Aio-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 18,1996
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OPINION
Questions To Answer
Now farmers have a framework to help construct communica
tion with the non-farm public. Hands-on House, a children’s
museum in Lancaster, provides interactive learning opportunities
for all children and their families. Through self-directed exhibits
and programming, they stimulate curiosity and invite the joy of
discovery through play. The museum features eight theme exhi
bits, including one in progress that will help communicate farm
life and the business of farming to these inquisitive families.
To prepare the farm exhibit so that it would deal with modem
farming rather than a sentimental view of a ’6os homestead, the
creators asked family constituents to ask all the questions they
would like to know about the farm. Out of this exercise, a list of
questions were assembled.
We believe this list offers a concrete insight into what fann
communicators should be answering in their public educational
effoits to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers. Here
are the questions. How would you answer these sincere inquiries
about your farm life and business?
Crops:
Why do farmers spread manure? How does it help the soil?
How do the farmers prevent the soil from washing away with
the rain?
Why do they make those patterns with the plow?
How do the fanners know when to plant the seeds?
Why is some com stored on the cob and some is taken off?
How do seeds grow?
How does crop rotation work?
What is organic farming?
What are all the different tractors for?
What is a typical day like on a crop farm? What time does
the work get staned? What do the workers do?
Do we need to fertilize so much? Isn’t crop rotation better for
the environment?
How do you keep the plants watered?
How do they mow the field?
What is grown in Pennsylvania?
Why are farmers sometimes paid not to grow food?
How do farmers plant seeds?
What is the easiest plant to grow on a farm?
What kind of dangerous chemicals are used on a farm?
How does a fanner get the soil ready for planting?
Animals/Livestock:
How are cows milked?
How much milk does one cow give in a day?
What do cows eat? How much do cows eat? What’s in sil
age?
Why are our local cows mostly black and white spotted?
What is an ideal cow for milk production?
What kinds of animals produce milk?
Where do horses and cows sleep?
Do cows bile?
Do the different animals fight?
Why do farmers leave the cows out in the rain?
How many times a day do cows get milked?
Do farm animals get sick?
How many kinds of horses are used on Amish farms?
Why do cows lie down before a storm?
Do pigs really like the mud?
Why does Lancaster County have relatively few sheep?
Eggs/Poultry:
How many eggs do hens lay in a week?
How are eggs collected?
How are eggs handled so that they don’t break?
How do eggs set sorted by size?
Miscellaneous:
Who pays for everything on the farm?
Why are bams often red?
How do farmers stand the smell?
How are we going to save farms?
How many different kinds of farms are there in Lancaster
County?
Does every farm have cats in the bam?
Do farmers follow the Farmers’ Almanac?
What does the farmer do in his spare time?
What do the children help with?
To Evaluate
Crop Economics
Which comes first, harvesting
alfalfa hay or planting com?
According to Robert Anderson,
extension agronomy agent, it
depends. It depends on the weather
forecast, the stage of growth of the
hay, and whether you feed or sell
the hay.
Facts to consider com yields
usually drop one bushel per day for
the first 20 days after the end of the
optimum planting date and then
the decrease increases to two
bushels per day for the next 20 to
30 days. The end of the optimum
planting season is about May IS.
On the other hand, alfalfa qual
ity declines after the bud stage of
growth. Penn State forage special
ist Dr. Marvin Hall estimates that
when alfalfa hay is worth $l5O per
ton, the average rate of quality
decline for each day alfalfa harvest
is delayed beyond the bud stage
will result in a loss of $6 to $7.50 in
the feed value pa day per ton of
hay harvested.
To Harvest
Alfalfa
From the information above,
Farm Forum
Editor:
The year is just about over and
it is time to pass the crown onto
someone new. I cannot believe
that my year is over, but I want to
thank everyone who believed and
supported me this past year.
I devoted my past year to do the
very best I could at promoting
dairy products and the dairy in
dustry. Depending on who I spoke
to they might have heard me com
pare the game of baseball to milk
in my skit, or they got to hear my
speech where I praised farmers for
all the hard work that they do
every day. No matter what I did, I
always tried to do my very best,
but it takes all of us to promote our
industry and dairy products. One
way we can do this is by when we
go out to a restaurant, order a glass
of milk, some cheese on your
food, or grab some cottage cheese
at the salad bar. No matter where
we are we can promote our prod
uct by buying it ourselves.
Another time this year I was
fooled into buying imitation milk.
This made me realize how easy it
is to buy imitation, no matter how
conscious you are at what you are
buying. We must all be aware of
how easy it is for consumers to
buy imitation dairy products in the
grocery store. This upset me, first
to buy imitation, but also to know
how easy it is to buy because it is
located right in the dairy case,
where imitation should not be.
But as I look back on my year, 1
had lots of fun promoting and
meeting new people. I’m sure
(Turn to Pag* A3O)
should you plant com or harvest
alfalfa hay on May 21?
Based on Robot Anderson’s
calculations, by harvesting the hay
you will delay com planting five
days. This will result in a loss of
about 10 bushels of com worth
SS.SO per bushel for a potential
loss of $55.00.
With the hay, the calculation
Would be 5 days times $6.75 times
2.5 tons for a potential loss of
$84.38. The potential com loss is
$55 while the potential hay loss is
$B4 per acre.
By harvesting alfalfa hay on
time you are making almost $3O
per acre more money based on
these assumptions.
To Deworm
Cattle
Chester Hughes, extension
livestock agent, reminds us that
strategic deworming is an excel
lent method to control internal
parasites in cattle.
BY LAWktNCi W AUHOUSS
‘mils
SNj
THE WEIGHT OF THINGS
May 19,1996
THE WEIGHT OF THINGS
May 19,1996
Background Scripture:
Matthew 6:19-21,24-34,
Luke 12:13-21
Devotional Reading:
Luke 12:13-21
For almost 40 years of my life,
most people seemed to thing that
Communism was the greatest
threat to the kingdom of heaven. I
never did. The ism I have always
feared the most is materialism.
As I write these words, Com
munism is pretty well in eclipse
throughout the world, although I
realize that it could always experi
ence a resurgence. But, while
Communism has been thoroughly
discredited even in the lands
where it has reigned so long,
materialism threatens us more
than ever.
Wherever I see the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in serious conflict in
our world, materialism is always
heavily involved. Essentially, the
struggle that rages today is the
contest between God and things,
between spiritual values and
material values. In his book. The
Kingdom of God, the late John
Bright holds that we are as hooked
on false gods today as the ancients
were. “For that to which a man
looks for his ultimate well-being,
his salvation no less, and from
which he derives his standards of
conduct-that is his god. And we
have no lack of them.”
ULTIMATE WELL-BEING
To what do we look for our
“ultimate well-being” today?
Things birth, shiny things. To
what do we look for our “salva
tion?” Things pills, booze, sex,
and all manner of adult toys. And
from what do we derive our “stan
dard of conduct?” Things .
our ethics are basically derived
from property values, price lags
and profit margins. We no longer
ask if something is right or wrong,
good or bad, but is it “cost
effective?”
In his Retreat From Reason,
Alfred E. Cohn says, “The resuce
of political, of social, of spiritual
values, crushed by the weight of
things, is becoming the crucial
issue in the will to survive.” Those
words were written more than 40
Strategic dcworming implies
there is specific timing for treat
ment. In our area, a strategic
deworming program will include
treatment 4-6 weeks after the cattle
go to grass and a second treatment
in early November.
There is some discussion about
the need to deworm mature cows.
There will be a benefit in milk pro
duction and cow condition, which
influences reproduction, if a
deworming program is instituted
and maintained for a few years.
Eventually, parasite loads will
be reduced to the extent treatment
may be discontinued and moni
tored through fecal samples until
there is a buildup again. The spring
deworming coincides with a good
time to ear tag, castrate, implant,
and vaccinate calves for clositidial
diseases. Therefore, the trouble of
the trip through the chute may be a
very profitable one.
Feather Prof.’s Footnote:
“Nothing great was ever achieved
without enthusiasm.”
yean ago and they are even more
true today than they were then.
Why should this so surprise us?
How do we read the gospels and
miss what Jesus has to say about?
He tells us that material things are
fleeting at best: “do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume and
where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven...” (Matt 6:19,20).
Jesus tells us also that material
things are rivals to God. “You
cannot serve God and mammon.”
Why, because they are diametrical
opposes. He tells us also that
material things do no have the
power to dispel our anxiety. In
fact, the more material things we
have, the more anxious we
become. “Therefore I tell you, do
not be anxious about your life,
what you shall eat or what you
shall drink, nor about your body,
what you shall put on” (6:25).
A FAITH ISSUE
Probably worst of all, material
ism is a faith issue because it
means we depend upon things, not
God: “But if God so clothes the
grass of the Held, which today is
alive and tomorrow is thrown into
the oven, will he not much more
clothe you. O men of little faith?”
(6:30).
So, the sense of life is not in
things, but in God: “take heed, and
beware of all covetousness; for a
man’s life does not consist in the
abundance of his possessions”
(Lk, 12:15). If we focus on what is
really important and ultimate, the
kingdom of heaven, God will pro
vide the things that we need. “But
righteousness, and all these things
shall be yours as well” (Matt
7:33).
Money buys things, but He
sheer weight of the things that bur
den our lives never brings lasting
joy or peace. As Carl Sandburg
put it, “Money buys evetything
except love, personality, freedom,
immortality, silence, peace.”
The Althouses will lead a group
to the Holy Land, Oct. 9 to Nov. 3,
1996. Space limited. For informa
tion, write them at 4412 Shenan
doah Ave., Dallas, TX 75205.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
EphraU Review Building
lE. Main St
EphraU, PA 17522
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Lancaster Farming, Inc.
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Copyright 1996 by Lancaster Farming