AlO-Lmcnter Fanning, Saturday, Novambar tf, 1995
OPINION
Recently the world heard about a memorable baseball
event —Cal Ripken, in breaking an old record held by Lou Geh
rig, set a new one for consecutive games played. A hero to the
people of Baltimore and to baseball fans everywhere. Cal Rip
ken is a dedicated, committed individual with a strong woik
ethic. But so are many in the American work force—workers
who go unrecognized and unsung.
Without detracting from Ripken’s accomplishments, we can
acknowledge the many individuals who strive daily in the field
of agriculture and who exhibit the same straightforward dedi
cation and unending commitment to their jobs of producing
food.
Scores of farmers work from daylight to dark producing food
for people in Delaware and beyond. These stewards of the land
labor during times of ill health, high stress, foul weather and
uncertainty to put food on America’s tables at a cost much less
than in any other country.
The livestock farmer is on the job every day year-round. The
dairy producer milks cows two or three times each day, 365
days a year. Poultry growers tend their chickens twice a day,
making sure that feed is always available and the environment
in the house is safe and healthy. Beef and hog producers also
must provide daily care to their animals.
Grain and vegetable producers are committed to the job of
what and when to plant their crops. They work, despite bad
weather, to plant, cultivate, and harvest for optimal production.
Dry conditions make irrigation necessary, requiring long hours
and some sleepless nights to ensure that the crops get adequate
water. Hot, dry summers take a severe toll on unirrigated crops
as well as livestock and animal performance, reducing profits
and increasing emotional stress on the grower.
Yet these people, like Cal Ripken, never give up. They are
our American farmers. It is time we salute them, too, for their
hard work and dedication, which benefits us all.
Richard E. Fowler
Director
Delaware Cooperative Extension
Arena, Stale College, 11 a.m.
North American Rhea Association
Mini-Seminar and board meet-
ing, Lancaster.
Mushroom Production Woikshop,
WMREC, Kecdysvillc, Md., 9
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
W. Va. Farm Bureau annual meet
ing, Beckley Hotel and Confer-
ence Center, Beckley, W.Va.,
thru Nov. 13.
Berks County Farm Tour, 12
p.m.-S p.m„ thru Nov. 12.
Adams County 4-H Leaders’ Ban
' St. Paul’- Lutheran
Towers, thru Nov. 19.
Dairy Feed Industry Seminar,
Lighthouse Restaurant, Cham
bersburg, 9 a.m.
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant,
Manheim, noon.
Pa. Equine Council Annual Mem
bership Meeting and Election,
Chambersburg.
Pa. Farm Bureau Annual Mccting,
Hershey Lodge and Convention
Center, Hershey, thru Nov. 15.
*Farm Calendars
NJ. Farm Bureau Annual Conven
tion, Landmark Inn, Cherry
Hill, NJ.. thru Nov. 14.
Penn State Income Tax Institute,
Days Inn, New Kensington,
thru Nov. 14.
Md. and Va. Milk Producers
Cooperative Association Inc.,
local district meeting, Fulton
Grange Hall, Wakefield, noon.
Managing Dry Cow For Maximum
Profitability, Mercer County
Editor:
I am enclosing a news article I
have written to include in your
paper.
You will be able to look up the
data I have researched by using
the Market Report listed for the
Dewart Livestock Auction.
Recorded Oct. 31, 1995.
I have tried to report facts along
with inserting a little humor, since
it appears we farmers have to be
good natured to keep things going
when the going gets tough.
As outside temperatures drop,
farmers could be tempted to house
young calves indoors with older
cows and heifers.
To help keep the bam warmer,
they might close windows and air
inlets.
According to Glenn Shirk,
extension dairy agent, that could
be a big, big mistake. It jeopardizes
the health of the herd and the lives
of the calves.
Calves need fresh air. If calves
are housed indoors, it is much
more important that the air is kept
fresh rather than warm. The air
should flow from the calf area to
the older animals, not vice versa.
Warm moist air from the cow
area when pulled into the calf area,
exposes the calves to more disease
causing organisms and it increases
the humidity of the air in the calf
area.
Both conditions are unhealthy
for calves. Ideally, they should be
housed separately for several
months, until they have developed
sufficient immunity to protect
them from disease causing organ
isms from older animals.
4. <
Harvest Drive Family Restaur
ant. Intercourse.
Pa. Farm Bureau 4Sth Annual
Banquet, Hershey Lodge and
Convention Center, Hershey, 7
p.m.
*95 Quality Forages Conference,
Shadowbrook Inn, Tunkhan-
nock, 9:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m.
N.E. Pa. Forage Day,
Tunkhannock.
Swine AI One-Day Session, Lees
port Farmer’s Market, Lees
port, 10 a.m.-2;30 p.m.
Penn State Income Tax Institute,
(Turn to Pago A3t)
Farm Forum *
I hope you will be interested in
printing the article. Inaccurate
reports to farmers are very serious,
the extra money that we had pro
jected to make on our animal,
would have paid another bill at our
farm.
Everything has become a criti
cal issue to the farmer at this time.
Everyone dealing with agriculture
should be able to have papers pub
lish a correct market analysis. The
analysis helps projecting to sell at
the farm or market.
(Turn to Pago A3O)
To Provide
Fresh Air
To Calves
To Prepare Calves
For Cold Weather
Calves do not need warm hous
ing. However, they do need to be
fed more energy on cold days to
help them generate more body
heat.
This may be accomplished by
feeding more milk and grain or
offering calves feed of higher ener
gy content Then we need to help
calves retain their body heat
Their hair coat is an excellent
insulator if it is clean, dry and pro
tected from prevailing winds.
Remember, cold, wet surfaces
pull heat away from the body.
Thus, clean, dry bedding is very
important
To Increase
Crop Yields
Looking for a way to increase
crop yields? Consider information
available from university research
trails which compare varieties.
Penn State Agronomy Depart
ment conducts trails for com, soy
bean, wheat barley, oats and many
forage crops including alfalfa, red
f“ — t
xi - /., ,
BY
'HI
N 3SI3SL3
RESOLVING CONFLICT
November 12, 1995
Resolving CoitfHct
November 12, 1995
Background Scripture:
Acts 15:1-35
Devotional Reading:
Romans 3:21-31
Sooner or later in religion it
comes down to this—or some
thing similar: “But some men
came down from Judea and were
teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you
are circumcised according to the
custom of-Moses, you cannot be
saved”’ (Acts 15:1).
I don’t mean that “sooner or
later” circumcision becomes an
issue, but that inevitably our
bright spiritual horizons become
clouded with human conflict over
religious belief and practice. The
problem is not with the various
beliefs and practices that are
meaningful to us, but our convic
tion that others must adopt these to
be full-fledged followers of Jesus
Christ.
I can respect the Christian com
mitment of both those who prac
tice infant baptism and those who
practice infant dedication. Or of
those who prefer to take Com
munion in the pews instead of at
the rail, of “trespassers” as well as
“debtors,” of those who observe
only two sacraments as well as
those who observe seven. 1 have
little patience with those who,
instead of living by the gospel as
they perceive it, spend their efforts
trying to get others to do so.
What Is Necessary?
Ideally, Christians ought to
have fewer conflicts than others,
but I don’t think it works out that
way. Actually, the key is in the
way we resolve them. Very often,
if we resolve them constructively,
we may grow in the process. This
is what happened in the early
church. When some insisted on
circumcision and the laws of
Moses as essential for all Chris
tians, church leaders met the chal
lenge in a straight-forward
manner.
The deliberations were based
not so much upon ideology, as
upon testimony to what God had
been doing in their midst. Peter
reminded them that God had be
stowed the Holy Spirit upon uncir-
ckjTcr, and many grass species.
According to Robert Anderson,
extension agronomy agent, plant
breeders are constantly improving
the productivity of plants by
selecting plants which produce
more or are less susceptible to
insects and diseases.
Penn Slate has released the 199 S
Pennsylvania Winter Wheat and
Barley Performance Tests. The
test at Landisville. Lancaster
Countyhshowed the five best wheat
varieties grown this year produced
between 123 and 128 bushels per
acre and had bushel weights
between SS.2 and 57.5 pounds per
bushel. That compares to the old
standard Redcoat which produced
95 bushels per acre with a weight
of 57.3 pounds per bushel in the
same test
Similar results were seen for
barley. In 1995 the best barley pro
duced 162 bushels per acre com
pared to 112 bushels per acre pro
duced by the standard Barsoy.
Feather Prof.’s Footnote: "A
leader makes decisions founded on
sound morals and fair judgment."
cumcised Gentiles as well as cir
cumcised Jewish Christians. This
experience had been in direct con
tradiction to what he believed.
Paul and Barnabas testified to the
“signs and wonders God had done
through them among the Gentiles’’
(15:12). The appeal was to the
church’s experience, not its belief
systems.
Peter also reminds them that
none of them will be saved by cir
cumcision or following the laws
of Moses. “But we believe that we
will be saved through the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, just as they
will” (15:11). All of us, even those
of us with the “right beliefs and
practices” are solely dependent
upon the grace of God.
Only Grace!
So the leaders of the church
resolved the conflict in a positive
manner and, instead of thundering
threats to the gentile Christians, in
their letter to them spoke persua
sively rather than commandingly.
Three times, they say, “it seemed
godd to u 5...” (15:22, 25, 28),
rather than setting forth dogmatic
pronouncements.
We live today in a world where
most conflicts are settled either by
force or litigation, often unsatis
factorily in the long run. Unfortu
nately, instead of showing the
world how conflicts can be resol
ved peacefully and constructively,
the churches have often provided
some of the most glaring exam
ples of how not to solve conflict.
But the Jerusalem Conference
gives us a good example, remind
ing us that we are saved, not by
our clever ideologies and rituals,
but by the same grace of God that
is available to all. As Alan Baton
writes, ‘The tragedy is not that
things are broken. The tragedy is
that they are not mended again.”
***
(Note: if you are interested in
how one denomination is pioneer
ing in the ministry of reconcilia
tion and conflict resolution, send
for a sample copy of Conciliation
Quarterly Newsletter, 21 S. 12th
Street, PO Box 500, Akron, PA
17501-0500.)
Lancaster Fanning
. Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
EphraU Review Building
IE. Main St
EphraU, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMnman Enterprise
Robert a Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Nawawangar Managing Editor
Copyright 1995 by Lanoester Farming