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