AtO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday. August 23, 1997 opesjon No Until The Environmental Protection Agency publicly acknowledges that agriculture is not a major emitter of fine particulate air pollu tion, but faulty documentation that overestimates agriculture’s contribution could target fanners for unnecessary regulation. That’s the story told to the Senate Agriculture Committee in Washington, DC, last week. And we agree. Amnerica’s farmers have undertaken conserva tion activities that enhance air quality. Such practices as conser vation tillage and planting cover crops, trees, and vegetation reduce wind erosion of the soil, which in turn provides cleaner air. We believe fanners are cleaning the air and should get credit for being the conservationists they are. New rules to tighten air quality standards have many fanners concerned because EPA lacks actual measurements of what agri culture emits in the form of fine particulates. One study estimates as much as 34.3 percent of primaiy fine particulate matter can be attributed to agriculture and forestry. Another suggest an amount as low as five percent. There is very limited research by independent studies, so little information is known about the standard’s cost to agriculture and consumers. And more importantly, the positive side of modem agricultural activity and how it contributes to overall air quality gets little if any consideration. Until all this information is known and considered, farmers should not need to face any more new regulations. | Saturday Susquehanna County 4-H Beef, Lamb, and Swine Sale, Cattle Arena, Harford Fairgrounds, Harford, 1 p.m. Md. State Fair, Timonium Fair grounds, thru Sept. 1. South Central 4-H/FFA District Dairy Show, Farm Show Com- Aug. 30. West End Fair, Gilbert, thru Aug. 30. York County Farmers Union picn- ic, Frank and Doris Goodlan (jer^arm^^wisbOTv^lDjin. liifsdin. August 26 Pasture Walk and Conservation Tour, Mike S. Zook, Honey Brook, 10 a.m.-noon DST. Centre County Holstein Show, Fairgrounds, Centre Hall, 11 a.m. Big Knob Grange Fair, Rochester, thru Aug. 30. Allentown Fair, Allentown, thru Sept. 1. Greene-Orcber-Sterling Fair, Newfoundland, thru Sept 1. Wattsburg/Erie County Fair, Wattsburg, thru Aug. 31. Buckwheat Field Day, N.Y. State Ag Experiment Station, Gene- Turfgrass Research Field Day, Turfgrass Research Facility, Columbus. South Mountain Community Fair, Arendtsville, thru Aug. 31. Wyoming County Fair, Tunkhan nock, thru Sept. 4* Stoneboro Fair, Stoneboro, thru Sept. 1. Sullivan County Fair, Forksville, thru Sept 1. New Regulations True Facts Known ❖ Farm Calendar ❖ Christmas Tree Growers twilight meeting. Bill Finks Farm, Bed ford County, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 Swine Day, Swine Center, Don' Scott Field, Columbus. 1 York County Beekeepers, Penn State Extension, 7 p.m. Deer Damage Management Work shop, Edrich Nursery, Bald- (Turn to Page A 44) Editor, In this age of “merger mania” in agricultural organizations, one begins to wonder, when is enough enough? Next week the PADHIA state board will consider becoming a member of Cooperative Resour ces International. CRI is made up of mainly AI groups and one DHIA and is based in Wisconsin. As a long time proud member of PADHIA I have many questions and concerns about this merger, a few of which I will list. 1. Who has control of the finances?’ 2. Who sets the competitive boundaries? 3. Who hires and fires the CEO? 4. Who establishes employee benefit packages? 5. Who determines if PADHIA \ V „ .v .A ' - To Ensile Drough Stressed Corn Glenn Shirk, Lancaster County Extension Dairy Agent, states drought stressed com of proper moisture content can have good feed value It may actually have slightly less fiber and the fiber may be more digestible than that of "noimal" silage Drought stressed fields can supply some much needed forage in years when forage supplies are tight So, if you need more forage and your neighboring gram producers have some fields that will not shell out well, you may help them out by chopping their fields When com growth is stunted, nitrates can ac cumulate in the bottom portion of the plant Concentrations in the bottom 12 inches may be 10 limes that of the rest of the plant To reduce the risk of nitrate toxic ity, chop the crop at least 12 inches high and let it ferment three weeks before feeding To Harvest Corn Silage To harvest the best quality si lage we need to focus on moisture content, length of cut, cutting height, nutrient changes and fer mentation, according to Glenn Shirk, Lancaster , County Exten sion Dairy Agent The moisture content of the corn plant may change rapidly Do not let it catch you off guard It may be hard to gauge the moisture content of the crop by the appearance of the plant or by the movement of the milk line in the kernels The only accurate way is chop a few representative stalks and test ml „ 4 A x *Kc r ■s. .V Farm Forum ❖ will continue to operate a process ing center or a milk testing lab? Dairy farmers are currently undergoing a lot of financial stress and quite often the logic for these organizational changes are sold to members as being more efficient and more cost effective. This may not always be the case. One thing is certain, once a change like this one is made, there is no going back to the status quo. Now is the time for the mem bers of PADHIA to contact their state directors and ask questions and express their opinions. Do it today. J. Robert Kindig Conestoga Editor, While cleaning up the pile of papers and magazines by my desk, (Turn to Pago A 39) them for moisture content. A good guide to aim for is about 65 per cent moisture - slightly less for upright silos and slightly more for bunkers. The drier the silage the harder it is to pack, the greater the risk of poor fermentation and the lower the digestibility will be In hot. dry weather, the number of lactobacillus bacteria (the ones needed for good fermentation) can decrease So, to help endure good fermentation, it may be beneficial to use good lactobacillus type pre servative. To Plant Alfalfa Alfalfa seeding time is near. Research has found that the opti mum number of plants to produce the highest yield over the life of the stand was 19 plants per square foot in the seeding year, according to Robert Anderson, Lancaster County Extension Agronomy Agent. In Pennsylvania, to ARE YOU ‘HALFWAY THROUGH’? August 24, 1997 ARE YOU ‘HALFWAY THROUGH?