AlO-Lancastef Fanning, Saturday, November 9, 1996 OPINION Good Questions? Fanners continue to have a hard time getting accustomed to the low returns they get when they send a dairy veal calf to market. We keep hearing from our farm friends that they send a nice calf to market and instead of getting a check, they get a bill. A local dealer confirms this phenomenon. The trucking costs, sales commissions, and check-off-for promotion moneys amount to more than many calves are bring ing on today’s market. Ten to 20 dollars for a 100 pound calf doesn’t cover many expenses. At one time, many of the dairy calves were bought by other far mers to take home to feed out for beef. But with low beef prices and high feed costs this doesn’t pay anymore. So much of the other-fanner-market for calves has dissipated. In addition, only a very few packers even handle dairy veal calves. AH the promotion in the world will do no good if there is no consumer market. Which brings us to the questions no one wants to face. Why should a farmer be required to pay a dollar per head for promotion of his veal calf that has little or no market value? With all the dol lars he has paid forpromotion in the last ten years, why isn’t there a market? Satin (la\. No\cmhci l > North American International Livestock Exposition, Ken tudky Fair and Exposition Cen ter, Lousiville, Kentucky through Nov. 22. Northeast Agroforestry Confer ence, Days Inn, Hagerstown, Mmula\. No\imlui' 11 Xt/k'ians' Da\ Poultry Management and Health Seminar, Kreider Restaurant, Manheim, Noon. Dauphin County Cooperative Extension Association annual meeting. Founders Hall, Her shey, 6:45 p.m. Annual Convention of the Nation al Grange of the Order of Pat rons of Husbandry, Cava naugh’s Inn at the Park, Washington, D. C., through Ephrata Area Young Fanners meeting on health issues, Ephrata High School cafeteria, 8:30 p.m. Pa. Turfgrass Council. Penn State Golf Turf Conference, State College, Pa. through Nov. 14. Northeast Regional Greenhouse Seminar, Luzerne Community College Conference Center, Nanticoke, Pa., 8:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Bradford/Sulli van Forest Landow ners Annual Meeting, Wysox Fire Hall, 7 p.m. Farm Records Computer Work shop, Penn State Fayette Cam- ADADC District 20 meeting, lnn, Hennietta, NY, 7 p.m. Annal Meeting Pa. Association of County Agricultural agents, Nittany Lion Inn, State College, Nov. 13 and 14. Parenting the Preschooler, Pre- sbyterian Church, Towanda. 10:30 a.m. Parenting the School Age Child, Presbyterian Church, Towanda, Northumberland County Coopera tive Extension annual meeting, Otterbein United Methodist Church Social Hall, Sunbury, 6:30 p.m. Centre County annual meeting, Logan Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap. Lancaster County annual meeting, 7 p.m. Cooperative Extension annual din ner, Leslie N. Firth Learning Center, 7 p.m. Lancaster County Holstein Club annual banquet. Hoffman Building, Quarryville, 7 p.m. Jefferson County Holstein Club Annual Meeting, Astorino’s Restaurant, Walston, 7:30 p.m. Parenting the'School Age Child, Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, 6:30 p.m. Parenting the Teenager, Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, 8:05 p.m. Bradford County Extension Annu al Meeting, E. Canton Church, 7:30 p.m. Pest Certification exams, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Luzerene County. 8 a.m. Pa. Farmers Union Annual Con- Holiday Inn West, Wanda’s, Mechanicsburg. Lackawanna County Cooperative Extension Association annual meeting, Lakeview Lounge, Heart Lake Comers, Jermyn, Nittany Lion Fall Classic Sale, Ag Arena, State College, 11 a.m. Clarion/Venango Annual Meet ing, Murphy Gratige, Reidsburg. PSBA Winter Meeting ahd Ban quet, Country Cupboard, r * tTWWVP* r * mr*f m * * ** To Figure Corn Drying Costs Robert Anderson, extension agronomy agent, said farmers need to consider drying costs before harvesting com. • Many com fields were planted later than normal and we exper ienced cooler weather for most of the summer. As a result, com did not mature as fast. With the bumper crop, the price of com has drop significantly. This could make drying com an unpro fitable venture. Two items to consider are field loses and cost of drying com. Over the next several months, the futures market for com is about $2.25 per bushel. Drying costs for com is about $O.OB per bushel per point of moisture. You can afford up to 3.5 percent field loss for each point of moisture (0.08 divided by 2.25). This is your break-even point. For a 135-bushel-per-acre yield this would translate to 4.7 bushels per acre loss per point of moisture. If com is standing well, the longer it is in the field using natural dry ing, the more profitable the crop will be. To Store Firewood Properly Dr. Timothy Elkner, extension horticultural agent, offers a few tips on how to handle firewood. Remember, a pile of firewood is an ideal place for insects and spid ers to hibernate through the winter. These insects include wood borers, beetles, carpenter ants, termites, bees, and wood roaches. Store firewood outdoors in an open area, as far away from the house as practical. Stack firewood off the ground to reduce wood rot and pest problems. Never stack wood against the house. Cover the wood pile with plastic or sheet metal roofing to keep the wood dry. When cold weather arrives, pieces of firewood may be moved closer to the house for easier access. Firewood should be stored on a rack, patio, cm- deck instead of on the ground. Bring only enough firewood into the house to be burned imme diately. Firewood stored inside the house over an hour may warm up Lewis burg. Mercer County Holstein Club Annual Meeting, Mercer Coun- ty Extension Office, Mercer, 7:15 p.m. Meat Goat Conference, Pa. Farm Show Building, Rooms B & C, 8 a.m. Registration deadline: Show Series, Grazing Acres, New London, 8:30 a.m. Penn-Jerscy Equipment Dealers’ Association Convention, Poco no Manor, through Nov. 20. (Turn to Page A3l) f?