AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 16, 1993
OPINION
Please Be Careful
With Your PTO
The saga of power take-off (PTO) hazards continues, as these
systems continue to cause serious injury and death among our
farm population. You don’t have to go to North Dakota for the
much publicized PTO accident that caused a teenager to have a
double amputation accident last winter. We have had accidents
from PTO and PTO driven equipment much closer to home and
even more recently.
Imagine being pulled into or around a metal shaft that spins
between 540 and 1,000 times per minute. In the blink of an eye,
you could lose your arms, your legs, or your life. Farm safety spe
cialists like Dennis Murphy, professor at Penn State, are asking
farmers to consider the potential for such accidents and take steps
to avoid them.
PTO drivelines enable farmers to use their tractor's engine to
power other equipment. But these drivelines can result in serious
injury or death when they entangle the victim's limbs, loose clo
thing, jewelry, or even hair. Hair entanglements have resulted in
six serious scalping incidents to female farmers in New York dur
ing the past decade. Recent comprehensive studies on PTO
hazards at Purdue University produced the following data on fat
al and nonfatal PTO incidents:
•the tractor or machinery operator was involved 78% of the
time.
•PTO shielding was absent or damaged in 70% of the cases,
•PTO couplings were the entanglement areas approximately
70% of the time, and
•a bare PTO shaft, spring loaded push pin or through bolt was
the driveline component at the point of contact in 63% of the
cases.
In order to simulate the PTO hazard in a life-like scenario, the
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Penn
State has developed a new PTO hazard simulator demonstration.
The computer-driven simulator was designed and developed by
Tim Pierson, an instructor in the department. It proved to be a
popular exhibit at the 1992 Ag Progress Days at Rock Springs.
The simulator tests how quickly participants can pull away from
the PTO driveline in a simulated incident. The computer random
ly selects when the entanglement occurs. Some participants react
very quickly but not quickly enough. In a real-life situation, they
would still be wrapped between one to three feet around the PTO
shaft.
Faculty and county extension staff who have demonstrated the
PTO hazard simulator report that participants’ reactions have
ranged from scared to amazed. Many on-lookers have contri
buted their own personal stories about PTO entanglements.
We know of several of our readers who have had horrible
experiences with PTO driven equipment. Life has been lost.
Much suffering has been endured.
Please be careful with your PTOs in this silo-filling and corn
picking season.
Farm Calendar fS/
Lancaster County Country Auc
tion to benefit Lancaster Farm
land Trust, Paradise Sales Bam.
11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Forest Stewardship Landowner
Workshop, Best Western
Centre Court Restaurant and
Conference Center, Mont
Old Time Plow Boys Club at the
Seidel Farm, Mertztown, 1
Tulpehocken Young Farmers
Dried Flowers Christmas Tree
Demonstration High School ag
classroom, 7:15 p.m.-9 p.m.
ADADC District 14 meeting,
Tally-Ho Restaurant, Kanona,
Grassland FFA Greenhouse Open
House and Decorating, Garden
Spot High School, 1 p.m.
Solanco Young Farmers meeting,
Silage Com Management.
Westmoreland Co. Tested Hay
Sale, Westmoreland Fair
grounds. 11 a.m.
ADADC District 4 meeting, Sar
atoga Co. Extension, Ballston
Spa, N.Y., 7:30 p.m.
ADADC District 9 meeting, Tally-
Ho Restaurant, Richfield
Springs, N.Y., 7:45 p.m.
ADADC District 11 meeting,
Lansing Methodist Church,
Lansing, N.Y., 7:30 p.m.
Lancaster 4-H Leaders Recogni
tion Banquet, Millersville U.,
Iluiisd;n, October 21
National Meeting on Poultry
Health and Processing, Shera
ton Ocean City, Ocean City,
Maryland, thru Oct 22'.
Lancaster County 4-H Swine Ban
(Tum to Pago A 39)
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent
To Deworm Sheep
In the humid Mid-Atlantic reg
ion, sheep need to be dewormed
more often than in other parts of
the countiy, according to Chester
Hughes, extension livestock agent
The ewe flock should be
dewormed every other month
beginning in May with the last
deworming occurring after a hard
killing frost.
Lambs on pasture and replace
ment ewe and ram lambs, includ
ing the show stock, should be
dewormed every 4 weeks. A varie
ty of dewormers are available for
sheep and should be rotated to
decrease the chance of resistance.
Consult your veterinarian for
advice on deworming products
labeled for sheep.
To Use
Top Quality
Bulls
According to Bennett Cassell,
Virginia Tech dairy scientist, each
breeding on your farm is an oppor
tunity for genetic improvement of
the herd.
According to Cassell, a success
ful, profitable breeding program
involves the consistent use of top
genetic bulls on all cows from
which you - want to keep any
offspring.
If you are interested in upgrad
ing your herd’s genetics, even
heifers should be bred to bulls
known to have good genetics.
What is a superior bull? Almost
every breeder has their own defini
tion and the answers vary among
experts.
A good guide to start with might
be to select a group of high PTAS
bulls, with good reliability. From
that group, select bulls that also
Farm Forum
Editor,
Several major farm organiza
tions across the United States have
united their efforts in urging the
United States Senate Ag Commit
tee to conduct a National Dairy
Hearing.
In addition a letter signed by the
organizations has been sent to all
of the members of the United
States Senate urging the Senate
Members to support the efforts of
the organizations in obtaining the
needed milk hearing.
The joint letter points to the de
clining unstable milk pices re
ceived by dairy farmers in all
areas of the United States, more
importantly the group urges the
United States Senate Ag Commit
tee to make the hearing wide open
and listen to all dairy proposals!
Bert Morris of the New York
State Grange says, “the hearing is
needed and it’s time to put all the
cards on the table.”
(Turn to Pago A 24)
give you the additional traits you
are breeding for or select bulls to
improve the pedigree that will
make your cows more marketable.
With your list of bulls in hand,
buy semen and services in a very
businesslike manner. Remember
to update your bull selection every
6 months after the new sire sum
maries are printed. Also, avoid
overstocking your semen tank.
The bulls that are superior today
may become inferior in a year or so
as proofs change and as genetic
levels continue to climb.
To Prepare
For Emergencies
This past week I have learned
about two very serious farm acci
dents. Both resulted in farmers los
ing one of their legs.
The first involved a farmer
becoming entangled in a combine
and the other involved the placing
of a silo unloader in a silo. Fortu
nately for both, help was nearby
and emergency personnel arrived
■■■■■■ // AAA'-
BiLAWHtNa W AIIHUUSE
f S3I3ItS
THE ONE WHO SEES US
October 18,1993
Background Scripture:
Genesis 16:1-3, 15:1-18.
Devotional Reading:
Genesis 16:1-15.
The story of Abram, Sarai, and
Hagar must be read in the context
of God’s promise: “I will make of
you a great nation” (12:2).
Although he could not imagine
how God would fulfill that prom
ise, Abraham believed it.
How much later it is in Genesis
16, we do not know, but the writer
of the passage makes it evident
that God’s promise seems no near
er fulfillment than before; “Now
Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no
children” (16:1). Perhaps Abram
still believed in the promise of
God, but Sarai has run out of pati
ence and trust. Instead of waiting
for God to keep his wojd, she took
things in her own hands: “Behold
now, the Lord has prevented me
from bearing children; go into my
maid; it may be that I shall obtain
children by her” (16:2). In those
days it was believed that God was
both the giver of fertility and bar
renness and it was customary for a
barren wife to give her maid to the
husband and claim the child as her
own. Hagar would become pre
gnant and bear the child,' but it
would belong to Abram and Sarai,
not Hagar.
LOGICAL BUT WRONG
It may have been an acceptable
custom but it was fraught with
risk; as we see from the story in
Genesis. As far as logic was con
cerned, it was a reasonable idea
but that didn’t mean the people
involved could handle it. And in
this case, they didn’t Hagar, the
pregnant servant girl, now felt that
God had shown her favor and she.
lorded it over Sarai. Could Sarai
handle this? No, not at all. Furi
ous, she takes out her anger on
Abram: “May the wrong done to
me be on you!” (16:5). (These
sound like real people!)
Sarai had refused to wait any
longer on the Lord and even per
suaded Abram not to wait either.
That’s not too unlike many of us
today. We, too, get impatient wait
ing for the Lord to fulfill his prom
ises. We finally get to the point
where we believe that, if we don’t
very quickly.
Is your family prepared to
handle an emergency? First, make
sure someone knows where you
are working at all times. Have
directions written out to your farm
and placed next to the telephone
along with emergency phone num
bers. Make sure everyone knows
how to exit your home safely in the
event of a fire.
Install and make sure smoke
detectors are working in your
home. Always take a few seconds
and do a walk around and look
under before starting and moving
any tractor or machinery. It could
save the life of your child or
grandchild!
Keep chemicals and soaps, etc.
out of the reach of small children.
Safely needs to become a standard
on every farm. The sooner this
happens the better.
Feather Profs Footnote: "Be
curious always! For knowledge
will not acquire you; you must
acquire it.”
do it, it won't get done. Our prob
lem, therefore, is often not so
much disbelief as impatience. And
impatience keeps us from trusting.
So, when Sarai dealt harshly
with her, Hagar fled into the wil
derness. Can you imagine what
she must have been feeling? One
moment she was feeling God’s
favor with human life inside her,
but now she had to flee and it
seemed she was utterly deserted.
As Sarai has despaired of God
keeping his promise, so Hagar
must have felt equally abandoned.
Sfli
Encountering an angel of the
Lord in the desert. Hagar is reas
sured. She will bear a child and he
will become father of a great
multitude. So she shall go back to
her mistress and submit to her. We
could well understand that, if at
this point Hagar had said, “No
way!! You think I'm crazy? That
Sarai has it in for me.” But the
angel reassures her: “the Lord has
given heed to your affliction”
(16:11) and like Abram, Hagar
accepts God’s promise and trusts
him enough to go back to an
unpromising situation. That’s
hard: on the strength of God’s
assur&nce that he is with us, to go
back to a situation we want to run
from.
Hagar’s response is one of trust
and wonder; “She called the name
of the Lord who spoke to her,
‘Thou art a God of seeing’...
‘Have I really seen God and
remained alive after seeing him?”
(16:13). It was believed that to sec
God meant immediate death. But
the basis of her trust in God was
not just that she had seen him (we
are to assume the angel was God
in disguise), but that, despite her
role as a despised servant, God
saw her and her affliction. And
seeing her, he had compassion on
her.
Often, like Hagar, we think that
God cannot see us in our lowly
place. We are too insignificant,
too lacking in worth for him to
know our plight and our needs.
But, like Hagar, we need to
remember that our Lord is “a God
of seeing” and we are never out of
his sight.
Lancaster Fanning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A atdnmn BHmprim
Robert Q. CampbeS Genet* Manager
Evens a Newmans* Manning E*or
Cewrtght im by UnoeaUr FarmHif
GOD SEES!