AKHjncMMr Farming, Saturday, Dacambar 4. 1998
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OPINION
Students enrolled in some type of agriculture education at the
regional colleges such as Penn State, Delaware Valley Col
lege, University of Delaware, and University of Maryland
face a variety of opportunities when they choose their careers.
But the choice regarding their ultimate goal, what may lie
deep in their hearts, may be extremely limited. •
Many of those who have enrolled in 4-H and FFA while in
high school have spoken to classmates that have grown up on a
farm, and who know how beautiful and rewarding farm life can
be. They know their friends and classmates who have been
brought up on a farm may someday have that choice —to farm.
Some of those same would-be ag graduates also see many stu
dents who have grown up on the farm, and for whatever reason,
decide they want to leave farming, leaving a void in the life of
the farm and an economic rift in the future of the farm family.
Those same possible ag graduates, with an abiding love of
farming and the farm life, hope someday to own a farm. But the
costs of purchasing a farm, let alone the equipment and the
materials, are beyond their economic capability. They leant,
sadly, to resign themselves early on to the realization they will
never own a farm.
We believe there must be a better way a way to unite those
who need someone to take over the farm with the students at the
ag colleges who dream, night and day, of farm ownership. Staff
of Lancaster Farming have met many students who yearn to
own a farm, someday. Many would be willing to devote their
lives to that one dream farming.
Contact your local extension office or the ag college of your
choice. If you have a farm that is available, rather than sell and
divide it, allow those who want to become farmers but don’t
have the economic capability a chance to share in the reality of
ownership.
It could literally make a difference regarding the economic
and emotional well-being of future generations of farmers.
Farm Calendar
National 4-H Congress, thru Dec.
Estate Planning Seminar, Holiday
Inn, Hagerstown, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Maryland Pleasure Horse Semi
nar, South Carroll High School,
Agronomy Ag-Service School,
Bradford County Extension,
Towanda, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Biological Control of Farm Insec
ts, Ag Room, Cumberland Val-
Farm Liability, Solanco High
School Ag Classroom, 7:30
p.m.
Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Exten
sion meeting (MACE), Univer
sity of Delaware, Newark, Del.
Lancaster DHIA annual meeting.
Good and Plenty Restaurant,
11:30 a.m.
Southwest Pennsylvania Hay Auc-
tion, Westmoreland
Fairgrounds.
Agronomy Ag-Service School,
Berks County Agri-Center,
Leesport, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Franklin County Cooperative
Extension Dairy Reproductive
Management Workshop.
Rhodes Grove Camp Confer
ence Center, Chambersburg,
9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., thru Dec. 8.
Stray Voltage Satellite Confer
ence. Cambria Extension
A Dream
Of Ownership
Office, Ebensburg, 1 p.m.-3
p.m.
Coping With Labor Problems
Seminar, Penn State Great Val-
irynt
cncc Center, Varysburg, N.Y.,
noon.
Agronomy Ag-Service School,
Lancaster Farm and Home Cen-
ter, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
On-Farm Biogass Production
Conference. Yoder’s Restaur
ant, New Holland, 9:30 a.m.
Dairy-MAP winter meeting.
Bonanza Family Restaurant,
Lyndora, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Grounds Managers’ Winter Semi
nar, Warrington Motor Lodge,
Warrington.
Fayette County agronomic and
pesticide update credit meeting,
John Brown Farm Equipment,
Tom Ridge. Historic Strasburg
Inn, Strasburg, 7:30 a.m.-9 a.m.
Adams DHIA annual meeting,
Harney, Md.. 6:30 p.m.
Agronomy Ag-Service School.
Quality Inn (Embers). Carlisle,
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Western Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers meeting, Days Inn,
Butler, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Dairy-MAP, Washington County
Extension, Washington, 10
a.m.-3 p.m.
Regulations Compliance Seminar,
Neshaminy Manor Center,
Dovlestown.
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent
To Review
Remodeling Plans
According to Chester Hughes,
extension livestock agent, the
“best” remodeled building is often
the one that requires the fewest
modifications.
When an existing building must
be changed drastically to meet cur
rent needs, consider constructing a
new building. Analyze the existing
building to determine if it is more
suited for some other purpose,
rather than the one you have in
mind.
For example, an uninsulated
machine shed is easier to remodel
for a swine breeding and gestation
bam, than for a farrowing or
nursery facility. Therefore, consid
er a new building for the nursery
and remodel the machine shed for
gestation.
Remodeling is not always the
cheaper route either. When remod
eling costs exceed 50 to 60 per cent
of a new building, a new building
is usually best Remodeling costs
should include any demolition of
interim' structural components and
concrete floras. You should con
sider cost and availability of con
struction labor.
Because of the many
“unknowns” in remodeling, many
farm builders are hesitant to accept
remodeling jobs. Before remodel
ing, carefully evaluate the existing
building’s structure, consider loca
tion. and plan for suitable manure
management
I ikl,i\, lUa'inhiT 10
Agronomy Ag-Service School,
Brynwood Inn, Lewisburg, 9
Moii(la\. IK'ct'mlu'i I,'
Rutgers University ISth annual
pest control meeting. Holiday
Inn, Bridgeport, NJ., thru Dec.
15.
New England Small Fruit and
Vegetable Grower Conference
and Trade Show, Sturbridge
Host Hotel, Sturbridge. Mass.,
thru Dec. 16.
