Aio-Lancasw Mining, Saturday, Augont », ifM
OPINION
Quality Begins Today
Records show that in 1992, milk inspectors issued orders
resulting in the discard of $l2 million worth of fluid milk after
tests revealed drug residue violations. That’s a lot of milk down
the drain.
It should be reassuring to consumers that milk with drug
residues is not getting through to the store shelf. But from the
dairy fanner’s point of view, the out-of-pocket cost to produce
this wasted milk and the lost profit it represents is staggering. It
should be obvious that all milk that can possibly contain drug
residues should be discarded at the farm. Often large quanities of
milk must be discarded because milk with drug residues was put
into the bulk tank and then on to the tanker truck. When the load is
tested as all loads are, whole loads of milk must be discarded
because one farmer with one treated cow wasn’t careful enough
to discard the bucketful of treated milk before it got into the bulk
tank.
Farmers responsible for the contamination of the truck load of
milk become responsible to pay for all the lost milk. That should
be incentive enough to start on a quality assurance program on
your farm. ■*
The Milk and Dairy Beef Quality Assurance Program (DQA)
has been established about a year ago and officials of DQA ate
working with veterinarians, dairy cooperatives, trade associa
tions, individuals to increase the number of dairy farmers who
ascribe to the program. Many farmers have already initiated a
DQA on theirfarms. The potential of being responsible for a lost
truck load of milk because of personal negligence should be
enough incentive for every farmer to begin a quality assurance
program today.
Farm Calendar
Maryland State Fair, Fairgrounds,
Indiana Co. Fair, Indiana, thru
Sept. 4.
Big Knob Grange Fair, Rochester,
thru Sept 4.
Wattsburg/Erie County Fair,
Wattsburg, thru Sept. 5.
Greene-Dreher-Sterling Fair,
Newfoundland, thru Sept 6.
Allentown Fair, thru Sept. 6.
Land Preservation Workshop,
Dover Township Building,
Centre County Holstein Show,
Fairgrounds, Centre Hall, 9
a.m.
South Mountain Community Fair,
Arendtsville, thru Sept. S.
Stoneboro Fair, Stoneboro, thru
Sept. 6.
Wyoming County Fair, Tunkhan
nock, thru Sept. 6.
Wayne Co. Water Treatment
Workshop, Grace Episcopal
Church, Honesdale, 1 p.m.-4
Dairy Reproduction Bam Meet
ing, Parke H. Ranck, Jr., Stras
burg, 7 p.m.
Fulton County Conservation Field
Day, McConnellsburg.
Clearfield-Jefferson Co. Coopera
tive Extension Crop Manage
ment Field Day, Carl Brink
Central 4-H Dairy Show, Mifflin
Mon Valley 4-H Dairy Show, Fay
ette County Fairgrounds.
Northwest 4-H Dairy Show, Craw-
ford County Fairgrounds.
Southwest 4-H Dairy Show,
Somerset Fairgrounds.
Montour Antique Farm Machinery
Show, Montour Delong Fair
grounds, Washingtonville. thru
Sept. S.
Juniata County Fair, Port Royal,
thru Sept 11.
Cambria County Fair, Ebensburg,
thru Sept 11.
Spartansburg Community Fair,
thru Sept 11.
West Alexander Fair, West Ale-
xander, thru Sept. 11.
Waterford Community Fair,
Waterford, thru Sept 12.
lut sd.n, St plt inlu i 7
Claysburg Farm Show, Claysburg,
thru Sept 11.
Jamestown Community Fair.
wood, thru Sept 11.
Luzerne Co. Fair, Dallas, thru
Sept. 12.
Northeast Heifer Management
Ag Issues Forum, Kreider’s
Restaurant, Manheim, 7:30
a.m.-9 a.m.
Grain Marketing Seminar, Lehigh
Penn-Ohio Fall Sale, Fairgrounds,
Meadville, 11 a.m.
Pike Co. Fair, Matamoras, thru
Sept. 12.
York Interstate Fair, York, thru
Sept. 18.
Thurmont and Emmitsburg Com
munityh Show, Catoctin High
School, Thurmont, Md., thru
Sept. 12.
To Learn
About Trusts
Recently there has been a com
pany selling the concept of “pure
trusts” as a way to avoid taxes to
fanners.
Trusts are an excellent estate
planning tool to minimize taxes.
But they should be set up by your
local attorney. You should be cau
tious when approached by some
one you do not know promoting a
dream too good to be true. It prob
ably is.
The proposed “pure trust” is an
irrevocable trust. This means that
once you transfer assets into the
trust, there is a very slim chance
you will be able to retrieve them
from the trust at a latter date. If not
properly done, the farmer could be
giving the farm away to the trust
and never be paid for it
Thus, it is very important you
know who the trustees are and how
the assets are distributed at a latter
date. Also, there are a variety of
income, estate, and gift taxes to be
concerned about. Everyone should
have as their objective to pay as
little in taxes as legally possible.
In practice, minimizing taxes is
easier to accomplish than eliminat
ing taxes. Always be cautious
when things are being done in sec
recy, with little details or with peo
ple you do not know. And finally,
never sign any legal documents
including contracts and trusts
without your attorney reviewing
them fust.
To Select
Contractors Carefully
Sooner or later every farmer will
be undertaking a major construc
tion project.
Whether it is installing a new
conservation practice, manure
storage, remodeling, or building a
new building, the selection of a
good contractor is very important.
Some key items to consider are:
• The contractor’s reputation
for quality and satisfactory work.
Take time to visit and look at simi
lar projects just completed.
• General experience as a
contractor.
• Net worth and financial ability
of the contractor, including the
ability to post performance bonds
and payment bonds for the project.
• Mechanic’s liens and collec
tion problems of subcontractors
and material men from previous
projects constructed by the
contractor.
A mechanic’s lien is a lien
against the improvement itself and
the real estate on which it is
erected. The lien arises from debts
due by the owner to a contractor or
by the contractor to a subcontrac
tor for labor and materials. If a
mechanic’s lien is filed by a sub
contractor, the owner may be
required to pay the lienholder for
work or materials previously paid
to the contractor.
To avoid this, the owner should
request the general contractor to
sign a legal document known as a
“Wavier of Mechanic’s Lien” or
“Stipulation Against Liens.” It is
important this waiver be executed
and recorded in the courthouse
before any construction is started.
To Be Profitable
Based on a Nebraska study, far
mers identified the following fac
tors that affect farm profitability.
They include level of debt, size of
business, cost containment, mark
eting and product quality,, and
making timely decisions.
Debt was identified as a cause of
low profits. Determining whether
debt is good or bad for a farm
depends how the farmer uses it.
Top managers manage their
debt They incur debt for produc
tive purposes and pay it off. Mana
gers of unprofitable operations
often accumulate debt, using it as a
substitute for poor cash flows.
A profitable farm docs not have
to be large, but it must generate an
adequate gross income to provide a
family's income. Families may
|ni
ARE YOU ADEQUATELY
ARMED?
Augufl 29,1993
Background Scripture:
Ephesians 6:10-20
Devotional Reading:
2 Timothy 2:1-13
It was just over a year ago that I
visited the little town of Eisenach,
in what used to be East Germany.
Eisenach has two very special
claims to fame. It was here that
Johann Sebastian Bach was bom
and made his first explorations
into the mysteries of music.
Eisenach is also the home of the
magnificent medieval fortress, the
Wartburg, where the Elector Fre
derick the Wise hid Martin Luther
for 11 months, while he translated
the Bible into the German lan
guage. Touring the castle, we
were shown Luther’s Room,
where between May 4, 1521 and
March 6, ISS2 he labored to put
the Bible into a language his peo
ple could read. We saw the black
mark on the wall that is said to be
the one that Luther caused when
he reportedly threw his inkwell at
the devil!
THE REAL ISSUE
Sometimes I am asked whether
I believe in the devil and I usually
respond that I neither deny him or
affirm him. Unlike Luther and
many others. I have never exper
ienced the devil as a person, but I
do not deny that others have. It is
interesting to note that “devil” is
simply “evil” with a “d” added. I
am quite certain about the last five
letters of that word, but I just don’t
know abdut the “d.” For me it is
quite enough to believe in God
and Christ without having also to
believe in the devil—as a person.
That doesn’t mean 1 do not believe
in the power of evil in the world; I
just don’t know whether that pow
er is a person or something else, a
“he” or an “it.”
The real issue is the existence
and pervasiveness of evil in the
world and in our lives. We are told
that one night Thomas Carlyle
took Ralph Waldo Emerson
through the dark streets of one of
London’s worst sections and com
mented: “Do you believe in the
devil now?” One can hardly read
the newspaper, watch TV or walk
need at lean $35,000 of pre-tax
income, if spending $28,000 per
year on living expenses.
Based on a 10-year study, net
farm income averaged 17 percent
of gross farm income. This means
an annual gross farm income of
more than $200,000 would be
needed to generate $33,000 of net
farm income.
As our economy matures and
population growth slows, busines
ses, including farms, must become
the low-cost producer. To achieve
this, costs must be monitored very
closely and productivity increased.
Only the farmers that continue
to grow and mature in their man
agement styles will remain in
farming. Now is the time to start
improving your management
skills.
The excellent manager today
who docs not change will be an
average manager five years from
now!
Feather Prof s Footnote: "Pes
simism never won any battle"
Dwight D. Eisenhower
through the city without finding
many evidences of the destructive
power of evil all around us. Moral
rot is everywhere.
Furthermore, we don’t even
have to look beyond our own
lives. Carl Sandburg had one of
his characters say: “When 1 doubt
there is an evil one, I have only to
look into myself. There he is, the
chief of all evil.” 1. too, have
found evil in my own life in
what I have thought, in what I
have said, in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to think,
say or do.
THE DEVIL’S WILES
So, I can appreciate the concern
of the writer of Ephesians,
whether we are able to “stand -
against the wiles of the devil”
(6:11). And I can understand what
he means when he says, “we are
not contending against flesh and
blood, but against principalities,
against the powers, against the
world rulers of this present dark
ness, against the spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly
places” (6:12). The (d)evil of our
world is extremely powerful and
destructive.
In the face of all of this, what
can we do, with what can we arm
ourselves with to withstand this
demonic reality? Tanks, guns,
planes, and atom bombs come
quickly to mind when we think of
weapons to guard against a (d)evil
of such great proportions. But two
great world wars and a half a cen
tury of the cold war have demon
strated to us that these weapons
can kill and destroy other people,
but they cannot eradicate evil.
That’s why Ephesians’ answer
seems so utterly ridiculous. What
is this “whole armor of God” that
we are to put on to protect us?
Truth! Righteousness! The gospel
of peace! Faith! Salvation! The
word of God! And, “Pray at all.
times in the Spirit, with all prayer
and supplications”! (6:14-18),
It seems so little in the face of
such a monstrous power or person
but it is enough. Try it.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farmlngi Inc.
A StwJnman Enftrprim
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everet R. Nawiwanger Managing EdHor
Copyright IW2 by Laneaalar Panning