AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 21,2002
OPINION
Record-Breaking Event
In Store At All-American
What supporters consider the largest dairy show in the world begins
tomorrow as about 3,200 dairy cattle from 24 states and Canada will
be entering the Farm Show Complex during the Pennsylvania All-
American.
Agriculture Secretary Sam Hayes said, “The All-American Dairy
Show is one of the great agricultural expositions in North America
and a spectacular showcase for the dairy industry. Expositions like the
All-American bring the very best of our dairy industry together.”
The 3,198 entries represent an increase over the 3,077 entered in
2001. For the third straight year, premiums have increased to the tune
of more than $160,000.
“The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture wants the All-Amer
ican Dairy Show to remain a leader in North America,” Hayes said.
“We recognize the importance of the dairy industry and want our
dairy breeders in Pennsylvania and throughout North America to ex
hibit their superior dairy cattle at the All-American. And, we are
pleased to provide increased financial resources for the dairy exposi
tion.”
More than $8,400 in premiums will be offered to recognize the high
quality of dairy animals taking center stage during the youth classes
in the Large Arena of the Farm Show Complex. This is the first year
that premiums will be offered in all six youth breed shows.
“Our Pennsylvania-based All-American Dairy Show has enhanced
premiums and world-class facilities which are setting the pace for in
ternational dairy shows. That’s what should be done for the dairy in
dustry of North America and we are glad to do it,” Hayes said.
The All-American Dairy Show was started in 1963 to recognize the
importance of genetic quality and excellent dairy cattle. The All-
American Dairy Show takes pride in setting an exemplary standard of
excellence on the national show circuit. The International Association
of Fairs and Expositions (lAFE) has recognized the Pennsylvania
based dairy show as the Best Non-Fair Agricultural Event.
We hope to see you there!
Saturday, September 21
Farm Aid Concert in Pittsburgh.
Garden State Sheep Breeders
Sheep Festival, Warren Coun
ty Farmers Fairgrounds, Har
mony, N.J., (908) 730-7189.
Field Day, Brent D’Atri’s farm,
Oldtown, Md., thru Sept. 28.
Bloomsburg Fair, thru Sept. 28.
Catskill Mountain Ginseng Festi
val, Village of Catskill, New
York, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (578)
622-9820.
Lancaster Farmland Trust Old
fashioned Farm Picnic, Lowell
and Daphne Fry Farm, Man
heim, noon-5 p.m.
Maryland Wine Festival, Carroll
County Farm Museum, noon
-6 p.m., thru Sept. 22, (410)
848-7775.
Northeast Small Farm and Rural
Living Expo, West End Fair
grounds, Gilbert, 9 a.m.-5
p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 22, 9
a.m.-4 p.m.
Pa. Dairy Princess Pageant, Ra
disson Penn Harris Hotel,
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Editor, Lancaster Farming
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Ephrata, PA 17522
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farming @ lancnews.infi.net
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Camp Hill, banquet 6:30 p.m.
Fawn Grove Olde Tyme Days,
Fall Gas Engine Garden Trac
tor Show and Swap Meet,
Fawn Grove, southern York
County, thru Sept. 22, (717)
382-4577.
Washington County Cattlemen’s
Association Club Calf Show
and Sale, Washington County
Fairgrounds, Meadow Lands,
4 p.m., (724) 239-3556.
4-H 100th Anniversary, Craw
ford Park, Pine Bush, N.Y.,
noon.
Indiana County Farm Bureau
Farm Tour and Open House,
Jewart Dairy, Home, 1 p.m.-5
p.m., (724) 397-8115.
Horticulture Show, Ag Arena
UP, thru Sept. 22, (814)
863-6167.
Sunday, September 22
Oxen Training Workshop, Han
cock Shaker Village, Pittsfield,
Mass., (919) 542-5704.
World Fertilizer Conference,
Western St. Francis Hotel, San
Francisco, Calif., thru Sept.
24.
All-American Dairy Show, Farm
Show Complex, Harrisburg,
thru Sept. 26.
Pace Event, LCR&DC and Willis
Trail Association, Marsh
Creek Park, Glenmore, 10
a.m.-2 p.m., rain date Sept. 29,
Farm Show Comp
burg, thru Sept. 27.
ADADC Meeting District 5, Best
Western Cobleskill, Cobleskill,
N.Y., 7:30 p.m., (518)
673-5895.
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To Maximize
Forage Production
Results of a three-year study on
forage systems by a Penn State beef
cattle expert should help farmers
save money on livestock feed and
help protect them from the effects of
drought.
During this sizzling summer, when
a lack of rain and searing heat have
parched much of Pennsylvania’s ag
ricultural landscape resulting in
crop losses approaching 100 percent
in places the findings are especial
ly timely.
According to John Comerford, as
sociate professor of dairy and animal
science, many beef cattle farmers are
out of grass because of the drought.
“They are using feed stored for win
ter now,” he said, “and they are fac
ing the prospect of buying feed to get
through the winter.”
The results of Comerford’s re
search represent a departure from
tradition for many Pennsylvania
farmers. “Historically, beef cattle
farmers had fenced pastures and
they just turned the cows out into
them to graze,” Comerford ex
plained. “From our work with rota
tional grazing systems and pasture
management, we know that is not
the best way to use pasture.”
Perhaps the biggest weakness with
ON FOLLOWING
THE LEADER
Background Scripture:
2 Chronicles 34 through 35; 2
Kings 22 through 23.
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 199:1-8.
The president of Vassar once
wrote to the father of a girl who was
applying for admission; “Is she a
good leader?”
“I am not sure about this,” the fa
ther replied, “but I know she is an
excellent follower.”
Back came a surprising reply: “As
our freshman class next fall is to con
tain several hundred leaders, we con
gratulate ourselves that your daugh
ter will be a member of the class. We
shall be thus assured of one good fol
lower.”
The world, like Vassar College,
needs both good leaders and good
followers. Leaders get started what
other people only dream about.
Often, instead of whining, “Why
doesn’t do something about it?” they
say, “Let’s go! We can do this.”
King Josiah was such a man. He is
generally regarded as Judah’s great
est king, as well as its last good king.
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the old way of managing or actual
ly not managing pastures and for
age is that farmers are very depen
dent on weather. And in years like
this one when severe drought grips
the state the grass is mostly gone
by mid-summer. Comerford’s re
search shows farmers how to take
advantage of growth periods and
capture rainfall in ungrazed, uncut
pastures.
“Normal grazing periods for con
tinuous grazing systems in this re
gion are 170 to 180 days,” Comerford
said. “But in very dry years such as
this one, cows only can get their own
feed for closer to 140 days.”
Comerford’s research, an evalua
tion of three grazing systems for beef
cows, was carried out in two loca
tions from 1996 to 1998, with 45
acres in each location. Cows were fed
grasses (such as fescue, sudangrass,
and orchardgrass), com stalks, small
grains and alfalfa alone, and in
various combinations.
“When we rely on one kind of
grass for forage we are vulnerable to
the weather because the growth of
the grass is sensitive to rainfall,” he
said. “When we take advantage of
different kinds of forage, such as leg
umes, com and stockpiled grass,
grazing becomes less sensitive to
rainfall amounts.
“The study showed that beef cattle
are not picky about the forage they
graze,” Comerford said. “There just
has to be enough of it on a daily
basis. The most cost-effective grazing
system will have a combination of
several types of forage, including cool
season perennials, stockpiled grass,
alfalfa-plus-grass pastures, and com
stalks.”
Comerford had a good idea what
any one of the forage varieties would
offer farmers individually. “What we
tried to do in this study, for the first
time in this region to the best of my
knowledge, was look at them in vari
ous combinations and look at the
cost of each,” he said. “What we
have done is put a dollar value to for
age, and that’s not readily available
elsewhere.”
For more information about
Comerford’s research into the best
mix of forage varieties, contact him
at (814) 863-3661 or e-mail
jxcl6@psu.edu.
To Focus On Farm Safety
Dennis Murphy, a safety expert in
Penn State’s College of Agricultural
He ascended the throne at the age of
eight, when his father, Amon was
murdered, and reigned 31 years be
fore his untimely death in battle at
the age of 39. He was only 20 when
he began his great reform movement,
purging Jerusalem and Judah of
pagan sites of worship and restoring
the temple that had lain in disrepair.
Not In His Genes
What was the source of his re
markable ability to lead Judah to do
what others had only contemplated?
The answer was probably not in the
genes he inherited. Although his
great-great-great-great-grandfather
Hezekiah had attempted reforms,
these did not outlast the ruinous
reigns of his grandfather Manasseh
and his father Amon. Neither does it
appear that he passed any leadership
genes to his son, Jehoahaz, who, be
coming king upon Josiah’s death,
was judged as had most of his for
bears been judged: “He did what evil
in the sight of the Lord his God” (
36:5).
The chroniclers do not tell us
much. They don’t tell us if he was a
brilliant thinker or stirring speaker,
nor do they hint at charismatic gifts
or an impressive stature. Rather,
they focus on what he did, observing
that “He did what was right in the
eyes of the Lord, and walked in the
ways of David his father; and he did
not turn aside to the right or to the
left” (34:2). He was an earnest seeker
after God and this search directed
the way he lived and ruled. Often,
that commitment is the cradle of true
leadership.
The chroniclers also show us that
he backed up his dreams with an un
failing will. Josiah’s reform suc
ceeded because of his single-minded
will to do the job that must be done.
Although it was Hilkiah the Levite
who actually found the lost scroll in a
Sciences, reports of the 34 people
who died on Pennsylvania farms in
2001, eight were children age 9 and
under. ‘Even one fatal farm accident
involving a child is too many,” said
Murphy, “The number of fatalities
has been pretty stable the past few
years, but last year the number of
fatal accidents involving young chil
dren was sharply higher.”
In 2000, 32 people died in Pennsyl
vania farm accidents, compared to
30 in 1999, 45 in 1998, 45 in 1997,
and 44 in 1996. “The trend has been
toward fewer fatal accidents until the
number of fatalities rose slightly the
past two years,” said Murphy.
“Changes in statistics year to year
are difficult to attribute to any one
cause.
“In the last few decades, as the
number of people working on farms
has dropped, equipment has become
safer and safety education has be
come more readily available to farm
ers, the number of fatal accidents has
dropped dramatically. By far the
most common fatal accidents on
Pennsylvania farms involve tractors
nine people died in tractor-related
accidents in 2001.
“2001 was a particularly bad year
for very young children on the farm
stead,” Murphy said. “It points out
that parents can never let down their
guard or relax in protecting their
children on the farm. It’s hard to un
derstand because there are more
youth farm-safety programs than
ever. Six of the fatal accidents involv
ed children age 4 and under, and
kids that young normally aren’t
working.”
Ten of the 34 deaths last year on
Pennsylvania farms involved people
age 65 to 79. But that’s not unusual,
according to Murphy. “Farmers
often don’t retire they just keep
working as long as they can,” he
said. “Other industries don’t have
those older age groups working, so
fatal accidents among seniors is
mostly peculiar to agriculture.” Some
months are more dangerous than
others working on the farm the
months when most work is done. In
2001, six people died in June, five in
July, and five in September.
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forgotten comer of the temple, it was
because of Josiah’s will to restore the
temple that Hilkiah was there to find
it. It was also because of Josiah that
the scrolls of Deuteronomic law were
brought to the people and the ancient
covenant with God publicly renewed.
Josiah The Healer
He was aptly named, for Josiah
may be translated either as “Yahweh
(God) cures” or “Yahweh (God)
gives,” and Josiah both Jiealed his
nation and gave it back its priceless
spiritual heritage. Unlike many polit
ical leaders, when faced with the
scroll's obvious judgment upon the
previous generations on Judah in
general and his royal family line in
particular, Josiah did not choose to
defend his predecessors, but con
fessed: "... for great is the wrath of
the Lord that is poured out on us, be
cause our father have not kept the
word of the Lord, to do according to
all that is written in this book”
(34:21).
Yet, for all of his dedication and
will, Josiah’s reforms hardly survived
him. Upon his death, much of the
momentum was quickly lost. Does
that mean that his leadership was
flawed? Perhaps the answer is to be
found, not in his leadership, but in
the following of his people. Under
the force of his will, his people fol
lowed his lead, but when he was
gone, many lapsed back to what they
had been and done before Josiah.
One person can get a reform going,
but it takes stalwart, dedicated fol
lowers to keep it going.
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
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming
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