Dairy-MAP winter meeting.
Somerset County Area Vo-
Tech School. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Leadership Lebanon Valley Ag
Day, Lebanon Valley Ag
Center.
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Dairy-MAP winter meeting.
Bonanza Family Restaurant,
Lyndora, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Westmoreland County Coopera
tive Extension dinner meeting,
Mountain View Inn, Greens
burg, 7 p.m.
Veterinary Nutrition Forum, Days
Inn. Lancaster, 7 p.m.
(Turn to Pag* A3l)
To Improve
Production
To compete in today’s dairy
economy requires high levels of
efficient milk production per cow.
However, high production by
itself does not guarantee a profit
Glenn Shirk, extension dairy
agent, reminds us the important
point is not how much production
you need, but how do you obtain
that production?
High production levels obtained
with good breeding, good feeding,
and overall good management
generally are profitable. If you are
culling an excessive number of
problem cows and low producers
and selling them at depressed
prices, high production levels may
come with a very high price tag
and may not be profitable.
Another factor affecting profits
is debt servicing costs. Young
getting started in dairying
carry large debt loads.
To service this debt load, these
young families have to be dairy
managers! They need high levels
of efficient production. Even then,
profits may be very slim.
So the next time you hear that
high production levels are not pro
fitable, ask if consideration has
been given to the age of farmers
and the debt loads they are
carrying.
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BAD NEWS
GOOD NEWS
December 5,1993
Background Scripture:
Luke 1:5-25; 3:1-18
Devotional Reading:
Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12
Someone once remarked to me
that “the Good News of the Gos
pel can sound remarkably like bad
news: how can ‘good news* begin
with a call for repentance.”
It’s true that, when we first hear
that admonition to “repent.” it
seems very threatening. If we are
called to “repent,” it means that
something is wrong with us or our
lives, something we need to feel
sorry about Feeling sorry about
ourselves does not sound like
“good news."
Years ago, when I was a young
pastor fresh out of seminary, I
took Holy Communion into the
homes of some shut-ins of our par
ish. One day when I asked an
elderly woman to pray with me the
Prayer of General Confession, she
said, “But why? I haven’t any
thing to confess; I’m stuck here in
this house, this room and this bed,
day after day.” Taken aback as I
was, I’m not sure how I responded
to her. I think I said something to
the effect that everyone always
has something of which to repent;
none of us are ever perfect.
NONE RIGHTEOUS
Like many people I’veencoun
tered since then, this woman
focused upon sins rather than sin,
upon infractions of the rules
instead of the selfish willfulness
within that lies behind those
infractions. Sins are the outward
acts, while sin is the inner reality.
We may be able to go through per
iods of our lives without commit
ting sinful acts (although not as
much as we like to think), but
hardly a day goes by that sin
doesn’t lodge within our hearts.
Jung regarded this inner reality as
the “shadow” or “dark side” of the
human psyche. All of us have a
To Safeguard
Our Milk Supply
Just a reminder that milk is a
very safe and closely monitored
food.
To insure this quality, most milk
is never exposed to stable air as it
moves from cow to tank. It is
cooled down quickly after each
milking and stored at less than 40
degrees Fahrenheit
When milk is picked up at the
farm it is checked for odors and
proper temperature. A milk sample
is taken for laboratory analysis. At
the lab, milk is tested for protein
and fat content for sediment and
added water, for rancidity, for
somatic cell and bacteria count
and for drug residues.
Each tanker load of milk is
tested for drugs at the milk plant
before it is unloaded. If contami
nated. the load is dumped and most
of the lost is borne by the specific
fanners who caused the problem.
Thus, it is very important you prac
tice good sanitation, proper drug
handling procedures, and keep
milk cold.
By working together we will
keep consumer confidence high in
our product
Feather Prcfs Footnote: "The
formula for failure is resting on
our laurels."
“shadow” side. We may not let it
take over and direct our lives, but
it is always there, tempting us. All
of us experience failure; all of us
fail at some time to do and be the
best that we can; none of us live
up to the potential that God has
placed within us.
So, that sounds like “bad
news,” but actually the very fact
that we can repent is the best pos
sible news because it means we
are not stuck with our sin, our fai
lures, and our shadow side. Think
of the moral failures in your own
life and then imagine what it
would be like if there was no
forgiveness.
DIVINE REDEMPTION!
Some people charge that the
Church is obsessed with human
sinfulness, always emphasizing
how unworthy we are. I will agree
that the message as it sometimes
comes across, is very much that;
the bad news of human depravity.
But the call to repent that John the
Baptist issues and which later
Jesus himself began with, is
focused not on the band news of
human depravity but upon the
good news of divine redemption.
Thus, when we are called to
repent, it is a reminder that we are
not stuck with our sin for here and
eternity. Once we acknowledge it,
we can deal with it and experience
the forgiving grace of God. As
Luke tells us, John came “preach
ing a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3b),
not a baptism for despair of
condemnation.
That’s the best possible news
for me and. I’m certain, for you,
too.
♦**
(Note: the 34th Ski & Spa Holi
day in Badgastein, Austria, led by
the Althouses is set for March
4-19, 1994. For information, con
tact: 4412 Shenandoah Ave., Dal
las, TX 75205.
Lancaster Panning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMiman Entaprim
Robert Q. Campbell General Manager
Evens R. Nawnmnger Managing Edkor
Copyright IMI by Laiteaalar Farming