Aio-Uncastef Fanning, Saturday, October 1, 1994
OPINION
Food-Related Scare Story
Many news stories you read deal with what Sharon Begley, a
Newsweek senior writer who specializes in science and the envi
ronment, calls “the cancer-of-the-weck syndrome.” What Ms.
Begley means is that on a tegular basis, scare stories are pub
lished that blame chemicals, mostly pesticides, for causing
cancer.
These man-made chemicals are only a small part of the chemi
cals we eat each day. Natural chemicals found in vegetables, for
example, have many more carcinogens than any small amount of
artifical chemical residue that may still remain on the plant when
we eat it. A cup of coffee has more natural pesticides than any
kind of tossed salad you can imagine.
We live longer, on the average, than people of past genera
tions, largely because science has conquered many of the fatal
diseases. People enjoy being scared. That’s why they go to the
movies. But at home, when they pick up the daily newspaper, we
think they should be comforted to know that our farmers produce
the safest food supply in the world at a cost that is incredibly low,
often below the cost of production.
And if they really want to be scared, they should think about
what it would be like if the grocery store shelves were suddenly
bare. Now that’s what we would call a food-related scare story.
Farm Calendar
Heritage Festival, Berks County
Heritage Center, near Reading
Airport, thru OcL 2.
Blacksmith Days, Carroll County
Md. Farm Museum, thru Oct 2.
~ . . . lIIWII ■ - ~
Suiukn. Oclolht 2
National 4-11 Week
National 4-H Week, thru Oct. 8.
47th Joint Annual Conference of
the State Conservation Com
mission and the Pennsylvania
Association of Conservation
Districts, Westmoreland Coun-
Hollidaysburg, thru Oct 6.
Manheim Community Farm
Farm, Pleasant Mount 10:30
iiry xpo, Uiiiiv
Expo Center, Madison, Wis.,
thru Oct 9.
38th Annual Keystone Livestock
Expo, Farm Show Complex,
ence, Bradford County exten
Monday October 10
< olumhus D.i\
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant,
Manheim, noon.
Pcnn/Jersey Estate Planning
Workshop, Holiday Inn, Beth
lehem, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
0JK 1
lucsdin, October II
Delmarva Poultry Industry annual
meeting, Delmarva Convention
Center, Delmar, Md.
Dairylea Cooperative Inc. annual
meeting, Sheraton Inn, Liver
pool, N.Y., thru Oct. 12.
Juniata County Conservation Field
Day, Art Zug Farm, Thompson
town^Murf^un^^^^^
Pa. Council of Cooperatives annu
al meeting, Penn State Scanti
con Conference Center Hotel.
State College, thru Oct. 13.
Virginia/Pennsylvania Turkey
Days, Sheraton Inn, Harrison
burg, Va.
Veterinary Nutrition Forum, Days
Inn, Lancaster, 7 p.m.
Expanding Pa. Products Seminar,
Wildwood Conference Center,
Harrisburg Area Community
4-H N.E. Regional Leaders For
um, Durham, N.H., thru Oct
16.
Adams County Holstein Associa
tion annual meeting, 7 p.m.
Lancaster County Pasture Walk,
Roman Stoltzfoos Farm, Kin
zers, 10:30 a.m.
Bedford County Farm Field Day,
Gatesway Farms, New Enter-
Saturday Oclobei 15
Sunda\, October l(>
Mond.u, Oclobei 17
( olumbus I).iv
New Fanning Traditions Work
shop, WMREC, Keedysville,
Dillsburg Community Fair, Dills
burg, thru OcL 22.
Lancaster County Bee Association
Fall Honey Beeswax and Cook
ing Roundup, Dutch Gold Hon
PAS A Nutrient Management Field
To Enter
Grain Bins
Safely
Grain farmers who store their
own grain are at risk of suffocation
in grain bins.
Moving grain is especially
dangerous. Flowing grain works in
the same way as quicksand, pull
ing anyone in the bin down and
under in less than one minute with
very little ability to free
themselves.
Following a few safety rules
while working around a grain bin
may help protect your life. If you
must enter a grain bin, always stay
above the stored material on a cat
walk. Never enter a bin to break a
bridge or to dislodge caked mater
ial from the side of a bin. Use a
wooden or plastic pole to break
material free.
Do not use a metal pole, which
might come in contact with electric
lines. Never enter a bin while it is
being unloaded. Have controls
which run loading and unloading
equipment locked off anytime
someone is in the bin to avoid
someone from starting the
equipment
Run ventilating equipment
before entering and while in the
bin. Wear a safety belt or harness
that is equipped with a lifeline that
will keep you above the stored
grain if you fall. Always have
someone standing by outside the
bin anytime you enter the storage.
To Precondition
Beef Calves
Chester Hughes, extension
livestock agent, reminds us the
purpose of preconditioning or pre
vaccinating beef calves is to help
alleviate the stress at weaning,
shipment, and adjustment to a
fcedlot environment. This also
helps builds resistance against
Day, Randy and Karen Hunts
man Dairy, Martinsburg, 10
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
National Meeting On Poultry
Health and Processing. Shera
ton Ocean Qty,“Ocean City,
Md., thru Ocl 21.
Uniontown Poultry and Farm
Show, Uniontown, thru Oct. 23.
Workshop Series On Computer
ized Farm and Record Keeping,
Lancater Farm and Home Cen-
ter, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1
p.m.-3 p.m., also Oct. 27.
Pasture Walk, Dr. Robert and
Helene Dreisbach, Hamburg,
10:30 a.m.-noon.
Conservation Easement Admini
strator's Workshop, Penn State
Extension, Carlisle, 9 a.m.-4
o.m.
some of the causes of disease that
result from stress, especially
respiratory diseases.
Preconditioning also implies the
calves are castrated, implanted,
dehorned, weaned and started on
feed at least three weeks prior to
sale or shipment. All weaned beef
calves should be dehorned and bull
calves castrated well before
weaning.
Also, two rounds of vaccina
tions should be administered,
including IBR, BVD, PI3, BRSV,
H, Somnus, Pasturella, and a
seven-way clostridal.
Depending on your program,
you may include implants and
wormers. If you have any ques
tions, consult your veterinarian.
To Plant
Winter Cover Crops
Winter cover crops play a very
important role in nutrient manage
ment. Many farmers need to empty
their manure storage units during
the fall season. This means these
crop nutrients are applied to crop
land at a time of year when they are
WORSHIPPING THE
GODS OF OUR ENEMIES
October 2,1994
Background Scripture:
Judges 2:6 through 3:6
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 81:6-16
The late Harry Emerson Fos
dick of the Riverside Church in
New York City was one of my
preaching idols as a young minis
ter. I was privileged to hear him
on one or two occasions and read
most or all of his books.
One of his sermons that
intrigued me was entitled, if I
remember correctly, “Worship
ping The gods of Our Enemies.”
I don’t recall the text upon
which the sermon was based, but
I rather imagine it was from the
book of Judges—most likely the
second chapter of Judges, which
is a kind of summary of the whole
book: the people of Israel forsake
God and worship the gods of their
neighbors: upon
them and they cry to God for
help; he sends someone to extri
cate them, and then, freed of their
disaster, they return to following
other gods. Chapter after chapter,
this is the story of the Book of
Judges.
Although we may have diffi
culty in understanding how the
Israelites could have been so stu
pid and fickle, very often the
story of the Israelites is our story,
too, and the message of this
ancient book is a message to us as
well as to them. Have we not
from time to time fallen down to
worship the gods of our enemies,
too?
For approximately 80 percent
of my life the world has beenthe
stage for a gigantic struggle
between democracy and commu
nism. Within the last few years it
has appeared that the battle is
over—although I'm not entirely
certain about that. During that
long struggle the enemy was usu
ally characterized as “materialis
tic communism,” a legitimate
appellation, I think, because, as
an ideology, communism was
based upon that idea that well
being is dependent upon our
access to material goods, requir
ing essentially a redistribution of
not needed by a growing crop.
•Therefore these nutrients are vul
nerable to being lost to the envi
ronment because of soil erosion
and leaching.
Winter cover crops are a valu
able tool fanners may use to pre
vent tconomic loss of valuable
nutrients and prevent environmen
tal damage. By planting a small
grain crop such as rye. it will take
up the available nitrogen and hold
it in the plant preventing loss to the
water supply. If the rye is
harvested, the nutrients will be
utilized as high quality feed. If the
rye is killed or plowed under next
spring, the nutrients will become
available to the following crop.
The rye will also prevent nutri
ent loss by slowing soil erosion.
Rye may be planted as late as
November, but the earlier it is
planted the more nutrients it will
take up and the more it will yield
next spring.
Feather Profs Footnote: "The
loftier your goals, the higher your
risk, the greater your
accomplishments."
wealth. The collapse of Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet
Union would seem to indicate
that communistic materialism has
failed miserably on an interna
tional scale. So, is that the end of
materialism? No, hardly, for it
seems to be the one factor that
permeates the lives of people
around the globe, including, and
probably especially, our own
society here in the USA. Accord
ing to our current culture, the
answer to our deepest needs and
problems is to be found in the
material things we are able to
acquire, materialism tells us who
is successful and what is impor
tant in the home, the school, the
marketplace, and, yes, even in the
churches. The values that propel
our society today are largely eco
nomic, not spiritual or even
moral.
GODLESS COMMUNISM
Our old enemy was also
labeled as “Godless commu
nism,” another tag that was, for
the most part, accurate. Religion
was permitted behind the Iron
Curtain, so long as it was kept
private arid did not attempt to
affect that communist society.
But, if communist society was
“godless”—and it was —is ours
by contrast necessarily “Godful”?
I think not. Prophetic voices in
our society are told to keep their
religious views private. National
issues are decided, not on the
basis of what we may think God
wills, but on the basis of political
ideology.
The two labels which tran
scend all other considerations
today are “liberal” and “conserv
ative.” If people think something
is “liberal” in its inception, they
rarely ask what God thinks of it.
If something bears the label “con
servative,” it may be rejected, not
because of its worth, but because
of that label. Political ideology
plays a much more important role
in our society than spirituality.
These may be just two of the
ways in which our society wor
ships at the altars of our old ene
mies. Can you think of any more?
Lancaster Fanning
Established 19SS
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMiman Entvprtm
Robert Q. Campbell General Manager
Evaieo R. Newiwtnger Managing Edtor
Copyright I*o4 by Uneaatar Farming