AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 13, 1997 OPINION We Love Milk! Everyone knows that everyone loves milk. Well, maybe not everyone. But the Dairy-L chat group on the internet recently had a thing going where farmers from many different countries would post the way they say “I love milk” in their native language. Here are some of the responses. In Danish: Jeg elsker maelk (really the “a & e” should be into one letter, an extra letter in Danish.) In Thai: Chan shob nom (compliments of a Thai foreign exchange student). In Spanish: Me gusta la leche; Yo amo la leche; or Yo quiero la leche. In French: J-aime le lait; or more sophisticated J’adore le lait. In Mandarin Chinese, using the Roman alphabet rather than characters: Wo ai nuinai. In Japanese: Gyunyu ga suki desu. In Portuguese: Eu amo leite; or Eu adoro leite, In Afrikaans: Ek Hou Van Mclk. In Zulu: Ngithanda Übisi. In German: Ich Liebe Milch. In Catalan: M’agrada la llet. In Hebrew: Anee ohev halav. In Dutch: Ik Hou Van Melk. In Indonesian: Saya Suka Susu. We found this an interesting and very international little exer cise that helps solidify what we have all known for a long time: people love milk in any language. And it also reemphasizes a common denominator to bring all people together as neighbors in this shrinking global world that we live in. “We love milk!” Editor: Dairymen in Pennsylvania have had a tough year with weather related problems, low milk prices and other crises to face. At this time we need to look at the “big picture” and give thanks for our natural, home grown forages, com silage, baled hay and pasture. Dairymen and beef producers today know that the growth, harvest and storage of high quality forage is critical to the productivi ty and profitability of their dairy or livestock operation. The Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council has an oppor tunity for PA forage producers to share the successes of their forage program with other forage produc ers here in Pa and also with forage producers around North America. Any forage producer that is inter ested in telling the story of forages Schacffcrstown Harvest Fair, Ale xander Schaeffer Farm Museum, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Cambria County District Horse Show, Bedford. Pasture Management Field Day, John Rodgers’ Plum Bottom Dairy Farm, Belleville, 11:30 a.m.-l p.m. 1997 Horsemen’s Event Chesa peake College Center for Busi ness and the Performing Arts, ♦ Farm Forum ❖ is encouraged to enter the PFGC Forage Spokesperson Contest, to be held on Tuesday, November 18 in Tunkhannock as part of the 1997 PFGC Forage Conference. Interested persons should con tact Mike Galbraith of the PFGC to nominate someone, or to nomi nate themselves: Phone: 800-238-1037, Ext #l3B ' FAX 814-793-4581 Mail: Young’s, P.O. Box 71, Roaring Spring, PA 16673 Internet: Mike Galbraith@Car gill.Sprint.com. Forage producers who arc interested should provide the following information by Octob er 4, 1997, ♦Spokesperson; Name, address and phone/FAX number. ♦Nominator: Name, address and phone/FAX number. (Turn to Page A3l) ❖ Farm Calendar ❖ Beaver Community Fair, Beaver Springs, thru Sept. 20. Grat^Fair^Gratz^m^egt^O. Cambria County horse leader meeting, extension office, 7 p.m. Carroll County Master Gardener course, extension office, 9 iijni^tuTjjMlm^jeDLl^^ Farm Science Review. Molly Carcn Agricultural Center, London, thru Sept. 18. Cooperatives Mean Business To Avoid Telemarketing Telemarketing fraud is increas ing, according to Dr Robert Thee, Lancaster County Family Re source Extension Agent There are many scams being developed that are designed to secure your credit card numbers and credit history Telemarketing fraud is a crime and fraudulent callers are criminals Do not tall lor a phony pitch You should hang up immediately if the person calling you does any of the following If the person wants money tor a prize you are told you have won If the caller asks for your credit card or bank account number If the caller of fers, for a fee, to recover money you have previously lost It the caller insists you make an imme diate decision and If the caller of fers to send a courier to take your check To Learn About Homestead Exemption On November 4. Pennsylvania voters will decide whether a method of real properly tax relief, called homestead exemptions, should be allowed in Pennsylva nia Currently prohibited by the Pennsylvania Constitution, homestead exemptions aic a way ol targeting real property tax rebel to homeowners and other taxpay ers A homestead exemption al lows certain properties, such as homes, to receive preferential Workshop, the Clarion Holiday Inn, Clarion, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Harmony Grange Fair, Westover, Solanco Fair, Quarryville, thru Food Safety Is Everybody’s Busi ness Seminar, St. Joseph’s Uni versity Professional Confer ence Center, Philadelphia, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. North East Community Fair, North East, thru Sept. 20. Oley Valley Community Fair, Oley, thru Sept. 20. Pa. Yorkshire Summer Show and ' f- 4, Antique Tractor, Gas Engine and Farm Equipment Show, West End Fairgrounds, Gilbert, 9 Bloomsburg Fair, Bloomsburg, thru Sept. 27. Annual Farm-City Festival and Farm Open House, Yellow- Buttercup Farm, Mummert Family, East Berlin, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Timber Marketing Workshop, Dauphin County Ag and Natur al Resources Center, Dauphin, Fraud (Turn to Pag* A3l) treatment under the real property tax. If approved during the No vember election, the Homestead Exemption Amendment would change the Pennsylvania Consti tution to make homestead exemp tions possible To better under stand the Homestead Exemption Amendment, Dr Timothy Kelsey, Penn State associate professor of agricultural economics, has devel oped a brochure to explain the amendment, what it does and does not do and the implications of your vote Your local Penn State Cooperative Extension office can secure a copy of this publication for you To Control Johne's Disease Johne's disease is a devastating dairy disease that is best controlled by preventive management, ac cording to Judy Stabel, USDA National Animal Disease Center The disease is usually picked up by dairy calves but does not be come evident until they are two to five years old Meanwhile, pro duction and reproductive perform- RSVP September 14, 1997 RSVP September 14, 1997 Background Scripture: Isaiah S 3 Devotional Reading: Isaiah 49:8-13 The Godfather, both as a novel and a series of movies, put into our language an expression that endures, “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.” Actually, the best offer we can get in life is the kind that we not only can refuse, but often do. Our problem is often that we know we want something, but don’t quite know what it is we want. There’s an emptiness in ourselves and we want to fill it with something. But what? Very often that which we seek fo fill the void within is a thing of some kind, a material object. Our problem is that we want immedi ate gratification and things may very nicely fill the void for a little while. The thing may be a symbol of success a new car, a bigger house, a better job. Even other people can be the things with which we try to fill the emptiness. But have you ever noticed how none of these things really satisfy us for the long haul. All of them fade, tarnish or wear out but the hunger within us, never! What all of us seek even if we don’t realize it—is something to permanently fill the voids in our lives. But what can do that for us? Ah, that’s the question and how elusive the answer is for so many of us. COSTS A BUNDLE A cartoon 1 clipped from a newspaper several years ago shows a wise man or guru sitting atop a very steep mountain. Stand ing before him is a man who has crawled to the top and asked him a question. “Yes," replies the wise man, “I have the answer to the meaning of life, but it’s going to cost you a bundle!” Many of us suspect that, what ever the answer is, it is going to cost us a bundle. It can only be purchased with material goods and it is going to be very, very ex pensive perhaps more than we ance begins dropping. The cows lose weight and they spread the disease Calves get infected by their mothers before birth, through contact with manure con laminated food (hay and grass) and by drinking milk from in fected cows Farmers need to fol low these herd hygiene Move new calves away from dams as soon as possible Isolate calves to minimize contact with adult cows and their manure Feed milk re placer or colostrom from cows known to be free of Johne's Iso late purchased replacement heifers from calves and Evaluate your manure handling habits to prevent disease spread through contami nated tools and equipment Be cause of possible human health issues, this disease uncontrolled could have the biggest impact on milk sales To protect your busi ness, start eliminating Johne's from your herd Feather Prof's Footnote "Think only of the best, work only for the best and expect onh the best " can ever scrape together. So, God comes to us with an of fer we can, but ought not refuse: “Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). What an offer! It’s better than winning the lottery, the Irish Sweepstakes, or a prize from Ed McMahon all material things. FOOD THAT’S NOT BREAD But God’s offer is not about material things. It will not neces sarily bring instant gratification. It is about eternal realities and an ul timate gratification that is lasting. And because God’s offer docs not satisfy our aspiration for things, we tend to be suspicious of it and disregard it. The very offer we need and long for is the one we re ject or ignore. So, God asks us, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which docs not satisfy: “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live” (55:3). The offer God makes is the world’s only really “Free” offer. We can have it without exchang ing things for it or accumulating a pile of money to pay for it Now that’s an offer we shouldn’t re fuse! But will we? Although the offer from God is a free offer, it doesn’t mean that the promise is automatic. We can’t pay for it that’s grace but we have to accept it. God doesn’t slip his promise into our hip pockets for us to discover at a later time. If we are to take advantage of his of fer, we have to put out our hands to receive it. And to receive it, it takes repentance. “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, let the wick ed forsake his way, and the un righteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (55:6,7). It is the best offer any of us will ever get. But it takes an RSVP to get it. 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. Newawanger Managing Editoi Copyright 1997 by Lancaster Farming