AlO-Lancuster Farming, Saturday, May 29, 1999 imsmsi OPINION Playing Follow The Leader... Again The FDA has recently approved a margarine that was developed in Finland that contains a substance that aids in the reduction ot cholesterol. Evidently, food scientists have known about this product for quite some time and those in the know have been wondering when the product would come to the U S So, now it's here to give us a run tor our money in butter. Just when butter has been taken off the medical blackmail list, now margarine comes, up with another strong competitive selling point Dr Brian L Perkins, technical services specialist with Monsanto Dairy Business in Twin Falls, ID, had a note on the Dairy-L Internet group site to ask why we couldn't take the substance he calls "a stanol ester" and add it to butter 9 Then we would have a product that tastes tar better than margarine, and also has the capability to lower blood cholesterol To us, the answer to this question is a no-brainer. Certainly, we should add the cholesterol-reducing product to butter if it helps us to keep the good taste of butter on our dairy customer's plates. A more relevant question is - "Why did we again need to play follow the leader in bringing a new food product to market' 7 With all the talk about how we need to develop new markets tor dairy products, and with all the dollars from check-off moneys taken from the farmer's milk checks to develop these markets and products, we should have a cholesterol-reducing product on the market already We can’t wait for the day when a new dairy product comes on the market that makes the synthetic dairy product makers ask themselves if they should be following the dairy industry's lead Northwest Keystone Junior Beef Classic, Butler County Fair grounds, thru May 30. Blair County Dairy Princess Pageant, Williamsburg Elementary School, Williamsburg. Bradford County Dairy Princess Pageant, New Life Church, Canton. Clearfield County Dairy Princess Pageant, Clearfield Agway Store, Clearfield, 8 p.m. Church. LaMar. Lancaster Farming office closed! Pork Quality Assurance Meeting, York County Pork Producers .1 Mr York 4-H Grain Marketing Breakfast Meet ing, Howard Johnson's, Mil lington, 6:30 a.m. Southeast Pa. Fruit Growers Twil ight Tour, Keim Orchards, Boycrtown. Philadelphia County Fair, Fair- Pageant, Marion Center United Presbyterian Church, Marion Center. Delaware Valley College. Clarksville Field Day, Ellicott jp —■—* City, Md. Antique Engine, Tractor, and Toy Club Annual Show, Kemptoo Community Center, thru June 6. Centre County Dairy Princess Pageant, Pleasant Gap Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap, 7:30 p.m. Lebanon County Dairy Princess Pageant, Lebanon County Vo- Tech Building, Lebanon. Chester County Dairy Princess Pageant, Cochtanville Com- munity Center, Cochranville, 10:30 ajar. Huntingdon County Dairy Prin cess Pageant, Huntingdon Area Fundamentals of Marketing, Perm State Lancaster Greenfield Center, 8 a.m.-5 pjn., thru June Grazier Meeting, Allan Lynch Farm, Turbotville, 7 p.m. York County Beekeepers, York 4-H Center, in conjunction with York County 4-H Strawberry Roundup, judging begins 7 pjn. Y2K Considerations In Mercer County, Mercer County Cooperative Extension, 2 pjn.-4 p.m., also at Penn State Shenango Complex, Sharon, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Pasture Walk, Wilmer Stoltzfoos Farm, Gratz, 9 ajn.-l 1:30 ajn. Second Agriculture Research Symposium, Capitol East Wing, Harrisburg, 10 a.m.-3 Roundup, Farm and Home Cen ter. 1 D.m. To Expand Understanding of Risk Management Glenn Shirk, Lancaster County Extension Dairy Agent, reminds us there is more to risk management than futures, options, contracts and insurance. In addition to these tools, there are many other things farmers may do to help manage their risks. Many of them just simply involve good management. One is to reduce debt load and cost per unit of production. Another is to have a reserve of cash and supplies such as feed that you may tap into when necessary. Good biosecurity measures and preventative herd health programs also help. Develop contingency plans for responding to a variety of unexpected situations (death, injuries, labor shortages, drought, fire, loss of markets, lawsuits, etc.). Have animals at multiple locations and plant crops with different maturity dates. Being a good neighbor, being an asset to the community, being proactive on issues . that affect your business, being regulatory compliant and planning for the future are important considerations too. To Speed Hay Drying Hay producers in Pennsylvania list unpredictable weather as the number one reason for not being able to make quality hay. According to Dr. Marvin Hall, Penn State Agronomy Department, properly adjusted mower conditioners can cut hay drying time in half. However, many conditioners have not been adjusted since they were bought and this could be costing the farmer thousands of dollars per year in hay quality and production losses. Quicker drying times reduces the risk of the mowed hay being rained on, synchronizes the drying of leaves and stems which can reduce leaf shatter and allows for quicker regrowth (because the hay will be lying on the stubble for a shorter period of time). All of these advantages can result in higher quality hay and improved yields. This is the equivalent to dollars in the bank. To Properly Adjust Hay Conditioner The hay conditioner should I luir^(la\. .lime 10 Forage Field Tour, Joel Steignun Farm, Halifax, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Managing Your Well and Septic System, Carroll County Cooperative Extension, 10 agcant, LigL ant. Oiambcrshure. 7 o.m crimp the stem every three to four inches. The two basic adjustments that affect the extent of crimping are the space between the crimping rolls and the pressure on each roll. The rolls should be adjusted to be as close as possible to each other without touching. Used rollers may not be perfectly round. They will need to be adjusted at the fattest part of the rolls. The correct pressure on the rolls is not as easily determined. Enough pressure should be applied to adequately crimp the stems and not damage the leaves. Damaged leaves are more prone sn C\vs\wv\v.' mmmmmm. , BY UWRfNCf W Al 1 HOUSE 1_ Raisas ARE YOU ANSWERING HIS PRAYER? May 30,1999 Background Scripture: John 17 Devotional Reading: Ephesians: 6:10-20 If I were facing what lay before Jesus when he prayed what is often called his “High- Priestly Prayer,” I am afraid my prayer would be one of despera tion, gloom, bitterness and feel ing sorry for myself. I would be thinking about how I got into this situation, who has let me down, how unjust it is, and can’t you get me out of here, Lord? Jesus would have been fully justified if his own prayer had taken on one or more of those attitudes. No man was ever more unjustly treated. No per son had ever been so, worthy,‘so close to God. No person chosen by God would have had more reason to doubt his calling. When you look at the prayer of Jesus, you find not one exam ple of any of those attitudes. There is no anxiety, no despera tion, no bitterness. Instead there is a strong thread of exultation and Jesus uses the terms “glory,” “glorify,” and “glorified” eight times in the course of it. No won der the death of Jesus was a tri umph for the Father and the Son. No wonder he regarded it as his hour of glory. Arthur John Gossip is right in saying, “Here is no unwilling victim dragged to the altar.” THE HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER Not for one moment do I think Jesus wanted to die. He exulted, not in suffering and dying, but in being obedient to his calling. This is the ground for both his glorification and the intercession which he now makes in his prayer. If Jesus had sought to escape or compromise in these late moments of his life, he could not have prayed with the conviction and power that he did. As the High Priest about to make the supreme sacrifice, his prayer carried an even higher level of authenticity. So, freed of self-pity, despair and remorse, what was it that Jesus lifted up to the Father in this prayer? There are basically four focuses of concern. The first of these is his offering of himself for the Father’s purposes, Jn 17:1-5. “Father,” Jesus began, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee.” Essentially, this is a prayer of commitment. Jesus commits himself to obedience to leaf shatter than leaves that are not damaged. Damaged leaves will turn dark green or black after crimping. There should be less than five percent damaged leaves with properly adjusted conditioners. The frequency that conditioners will need to be adjusted depends on the extent of use and the amount of soil particles that are run through the conditioner. Soil will cause the rolls to wear faster and call for more frequent adjustments. Feather Prof, 's Footnote: "Small minds are subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above them." unto death, although, please note, the word “death” is never used. In other words, what lies before him in suffering and death on the cross is of lower concern than the glory that will proceed from it. The second focus of his prayer is for the welfare of his disciples whom he leaves behind. r lt is not a prayer of apprehension, but of faith. “And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee Holy Father. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” NOT EVEN CLOSE It occurred to me this day as I read this passage once again that we are not even coming close to fulfilling Jesus’ prayer for unity in the Church. I don’t mean for one moment that we need to worship in the same buildings, pay our tithes at the same altar, recite the some creeds, nor give our loyalty to the same denominations of Christendom. But, in the deep est and most real sense of the word we do not even come close to being “one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee...” (21). Perhaps you have noticed, as I have, that when you go from one church to another, from one denomination to another one, it is often difficult to feel that you are part of the same something of which they are also a part. These other Christians may seem more like strangers than like brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are influenced more by the things we have that are dif ferent, than in the one thing that we all possess—the Living Lord. Jesus also prays: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one” (20). This is his third focus: those who will come after the original disciples—in short, us! In the night in which Jesus suf fered betrayal and arrest, he prayed for us. “The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” Usually we concern ourselves with God’s answers to our prayers. But we are all in a posi tion to answer Christ’s prayer for us! 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 Editor Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming
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