AlfrLmcMtK frarininfl,' Saturday,' Novainbar 1997
OPINION
Scams Now Running
Lancaster Farms
Of course, there was no written agreement, and no company name
was given. An 800 number just gets you an answering service so there is
no real tracer to the people involved
Two more scams in southern Lancaster County involve sealing drive
ways and fixing chimneys. The driveways arc sealed with a chemical
that washes off with the first rain, and the chimneys are fixed with plas
ter of paris. ,
Amish farmers seem to be targeted but all fanners need to be alert It
was an Amish farmer that asked the policeman to contact Lancaster
Fanning as the best way to warn other farmers about these scams.
Whenever you agree to have work done around your farm, be sure
you arc dealing with a firm or person who has a good reputation and is
well-known in the community. Ask for references from other jobs that
have been completed Get a company name, address, and telephone
number.
Get price quotes from several firms. Always sleep on it. A reputatable
firm will be glad for your business tomorrow. If it seems too good to be
true, it probably is.
And be especially careful right now because people running scams
are on the loose in Lancaster County. And they could show up anywhere
in Pennsylvania or in neighboring states.
Editor,
I am submitting a poem for your
consideration for printing. As an
ex Cum boy, I deeply the farmers
needs in this hour. So many farms
are going under, the younger
generation so often wants the big
money for their parents lands etc.
And where our Government
should back the farmers in every
way so often they show no con
cern.
As an ex Fanner, I can readily
appreciate the plight of today’s
Fanner. So many of them are find
ing their farms auction off their
life’s work gone with the pound of
the gavel on the auction block.
The following poem is a tribute to
all such farmers.
The Farmer
He stood where he had stood,
for many years,
Feeling the power and the pull
of the land;
His greying hair ruffled by the
western breeze.
Today was different It was
hard to understand.
He scanned the far off green
pasture lands
Fall Seminar Emu Husbandry.
Products, Marketing, Farm
Show Complex, Harrisburg, 9
a.m.-4 p.m.
Bucks County DHIA and Bucks
Holstein annual meeting, St
Matthew’s \utheran Church,
Kellers Chu. :h, 6:30 p.m.
3d Annual Killer Trail Course
Competition, Tuckahoe
JP — *
(Continued from Pago Al)
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❖ Farm Forum ❖
T vs it *- {
Where cattle had trod trails
morning and night;
He looked at the early morning
rising sun.
Thought: such power, such ma
jesty, such might!
He was stirred by the sounds of
the barnyard.
Hens cackling, cows mooing,
all dependent upon man;
Old Shep, with tail wagging,
was ready to follow,
Shep wondered why today
seemed a different plan.
He looked to his house, where
with wife and children
They had been so close as the
years had flown by;
He remembered nights so plea
sant around the kitchen table.
With his hand he brushed a tear
from his eye.
He knelt in an act of so final a
surrender,
And felt the earth so, cold, cold,
cold;
While the words echoed
throughout his mind
With the bang of that gavel:
sold! sold! sold!
♦ *< ♦ yfp * K >
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❖ Farm Calendar*
Watershed Workshop, meeting #2,
Farm and Home Center, Lan
caster, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Dauphin County Extension annual
meeting. Dauphin County Ag
and Natural Resource Center,
Dauphin, 7 p.m.
MU Joy Co-Op Service Program,
On
> “'*•
■ *%
\
Roger E. Sovocool
L* '•
* *•» r** <
To Know Forage Quality
Because of this summer's
drought conditions, forage crop
yields were down on many farms.
However, quality was generally
good. Because of the shorter
growth, this year's forages had
less stalk and fiber content with a
higher concentration of nutrient
rich leaves and grain.
According to Glenn Shirk,
Lancaster County Extension Dairy
Agent, this makes our forages
looking more like a supplement,
lower in fiber and higher in energy
and protein. When this kind of
forage is fed, there is less need to
feed grain and expensive supple
ments. What is really needed is
more effective fiber. This may be
supplied by feeding more longer
stemmed or coarsely chopped for
ages.
To Balance Cow Rations
Glenn Shirk, Lancaster
County Extension Dairy Agent,
remind us if cows have been hav
ing low fat tests, appetites are
sluggish, lose too much flesh and
lose flesh too quickly, fail to peak
well and drop off milk too
quickly, are "loose" and passing
undigested grain and fiber in their
feces, tend to be ketotic and de
velop laminitis, chances are they
may be consuming too much
gram or protein. These problems
are costly.
With today's slim margins,
there is no room for costly mis
takes. Test your forages for nutri
tive value and consult a trained
nutritionist for specific recom
mendations. Formulate a balanced
ration and feed it properly. Aim to
maintain an even level of high ac
tivity in the rumen throughout the
day.
Total mixed rations may help
you accomplish this. Otherwise,
avoid feeding laige slugs of grain
at any one time. Limit intakes to
about 6 to 8 pounds per feeding.
Try to feed some forages before
feeding grain.
To Test For MUN
Excess protein in the ration and
in the blood stream is expensive
and unhealthy, according to Glenn
Shirk, Lancaster County Exten-
Country Table, Mount Joy,
10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Chester County Extension Annual
Meeting, J&J Catering, White
land Business Park, Exton, 7
p.m.
Beef2ooo Course, Penn State, thru
Nov. 12.
Beginning and Retiring Farmer
Workshop, Hoss’s Steak
House, Williamsport, 9-a.tn.-3
p.m.
Vegetable Growers Meeting, Hill
top Restaurant, Shade Gap.
Northampton County Extension
meeting. Star Grange, Moores
town, 7 p.m.
Northeast Greenhouse Seminar,
Luzerne County Community
(Turn to Pago A3l)
sion Dairy Agent. One good way
to monitor protein metabolism in
dairy cattle is to use the milk urea
nitrogen (MUN) test on individual
cows on a regular basis.
This may be done through the
DHIA program. Normal MUN
vales are 12 to 16 mg/dl. Higher
levels mean: 1. Too much protein
is being fed. 2. Rumen degradable
protein levels are high. 3. Too lit
tle rumen degradable energy is be
ing fed. Thus, not all of the ru
men degradable protein can be
utilized and some of it spills over
into the blood stream as urea ni
trogen.
This is a costly situation for
several reasons 1. More purchased
feed ends up being excreted and
wasted. 2. A considerable amount
of energy is needed to metabolize
and excrete the excess protein.
Less energy is available to the
cow. As a result, milk production,
body condition and conception
IN OVER YOUR HEAD?
November 9, 1997
Background Scripture:
Ezra 9:1 through 10:17
Devotional Reading:
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
You probably have never heard
a sermon on Ezra 9 and 10 and
you are not ever likely to do so.
Why? For one thing, because the
situation in these two chapters
seems utterly irrelevant to our
own situation today.
Who today can relate to Ezra’s
violent reaction in learning that
many of the men of Israel have
taken foreign wives? Ezra is more
than a little upset: “When I heard
this, I rent my garments and my
mantle, and pulled hair from my
head and beard, and sat appalled.”
And when he calls upon God in
prayer, he says: “Oh my God, I am
ashamed and blush to lift my face
to thee, my God, for our iniquities
have risen higher than our heads,
and our guilt has mounted up to
the heavens” (Ezra 9:3,6).
Reading that, I just could not
relate, either to the reason for bis
concern or the depth of his
response. Inter-religious mar
riages can certainly cause some
problems, but do they call for that
kind of response?
Ezra also raises a concept
which waves a red flag to many of
us: “the holy race has mixed itself
with the peoples of the lands”
(9:2b). Generally, not only do we
as Christians not think of
ourselves as a “holy race,” but
even the suggestion of this con
cept seems out of place in the day
in which we live. I bristle when it
seems that Ezra is saying that the
“holy race” of Israel has been pol
luted because of intermarriage
with other races not so holy.
ADULTERATED FAITH
After some consideration, how
ever, I can understand Ezra’s point
of view. The problem is that the
faith of Israel has been adulterated
with the religious influence, prac
tices and values of these pagan
peoples. The intermarriage
between these peoples has mater
ially weakened and perverted the
faith of Israel. And with that con
cern I can identify very-well. The
problem is not with the foreign
wives per sc, but with the destruc
tive influences they have intro
duced to Jews returned from exile.
Actually, this is a vcty real and
current problem for Christianity.
Not because of intermarriage
suffer.
MUN values generally increase
when rations contain increased
amounts of haylage, lush pastures
and rapidly digested protein sup
plements such as soybean oil
meal and urea. This is especially
true when there is not an accom
panying decrease in the use of pro
tein supplements and an increase
in the amount of rumen degradable
energy being fed, such as high
moisture corn, barley, wheat, mo
lasses, etc.
Low levels of MUN may re
sult from feeding too little pro
tein, too little rumen degradable
protein or too little energy. This
is more apt to occur on rations
containing considerable amounts
of hay, especially low protein and
low energy hay.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote:
"Pride is a personal commitment;
it is an attitude which separates
excellence from mediocrity."
necessarily, but for a number of
reasons I see Christianity has hav
ing been seriously watered down
with ideas, values and practices
which, apart from our professions
of faith, render it often indistin
guishable from the rest of society.
At work, in the market place, in
our citizenship, in our community
life, in our families, what is there
in the way that we live that marks
us and our church as ‘Christian’ as
distinct from the secular world?
Does the way we do our daily
work or practice our profession
make us any different than the
way that others do? Do we run our
churces according to Christian
values or by the values of the
market place? Does our response
to “the least of these my brethren"
the hungry, the poor, the naked,
the lost, the prisioners reflect
the gospel of Jesus Christ or the
philosophy of our political party?
Do our churches incarnate the true
differences between the Church
and religious clubs?
WHAT WE MUST DO
If in any way you share the
belief that, like the people of Israel
in Ezra's day," our iniquities have
risen higher than our heads," he
has shown us what we must do
about it. Ezra’s prayer of confes
sion and contrition is one of the
great prayers of the Bible. Ezra
does not make any alibis, but
states plainly that "our guilt has
mounted up to the heavens.” We
arc told that “a very great assemb
ly of men, women and children,
gathered to him out of Israel" and
“they wept bitterly.”
But neither Ezra, nor the people
who came to hear him, were will
ing to let it go at being sorry. Ezra
challenged them: "Therefore let us
make a covenant with God to put
away all these wives and their
children..." (10:3). Beyond feeling
penitent the people were called to
make a covenant that would pro
duce results. I am not suggesting
for one moment that we, too,
ought to "put away" our spouses
and children. Our situation is dif
ferent and the solution most cer
tainly is different, too.
So, beyond feeling sorry, what
should we do when, as individuals
and as churches, we are into the
way of the world over our heads?
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. Newtwanger Managing Edltoi
Copyright 1997 by Lancaster Farming