mcMl ■arml OPINION Already Critical Dairy farmers are going out of business in alarming numbers. Prices paid to fanners for milk have not kept pace with costs of production. This year, especially, high feed prices have eroded any little increase that did exist In a recent news release The New York State Grange saluted National Ag Secrectary Glickman for signing the enabling legis lation of the New England Dairy Compact. This Compact is designed to develop a means for stabilizing prices to provide a reasonable profit margin for the farmer. The commission that oversees the Compact includes consumer representatives so both the consumer and the farmer sides of the pricing situation are heard. Stablization on a regional basis is necessary now that the federal government is less involved. But as usual, when someone takes the side of the farmer, the public is fed a line of bull. A New York Times editorial claims that this legislation favors the New England Dairy Farmer’s “Cartel” over the poor. This appears to be reminiscent of Dan Rather and the “milk additives” where the misinformed instructed the uninfotmed. Concentrating the control of any product into an increasingly small number of individuals has never been sucessful in retaining fairprices. This does not seem to be a direction to take with some thing as critical as our supply of food. American consumers still enjoy one of the lowest percentages of food cost of any nation in the worid. This has been possible by maintaining a large number of individuals in the business of fanning. It is a much better strategy to provide reasonable prices and maintain an adequate supply rather than to continue with a lower price, force producers out of business and wait until the situation becomes critical before something is done. With many markets undersupplied right now, we may have already reached the criti cal point. South Central 4-H District Dairy Show, Pa. Farm Show Com plex, Harrisburg. Pa. Holstein Southeastern Champ ionship Show, Schuylkill Fair grounds, Summit Station, 10 a.m. 115th Maryland State Fair, Timo nium, Md., thru Sept. 2. Susquehanna County 4-H Lives tock Sale, Harford Fairgrounds, 1 p.m. Bucks County Farm and Conser vation tour, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Southeast Cattlemen’s Associa tion Beef Grazing Tour, MAP Farm (the Fires tines), Womels- Indiana County Fair, thru Aug. 31. Maryland Organic Food and Farm ing Association’s Annual Field Day, Summer Creek Farm, Fre derick County, Md., 2 p.m.-6 West End Fair, Gilbert, thru Aug. 31. Annual Rural Development Con ference, Lancaster Holiday Inn Big Knob Grange Fair thru Aug. 31. Allentown Fair, thru Sept. 2. Greene-Dreber-Sterling Fair, thru Sept. 2. Centre County Holstein Show, Fairgrounds, Centro Hall, 9:30 a.m. Car-Den Holstein Farm Pasture Walk, Arden Landis Farm, Kirkwood, 10 a^m.-noon. Ing, Saturday, August 24, me Controlling Feed Costs Through Building, Harrisburg, 10 a.m. South Mountain Fair, thru Sept 1. Stoneboro Fair, thru Sept 2. Sullivan County Fair, thru Sept. 2. Wyoming County Fair, thru Sept. 2. 50th Anniversary Convention of the Nadonal Association of Animal Breeders, Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Colorado Springs, Colorado, thru Aug. 30. Pork Quality Assurance meeting, Lancaster Farm and Home Cen ter, supper 6 p.m„ meeting 6:30 Juniata County Fair, thru Sept 7. Mon Valley 4-H District Dairy Shr F r Cot Fp : Timonium. Cambria County Fair, thru Sept 7. Spartansburg Community Fair, thru Sent. 7. Show, Timonium. Waterford Community Fair, thru Sept. 7. Glenn Shirk, extension dairy agent, reminds us when milk prices increase, butterfat and/or protein differentials increase. When base building time is here (Federal Order 4 shippers), it is time to produce more milk and milk with normal component levels. Aim for efficient levels of high milk production per cow rather than going to the expense of increasing herd size. Aim for nor mal levels of milk components instead of the highest fat test or highest protein lest When milk is $l3 per hundred weight ($0.15 per pound) and but terfat differential is $0.14 per pound, you cannot afford to give up more than a one percent drop in milk production in an effort to raise fat tests 0.1 percent. That is not much of a drop. For a 60 pound per day producer, that means a drop of only 0.6 pound of milk per day. So be sure you are striving for the right goals. NDAR ♦ Glenn Shirk, extension dairy agent, states dairy farmers should strive for normal fat tests. Think of fat tests as the rumen’s thermometer. When tests are low. the rumen is not normal. Cows may be acidotic, appetites may be depressed, and cows may West Alexander Fair, thru Sept. 7. Ox Hill Community Fair, thru IMMfWiiMffliniißi Chysburg Farm Show, thru Sept Jamestown Community Fair, thru Sent. 7. Bellwood-Antis Farm Show, thru Sept. 7. Luzerne County Fair, thru Sept. 8. Outstanding Farm Family awards banquet, Fleetwood Grange Pike County Fair, thru Scot 8. York Inter-State Fair, thru Sept. 14. 40th Annual Thurmont & Emmits burg Community Show, Thur mont, Md., thru Sept. 8. Mason-Dixon Historical Society Steam and Gas Roundup Show Days, Carroll County Farm Museum. MjstCentral4^^ Dairy Show, Lycoming County Fairgrounds. Northwest District Dairy Show, Crawford County Fairgrounds, Meadville. Show Series. Grazing Acres Farm, New London, 8:30 a.m. To Produce Milk To Produce Normal Fat Milk be more prone to get ketosis, lami nids, etc. Feeds ate digested less efficiently with more nutrients ending up in the gutter rather than in milk. To return fat tests to normal, you need to: ■ Feed ample amounts of good quality forage that supply adequate amounts of effective fiber. The fib er should be digestible and long enough to stimulate a lot of cud chewing activity. • Feed a balanced ration. • Avoid slugging the rumen with more than eight pounds of grain at any one time. Feed TMR mixes. If that is not possible, feed forages ahead of grains and feed grains at more frequent intervals. • If necessary, feed additives such as buffers, yeast cultures, and rumen microbials. Be sure to com pare costs to returns for these additives. To Control Feed Prices The recent rise in feed prices has created challenging times for livestock and poultry fanners. ON SAVING THE WORLD August 25,1996 Background Scripture: Psalms 96 Devotional Reading: Psalms 98:1-9 As a minister I’m afraid that all too often in my pastorates I urged people to come to our worship ser vices out of loyalty to God and the Church. I probably gave some people the impression that the pur pose of worship is to satisfy some requirement that God places upon us. If we are not regular in wor ship, we assume that God and the pastor are displeased, although maybe not in that order. In other words, worship is all too often regarded as an obliga tion. We do it from time to time to keep God happy or to keep God from getting too angry or disap pointed with us. It is easy to see why some people regard attending worship on the same level as visit ing their dentist they know it is good for them, but at best it is un comfortable. Read the 96th Psalm and you will see that the psalmist didn’t re gard praising God as an obliga tion, but as a blessed opportunity. It is not self-discipline that mo tivates him but the joy of celebrat ing the glory of God’s kingship. “O sing to the Lord a new song ... Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day" (96:1,2). WHO NEEDS IT? So, we worship God, not be cause he requires it of us, or be cause he is flattered by it In fact, we do it because we need it Wor ship does something for us. When the psalmist shouted, “Declare his glory among the nations, his mar velous works among all people!” he was being lifted up above his normal state of consciousness to an experience that transformed him. By focussing upon the Lord, the worshipper is transformed. Maybe that’s why many of us still don’t enjoy worship and praising God is so difficult for us. We are so self centered that we think of God only in terms of using him for our own ends. In worship, just for one brief The new crop forecasts indicate we will continue to see high feed prices for a long time. We have entered a new level of grain usage. As the world standard of living increases as a result of free world trade, the demand for food will increase. One way farmers can control feed costs is through hedging. On Tuesday. Aug. 27 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Lou Moore and Dr. Jim Dunn, Penn State agricultural eco nomists, will discuss how you may use the futures market to control feed costs. Com and soybean meal make up the largest portion of feed. Even if you do not mix your own feed, you still can hedge your feed costs by buying com and soybean futures that offset the amount they com pose of your ration. The meeting will be held in the lower level meeting room of the Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road, Lancaster. Feather Prof.'s Footnote: "When called to lead, do so with foresight, courage and character." hour we have the opportunity to forget ourselves and become im mersed in Him whose glory has the power to make us better, truer, more loving people. President Calvin Coolidge once said, “It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.” Warship opens us up to spiritual growth. It is obvious that what the psalmist is experiencing, worship, is something rather different than simply attending worship. It is a time when our eyes can be lifted up beyond die four walls of the church sanctuary, a moment when we can grow beyond our own nar row range of concerns, and catch a vision of what life was created to be. MORE THAN CHURCH GOING The psalmist is caught up in a vision of the whole of creation praising God and celebrating his glory. He calls, not just to his own people, but everyone everywhere: “Ascribe to the Lord, 0 families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.. . Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’” (vs. 7,10 a). The psalmist sees all nature joining in this celebration: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field ex ult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord...” (vs. 11,12). Going to church will not trans form the world, but worship will. Many years ago Archbishop Wil liam Temple said this in a broad cast in the USA: “I am disposed to begin by making what many peo ple will feel-to be a quite out rageous statement. This world can be saved from political chaos and collapse by one thing only, and that is worship. For to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination with the beauty of God, to open up the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.” Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 -by- Lancaster Farming. Inc. A Stemman Enterprise Robert G. Campbell General Manager Everett R. Newawanger Managing Editor Copyright 1996 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers