AfO-Uncastef Farming, Saturday, March 13, 1999
OPINION
Before It’s Too Late
The dairy industry may now need to take more seriously
the need for biosecurity in their dairy herds. According to
David Tomsche, DVM from Minnesota, who spoke recently
at the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Conference, current practices of the
dairy cow farming industry are inadequate to deal with the
present threat of infectious disease. As dairymen, we have
assumed the cows were big enough to ward off any disease
that may be transmitted by visitors to our barns. But with the
new diseases cropping up, this is not true anymore. Among
the traditional domesticated livestock species, the general
biosecurity measures and practices used by those who raise
dairy cows falls far behind what peers do who raise other
livestock species.
Through experience with infectious diseases, concerns
about consumer confidence, and demands of other nations
regarding agricultural trade, the poultry industry has
developed strict research-based, industry-wide disease control
protocol. The same is true for many swine facilities, where
permission to enter farm lanes is reserved only for those with
a need and prior clearance to enter the lane
Some dairymen and industry people do practice some
biosecunt) measures, such as washing footwear before
leaving a farm, taking pains not to contaminate the boots or
other equipment before it is loaded onto a vehicle for a trip to
the next farm on the circuit
However, if it should be discovered or even widely
perceived that an infectious disease of dairy cattle can infect
humans, it can be expected that many dairy farms will face
either adopting similarly strict biosecurity measures or face
going out of business
It makes sense to begin an industry-wide emphasis on
biosecunty for dairy farms now before public opinion forces
us into it The dairy industry m other countries has been
forced into strict regimens of health control to guarantee a
safe dairy product for the consumer. These regimens begin on
the farm, not in the processing plant
We believe the U S dairy industry will be forced into the
same biosecunty position in the near future. Let’s make traffic
into our dairy barns meet the same requirements as anyone or
anything that comes into a poultry or swine operation And
let’s do it before it's too late
The New Farm Entrepreneur Fifth
Annual New and Beginning
Farmer Workshop, Holiday
Inn, Grantvilie.
Viticultural and Enological Sym
posium, Forsgate Country
Club, Jamesburg, N.J.
York County 4-H Center Educa
tion Series For Gardeners, 4-H
Center, York, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Home Gardeners’ School, SUN
Area Career and Technology
Center, New Berlin, 9
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Southeast Pa. Fellowship of
Last Friday, March 5, the bot
tom fell out of the milk price when
the Basic Formula Price (BFP) de
creased from $16.27 to $10.27 per
hundredweight (cwt.). At the end
of this month the advance price
dairy farmers will receive for
February milk will fall the entire
$6.00 per cwt., while average
❖ Farm Calendar ❖
Christian Farmers Spring Out
reach Meeting, Leola Family
Restaurant, Leola, norm.
Eastern Bison Association Annual
Show and Sale and Winter Con-
ference, Pa. Farm Show Com
Coudersport Crops Day, Couders
port Elementary School, 9:30
a.m.-3 p.m.
Potter County Vegetable and Pota
to Growers meeting,
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❖ Farm Forum ❖
blend prices will fall to these new
levels in April.
Last week all but one of the
farm organizations and all of the
state’s dairy cooperatives testified
in Harrisburg in favor of Pennsyl
vania’s joining the Northeast
Dairy Compact The only farm
group opposed to the Compact
was the Independent Dairy Pro
To Prepare for Y2K
Most people feel the Y2K
issue might be an inconvenience
but not a disaster. At a recent
conference it was reported that
the Pennsylvania Utilities
Commission is not anticipating
large scale power outages or loss
of telephone communications
State wide, the banking industry
is nearing 100 per cent
compliance
Experts are predicating that 5
per cent of the 5 billion computer
chips in the world may fail That
means many individual machines
or pieces of equipment may fail
These same experts stated that 90
per cent of the problems which do
develop will be corrected within
three days
Experts are recommending to
prepare for Y2K like any other
type of emergency, like a snow
storm Have on hand a five to
seven day supply of food, water,
flashlights, battery operated radio,
etc You should make a list of all
equipment that uses a computer or
has computer chips and determine
if they are Y2K compliant, Y2K
noncompliant or do not know
Then you need to develop plans
on dealing with the noncompliant
and do not know groups
Work with your dealers now
so you may prevent a disaster on
January 1, 2000 Any event you
should develop back up plans m
case the electricity does go off for
several days Make sure your
generators work and you have
adequate fuel supply
To Shop for Electricity
In the era of deregulated
electricity, consumers should be
very savvy shoppers, according to
Dr Dennis Buffington, Penn State
Agricultural Engineer Each
customer's local utuhty is still
responsible for transmitting and
distributing electricity to homes
and businesses
Power generation companies
are currently marketing services
across Pennsylvania Customers
need to know whether prices
listed by suppliers are just foi
generation or if transmission of
power is included You need to be
sure the price you pay per
kilowatt hour is listed. Are there
special peak and oft peak rates 9
Customers should determine il
the supplier includes a monthly
ducers. A representative of the
200-member organization said the
Compact would mean an end to
the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing
Board (PMMB) and the relatively
high premiums enjoyed by his
members. Dennis Schad of Land
O’Lakes testified that the Com
pact would supplement local milk
regulation and would not replace
the PMMB. Beverly Minor, chair
woman of the PMMB, supported
Schad’s statement.
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charge, a minimum monthly
charge or a membership fee
Remember, you cannot receive
the rate quoted or lowest price if
you do not sign up and monitor
your bill
To Make Tractors Safer
Each year an average of 132
American farm workers are
crushed to death as tractors
overturn during operation Nearly
all fatalities resulting from a farm
tractor roll over could be
prevented
The key to prevention is the
presence of Roll Over Protection
Structure (ROPS) on every
tractor. Sweden recorded a 92 per
cent reduction m tractor roll over
fatalities between 1961 and 1983
due to legislation that required all
tractors to have ROPS installed
Similar reductions were found in
Nebraska study Since 1967, the
Nebraska study found that 40 per
cent of the persons involved in
tractor roll over accidents with a
tractor not equipped with ROPS
died.
Only two per cent of those
POINTING
THE RIGHT WAY
March 14, 1999
Background Scripture:
John 1:19-42
Devotional Reading:
Ephesians 4:25 through 5:2
One of the finest Christian
voices of the 20th century came
from a land most of us cannot lo
cate on a world map. The more
familiar name of this teardrop
shaped island at the tip of India is
Ceylon, but today it is known as
Sri Lanka.
This Sri Lankan was known to
the Christian world as D.T. Niles,
a gifted speaker and evangelist
who was selected to give the open
ing address at the historic Amster
dam meeting of the World Coun
cil of Churches. In 1951, his only
book in English to that time was
published, That They May Have
Life, (Harper). It is a small book of
only 120 pages, but it is the best
book on the why and how of
Christian witness I have ever read.
At one point he says: “Evan
gelism is witness. It is one beggar
telling another beggar where to
find food. The Christian does not
offer out of his bounty. He has no
bounty. He is simply guest at his
Master’s table and, as evangelist,
he calls others too.” Forget all the
things you think you know about
evangelism and begin with the
idea that we are all “beggars.”
There are people in the church that
seem naturally endowed to be
preachers, teachers, and evangel
ists. But we don’t have to be any
of those to be involved in evangel
ism, for we are, like all human be
ings, beggars trying to find food.
BEING A CHRISTIAN
So, as a beggar who has found
food at the Lord’s Table, it is in
cumbent upon me to help other
beggars find that food. I don’t
have to point to myself and say,
“Look at what I am and what I
know.” What I need to do is simp
ly tell other hungry souls where to
find the same food to which some
one else directed me. That is no
less true for you. You, too, can at
least point other beggars in the
right direction. As Niles puts it,
“Evangelism is not a program, it is
being a Christian.”
The religious authorities were
very concerned about John’s ere
laving accidents with tractors
equipped with ROPS died The
two per cent death rate was the
•esult of one accident in which the
operator was not using the safety
•estraint or seat belt and was
hrown from the tractor with a
IOPS system installed ROPS
nay be either enclosed or open
Towever, a seat belt must be used
n conjunction with ROPS to keep
he operator inside the protective
structure during a tractor roll
over
It is estimated that there are
I 61 million tractors in the United
States Of these, oVer half are not
iquipped with ROPS or seat belts
The National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
estimates that over the next 31
years there will be 2,800 deaths as
a result of roll over deaths from
tractors without ROPS Make sure
you or a family member is not
one of these statistics by making
sure all your tractors have ROPS
Feather Prof, 's Footnote
"Champions are made by risking
more than others think is safe."
dentials. Lcvites and priests were
sent to him to ask, “Who are
you?” John did not hesitate to con
fess “I am not the Christ” (1:19),
“And they asked him, ‘What then?
Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am
not* ‘Are you the prophet?’ And
he answered, ‘No.’ They said to
him then, ‘Who are you?”’ John
was not willing to play their name
games and said simply, “I am the
voice of one crying in the wilder
ness, ‘Make straight the way of
the Lord’.”
Both friends and foes alike
wanted to focus on John personal
ly, but instead he determinedly
pointed away from himself to the
Christ; “. . . among you stands
one whom you do not know . .
the thong of whose sandal I am not
worthy to untie.” Again and again
they tried to focus on John, but
each time he pointed to Jesus and
said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the
world” (1:30). As a Christian that
is our task, too to point to Jesus
and say, “Behold the Lamb of
God!” (Not in those words, of
course, because they are not
meaningful to most of the fellow
beggars we encounter.)
AN INVITATION
Niles says that “Evangelism is
the proclamation of an event, it is
also an invitation to an encounter
an encounter with the risen
Christ” Many of us are “not mere
ly prodigal from their Father’s
home but have actually forgotten
the Father’s address ... It is our
task to make the Father’s address
known, to be signposts directing
travelers to the Father’s presence
»»
That’s what John the Baptist
did, he pointed people to an en
counter with the Christ When two
disciples of John came to Jesus
asking, “Rabbi. . . where are you
staying?”, he invited them to a
personal encounter: “Come and
see” (1:39). Then one of them,
Andrew, found his brother Simon
Peter, and made the same invita
tion to him. If they could point
people in the right direction, so
can we.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enteipnse
William J. Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming