management of your cows
should not be done by people who want to put you out of business
because of their own hidden agenda. As New York State Com
missioner Richard McGuire told the Northeast Dairy Conference
in Coming last week: “Don’t give in to the tactics of those who try
to scare the public.”
The market for BST from the pharmaceutical companies
should rise or fall on the practical aspects of BST in the individual
dairy farmer’s operation. Will the price of BST and the inconve
nience of application be outweighed by additional benefits in
increased production?
Dairy farmers who have been in on the trials for BST report
that you should do everything else right to get top production
before you look to BST as a management tool. Do you use TMR
feeding and all the other best management practices now? If not,
BST most likely will not be worth the investment to you.
In,many animals, the selective methods for the genetic base
built into our dairy animals has advanced their inherent capacity
to produce milk beyond the ability of feedstuffs and good herd
management to use. We saw a cow last week that was unofficially
producing 190 pounds of milk per day. Is it really practical to use
BST on animals you have trouble drying off for the next calving
period anyway?
Then there is the ethical question. Everyone would inject a cow
to relieve pain or to cure or prevent disease. But is it right to use a
needle on a cow just to increase profit?
These are questions dairy farmers will need to answer for
themselves. And it could be that the answers dairy farmers give to
these questions will make the supposed marketing problem for
milk irrelevant. At least the dairy farmer should have the oppor
tunity to make the decisions.
Farm Calendar
Pa. Holstein Showcase Sale, Ag
Arena, State College, 10:30
PcnnWest Farm Credit meeting,
Isdlnborc^nn^dinbOTaTpjm
5-week daytime course on home
landscape design, Carroll
County Extension Office, 9:30
a.m.-noon, consecutive Tues
days, concluding May 11.
Wayne Co. Green Thumb Garden
ing Clinic, Extension meeting
room. Courthouse, Honesdale,
7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Penn West Farm Credit meeting.
New Englander Banquet Cen
ter, New Castle and Shadyside
Veterinary Nutrition Forum, Days
Inn, Lancaster. 7 o.m.
Thursday, April 15
Pa. Poultry Federation Fund Rais
ing Banquet, Hershey Conven
tion Center, Hershey, 5:30 p.m.
Penn West Farm Credit meeting,
Morrison’s Cove Memorial
Park, Martinsburg, 7 p.m.
Second annual Western Pa. Pork
Producers Club Feeder Pig
Sale, Mercer.
Lancaster Co. ASCS Wheat and
Feed Grain program enrollment
evening hours, Farm and Home
Mid-Atlantic Highland Cattle
Association annual meeting.
Who’s Hill Farm, Sunbury, Pa.,
thru April 17.
Mastitis Control and Quality Milk
Course, Penn State, University
Park, thru April 17.
Pa. Guernsey Breeders annual
meeting, Quality Inn, Bedford,
thru April 17.
Franklin Co. 4-H Dairy Calf Sale,
(Turn to Page A 29)
To Lower
Somatic Cell
Counts
Higher somatic cell counts
(SCC) mean losses in milk produc
tion for dairy operations.
It is estimated that a dairy cow
will have 400 pounds less produc
tion per lactation for every point
increase in SCC linear score (first
lactation cows will decrease by
200 pounds). Increases in profits
may be substantial for herds that
lower SCC through good
management
For a 60-cow herd with 33 per
cent first lactation cows, every
point reduction in SCC linear score
would increase milk production by
200 cwt or $2,400 at $12.00 cwt
milk. In addition, a reduction in
SCC to a low level might also qual
ify farms for quality premiums that
would be based on all milk
marketed.
Also, various research studies
have estimated the annual cost of
mastitis, of which elevated SCC is
a symptom, to be $5O-100per cow.
A savings of $3O per cow for 60
cows would add an additional
$l,BOO savings for a total of
Farm Forum
Editor
Dairy farmers all across the
United States have now had the
opportunity to read the ads pub
lished in several dairy magazines
by the National Dairy Campaign
supporters.
The ads clearly illustrate the
unity being exhibited by many
dairy farmers throughout the coun
try. Without any reservations dairy
farmers are realizing, if any thing
is going to be done to correct the
inadequate-unreasonable prices
being paid to them, then the dairy
men themselves must grasp the
problem and correct it.
John Pardoe, president of Pro
Ag recently announced that Pro Ag
was going to join forces with the
National Dairy Campaign and help
stimulate unity among dairy far
mers across the United States.
Many of the dairy farmers and
organizations that make up the
dairy campaign are the same ones
that diligently labored in support
of the Leahy Dairy Bill in Novem
ber of 1991. The bill was defeated
in the United States Senate on a
51-47 vote.
Everyone involved in the battle
swore to come back in 1993 with
greater unity and work for passable
dairy legislation that can and will
correct dairy farmers’ inadequate
pay price.
The supporters of the Dairy
Campaign have two major goals:
•Replace the M and W Price
Series as the basic formula price in
all federal milk marketing orders
and, in its place, use the national
average cost of production as
(Turn to Pag* A 11)
$4,200.
Often the management strate
gies to reduce SCC are fairly inex
pensive. Work with your dairy
herd advisors and discuss ways
you may reduce your SCC counts
and place more money in your
pockets.
To Obey
The Law
The recent problems President
Clinton had with cabinet appoin
tees for not following laws have
lessons for all of us.
First, when you least expect an
issue to develop, one will.
Second, there is little reason to
find comfort in the counsel of
others who tell you “do not worry,
the government does not enforce
that law.” Someone will find out
about you at a time when you may
least afford to be embarrassed or
humiliated.
Third, you are placing your own
assets at risk and losing every
thing, such as the farm, the car, the
bank account, etc.
Some areas we need to be con
cerned about are speeding (one
county DA is charging speeding
motorists with manslaughter if
someone is killed in a car acci
dent), environmental regulations,
health papers for animals, and
Hr LAWKtNCE W ALIHOUSf
BELIEVING IS
SEEING
April 11,1993
Background Scripture:
John 20:1-18.
Devotional Reading:
John 20:19-23
I’ll bet you thought I got that
title turned around? Usually, we
say “Seeing is believing.” But, no,
I meant it as it appears: believing
is seeing.
Some people believe only what
they see. Like Thomas. I’m sure
that some of us sometimes react to
the Easter message with just a
little wistfulness: it is fine for the
early disciples to have seen and
believed in the Risen Lord, but we
are asked to do so sight unseen. It
seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?
NO NEAT PACKAGE
That may be because we have
failed to grasp something impor
tant about the Easter story. Make a
careful listing of all the experi
ences of the Risen Lord recorded
in the gospels and then compare
them. It is virtually impossible to
put these all together in a nice,
neat package. Whatever his disci
ples experienced when they saw
the Risen Lord, there is no com
mon agreement of what that
experience was like.
In the Emmaus road experience
in Luke 24, he walks with them,
talks with them, and sits at supper
with them. But then he disappears
in a way that is not physical at all.
Matthew 28 says they “took hold
of his feet and worshipped him.”
In Luke 24, he says to them: “See
my hands and my fcet...handle me
and see; for a spirit has not flesh
and bones as you sec that I have.”
Matthew then tells us “They gave
him a piece of broiled fish, and he
took it and ate it before them.” In
John, however, Jesus warns Mary
Magdalene: “Do not hold me, for I
have not yet ascended to the
Father” and he appears to the dis
ciples in a locked room.
Even more important is the fact
that often the disciples did not rec
withdrawal of drugs.
Remember the lessons from this
administration and do not gamble
away your reputation and assets.
Spring has finally arrived. Now
would be a good time to look at
ways you may improve the appear
ance of your farmstead.
The appearance of buildings and
the surroundings consistently gen
erate images, good or bad, to our
neighbors. Paint, tress, shrubs and
fences, which beautify and screen
our farms, arc one of the best
investments we may make to
improve our relations with our
neighbors and community.
Also, we need to improve our
relations with our neighbors. Take
time and learn who your neighbors
are. Do neighborly things. Visit,
take gifts, talk, and be friendly are
a few things you may do.
Most people will tolerate other
people and their problems if they
know them and have some under
standing of their problems. There
fore, initiate positive actions today
to ease the pressure and head off
complaints.
Feather Profs Footnote: “Pay
attention to details and sweat the
small stuff."
ognize him. If Jesus appeared to
them in the same physical body
they had come to know, why
would Matthew say, “And when
they saw him they worshipped
him; but some doubted?” Or why
would Luke say of the two on the
Emmaus Road, “...their eyes were
kept from recognizing him?” And
of the band of disciples, “But they
were startled...and supposed that
they saw a spirit?” And why
would John tell us of Mary: “...she
turned round and saw Jesus stand
ing but she did not know that it
was Jesus,” or of the disciples in
Galilee, “...yet the disciples did
not know it was Jesus?”
BEYOND THE PHYSICAL
Sff
My point is that the appearance
of the resurrected Lord was not
just a matter of experiencing a
physical being. For his disciples to
recognize him, something more
was required; faith. Whatever the
resurrected Lord was— physical,
spiritual or something in-between
it was not simply a physical
encounter. Some people, Matthew
tells us, were present but did not
experience him at all.
What makes the difference 1 '
The answer: faith. Because there
was an element of faith in them,
some experienced the Risen Lord,
while others who lacked that faith
experienced nothing. Before some
of the disciples could see Jesus,
they had to believe in him. Faith
helps to determine what we sec
and experience, just as doubt also
helps to shape our experience.
That is the whole point of John’s
Gospel. His words “are written
that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ the Son of God, and that
believing you may have life m his
name” (20:31).
We have no less an opportunity
than the disciples did, for, if we
believe, we too can experience the
Risen Lord.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemmen Enterprise
Robert C. Campbell General Manager
Everett R Newtwanger Managing Editor
Copyright I*o3 by Lancaster Farming
To Promote A
Good Farm Image