• August 24, 1997 Background Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-11 Devotional Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:7-17 Bennett Cerf, in The Sound of Laughter , tells of a youth by the name of Tommy Noonan who was having considerable success one summer mowing the lawns of peo ple in the neighborhood. One afternoon, his mother thought he was taking his good old time about getting started, but Tommy replied: ‘Tm waiting for them to start themselves. I get most of my work from people who are half way through.” I’m tempted to add, “So does God!” A lot of the work God is called upon to do is what we’ve transferred to him when the going gets tough for us, although I sus pect that often we’re considerably ahead of ‘halfway through.’ I’m told that about 100 steps below the summit of Mt. Washington is a marker dedicated to a woman climber who, lost in a storm, lay down and died. She had no idea that a shelter hut was just 100 steps away. On a clear day the dimensions of the tragedy are starkly discernible. She died, not because she didn’t realize how close she was to the end of her struggle. What she needed was not more strength, but the persever ance to go on when her strength seemed to fail her. Perhaps this woman’s story can serve as a reminder to all of us that often we are much closer to our goal than we realize and we need to con tinue on. even though we cannot see the finish line. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before u 5...” (12:1) THE LONELY RUNNER Many years ago there was a fine motion picture entitled. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. It is true that often we feel that we are all alone in run ning the race of life, but the writer of Hebrews reminds us that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." The patriarchs and people of faith he has enumerated in Hebrews 11 are those who watch us run and they cheer us on, reminding us that as they persev achieve this plant population it is recommended to plant 18 to 20 pounds per acre when fungicide and insect treatment is not used or 15 to 17 pounds with a fungicide and insect treatment. Variety se lection is also a key factor in maximizing alfalfa yields Selec tion of a high yielding variety which is disease resistant or toler ant is essential. The Pennsylvania Alfalfa Variety Trials for last growing season are available at your county cooperative extension office. This report ranks the alfalfa varieties which were on test for fall dormancy, bacteria wilt, fusarium wilt, phytophthora root rot, aphid resistance and verticil hum wilt. In addition, it gives yields over a one to four year pe riod. Feather Prof.'s Footnote: "Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peaceof mind." ered, so must we. When running a race, my high school track and field coach always admonished us, “Don’t look back!” Looking back may give us accurate information about what’s behind us, but it is likely to cost us the race. He told us that looking back could hurt us in three ways: (1) we could easily break our stride, (2) we could stumble and even fall, (3) we might become disheartened and fail to do our best. He was talking about running a race, but much of what he told us applies to life. Looking back is often the beginning of the end of our best efforts. Instead, we need to keep looking ahead toward the goal. Along the course there are, obstacles as well as a goal. Obsta cles are the things we see when w# take our eyes off the goal. In any endeavor we must choose between being obstacle-oriented or go|k oriented, j THE PACESETTER But some will say that the goal is always beyond our sight to Hebrews says that we need to loop “to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith...’* (11:2). Maybe vgp can’t see the goal but we can focus our attention upon Jesus who has run the very same course before us. Hebrews calls him “the pion eer and perfector of our faith.” Keeping the analogy of the race, another term comes to mind: Jesus the pacesetter. If we focus on how he ran the race and try to run it in the same manner, we can leave the goal to God. In 1916, the great Irish Republi can leader, Eammon de Valera, was arrested by the British while he was delivering a patriotic speech to his constituency. Sen tenced to death, de Valera was sent to ill-reputed Wakefield Pris on to wait for his execution. But, later the order was stayed and he escaped from prison. About a year later he returned to the very spot where he had been arrested and gathering his constituency about him, he began with these words; “Now, as I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted...”' Like him, we may be inter rupted but that doesn’t put us out of the race. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building IE. Main St Ephrata, PA 17522 - by- Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Steinman Enterprise Robert G. Campbell General Manager Everett R. Nawewanger Managing Editoi Copyright 1997 by Loncmifr farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers