AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 25, 1995 OPINION Beating NAFTA A friend in the livestock business sent us a copy of Pat Cog gins ’ column in the October issue of the Western Livestock Reporter out of Billings, Montana, that contains very disturbing facts about why cattle prices are so low in this country. Coggins reports that an entrepreneur in Mexico bought cattle in Central and South America for $5O a head, shipped them into Mexico to rest for a few days or weeks, and then sent them on into the U.S. for $350 to $4OO per head. This is illegal under the terms of NAFTA, but apparently authorities do not have a way to check the real point of origin of the cattle. Another way Mexicans beat NAFTA is to disperse their herds in the U.S. and replace them with $5O cattle out of Central and South America. This is probably legal as long as it is not done on an annual basis. Since Central and South America have multi-millions of livestock but very poormarkets, we arc sure that if they can, they will find a market in the U.S. Since many countries have no brand laws or cattle identification systems, they are in a position to move cattle north where they can find U.S markets. This may be good for the dealers and packers, but it certainly doesn’t help the beef farmers and dairymen with cull cows for sale. Lehigh Valley Horse Council meeting, Whitehall Mail Com- ant, Bedford, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 Designing Modem Milking Cen ter, National Conference. Hyatt Regency, Rochester, N.Y., thru Dec. 1. Agway regional annual meeting, Sheraton Liverpool. Penn State Income Tax Institute, Ramada Inn, Wilkes-Barre, Pro Farm “Management for Suc cess” meeting, Howard John son’s, Millington, Md. Lebanon DHIA meeting, Myer stown Church of the Brethren, 7 p.m. Penn State Income Tax Institute, Quality Inn, Williamsport, South Williamsport, thru Dec. Wcstmoreian^DHl^Holstem Club annual meeting, Knight’s Court, New Stanton, 10:30a.m. Tulpehocken Young Farmer Fami- Bam, 9 a.m. grading, 3 p.m. sales. Pennsylvania Quarterhorse Asso ciation annual meeting and Springfield, Mass. Sheraton. Agronomy Ag Service School, Brynwood Inn, Lewisburg, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Penn State Income Tax Institute, Nittany Lion Inn, State College, thru Dec. 5. *Farm Calendar* liu‘sd;n, DtTcmluM' 5 Solanco Young Fanners’ meeting, Cow Comfort, Solanco High School. Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Exten sion meeting (MACE), Univer sity of Delaware, Newark, Del., 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Agronomy Ag Service School, Sinbad’s Restaurant, Wysox, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Southwest Pennsylvania Hay Auc tion, Westmoreland Fair grounds, 11 a.m. Beginning and Retiring Farmer Workshop, Bradford County Extension Office, Towanda, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Lancaster DHIA annual meeting and banquet. Good ’N Plenty Restaurant, Smoketown, 11:30 a.m. Editor: In the Lancaster Farming November 4, 1995 issue on the front page I read that ‘Torn State Strives To Get Handle on Flies.” They are going in the right direc tion. As a suggestion, what’s needed is to study ways to make the poultry, turkey, and swine housing operations cooler so that there isn’t big losses when the summer time temperature gets 100 degrees that cause big looses. I read where a turkey farmer in Illi nois had 3,000 dead turkeys in the heat causing $25,000 loss. A neighbor had only a $5OO loss and another neighbor to the west $550,000 and another, almost $lOO,OOO. This made problems disposing of dead birds. Today’s modem ways and edu cated engineers should be able to design housing with cooler temp- To Change Aging Antifreeze Robert Anderson, extension agronomy agent, reminds us: do not expect your car to brave the winter with antifreeze that is more than two years old. Ethylene glycol antifreeze is called permanent antifreeze because it will not boil away at normal engine temperatures. How ever, that docs not mean the solu tion retains all of its good qualities forever. Antifreeze contains additives to inhibit rust and corrosion, resist foaming, and conduct heat readily. After one or two winters, these additives usually are depleted. If you plan to use the same anti freeze a second year, add a can of rust inhibitor and a can of water pump lubricant to the cooling sys tem to replenish the depleted addi tives. When you change the anti freeze, use a mixture containing SO percent water and SO percent anti freeze. This will lower the freezing point to -34 degrees F. and raise the boiling point to 266 degrees F. A solution containing more than 70 percent antifreeze will raise the Mid-Atlantic Tillage Teleconfer ence, various extension sites, also Dec. 13. Agronomy Ag Service School (Turn to Pig* A 26) * Farm Forum ❖ eratures during hot summer months. Lancaster Farming had pictures of inside operations of lat est ideas in swine, poultry, and turkey buildings and equipment with outside areas. No signs of wind breaks or any barriers to shade off the hot summer sun. A few years ago, PA Farmer Magazine had a write-up about a quick growing willows for screens, and shelters that grow four feet the first year and the sec ond year putting on about 20 feet. Man designs ways to go to the moon. Surely, something could be designed to make poultry housing cooler so there would not be big looses. The source for these fast grow ing trees is: Stan’s Trees, Midwest, Inc., Box 128, Kimberly. WI, 54136-0128. Roland Kamoda Monongahela freezing point Antifreeze that is not mixed with water will freeze at -9 degrees F. To Change Antifreeze Properly To change antifreeze, first flush the cooling system with clean water for about IS minutes. Leave the engine running. This flushing removes scale and soft deposits that tend to obstruct the flow of coolant in the system. Commercial products are avail able to use in flushing cooling sys tems. These products will loosen and remove some harder deposits in the cooling system. Before adding the new anti freeze mixture, check the radiator hoses and heater hoses for cracks, bulges, or suspicious-looking spots. Replace the hoses as needed. Remember, antifreeze is poi sonous to humans and pets. It has a sweet taste to animals and they will readily drink it Therefore, be sure to keep pets away from antifreeze TO USE OR TO BE USED November 26, 1995 TO USE OR TO BE USED November 26, 1995 Background Scripture: Acts 18:18 through 19:41 Devotional Reading; Acts 18:18-28 One of our besetting sins is the almost unconscious temptation to use God for our own purposes instead of being used by him for his. We want him to make us well, affluent, successful, and powerful and much of our prayer life is devoted to giving him a shopping list of What we want I realize that there is a fine line between asking God for his help and using him. Jesus certainly promised us that God is concerned with even our least important needs and desires and the New Testament again and again encourages to make them known to the Lord. But when the relation ship with God is cultivated pri marily for what we want to get from him, then we are simply try ing to use God. The world is not divided into those who try to use God and those who don’t. Actually, prob ably all of us try to use him at some time or other for our own power or profit. That’s why I called it an “almost unconscious temptation.” Most of us, if we realized we were trying to use God, would back off. We know better than that But often we deceive ourselves into thinking that, in seeking what we want, we are really seeking what God wants. SELFISH INVOCATIONS In one of his books, theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, quotes John Adams’ warnings to Thomas Jef ferson; “Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all His laws.” That is why God’s help is invoked in some of the most self ish enterprises. In Acts 19, we arc told that “God did extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul” while he was in Ephesus. Seven sons of a high priest named Sceva decided they wanted to have the same power and they began to practice the containers and antifreeze draining from radiators. Make sure to dis pose of old antifreeze in a proper manner. To Develop Christmas List With Christmas about a month away, many of us are developing our Christmas lists. Some items you may want to consider are safe ty items. An air helmet to wear in dusty conditions would be an excellent present. It will give you better working conditions and improve performance while protecting your lungs. Smoke alarms, protective clo thing, respirators, eye protection, gloves, and ear plugs are items every farmer should own and use. So personal safety protection items make excellent gift suggests for your spouse and children. Feather Prof.'s Footnote: "Work toward the best that is pos sible within your power." exorcism of evil spirits. “But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’ And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, mastered all of them, and over powered them, so that they fled out of that house wounded and, naked” (19:15,16). I’m sure that the sons of Sceva justified themselves in saying they were only trying to help these poor souls in torment. But it was not helping others that motivated them; they sought the power of God for their own purposes. And what happened to them graphical ly illustrates what happens to all of those who seek to use God’s pow er rather than be used by it: even tually the power masters and over throws us. THE DOOR TO POWER Paul did not seek God’s power, but God poured it into his life to accomplish his divine purposes. The late Halford Luccock, a renowned seminary professor and author, once wrote that “God gives power only to men who need it. He does not waste power. He gives it to those who have tackled something so big, so overwhelm ing, that their own resources are quite insufficient.” Luccock said that, when we tackle a task that is too big for us, it opens “the door through which there comes the rushing of a mighty wind of the spirit” This is what we find in Acts 19. Paul, responding to God’s leading, tackles a job too big for him and, when he offers himself to God’s purpose, that opens the door through which the Holy Spirit rushes into his ministry. Paul didn’t ask for it, but because he offered himself, “God did extraor dinary miracles” by his hands. From Paul’s letters we see that throughout his life in Christ, he consistently brought his needs and wants to God in prayer. But his overriding concern was not to use God for his own purposes, but to be used by him for the sake of the gospel. In our own relationship with God, we need aim no higher than that. I Lancaster Farming Established 1955 PQblished Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 —by— Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Stemman Enterprise Hobart 0. Campbell General Manager Everett H. Newtwanger Managing Edttor Copyright 1995 by Lancaster Farming