AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 7, 1996 OPINION Replace Speculation With Observation If you want to get ahead in the dairy business, you need to replace speculation with observation. To fill in the gaps of what you don’t know about a sutiation, you need to gather the facts rather than suppose what you think is true. Managers of successful organizations deal with what is called critical success factors (CSF’s). These concepts in the managers’ minds are the things they continually watch to see that their oper ations are successful. By watching successful managers, these CSFs can be identified. Bill Heald in Penn State’s dairy and animal extension says that for dairy fanners, two CSFs are daily dry matter intake and daily milk producton. Farmers that calculate and record these daily and make notes of what imparted the daily outcome continue to make improvements. These improvements are at the heart of a dairy operation’s profitability. Feed is approximately half the cost of producing milk, and milk often generates 90% of the farm income. When dry matter intake per milk yield is fine-timed, the herd is working near maximal efficiency. It is like fine-tuning a carbure tor on a gas engine or adjusting the oxygen and acetylene on a cut ting torch. Today’s cows have the genetic potential to produce thousands of pounds more than they are currently. Therefore, today’s cows must need fine-tuning. If you speculate that today’s dry matter intake and milk pro duction per cow is about the same as yesterday’s and everything is OK, you can’t pinpoint daily environmental factors impeding production. In turn, you can’t make important management changes to fine-tune production efficiency. So you need to replace speculation with observation. Keep records. Gather the critical facts. Daily record the bulk tank milk weights divided by the number of cows in production and the amount of feed consumed. In other words, replace speculation with observation! West Central 4-H/FFA District Dairy Show, Lycoming County Fairgrounds. Northwest District Dairy Show, Crawford County Fairgrounds, Meadville. Bradford County “How to Identify Trees,” Courthouse Annex, Show Series, Grazing Acres Farm, Green Township Community Association Fair thru Sept. 14. Bradford County 4-H Advisory Community Meeting, Exten sion Office, 7:30 p.m. Poultry Management and Health Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant, Manheim. noon Tuesday, Seplemhir 10 Ephrata High School Young Far mers, cafeteria, mentors’ prog ram, young fanner and school district reps, Ephrata High School, 7:30 p.m. Albion area Fair thru Sept. 14. Denver Community Fair thm Sept 14. Sinking Valley Fair thru Sept. 19. Grazing Management Meeting. Byerly Bros. Farm, Rt, 15,6:30 p.m. Lehigh CountyTwiUgntPotato Field MEeting, Donald E. Lich tcnwalner Farm, Macungie, 27th Annual American Gold Cup, Devon Show Grounds, thru Sent. 15. ❖ Farm Calendar*:* Friday, September 13 The Great Frederick Fair thru Sept. (Turn to Page A3O) Editor: With the passage of the state budget. New York farmers won much needed property tax relief. That’s important to fanners across the state because our property tax es are four times the national aver age and the highest of the coun try’s 40 agricultural states. The viability of the state’s number one industry agriculture is im portant to the state economy and to working men and women all around the state. This measure will also benefit mral areas and cities all across Upstate New York and Long Island. That’s because the tax relief that farmers see will be spent locally, at places like computer stores, machinery shops, hardware stores, farm equipment dealers, car and truck dealerships, lumberyards, and feed mills. The 26,000-member New York Farm Bureau waged an all out, grassroots campaign to win pas sage of legislation that would lighten the heavy property tax load paid by the state’s farm fami lies. The new program which will bring school taxes down for farm ers through a refundable tax credit To Estimate Corn Yields According to Robert Anderson, extension agronomy agent, one way to estimate com yields before harvest time is to count the number of good ears in 1/I,oooth acre. Within this area, hand harvest every fifth year. Count the number of rows of kernels on each ear and determine the average number of rows per ear. Next, count the num ber of kernels per row on each of these ears. Do not count the ker nels on the tip or butt of the car that are less than one half the size of the normal kernels on the ear. Next, calculate the average number of kernels per row. The yield in bushels per acre may be determine by multiplying the num ber of good ears per 1/I,oooth acre by the number of rows of kernels by the average number of kernels per row, then divided by 90 to determine the yield. To Know Soybean Maturity Mike Brubaker, Brubaker Agro nomic Consulting, reports soy beans need 30 to 40 days between end of bloom and first killing frost to reach maturity. End of bloom is determined by the appearance of small pods in the top of the plants. Once soybean mm ■ *'i Forum * * / level, thereby assuring no shirt of the tax burden to non farmers. This new law would never have seen ihe light of day without the relentless efforts of Governor George Pataki. He initiated the proposal and it kept alive because he knows the tough times New York farmers are having staying competitive and profitable, and the tough times that rural econom ics arc feeling. The state’s farmers owe a huge thank you to Governor Pataki. We also thank the Agriculture Chairs who first brought the issue to state lawmakers several years ago. As semblyman Bill Parment and State Senator Randy Kuhl, and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who himself introduced a farm omrw*r. ty tax relief proposal, earlier this year. The farm property tax relief measure is historic the most important piece of state legislation for farmers this century. It’s long overdue and an economic stimulus that will fuel the recovery of agri culture and the state economy. John Lincoln President New York Farm Bureau leaves are turning yellow, they have reached maturity. If frost hits after that, there should be no sig nificant yield reduction. Full-size soybeans will continue to mature after frost. As with com, frost damaged soybeans do not dry as well in the field as normal mature soybeans. Combine cylin der speed may need to be increased to properly thresh the tougher pods caused by higher moisture. To Find IPM Info on WWW Computers and telephone lines now make it possible to move information quickly. Farmers may now access Integrated Crap Man agement (IPM) information from lowa State University on the World Wide Web (WWW). For several years, farmers have been receiving crop information from lowa State via mail. Because lowa’s weather is very similar to *^+X/ BY LA^S^^^^)USE Mf mag sn FINDING THE BOOK September 8, 1996 FINDING THE BOOK September 8, 1996 Background Scripture: 2 Kings 22 through 23:20 Devotional Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 King Hezekiah, as we observed last week, was one bright excep tion in a long and dreary list of Judean and Israelite kings who led their kingdoms into ruin and oblivion. There is one more exception to this all-too-general rule: King Josiah who reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah from 621 to 590 B.C. “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2). Josiah is remembered as one of the greatest reformers in Old Testament history. The reform started with a reconstruction project. Apparent ly, because of the spiritual lassi tude of the people, the temple had slid into serious disrepair. It had become just one of a great number of places of worship in the king dom. These rival shrines were dedicated not to god, but to pagan deities that sometimes were wor shiped along with the Lord. THE BOOK OF THE LAW So, the first recorded act of King Josiah is the project to restore the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, an extensive project that cost a great deal of money. When the king sent emmisaries to the high priest, Hilkiah, to inquire whether there was enough money to pay the contractors and work ers, we see a monarch who is con cerned about people— in this case, the workers who have work ed so hard to restore the temple. He not only was concerned about them, but hie trusted them as well: “But no accounting shall be asked from them or the money which is delivered into your hand, for they deal honestly” (22:7). Upon receipt of this inquiry from King Josiah, the high priest revealed that “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord” (22:8). It is implied that the book— actually a scroll— had been lost and was then found by accident This scroll is believed to Pennsylvania’s, many of the prob lems found in lowa’s crops show up in Pennsylvania at the same time. The newsletter from lowa con tains information on insects, dis eases, management strategies, fer tility. and other topics of interest. Under the web. the information will be available to the user two days after it is written. This is the same day the hardcopy goes to the printer. lowa Cooperative Extension estimates by using the WWW, far mers will receive the information six days earlier than the hard copy method. The information on die network will include the same col or photographs which are included in the hard copy. This information may be found at: http://www.ipm.iastaie.edu/ipm. Feather Prof.’s Footnote: "Per sistence prevails when all else fails." be the earliest form of the present book of Deuteronomy. Apparently it contained commandments about which the people had long forgotten. Actually, the demands of the newly-found scroll were so radi cal, that the whole nation was indicted by them. The way they had been living, individually and corporately, has been seriously out of step with what God had long ago revealed to their fore fathers. So striking is the contrast that, “when the king heard the words of die book of the law. he rent his clothes" (22:11). Tearing one’s clothes was an ancient sym bolic act indicating guilt or remorse. GOD’S WRATH When King Josiah read the scroll, he was appalled to realize how much he and his people were failing to live by God’s command ments. To confirpi its legitamacy, he sent representatives to Huldah, a prophetess who would know the truth of the matter. Huldah minced no words — great calamity would fall on the nation “Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods...therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place” (22:17). But Huldah also said that, because the king had shown such abject repentance upon reading the scroll, the terri ble prophesy would be fulfilled only after he died. Josiah is a more conscientious king than Hezekiah. Instead of rejoicing that the prophesy wouldn’t be fulfilled in his life time. he decided to reform Judah, assembling all the people, reading the scroll in their presence and then, with them, making a coven ant to live by the newly-found law of God. Thereupon Josiah rooted out all the pagan idols and sacred places of Judah. Reform is no less possible today than in the time of Josiah. Like the people of his time, we may not see a need for it But whenever we rediscover the Word of God and we take it to our hearts we find a compelling need to change. And the Book that can awaken us. unlike the scroll in Josiah’s time, is not lost— just ignored. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturdsy Ephraim Review Building 1 E. Main St. Bphrata, PA 17522 -by- Lancaster Farming. Inc. A Stelnman Enterprise Robart Q. Cimpball Qanaral Managar Evamtt R. Nawawangar Managing Editor Copyright 1996 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers