AlO-Lmcs*ter Farming, Saturday, September 25, 1999
OPINION
Pennsylvania - Leading
The Way In Egg Safety
A great deal of discussion has developed recently which
questions the safety of eggs in the American food supply.
However, Pennsylvania has the most intensely monitored
salmonella enteritidis risk reduction program in the United
States according to Jim Shirk at the Pennsylvania Poultry
Council. Pennsylvania is the 4th largest egg-producing state
in the country and takes food safety very seriously, placing
it’s money where the omelets are, so to speak.
Pennsylvania’s consumer protection program for eggs has
led the way for almost 10 years and now stands at the fore
front of national standards through a program called
PEQAP, the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Program.
This is a voluntary program administered by the Penn Ag
Poultry Council, created by the egg industry and monitored
by the Department of Agriculture. The Department of
Health serves as an advisor to the program and the FDA
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition provides addi
tional support. The Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic
Laboratories at Penn State University, the University of
Pennsylvania New Bolton Center, and the Department of
Agriculture provide laboratory testing of eggs and environ
mental samples.
The PEQAP guidelines cover egg production and assure
the commitment of the producer to implement the best man
agement and monitoring practices most likely to prevent SE
contamination.
Refrigeration at 45 degrees from farm to retailer is a
mandatory component of the PEQAP program. Other basic
measures include continuous environmental testing of lay
ers and pullet houses, buying only SE-negative chicks, uti
lizing an intensively monitored rodent control program, and
cleaning and disinfecting between flocks. Any positive eggs,
eggs that are found to contain the salmonella enteritidis
organism, are automatically diverted to a pasteurizing facil
ity and then removed from the table egg market.
According to a 15 member Review Team Report prepared
by the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, and USDA dated January 18,1997,
it was stated “PEQAP can serve as a prototype for the egg
industry in the development of egg quality assurance pro
grams and the industry should adopt quality assurance pro
grams based on interventions developed in the
Pennsylvania Pilot Project and used in the Pennsylvania
Egg Quality Assurance Program.”
Consumers can recognize eggs produced under the most
intensely monitored system by looking for the PEQAP sym
bol on each carton of eggs packed by participating compa
nies.
Bloomsburg Fair, Bloomsburg,
thru Oct. 2.
Rural Youth Reunion, Leola Fami
ly Restaurant, noon-4 p.m.
Hoise Show to Benefit Makc-A-
Wish Foundation, Quentin Rid
ing Club.
Howard County Farm Heritage
Days, Mt. Pleasant Farm,
Woodstock, Md., 9 a.m.-6 pan.,
also Sunday 9 a.m.-S p.m.
20th Annual Falmouth Goat Race,
New York Marriott Marquis,
thru Sept 28.
Lancaster County 4-H Therapeutic
Seminar, Mahoning Valley
Ambulance Association, 9:30
ajn.-3:30 pan.
Pa. Grazing Lands Forage Conser
vation Coalition, Pasture Reno
vation Program, Berks County
Martinsburg, thru Oct. 1.
New Holland Fanners Fair, New
Holland, thru Oct 2.
Dressage At Devon, thru Oct. 3.
Pumpkin Variety Demonstration
Meeting, Grim's Greenhouse
Farm Market, Breinigsville,
1:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Selling Produce To Supermarkets,
Weis Markets, Lewisburg, 7
p.m.
Dairy Systems Management Tour,
Pleasant Valley Jerseys, Cham-
bersburg, 10 a.m.-11:40 a.m.
Dairy Systems Management Tour,
To Consider Hessian Fly
Free Date
Farmers planting wheat will
soon be able to plant without
regard for the Hessian fly for this
fall, according to Robert
Anderson, Lancaster County
Extension Agronomy Agent.
Although many of the wheat
varieties grown today are resistant
to the Hessian fly, some varieties
should still be planted after the fly
free date to avoid damage. About
40 percent of the wheat varieties
are still susceptible to the fly.
The fly free date in
Pennsylvania ranges from the last
week of September in the north to
the first week of October in the
south depending on weather
conditions. With this fall’s
warmer than normal weather, the
fly free date may be a little later.
The adult fly only lives for
about one week. If it can find
emerging wheat, barley or rye, it
will over winter there as a pupa. If
it is unable to find one of these
host plants, the fly dies. In the
spring, surviving pupa will hatch
and new adult flies will emerge to
lay eggs on the leaves. The eggs
hatch and the young will feed
under the leaf sheath near the
node of the stem.
The stem is weakened and will
usually break off before harvest
time. If you are planning on using
wheat as a forage crop, the
Hessian fly is really not a
problem.
To Beware of Silo Fires
The summer’s dry weather in
many parts of Pennsylvania may
be causing an increased risk of
tower silo fires from a lack of
proper forage moisture content
and/or from poor fermentation of
silage. This could lead to the
production of greater amounts of
volatile gases that could ignite a
silo fire.
Dennis Murphy, Penn State
Farm Safety professor, explains
that the moisture content for
forages stored in a silo should be
between 45 and 65 percent. If the
moisture content falls below 45
percent, fire risk increases. He
adds that several gases including
hydrogen and methane, are by
products of fermenting silage.
If excess gases are present,
they could burst into flames if
exposed to a source of ignition,
such as static electricity or sparks
created during the loading or
blowing of silage. Other potential
ignition sources are barn lights or
other electrical equipment near or
at the base of unloading chutes.
To reduce the risk of silo fires,
take the following precautions:
Pec km an Homestead Farms
Inc., Chambersburg, 1 pjn.-3
pjn.
AD ADC Disc 5 Meeting, Howe’s
Cavern Restaurant, Howe’s
(Turn to Page A 32)
Test moisture of the
forage being ensiled.
Water down silo
unloading chutes.
Provide plenty of
ventilation around the silo,
especially at loading areas
and the up chutes. Use a
barn fan to keep extra
oxygen moving up the silo
chute. This helps prevent
the generation of excess
silo gases and dilutes the
gases present, keeping
them from reaching
explosive concentrations.
Clean off chaff and other
debris from the silo chute
and from around the rungs
or frame of chute doors.
To Beware of Silo Gases
Dennis Murphy, Penn State
Farm Safety professor, reminds us
that silo gases are toxic,
especially in the first 48 to 60
FINDING YOUR
‘HOLYPLACES’
September 26,1999
Background Scripture:
Exodus 40:1-33; Leviticus 26
Devotional Reading;
Psalms 84
When I was a teenager, I
went to our church camp in
Perkasie, Pennsylvania. The
place was called Perkasie Park
and it wasn’t so much a camp as
an old-fashioned camp meeting
grounds. We lived in wooden cot
tages that surrounded a large
wooden tabernacle. It really
wasn’t a camp experience at all,
but that is what we called it and
for me, as well as many others, it
was life-changing.
When I think about it now, I
realize that teenagers today
would not want to go to a place
like that. The buildings had only
a minimum of the basic com
forts. Today, they would probably
be judged fire hazards. Even
then in the mid to late 19405,
the physical set-up seemed anti
quated, a step back into the
prior century.
Carved into a modest wooded
hill, was a simple amphitheater
overlooking a small stream. We
called it “The Dell” and it was for
us a holy place. A Perkasie tra
dition required that we main
tain silence from the time we
approached the Dell until at the
conclusion we passed the first
cottage. The silence was broken
only by the words of the worship
leader and the singing of hymns.
A HOLY PLACE
Many years later, I happened
to be in the neighborhood and I
want to see what had become of
Perkasie Park. Vacant of youth
and their leaders, the park
seemed a sad and deserted
place, a virtual ghost town. I
walked to The Dell, now over
grown and obscure in disuse. At
first, I felt nothing, but remem
bering the inspiring moments I
had experienced there, for a few
moments The Dell was a holy
place again.
Since those distant days, I
have traveled around the world
visiting sites held to be holy
places. For me, some of them
were holy and some were not —
Lourdes was, Fatima was not,
Assisi was, the Vatican City was
not—and I have thought much
about what it is that makes a
hours after Tilling.
If you must enter the silo
within the first 48 to 60 hours,
protect yourself by wearing a self
contained breathing apparatus. If
you do not have access to one,
stay out of the silo. Dangerous
levels of silo gas may be present
for an additional two to three
weeks.
To enter without a self
contained breathing apparatus
during this period, ventilate with
the silo blower. Open all doors,
run the blower fan for 20 minutes
and leave it running while you are
in the silo. Enter only after you
have put on a respirator for toxic
dust. Also, have a second person
with you to assist in an
emergency.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote:
"Countless, unseen details are
often the only difference between
mediocre and magnificent."
place holy. What made the burn
ing bush of Moses holy ground?
Why was the tabernacle of the
Israelites believed to be “most
holy”? Did God make The Dell
for us a holy place or was it our
faith that generated that numi
nous response. Or was it both?
All of use need to have one or
more holy places, sites where
God seems more present, where
that indefinable but almost pal
pable sense of holiness
envelopes us. I realize that what
makes a place feel holy is not
that God is more truly there
than somewhere else. God is
everywhere, but there are some
places where we feel him more
truly. I believe it is our height
ened sense of faith that admits
more of God into our hearts in
some places that accounts for
that intensified sense of holi
ness.
MORE KEENLY FOCUSED
This is perhaps a key to
understanding the tabernacle
that became so important to the
people of Israel while Moses led
them in the wilderness. God was
everywhere then, too, but the
Israelites needed somewhere
specific where their sense of
God’s presence could be more
keenly focused. “Then you shall
take the anointing oil,” God told
Moses, “and anoint the taberna
cle and all that is within it, and
consecrate it and all its furni
ture; and it shall become holy.
You shall also anoint the alter of
burnt offering and all its uten
sils, and consecrate the altar;
and the altar shall be most holy”
(Exodus 40:9,10).
All of us today, maybe as
never before, need some holy
places where God is most keenly
experienced and obeyed. For
many people, their churches are
holy places, not because God has
blessed a particular style of
architecture, a specific church
location, or a strange brand of
denomination, but because the
faith and devotion people bring
there can make them holy
places.
If your church is not a holy
place, if there are no holy places
in your life, don’t ask God for a
reason. Ask yourself.
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