AlfrUDCMtef Firming, Saturday. Novambar 13,1983
OPINION
Dramatic Change
Late last week the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA)
approved recombinant bovine somatotropin (BST) to be used on
dairy cows to increase milk production. (See story Page Al).
After nine years of testing and on-faim trials with a lot of dis
cussion from farmers, milk handlers, and consumer advocacy
groups, now you can use it. And FDA officials considered it so
safe they declined to require identification labels for milk and
meat from treated cows even though consumer groups urged
them to do so.
What really makes this newsworthy is the fact-that this is the
first agricultural biogenetic product to go on the commercial
market. After the 90 day waiting period, Monsanto will begin to
take orders for their trademarked “Posilac” product.
Just how many orders they will get remains to be seen. Many
farmers have said they will not use it on principle. To inject a cow
for medical reasons is one thing. To give the needle to a cow to
increase production may not be acceptable to many fanners.
In addition, many milk handlers have said theywill not accept
milk from herds with treated cows because of their fear of con
sumer reaction even though there is no present test to prove cows
have been treated. For all practical purposes, milk and meat from
treated cows is identical to production from untreated cows.
In the end, we think the on-farm use of BST will be based on
economics. The cow that is milking 90 to ISO pounds of milk per
day is already milking her heart out. To try to get additional milk
out of her would be counter-productive. But the cow that in mid
lactation drops production below acceptable levels will probably
be treated with BST to economic advantage on many farms.
The real story in the advent of the commercial availability of
BST is the opening of a trail of new biogenetic products that will
change the way we farm. Even now we have com test plots with
genetically engineered plants that kill com bore when the little
pests eat the leaves. Dairy cow embryos have been cloned so that
we soon should be able to grow a whole herd of heifers from a
50,000 m dam that are genetically identical.
It takes our breath away to think about the rapid change in agri
culture we look for over the next 10 years. In fact the change may
be so dramatic that today’s problems will be replaced with needs
we haven’t even thought about yet.
Through it all, we believe the dedication of the farmers and
agri-business to produce safe food in an environmentally con
scious world will continue to make Americans the best fed people
in the world.
7
Farm Calendar
Organic Greenhouse Management
Seminar, Ag Extension Confer
ence Center, New Brunswick,
N.J., 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Pa. State Beekeeper’s Association
annual meeting. Country Cup
board, Lewisburg.
Crawford County Holstein Asso
ciation annual meeting, Saeger
town United Methodist Church,
Adams County Farm-City Week
Open House, Harold King
Farm, York Springs, noon-4
p.m.
Penn-Jersey Farm and Power
Equipment Dealers Association
annual meeting. Mountain
Laurel Resort Hotel. White
Chester County DHIA annual
meeting and banquet. West Fal
lowfield Christian School, 7
p.m.
Pa. Farm Bureau annual meeting.
Hershey Lodge and Convention
Center, thru Nov. 17.
Pa. Association of Dairy Sanita
rians and Dairy Laboratory
Analysts annual meeting and
conference, Penn State, State
College, thru Nov. 17.
Agronomy Ag-Service School,
Holiday Inn, Dußois, 9
Erie County Holstein Association
annual meeting, Moose Club,
Union City, 7:30 p.m.
Pa. Association of Extension
Home Economists fall meeting,
State College, thru Nov. 17.
Pa. Turgrass Council In Penn State
Golf Turf Conference, Nittany
Lion Inn, University Paik, thru
Nov. 18.
Bradford County Groundwater
Conference. Sheshequin-Ulster
Elementary School, Ulster,
7:30 p.m.
S.W. Pa. Hay Auction, Westmore
land Fairgrounds. 11 a.m.
Agronomy Ag-Service Schools.
Days Inn, Meadville, 3 p.m.-9
p.m.
Bradford-Sullivan Forest Land
owners’ Association annual
meeting, Wysox Fire Hall,
Wysox, 7:30 p.m,
Ephrata Area Young Farmer meet
ing on countywide property *
reassessment, Ephrata High
rise Hill Inn, Canandaigua,
N.Y., 7:30 p.m.
Adams County Farm-City Week
business open house, 10 a.m.-2
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agqit
To Provide
Foot Baths
For Dairy Cattle
Foot problems may be debilitat
ing to cattle.
When their feet hurt, cows stay
off their feet They are reluctant to
walk to feed bunks and pastures
and their feed intake declines.
Also, milk production and concep
tion rates decline while the inci
dence of ketosis and twisted sto
machs may increase.
Foot problems may be caused
by physical injuries, nutritional
deficiencies, diseases, and infec
tious organisms. To help prevent
foot infections, farmers are
encouraged to have cattle walk
through foot baths periodically.
This should start in the fail of the
year before foot problems become
severe.
Foot bath solutions of copper
sulfate, zinc sulfate, or tetracycline
have been fairly successful. Con
sult your veterinarian for specific
recommendations. The success
rate may be improved by switching
back and forth from one solution to
another.
Also, keep the foot bath clean. It
should be changed every 100 to
200 cows or when it becomes dir
ty. Walking cows through water,
spraying cows’ hooves in the par
lor, and having the cows walk
through the bath as they exit from
the stable or parlor helps clean
cows’ feet before they walk
through the bath. This helps to
extend the useful life of the foot
bath solution.
To Evaluate
Tunnel Ventilation
Many farmers are reading and
hearing a lot about tunnel ventila
tion. It is a very effective way of
keeping animals cool during heat
spells.
However, there are several
questions you need to ask yourself
before investing in a tunnel venti
lation system:
• Arc you building new or are
you able to do sufficient remodel-
p.m.
Dairy Herd Reproductive Work
shop, Somerset Vo-Tech, 9:30
Brian and Brenda Moyer Farm,
Franconia, 9:30 a.m.-11:30
aan.
Bucks County Holstein Club fall
bam meeting, 7:30 pm.
Centre County Holstein Associa
tion annual meeting, Logan
Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap, 7
p.m.
Expansion Strategies for Dairy
Farms Regional Conference,
Mercer, thru Nov. 19.
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative annual
meeting, Lancaster Host Resort
and Conference Center, Lan
(Tum to Pago A3o}
ing to fit the engineering require
ments into a relatively long and
narrow building? A low and flat
ceiling is required. Also, facilities
that are square or too wide are gen
erally not cost effective to tunnel
ventilate.
• Are you able to implement an
all-in, all-out production unit or
use it in a breeding or gestation
building? If not, then tunnel venti
lation probably is not right for you.
Ask your veterinarian what the
maximum age spread may be in a
single building without comprom
ising herd health.
• Are you willing to improve
your management drills to make
sure the building is being properly
ventilated? Tunnel ventilation
requires more manual control and
equipment must work all the time.
You must be prepared for electri
cal or equipment failures.
• Do your pens lend themselves
to tunnel ventilation? Open gating
type pens maximize tunnel ventila
tion’s effect Solid partitions in
your building may lock you into
another ventilation system.
• Will you be able to effectively
combine fans and other equipment
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SOMETHING MORE
November 14,1993
Background Scripture:
Genesis 29: 1-30
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 130
When we first meet Jacob, we
are not favorably impressed by
him. Esau, his brother, might have
been rash and stupid, but nothing
can excuse Jacob for the sneaky
opportunism and sheer deception
he practiced in order to get from
Esau his birthright and his father’s
final blessing.
If Jacob’s escape off into the
wilderness of Paddanaram had
been the end of the story, his name
would not be worth preserving.
But that was not the end of the
story and, fortunately for every
one concerned, there was some
thing more to Jacob than what was
evident in his neighborhood.
There are lots of times when we
write-off people like Jacob. Some
thing about them rubs us the
wrong way. Perhaps they have
acted in a sneaky way and not
straight-forwardly. Or let’s sup
pose that they have been tempera
mental, jealous or selfish to us.
We are likely to limit our contact
with people like that as best we
can, an understandable response.
DIFFERENT VIEWS
But we ought not to be too
quick to think that we have adequ
ately judged the essential charac
ter of another person. The other
day someone indicated that they
saw me as “a patient and gentle
person.” But I have to admit that
there are almost certainly people
not necessarily a small group
who see me as anything but
“patient” and “gentle”. So which
of these views is the right one?
Probably both and neither. In
different situations and with diffe
rent people I am likely to be a dif
ferent person. And if that is true of
me, it is true of others, too. So,
Jacob was a scoundrel, but there
was something more to him than
that
This “something more”
becomes evident in a new situa
tion and, as often it is in life,
of tunnel ventilation with your
winter time ventilation system?
To Feed For
Rumen Development
One of the goals of feeding
calves is to encourage rumen
development.
Grain, not forage, is the most
important feed for proper rumen
development of young calves and
for meeting their nutrient needs.
As calves grow older and are con
suming a few pounds of grain per
day, they may be induced to small
amounts of good quality, palatable
forage.
Young grass or grass/legume
hays are generally preferred. Dry
hay is preferred over silage
because it is difficult to keep silage'
fresh when it is fed in small quanti
ties. Dry hay is also preferred over
pasture because young rapidly
growing heifers may not consume
enough dry matter when feeding
on succulent feeds. Yearlings, on
the other hand, may rely more
heavily on pasture and com silage.
Feather Profs Footnote: "We
make a living by what we get. We
make a life by what we give."
that it is away from home! Meet
ing some shepherds at a well, he
wants to know why they are wait
ing idly there. The answer the
stone covering the well is pur
posely too large and heavy for just
one or two persons to move. So
they have to wait until all the she
pherds together can move it But
when Rachel, his cousin, comes,
“Jacob went up and rolled the
stone from the well’s mouth, and
watered the flock of Laban his
mother’s brother” (29:10). Self
ish, scheming Jacob performing a
spontaneous, benevolent act!
(How different Rachel’s view of
Jacob than the one held by his
brother, Esau.)
A DIFFERENT JACOB
But the most notable difference
is evident to us when he deals with
his uncle Laban. Offering to woik
for him for seven years so that he
might have Rachel’s hand, Jacob
meets a man who, like himself, is
not above deceit in order to get
what he wants. Promising Rachel.
Laban gives him instead the older
and unattractive Leah. In fact, as
Jacob had tricked Isaac with his
disguise, so Laban tricks Jacob,
letting Jacob think that the veiled
Leah is Rachel.
The Jacob we knew back in the
home of Isaac would not have let
anyone get away with pulling such
a switch on him. Knowing him as
we do or think we do we
expect him to vow vengeance
upon Laban and set his clever
mind to retaliation. But, that is
where we’re in for a big surprise.
Instead of revenge, Jacob accepts
the situation and strikes a new bar
gain: to work seven more years for
the hand of Rachel. For all of his
schehung nature. Jacob was able
to accept a disappointment and
was flexible enough so that he
could do something positive to
make the best of the situation.
Jacob, as his name implies,
began life as a devious supplanler.
But there was something more to
him than that—as there is to each
of us.
Lancaster Farming
Established 19SS •
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Sfktrnan EnMpriM
Hobart G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newewenger Utnegng Edtor
CepyrlgM IN2 by Leneeeler Fermi ng