AIQ-lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 29, 1996 OPINION Don’t Poison Your Cows This may be preaching to the choir. But even farmers some times poison their neighbor’s cows. At least all farmers should be on the lookout for someone who may unwittingly trim their yew bushes and throw the branches over the fence into the pasture field. According to Walt Wurster, Chester County extension agent, this happens each year and the results are a dead cow, goat, sheep, or horse. Farm animals like to browse on cuttings from ornamen tal plants, not realizing that they are extremely poisonous. Generally speaking, there are very few native ornamental plants which are not poisonous to some extent. The safest recom mendation is to keep all cuttings from ornamentals away from livestock. All species of yews are very poisonous. The toxic principal, taxine, is extremely powerful and it produces a slow, weak pulse and violent convulsions. They are also especially dangerous for goats and sheep. The beautiful house plant Oleander that is often set out along the garden fence for the summer is very deadly. Only 0.005 per cent of the animal’s body weight is enough to kill the animal. And the broadleaf evergreens such as the laurels, ihododen drons, pieris, and most others in this group will poison domestic animals. The warning is appropriate for this time of year. Don’t poison your neighbor’s (or your own) cows or other farm animals. PYFA Summer Conference and picnic, Leesport Farmers Market. Clarion-Venango dairy princess pageant, Snyder Valley Farms, Parker, 3 p.m. Crawford County dairy princess pageant, Ist United Methodist Church, Cambridge Springs, 8 p.m. Washington County dairy princess pageant. County Fairgrounds, Washington, 6:30 p.m. Octoraro Creek Nature Walk, meets at Ken Shoemaker’s House, Kirkwood, 9 a.m., Association annual summer OARDC’s Southern Branch, Ripley. Wolfe’s Comers Fair, thru July 6. Dairy Farm Tour To Clarion County, Fayette/Westmoreland counties. Herbicide Demonstration Twilight meeting. Alum Rock Rd., New Annual Pa. Ayrshire Association picnic, Locust Lane Farm. Rome, noon. Sullivan County Rodeo, Sullivan County Fairgrounds, Foiksvil le. 8 o.m. * * ❖ Farm Calendar* Suiul.in. .IIIIV 7 Ephrata Area Young Farmers Schools, Beaver/Lawrence counties host, thru July 9. (Turn to Page A2B) Editor: In recent weeks much has been said about the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. The compact promises to bring higher Class 1 prices to dairy farmers in the six New England states and surround ing states that sell into the Com pact area. With all the fanfare and hype surrounding the Compact it is easy to forget the highly effective pro grams already in place in Pennsyl vania that do far more than just in crease the producer price. In Penn sylvania dairy farmers enjoy the benefit of an effective premium program, pruchases secured through bonding, audited pay ments on a monthly basis, and a resale price mechanism which promotes a stable and efficient market. The Milk Marketing Board mandates a premium on all Class 1 milk, produced, processed and sold in Pennsylvania. At present the premium is at $0.50 per one hundred pounds of Class 1 milk sold. The premium is adjusted periodically to reflect market con ditions, cost of production and Power Take Off (PTO) shafts, perhaps the best known farm hazard, continue to maim and kill people. Advances in shields and hous ing have reduced the danger on new equipment. However, thou sands of old, modified, and unguarded shafts are used every day on the farm. When working around PTO shafts, remember these safety rules: • Keep all shields in place. • Avoid wearing loose, baggy clothing, drawstrings, and long hair. ’ (K • Do not go near engaged PTO shafts. • Turn off the tractor before working on equipment powered by PTO shafts. ; v l * Many times soybean fanners are faced with the decision to replant their soybean crop because of poor plant populations. It is difficult to determine when it is economically feasible to replant soybeans or let the field stand as is. The University' of Delaware conducted a two-year study to look ♦ Farm Forum ♦ >s 5 v other factors that may influence the price. Since September of 1981 when the premium program was first in effect Pennsylvania dairy farmers have received more than $161,000. The Board requires that pay ment for Pennsylvania farm milk be guaranteed through a bond. This is why the Board requires a bond for up to 75% of 40 days’ purchases of farm milk by proces sors. Without the protection of fered by bonding, hundreds of Pennsylvania dairy farmers would be exposed to undue financial risk. Imagine working hard for months, purchasing raw materials and la bor to produce a quality product only to find that the purchaser has resold your product, gone bank rupt, and is unable to pay any of its creditors. In today’s competitive business environment, this scen ario is far from fantasy. Each dairy plant receiving Pennsylvania farm milk is moni tored closely each month. Pay ment to producers and the general financial vitality of the dairies is documented to insure that each To Practice PTO Safety To Evaluate Soybean Stands » \ .A ' f , •' ♦ * (Turn to Pag* All) at this issue. Soybeans were planted at the rate of 140.000 plants per acre and then duftned to represent a 25. SO and 75 