* T’W'WW^P' enough for the insects to emerge and start spring activities early. Do not store firewood in a heated gar age or basement for the same reasons. * To Prepare To Mulch Strawberries According to Dr. Timothy Elk ner, extension horticultural agent, it is still too early to apply straw to your strawberry patch. The plants are not fully dormant and may still be storing carbohy drates for next year’s growth and fruit production. If you cover your plants with straw now. you cut off this valuable production of energy reserves and your berry crop could suffer next year. Your plants could also rot under a mulch, especially if the weather stays wet. Straw mulch should only be applied to fully dormant SLOW LEARNERS November 10, 1996 SLOW LEARNERS November 10, 1996 Background Scripture: II Kings 24 through 25 Devotional Reading: Psalms 74:1-12 It is hard to imagine a national and personal calamity greater than what befell the people <jf Judah in the sixth century B.C. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians (Chal deans) and Judah became a puppet state of King Nebuchadnezzar, King Jehoiakin, “his mother, and his servants, and his princes and his palace officials” were carried off to Babylon, along with all the treasures of the temple of the Lord. In all, there were 10,000 captives, including “all the prin ces, all the mighty men of valor” and “all the craftsmen and the smiths.” Only the poorest people of the land remained. King Jehoiakin’s uncle, Mat taniah/Zedekiah was made king of Judah by the ruler of Babylon, but in time he rebelled and Judah and Jerusalem suffered again at the hands of the Babylonians. The Jerusalemites suffered a terrible siege and famine. The Chaldeans broke into the city and caught up with the fleeing Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho, where in punish ment he was forced to watch the execution of his sons before the Babylonians put out his eyes. The victorious Babylonians broke down the walls of Jerusa lem, desecrated the temple and burned the city to the ground. Once again, they carried into exile most of its inhabitants, leaving on ly “some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen” (25:12). The two highest priests and other officials were executed. The prophecy was fulfilled and the destruction of Jerusalem com plete. REFUSING TO LEARN What can we leam from these terrible chapters that close II Kings? We can see, first of all, that the fulfillment of the prophecy came in stages. One gets the impression that, had the kings and leaders of Judah hearkened to the pro phecies, and changed their ways, the destruction and misery could have been substantially reduced. Instead, the people suffered the plants. Exposure to increasingly cold temperatures and shorter days is necessary to properly harden your strawberry plants and cause them to go dormant. The correct time to apply mulch is after several freezes occur in the high 20’s or low 30’s for one week. This will not usually happen in southeastern Pennsylvania until after Thanksgiving. You can tell that your plants are going dormant when the leaves change from green to gray. How ever, be sure to have your plants mulched by December IS since temperatures below 17 degrees F. can cause crown injury. Feather Prof.’s Footnote: "Far away in the sunshine are my high est aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they may lead." maximum penalty because they refused to learn from their experi ences. One after another, we see young kings ascend the throne of Judah and making the same mistakes as their predecessors. “Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem ... And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done (33:36,37). Upon the premature death of Je hoiakim, his son, Jehoiakin, at 18 succeeded his father for three months. Surely, in light of what had happened to Judah under his father, he would not follow in his father’s terrible footsteps! But II Kings tells us: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done” (24:9). And he and his peo ple pay for this evil with captivity in Babylon. STUPIDITY’S PRICE So the King of Babylon ap points Jehoiakin’s uncle, Mattan iah, as puppet king at the age of 21, changing his name to Zede kiah. Surely he would learn from the sins of Jehoiakim and Jehoia kin! But, no, “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakin had done” (24:19). And the price he pays for refusing to leant is even more ter rible (25:6,7). From the safe perspective of history, we may wonder how these kings could have been so stupid to repeat the same disastrous acts again and again. We may even wonder why, if the kings could not leant the lessons, their subjects at least did not gain any understand ing. But this same stupidity has plagued humankind from the dawn of history into our own times. Both as individuals and so cieties we have often refused to leant from our worst disasters. Again and again we perpetuate our disasters. Why else would his tory be regularly and disastrously punctuated by warfare? Why else would we continue to win the wars and lose the peace? And in our personal and family lives do we fail to learn from bad experiences and thus perpetuate them? Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 -by- Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Steinman Enterprise Robert G. Campbell General Manager Everett R. Nawawanger Managing Editor Copyright 1996 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers