AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 12, 2002 OPINION Time Of The Horse This issue we launch a brand-new section for Lancaster Farming; Boarder & Trainer. The idea for Lancaster Farming’s Boarder & Trainer came to us about two years ago, when we recognized a need for a publication for the businesses that support the horse industry. They include the hay growers and marketers, the tackmakers, the feed and horse management supply companies, and the nutritionists and veterinary services. In other words, while many horse publications go straight on into the industry, reporting only events by breed associations, we decided to look into the manage ment and training aspects of the exhibit and competition segments of the horse industry. This comes at a time when the Farm Show Complex has completed construction of its new Equine Center. The marvelous center measures 145 by 290 feet and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The center includes an equine bam to stable 140 horses. The bam is connected to a fabulous ex hibit facility, which already has shown vast improvements. The new hall is available for the stabling of horses in addition to serving as a staging area. The facility should be able to accommodate up to 2,000 horses when coupled with the existing Farm Show space. It is designed to be flexible enough to host state, regional, national, and international com petitions. The total renovations tower close to $9O million as of this writing. “With all this new construction combined with our current facilities, we will be dominant,” said Sam Hays, state secretary of agriculture. The horse industry remains viable, and Lancaster Farming, through Boarder & Trainer, wants to play a major role in advocating and promoting the industry in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Saturday, October 1 2 York County Beekeepers’ Annual Banquet, Olde Country Buffet, 6 p.m., (717) 225-3076. Farm and Natural Lands Trust An nual Punkin Chunkin and Fall Festival, York Expo Center, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., (717) 843-4411. Pumpkin Roundup and Harvest Fes tival and 4-H Achievement Night, Montrose, 7:30 p.m. Grass-Raised Livestock Workshop in New York State, Alfred Universi ty Campus, Alfred, N.Y., 9 a.m.-3 p.m., (716) 699-2377, ext. 125 or (800) 897-9189. Shirk Retirement drop-in, Farm and Home Center, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Montgomery County 4-H Centennial Celebration, 4-H Center, Rt. 113, 3 p.m., (610) 489-4315. Harvest Festival, Reading Terminal Market, 12th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 4-H Achievement Night, Susquehan na County Office Building, 7:30 p.m. Editor. It might appear from some re cent media coverage that reduc ing homeschool regulations in Pennsylvania may not be a good idea. Before we can draw such a conclusion, however, we must first consider the facts as well as the advantages and disadvan tages. Homeschooling may or may not be for everyone, but for those parents who have made the deci sion to take on the responsibility of educating their own children, most have personal motives or convictions, which they believe is the best interest of their own chil dren. What is important right now is the proposed state legislation (H 82560 pending in the Pennsyl vania House of Representatives), •y il o Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant, Manheim, noon. Wood Structure and Identification Course, thru Oct. 15, (814) 863-0422. N.W. Pa. Woodland Association meeting, Spartansburg Elemen tary School, 7 p.m., (814) 868-1097. Warren County Extension annual meeting, North Warren State Hospital Chapel, 7 p.m., (814) 563-9388. Specialty Food Development Work shop at New York Culinary, 50 (Turn to Page A 33) v T v- j~ % y ♦ Farm Forum ❖ ■Vf a bill that will reduce paperwork and time for home schooling parents ... a bill that will reduce time and paperwork for school districts and in turn, your tax dollars. Is this really a good idea? The facts are clear and cannot be denied. Fact; in states where home ed ucation is highly regulated (such as Pennsylvania, Utah and Arizo na) when compared with those states which are not (such as Texas, New Jersey and Illinois), the average test scores for home educated students are, in all states, consistently higher than traditionally schooled students. Still further evidence shows a high rate of acceptance of home- (Turn to Page A 33) To Know How To Recognize West Nile Encephalitis In Horses Jay Smoker, Lancaster County West Nile virus coordinator with Penn State Extension, reported that more cases of West Nile Encephalitis have been confirmed in horses the past few weeks in Pennsylvania. Nearly half of these cases are in Lan caster County. One reason so many cases are in Lancaster is the fact that there is a larger-than-average horse population here. Many in our community de pend on horses both for farm work and driving. Also, surveillance shows the virus to have a strong presence in the area this season. The number of dead birds and mosquito samples that tested positive is an indication of the threat to the humans and horses. Most horses and humans become in fected in the late summer and early fall at the peak of the mosquito sea son. Horses can only become infected from the bite of an infected mosquito. The incubation period, the time be tween exposure to the virus and ap pearance of the first signs of disease, is 3 to 15 days. There is no cure for West Nile encephalitis, but the symp toms can be treated. Where symp- WELL-MEANING CHRISTIANS Background Scripture: Jeremiah 22. Devotional Reading: Ephesians 5:8-17. It is hard for us to imagine why the people of Judah did not respond affirmatively to Jeremiah’s prophe cies. His message seems so clear-cut; your ways are contrary to the will of God and you must either repent and change your ways or suffer dire con sequences. So, why did they reject both him and his prophecies? They couldn’t conceive that God was all that displeased with them and their society. They were prosper ous surely that was a sign of their respectability? They were attendant to the rituals of their religion, ob served the holy days, and made the requisite sacrifices. So why should they believe that God was greatly displeased with them? They found it just as hard to be lieve God’s judgment on them as you and I would find it hard to believe that God’s judgment is falling upon us and society. We are prosperous, live respectable lives, belong to and support churches, and identify our- Lancaster Farming An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper • Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992 • PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Business Council 2000 • Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the Northeast Farm Communicators H» at- X jti If «r 1 e 4 />- «» toms are recognized early and treat ed, many horses appear to have a better chance of recovering. The re covery rate nationally is 50 percent. Locally the success rate appears to be higher. As horse owners learn to rec ognize early symptoms, they can re spond before the disease severely weakens the animal. The virus can affect the central nervous system and cause encephali tis, affecting the brain. Clinical signs may include one or more of the fol lowing: loss of appetite and depres sion, fever, weakness of hind limbs, paralysis of hind limbs, impaired vi sion, ataxia, head pressing, head tilt, aimless wandering, convulsions, in ability to swallow, circling, hyper ex citability, or coma. Local veterinar ians report that muzzle twitching and muscle weakness and loss of coordination (ataxia) are among the first noticeable signs. It is important not to presume that horses with clinical signs of encepha litis have West Nile encephalitis. A definitive diagnosis requires ruling out other important diseases with similar neurological signs. This can only be done by examining blood from an infected horse. Determining the actual number of horses exposed to the virus is difficult. This is be cause some horses exposed to the West Nile virus may not show any clinical signs or perhaps may exhibit only vague signs of the disease. To Vaccinate Your Horses A vaccine to prevent West Nile en cephalitis in horses is available. The manufacturer reports 94 percent ef fectiveness one year after the vacci nation. This is still under review by the FDA. The first dose is given in the muscle followed by a booster 3-6 weeks later. The manufacturer rec ommends that a booster be given an nually, preferably one month before mosquitoes are active. The cost of the vaccination (series of two doses) administered by a vet erinarian may vary from $6O to $lOO, depending on the costs of the farm visits and the vaccine. The vaccine for Eastern and Western encephalitis should not be confused with the vac cine for West Nile encephalitis. None of these provides any cross protection for the other. They are different. Initially it was thought that mainly selves as Christians. Of what could God possibly disapprove? Great Houses Jeremiah spells it out for them and us: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages” (22:13). He has nothing to say about their public piety or their respectabil ity, but he does focus upon their prosperity, which is the result not of their worthiness, but of ruthless greed. God’s woe will fall upon all those who say, “1 will build myself a great house, with spacious upper rooms, and cut out windows for it, paneling it with cedar, and painting it with vermilion” (v. 14). Their sin is not that they build great houses, but that they do so by cheating the workers who build it. Because these workers have no pros perity and no power, they are ex ploited by those who have both money and power. Do we not live in such a materialistic society today? Ruthless, arrogant greed not just a few errant executives lies behind the Enron and similar debacles. God must wince when he hears the af fluent pass this off as just unfortu nate “collateral damage.” If you eat fast food, the price you pay for it will likely be subsidized by the cheap labor of those who do not earn enough to make ends meet. That is our real immigration problem today. Instead of focusing on those who enter our country illegally, we need to turn our attention to those who employ them at wages which no one else would accept. We have an immigration problem because there are those whose prod uct is subsidized by the cheap wages of powerless immigrants. God’s judgment surely rests heavily upon older horses were the most suscepti ble to West Nile. But this year young horses, 3 and 4 year olds, were con firmed with the disease. Younger horses, however, are more likely to recover. It should be noted that mules could also get West Nile. The owner should consider the cost of prevention and how it might compare with the cost of treating an infected horse. Treatment costs may vary from $lOO to $4OO, not to men tion the possibility of losing the horse. Sometimes multiple visits from the veterinarian are needed to treat horses infected with West Nile. This will depend on the severity of the disease. Smoker encourages farmers to eliminate standing water around the farm. The water trough is a potential breeding habitat when not kept clean. Drainage areas around farm buildings may also pose problems. Any area of stagnant water with de caying organic matter can turn into a mosquito producer. Since mosquitoes only fly 'A to Vi mile from where they hatch, removing items like old tires and buckets also will help reduce numbers. Many cases of West Nile in horses appear to be near streams, swamps, or wooded areas. While it is not pos sible to eliminate all mosquitoes in nature, reducing the exposure is im portant. Keep your horse stabled during dawn and dusk hours, the time when mosquitoes are most ac tive. Apply insect repeliants that con tain permethrins. Local veterinarians report that cases are still showing up this week. The cooler weather will reduce the rate of infection as the mosquito numbers die down. But the threat is not past until there is a hard frost or good freeze. Some mosquitoes will move toward bams, storm drains, even animal burrows to over-winter. Others will lay eggs that remain dor mant until spring warmth and rains come again. An information sheet for West Nile Encephalitis in Horses is avail able from your local extension office or online at www.pested.psu.edu/ spWestNile.html. Quote of The Week: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. ” Albert Einstein us today because we have permitted material things to become our god, profit our savior, and the market our holy spirit. A Minimal Wage Yesterday I got into a conversation with the manager of a local shop. He lamented the “terrible state of retail business today.” Most retail estab lishments today, he said, hire young and inexperienced people because they can pay them a minimal wage. But when they become experienced, they are “let go” because employers don’t want to pay for experienced, dedicated people. That was his expe rience in the past, but he is happy his present employers do not operate that way. But so many do. “It seems a pity,” says Reginald Reynolds, “that people who talk blandly of the advantages of ‘cheap labor’... cannot be induced to expe rience, even for a single day, what it means to be a ‘cheap’ human being a cheap life, in fact.” As long as we regard and treat the poor and power less as the unfortunate but expected results of collateral economic dam age, Jeremiah’s words will be just as applicable to us and our society. Prof. Joerg Rieger writes, “As peo ple of my generation in Germany have asked our parents and our grandparents about their relation to the deaths of six million Jewish peo ple, future generations will ask us about the deaths of nearly 12 million children each year, and even well meaning theologians will not be spared.” And what about well-mean ing Christians? 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 * w* iv. *» A>.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers