AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 10,2001
OPINION
Take Your Breath Away
The technical genetic advances made in dairy cattle are stagger
ing.
Most people are too young to remember the 1953 bull catalog of
the Southeast Pennsylvania Cooperative. And the Lucifer bull also
means nothing to you. But to us old dairymen, Lucifer was the
benchmark bull of the era and formed the backdrop for the Ivanhoe
bull that made his daughters tall on top of Lucifer’s daughters of
strength. By some breeding ingenuity there was still an Ivanhoe
daughter in a recent Pennsylvania Holstein state sale.
The reason we mention it is because Lucifer had a proof just over
12,000 pounds of milk. His daughters matured slowly and would
never have been kept in today’s atmosphere of “disposable heifers”
that are expected to give all their milk in the first or second lacta
tion.
Of more importance is the contrast in this 50-year record of dairy
history. Now the high production, on the average, expands into the
incredible future ahead for cloning the best animals to be the seed
stock in tomorrow’s herds.
Here’s an example of how far we have come.
On September 7, 2000, Hanoverhill Starbuck II was born. Star
buck II is the clone of the famous Starbuck with all those All-Amer
ican and All-Canada offspring. Starbuck II is expected to be avail
able by the next World Dairy Expo.
So there you have it. The incredible history of the dairy industry
wrapped in biotechnology. And the possibilities in the future can
only take your breath away.
icminar,
leginning
County extension office,
Mercer.
Pennsylvania Shorthorn Breed-
ers’ Association annual meet-
ing, New Staunton.
Great Chefs Marathon, Read-
ing Terminal Market Kitchen,
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Poultry Management and
Health Seminar, Kreider’s
Restaurant, Manheim, noon.
Capitol Area Turf and Orna
mental Winter School, Grant
ville Holiday Inn, 8 a.m.-3:10
p.m.
New York State Vegetable Con
ference, Holiday Inn and
Convention Center, Liver-
pool, N.Y., thru Feb. 15.
Southeast Pennsylvania Grazing
Conference, Hoffman Build
ing, Solanco Fairgrounds, also
Feb. 13.
Cornucopia 2001, Capitol
Building. Harrisburg, noon.
Meet-
oung
ing, Custom Crop Production,
Solanco High School, 7 p.m.
New York Vegetable Confer
ence, Holiday Inn and Con
vention Center, Syracuse,
N.Y.
Northeast Fruit Growers’ Meet
ing, Iron Skillet Restaurant,
Avoca, 8:30 a.m.
Tractor Safety Course, Deer
field Ag and Turf, Watson
town, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Conservation and Pesticide
Update Meeting, Neshaminy
Manor Center, Doylestown,
also Feb. 20, 7:15 p.m.-9:30
p.m.
Dairy Market Outlook, Berks
County Ag Center, 10:30
a.m.-2 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.
Southeast Pa. Grazing Confer
♦ Farm Calendar ♦
ence, Solanco Fairgrounds.
Pork Quality Assurance Certifi
cation, Kish Valley Buying
Station,. Belleville, 7 p.m.
Schuylkill County Vegetable
Meeting, Pottsville, 9 a.m.-
lercer
3:30 p.m.
Well Plugging Program, Warren
County, Jefferson DeFrees
Family Center, 2 p.m.
NCC Farmers Breakfast Meet-
ing, Ches Del Diner, 7:30 a.m.-
9:30 a.m.
Pesticide Update/Conservation
Meeting, Neshaminy Manor
Center, 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.,
also Feb. 20.
Empire State Potato Growers’
Meeting, Holiday Inn and
Hotel, Liverpool, N.Y., 7:30
a.m.
ment Workshop, Session 3,
Cedarbrooke Golf Course,
Belle Vernon, 7 p.m.-9:30
p.m.
Dairy Marketing Outlook and
Future, Montgomery County
4-H Center, 10 a.m.-l p.m.
Tree Fruit Meeting, Berks Ag
Center, Leesport.
Vegetable and Small Fruit Meet
ing, Family Heritage Restau-
rant, Franconia.
Penn State Corn Planter Clinic,
Penn State’s Ag Arena, 10
a.m.-3 p.m.
TMR Workshop, Dennis and
Todd McHenry Farm, New
Bethlehem, noon-3 p.m.
Landscape Seminar, Luzerne
Community College Confer
ence Center, Nanticoke, 9:15
a.m.
Bucks-Montgomery County
Dairy Day, Montgomery
County 4-H Center, Cream
ery, 10 a.m.-l p.m.
Clarion County Feeder Work
shops, Todd and Dennis
McHenry Farm, New Bethle
(Turn to Page A3B)
To Look At
Burning Com
When the price of com is low
and the price of energy is high,
farmers may wonder if it would
be cheaper to bum shelled com
rather than propane.
The answer, according to Dr.
Dennis Buffington, Penn State
agricultural engineer, is “it de
pends.”
Buffington has developed a
chart to help people to decide
whether to bum shelled com or
propane.
To use the chart, find where
the intersection point of the
value of shelled corn and the
price of propane meets. The ter
ritory where the intersection
point falls tells you whether it is
cheaper to burn shelled com or
propane.
In late 2000, when com had a
value of $2 per bushel and pro-
TRUE GREATNESS
Background Scripture:
Luke 22:1-30.
Devotional Reading:
Mark 10:25-45.
Over the years, I have noted
that sometimes the most pro
found moments in life are fol
lowed by the silliest, most shal
low reactions.
Many years ago in the parish I
was serving, we scheduled an ad
ministrative board meeting of the
church to take place shortly after
the Maundy Thursday commu
nion service. For the life of me, 1
cannot imagine why we did that,
but we did and it was a disaster.
Not more than 20 minutes
after the conclusion of what 1
thought was a moving service of
holy communion, the board
meeting broke out in a verbal
brawl over some aspect of the
church’s building project. That
night, after the meeting was over,
I went home in a deep sense of
depression.
Then, however, I realized that
something similar had happened
on the night of the first Maundy
Thursday, the night when Jesus
introduced his twelve disciples to
what would become the most
profound sacrament in Christen
dom. What moment more holy
could Jesus and his disciples
share than the Passover breaking
of bread and sharing the cup?
But how did the disciples react
to this profound experience?
They quarreled over “which of
them was to be regarded as the
greatest”(22:24)!. How could
they have been so childish and
pane cost about $1.30 per gallon,
the intersection fell in the “burn
com” territory. On the basis of
combustion values, it is cheaper
in this case to burn corn than
propane.
When developing this chart,
Dr. Buffington assumed the
heating value of shelled com at
31,000 BTU per bushel, the heat
ing value of propane at 91,600
BTU per gallon, the combustion
efficiency of com at 75 percent,
and the combustion efficiency of
propane at 85 percent.
To obtain graphs or for addi
tional information, contact Dr.
Dennis Buffington by phone at
(814) 865-2971 or by e-mail at
deb2@psu.edu.
To Consider Costs
Of Burning Com
Before you switch to burning
shelled com, you will need to do
some homework to find out how
much it will cost to make the
transition.
Additional expenses include
burner modifications and han
dling and storage facilities for
the com. These expenses are not
trivial and must be considered
before any plans are finalized.
Dr. Dennis Buffington, Penn
State agricultural engineer, sug
gests that farmers consider hav
ing two different burners to
switch between, depending
whether prices fall in the bum
com or bum propane territory.
You may want to consider burn
ing last year’s corn or com of a
lesser quality. Homeowners who
have their own heating system,
particularly wood stoves that
bum wood pellets, could also
bum shelled com.
Burning com smells good, like
baking com muffins. It is easier
to handle than wood.
ego-driven? The answer: it came
easily to them - as it does to us.
William Barclay has com
mented upon this passage: “It is
one of the most poignantly tragic
things in the gospel story that
the disciples could quarrel about
precedence in the very shadow
of the cross.” Instead of feeling
humbled by the momentous
night and what it portended for
Jesus, they let their egos run
wild.
Where To Sit
The momentous issue was of
where they were to sit at the
Passover table. Normal custom
dictated that the tables were to
be formed into the shape of an
inverted “U,” with the host sit
ting in the center of the bend of
the “U.” To his right would sit
the most honored guest and to
his left the next most honored
guest. Back and forth from right
to left the most honored guests
were seated. The least important
were those who sat at the bottom
of “U.” I assume that the dis
pute arose when the disciples
began to jockey for positions of
honor.
1 think we may safely assume
that Jesus had already spoken to
them about humility and the
preference of humble service. If
he did, it evidently did not make
much of an impression on them.
You and I may find it difficult to
think that his disciples would
openly argue on this matter. We
would be much more likely to
feel what they felt, but keep it to
ourselves, for we wouldn’t want
Jesus to realize how egotistically
we could behave. Today we are
not ashamed to want to be first,
so long as it doesn’t seem like we
are acting that way.
Although we have learned to
be more subtle about it, our
problem today is still very much
the same. No less than the
twelve disciples themselves, we
have not grasped the teaching of
Jesus that the standards of the
kingdom of heaven are not the
Check with the company that
manufactured your wood stove
to find out what accessories are
available to make the transition
to pellets and/or com. The heat
ing value of 63 bushels of shelled
com is equivalent to one cord of
firewood.
To Educate Middle
School Students
People for the Ethical Treat
ment of Animals (PETA) have
stepped up their activities, tar
geting middle school students.
PETA is beginning to hand
out cards that look like sport
trading cards that display animal
rights messages. They are target
ing middle school students be
cause they are more open to re
ceiving the cards.
PETA’s latest campaign is the
distribution of antimilk trading
cards to preteen students. There
is no question that the young
teen set is a key audience for
PETA and others wanting to de
liver an extreme animal rights
message.
What are you doing to tell the
agriculture message to students?
By not responding, we are giving
creditability to PETA’s message.
We need to support ag in the
classroom and similar agricultur
al education programs. We need
to monitor activities and what is
being taught in the classroom.
We need to develop a dialog
with school administrators,
teachers, and school board mem
bers about the importance of
food production and local agri
culture. If we do not tell our
story, someone else will tell one
for us!
Feather Prof's Footnote:
“Our lives are not determined
by what happens to us, but how
we react to what happens. ”
standards of this world. As in al
most everything else, Jesus revo
lutionized the standards for
greatness: “... let the greatest
among you become as the youn
gest, and the leader as one who
serves.”
A Living Example
I might have trouble accepting
that teaching from most people,
but Jesus himself was the living
example of what he asks of us: “I
am among you as one who
serves” (18:27b).
Jesus did not consider serving
others as demeaning. Humble
service was not something en
forced, but chosen. As Martin
Luther put it, “A Christian man
is the most free lord of all, and
subject to none; a Christian man
is the most dutiful servant of all,
and subject to everyone.” That is
what true greatness is humble
service after the example of Jesus
Christ.
Let us also understand that
humble service is not just for
those with the most spectacular
gifts. Frederick William Rob
ertson wrote: “It is not the pos
session of extraordinary gifts that
makes extraordinary usefulness,
but the dedication of what we
have to the service of God.”
The widow’s mite was a more
important gift than the rich
man’s gold coin. The question of
discipleship is not “who is most
gifted?” but “who serves most
with the gift he or she has been
given?” That is true greatness.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 2000 by Lancaster Farming