AlO-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, May 21, 1994
OPINION
Improve Agriculture
The reasons for the continuance of depressed prices to the
United States Agriculture producers are becoming increasingly
clearer to everyone. United States producers are being told to
produce at world market prices or get out of business.
It’s unbelievable that the mentality of the food policy makers
in this country has deteriorated so much that they feel a large
amount of the American food supply can and should be import
ed from foreign countries.
Under the proposed GATT agreement the American dairy
farmer will become one of the sacrificial lambs.
Our dairy fanners are continually being told by some dairy
and government leaders that GATT will open up all of these
tremendous foreign maikets for our dairy products. In reality
the agreement calls for far more dairy imports into the United
States with only limited amounts of increased expons.
The National Hoards Dairymen Journal now agrees the
GATT agreement could cost the United Slates Dairy farmer a
reduction in milk prices of nearly 750 per cwt.
The main supporters of the so-called Self-Help Bill fall in
the same category with the trade negotiators for GATT. Neither
the proposed Self-Help Program or the proposed GATT agree
ment will solve the plight of the American Dairy Farmer, nor
will the problems being experienced by many other agriculture
producers be lessened.
In the beginning, the amounts of manufactured dairy pro
ducts coming into the United States as a result of GAIT will
not seriously erode the manufactured dairy market in this coun
try: however, what will happen will be worse. The imports
coming in will place a downward pressure on the manufactured
dairy market which will depress all class prices to dairy farmers
as the further depressed prices take place with our dairymen;
the result will be an increasing number forced out of business.
This could create a dependency for the United States to even
import more dairy products.
The American farmer can no longer be expected to produce
the bulk of the American food on 1979 prices. No other section
of our economy operates on 1979 prices. It’s up to the Ameri
can farmer to immediately let his agricultural leaders and con
gress know what really has to be done to save and improve the
agriculture base of this country. Arden Tewksbury, Progres
sive Organization
Farm Calendar
York County Dairy Princess
Pageant, 4-H Center, 8 p.m.
Organizational meeting of Green
Valley Cooperative, ASI Build-
Lehigh Valley Horse Council
meeting, Pleasant Hollow
Farms, Coopersburg, 7:30 p.m.
Spinning and Weaving Demon
stration, Lancaster Farm and
Ephrata Area Young Farmers
meeting, Hibshman Farmstead,
Mercer County Round Bale Silage
Demonstration, David Shaffer
Atlantic National Angus Show,
Base
Nutrient Management Advisory
Board meeting, 2301 N. Came
ron St., Harrisburg, 9:30
a.m.-3;30 p.m.
Pa. Dairy Industry Futures Forum,
Penn State Scanticon Confer
ence Center Hotel, University
Park.
Dairy On-Farm Problem-Solving
Satellite Conference, down
linked to Lancaster Farm and
Home Center and other sites,
call local extension office for
details
H ida>. .Imu 1 3
Philadelphia County Fair, Fair
mount Park, thru June 12.
Bradford County Dairy Princess
Pageant, East Smilhfield, 7
D.m,
Md. State 4-H Horse Judging Con
test, Howard County
Fairground.
Md. 4-H Dairy Youth Fun, Freder
ick County 4-H Camp and
Monday. .1 nn*.‘ (>
liusda\, Inin 1 7
Ag Technology Day. Early Sum
mer Crop Management Field
Session, Westmoreland Fair-
To Update
Immunizations
The recent case of tetanus in
Lancaster County reminds us the
importance of keeping our immu
nizations current
Organisms that cause tentus,
polio, diptheria, and measles are
always present in the environment
looking for an opportunity to
strike. Tentus causing bacteria is
present everywhere around us
soil, bushes, trees, rocks, etc. Once
introduce through a cut or wound,
the bacteria causes life threatening
situation by locking the jaws.
These and other dreaded disease
may prevented by vaccinations. If
you do not remember when you
had your last tentus shot, schedule
one this week with your doctor.
Review your family vaccination
schedule with your doctor and
make sure all the proper vaccina
tions are received by any family
member.
If cost is a factor, many hospi
tals offer free or very low cost vac
cinations. Talk with your doctor
and make sure everyone in your
family is properly vaccinated for
grounds, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. and 7
p.m.-9 p.m.
Southeast Pennsylvania Regional
Fruit Growers Twilight meet
ing, Wolfs Orchard, New
Pa. Veterinary Nutrition Forum
monthly meeting, Days Inn,
Lancaster.
Catawissa Valley Fair, Catawissa,
thru June 11.
Lancaster County Pasture Walk,
Allen Weicksel Farm, Peach
Columbia-Luzerne Holstein
ucnic.
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant,
Cumberland Wool Growers Wool
Pool, Carlisle Fairgrounds,
Delmarva Chicken Festival and
Cooking Contest, Delaware
State U., Dover, Del., thru June
18.
Eastern Regional Shorthorn Show
and Judging Contest, Howard
County Fairgrounds, thru June
18.
tentus, polio, and other important
diseases.
To Clean And
Service Fans
This past week I had the oppor
tunity to check poultry house fans
for amount of air they were mov
ing. The 36 identical fans were
producing anywhere from 2,000
cubic feet per minute (cfm) to
9,000 cfm per minute. For most
fans the partially closed louvers
were reducing each fan capacity by
40 percent
With the cool spring, this
reduced fan capacity was not hurt
ing egg production. However, if
left unattended, it would cause
severe egg production drop and
probably higher hen mortality this
summer.
In addition, by not servicing the
fans now, the farmer was spending
at least 40 percent more for electr
icity. Some areas that needed
attention were correcting partially
closed louvers, tightening fan
belts, replacing worn motors, and
replacing worn pulleys.
Now is the time to check all fans
and make necessary repairs and
adjustments. Also, do not forget to
regularly blow the dust off fans
and louvers.
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| BY LAWHtNCt W AUHOUSE
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THE ILLUSION OF
FREEDOM
May 22, 1994
THE ILLUSION
OF FREEDOM
Background Scripture:
Galatians S
Devotional Reading:
1 Timothy 6:10-12
Somewhere I read that after
World War 11, when India was
successful in obtaining its inde
pendence from the British Empire,
thousands of Indians attempted to
ride the railroads of India without
tickets. They had seriously misun
derstood what freedom is.
Don’t most of us?
In our childhood and adolescent
years we yearn for our freedom
from parental control. When at
last that day arrives, we believe
ourselves to be “free at last.”
Looking back on that day, some of
us can see that that was an illu
sion. Actually, all childhood and
adolescence is a process of grow
ing free of control by others. But
we are seriously mistaken if we
think that shedding parental con
trol makes us truly free. During
these years of “growing up” we
may become increasingly under
the control of our peers. And,
freed of the legal control of our
parents, we may lose our newly
found freedom to our own appe
tites. Thinking we are “free at
last,” we may be more in bondage
than before.
THE YOKE AGAIN
That’s why Paul’s admonition
to the Galatians is so timely today:
“For freedom Christ has set us
free; stand fast therefore, and do
not submit again to a yoke of sla
very” (5:1). That’s the tough part:
not submitting again “to a yoke of
slavery.” The fact is, something
has to be in control of our life.
Someone has to be in the driver’s
seat. Otherwise there would be
complete anarchy and we would
never achieve anything. I don’t
To Ventilate
Dairy Barns
In Summer
According to Glenn Shirk, dairy
bams may be a nice place to keep
cows on a hot summer day that
is, if the bam is properly venti
lated. The bam provides cows
shade, easy access to fresh feed
and water and a clean comfortable
place to lie down.
Tiestall bams may be tunnel
ventilated. A 36- to 40-foot wide
tiestall bam requires four 48 inch
fans in (Hie end of the bam with all
the air inlets located at the opposite
end of the bam. You will need two
and a half square feet of inlet area
for every 1,000 cfm fan capacity.
For four 48 inch fans, you will
need an inlet of S feet wide across
the full width of the stable or its
equivalent.
Provisions should be made to
ventilate the bam in the case of a
power failure. Shirk says that
another way to force fresh air into
the bam and create a breeze around
the head and shoulder area of cows
is to rely on a properly designed
pressurized duct system.
Feather Profs Footnote: "The
reason people are successful is not
by how much they talk, but by how
attentively they listen."
mean “achieve” being President of
the United States or a world-fam
ous entertainer, I mean we could
not achieve even the simplest
tasks of functioning in our society.
So, the only question is who or
what we put in our driver’s seat.
Paul suggests that there is a higher
and lower self in each of us. This
lower self he often speaks of as
“the flesh,” a reference not so
much to our physical bodies as to
the selfish, self-indulgent, debili
tating drives of our human nature.
There is also a higher self in each
of us and Paul usually indicates
this reality as “Spirit,” that which
lifts us to our highest potential.
So, we can hand over control of
our lives to our hormones and self
indulgent desires, or we can put
the Spirit in the driver’s seat
WHO’S IN CHARGE?
Now, the interesting thing
about this choice is that, if we give
ourselves over to our appetites, we
are no longer in control of our
lives. We are slaves to our own
hormones. We are not free be
cause we have chosen to be dom
inated by something which is
guaranteed to affect our ultimate
destruction. How strange, then,
that some people think of this as
“freedom.” If, on the other hand,
we put the Spirit in chaige of our
lives, we are free to become our
best selves. For freedom is not the
ability to do what we want, but the
power to do what is best for us,
our highest good.
So Paul counsels us, “For you
were called to freedom, brethren;
only do not use your freedom as
an opportunity for the flesh, but
through love be servants of one
another” (5:13). The highest free
dom is to serve others, not because
we have to, but because we choose
to. Any other image of freedom is
an illusion.
So Jesus was a truly free man.
What about you?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming. Inc.
A Slwhman EMwpnbe
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Event R. Nevnwangar Managing Editor
Copyright IH4 by UnoeMer Farming