percent -reduction in the number of plants. These thinned plots were then compared to the yield of fields which were replanted. Even when the plant population was reduced by 75 percent, the original field outyielded the replanted field for single crop beans. Double crop beans with large gaps in the row showed an advan tage to replanting. Based on this research, it looks like poor stands of soybeans should be left alone rather than replanted. To File For Fuel Taut Refund Pennsylvania farmers have until Sept. 30 to apply for refunds on taxes paid on liquid fuels used for agriculture. Many fanners, however, do not take advantage of this refund. The THE AWFUL NEARNESS June 30, 1996 THE AWFUL NEARNESS June 30, 1996 Background Scripture: James 4: 1-10, 13-17 Devotional Reading: I Corinthians 3: 10-15 According to William B. Silverman, the Hasidic rabbis taught: “Everyone must have two pockets, so he can reach into one or the other according to his need. In his right pocket are the words, ‘For my sake the world was created,’ and the other, T am earth and ashes.’” Tins ancient saying captures the creative tension in which we must hold our pride and our humility. We must never forget our divine creation or our human failing. Humility tempers our pride and pride elevates our humility. It is a mistake, I believe, to equ ate humility with worthlessness. I like the way William L. Sullivan puis it in Epigrams and Criticisms in Miniature: “Genuine humility docs not arise from our pitiable kinship with the dust that is unworthy of us but from the reali zation of our awful nearness to a magnificence of which we are unworthy.” One cannot be nothing and humble. Humility is possible only when we realize how won derfully we are created and how fearfully we fail to live up to it OUR HUMBLEST HOUR James M. Barrie, said: “The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the vol ume as it is with what it was meant to be.” No life, no matter how suc cessful in worldly terms is ever totally satisfying when we com pare it with the life God has willed for us. But, we see that only through humility. As Henry Tho rcau puls it, “Humility like dark ness reveals the heavenly light.” Many people never see that, heavenly light because they are 100 dazzled by their own limited luminosities. Some people I*ve known are truly humble; many more have been humbled by life’s storms; but I don't know anyone who has sought to be humble. In the popu lar perception, there’s something average refund is nearly $2OO. The refunds are authorized by a state law that exempts farmers from the 12 cent a gallon state excise tax on fuel used for agriculture. Each claim must include copies of paid receipts or a statement from the fuel dealer indicating the num ber of gallons bought, the purchase dates, and verification that the tax was paid* Farmers who applied for refunds during the past two years were mailed claim forms on June 14. Forms are also available from The Board of Finance and Revenue, Room SOOC, Finance Building, Harrisburg PA 17120 or by calling (717) 787-6534. Refunds will be issued for taxes paid on fuels purchased between July 1. 1995 and June 30. 1996. Fill today so you do not miss the Sept. 30. 1996 deadline. Feather Prof.’s Footnote: "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you lake your mind off your goals." seemingly unattractive about humility. It’s so...humbling! We all seek recognition in one form or another, but I can’t recall ever seeking humility. Perhaps the problem is that we don't really understand the nature of humility. As I indicated above, some people equate humility with being worthless. It is not. To assume that God has created you worthless is an affront to your Creator. As one of my parishion ers informed me many years ago, “God don’t make no junk!” HUMILITY'S ADVANTAGES James tells us of advantages in humility that may not occur to us. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (4:6). Arrog ant pride is an invitation to God to humble us. God doesn’t put down the humble, only the proud. And Grace is love that we don’t deserve so it is something the proud person cannot experience. Only the humble person can know and enjoy the grace of God. “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you” (4:10).Only those who approach God in. true humility will be exalted by him. The true reward of life is not the recognition which the world gives us, but the exalta tion that only God can give. Human pride is set upon a shaky foundation. Winston Churchill was once asked by a pushy lady if it didn't thrill him to realize that people flocked to hear him speak. His answer; “It is quite flatter ing...but whenever I feel this way I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big.” Boasting, says James, is arro gance and arrogance is a terrible affront to God. “All such boasting is evil,” he writes (4:17). Humili ty, on the other hand, puts everything— ourselves included— in perspective, helping us to perceive and respond to that “awful nearness” of the “magnifi cence” of the image in which we were created. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 POWished Every Saturday Ephnta Review Building lE. Main St Ephrau, PA 17522 —ry— Lancaster Farming, Inc. ' A SMwnen Grtwprfte Copyright 1996 by Laneattm Fanning
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers