AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 26, 2003
OPINION
Editor's note for all Guest Editorials: Please keep in mind that
the opinions of the writers don’t necessarily agree with the edit
or's. For the benefit of our diverse readership, we strive to provide
a balance of opinion in Lancaster Farming.
The Dangers Of Summer
Guest Editorial
By Thomas M. Butzler
Clinton County Cooperative Extension
I have always been a big fan of summer weather, but I never real
ized some of the potential hazards that came along with summer-type
conditions, excessive sun exposure, and heat exhaustion. These are
conditions many farmers and workers face during the summer
months.
As with many youth, I felt infallible. Two experiences when I was a
young adult brought me back to reality.
During the summer of 1989,1 worked two jobs. One was a grounds
keeper on a golf course, from 6 a.m.-2 p.m., followed by a lifeguarding
job from 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Many people, including me, thought a deep
tan looked good. Sunscreen was used sparingly and I tried to soak up
as much sun as possible during those two jobs. Too much sun over
several days led to blisters forming on my shoulders. No big deal, I
thought.
Until some folks told me about skin cancer. According to the Penn
sylvania Department of Health, excessive sun exposure during the
first 10 to 20 years of life greatly increases the risk of skin cancer. Blis
tering sunburns in youth result in an increased risk for developing
melanoma.
Medical horror stories always spur me into action and I changed
my ways. Be sun-smart and wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and
pants (when practical). Use sunscreen with an SPF rating of 15 or
Saturday. July 26
Lebanon Area Fair, Fairgrounds,
thru Aug. 2.
S.W. Pa. Holstein Championship
Show, Uniontown Fair
grounds, Uniontown, 10 a.m.
Carroll County 4-H Fair, Fair
grounds, thru Aug. 2, (717)
273-3795.
National Farm Transition Net
work meeting and conference,
Inn at Essex, Essex, Vt., thru
Editor:
It happened with little fanfare,
but once again life got a little
tougher for the American farmer.
The U.S. House recently voted
How To Reach Us
To address a letter to the editor;
• By fax: (717) 733-6058
• By regular mail;
Editor, Lancaster Fanning
P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
• By e-mail:
farming@lancasterfarming.com
Please note: Include your full
name, return address, and
phone number on the letter.
Lancaster Farming reserves the
right to edit the letter to fit and
is not responsible for returning
unsolicited mail.
(Turn to Page A 26)
July 30, (802) 656-0233.
Frederick Montgomery Holstein
Field Day, Frederick County
Fairgrounds.
Master Gardener Field Day and
Advanced Training, Southeast
Research and Extension Cen
ter, Landisville, 8 a.m.-12;30
p.m., (717) 921-8803.
Northwest Pa. Cattleman’s Pic
nic Beef, Forage, Grazing
(Turn to Page A3B)
for repeal of Country of Origin
Labels for meat.
Our farmers have a wonderful
reputation worldwide for produc
ing the world’s best beef. Our
government responds by dimin
ishing the competitive advantage
of letting consumers know where
their beef is coming from. Now
with the great wisdom of our
congressional leaders, inferior
imported beef that isn’t as fresh
can be passed off as fresh Ameri
can beef.
I am for free trade, but the end
consumer should always have all
the knowledge to make his or her
own decision. This Vote helps
keep information from the con
sumer.
This hits home because we
have numerous meat packing fa-
(Tum, to Page A 26)
To Monitor
Your Dairy Herd
For Heat Stress
During these hot and humid days
of summer it is important to monitor
your dairy herd to evaluate if they
need relief from heat stress.
David Bray, dairy specialist at The
University of Florida, suggests the
following methods. First count the
respiration rate of 10 cows. If 8 out of
10 respire at 80 or more breaths per
minute, they need additional help
with heat stress.
A second method involves taking
the rectal temperatures of 10 cows. If
8 out of 10 arc 102.5 or greater, they
need cooling. Finally if dry matter in
take or milk production drops 10
precent or more, they need heat
stress abatement.
To Be Aware Of
National Trends
In Soil
Erosion Control
The U.S. Department of Agricul
ture’s Natural Resources Conserva
tion Service (NRCS) recently re
leased results from its new annual
National Resources Inventory (NRI).
WRITE IT DOWN!
SPELL IT OUT!
Background Scripture:
Nehemiah 10:28-39.8.
Devotional Reading;
Psalms 66:8-20.
In the 19605, The Church of the
Savior in Washington, D.C. devised
a unique approach to church mem
bership. When people joined, their
vows were for only one year. Annual
ly, members were asked to renew
their vows and those who did not
wish to do so were released from
membership. Furthermore, their
vows were not just the standard one
size-fits-all promises to follow Jesus
Christ and support the church, but to
do specific things: special training,
accept a particular leadership roll,
serve as a teacher, and so forth.
This strategy did wonders for the
church. Perhaps Nehemiah 10:28-39
gave them the idea, for, in this pas
sage, the people under Nehemiah,
having heard the law read to them,
make a very specific written cove
nant which some affirmed and others
did not. They promised not to inter
marry with the pagan peoples and
not buy merchandise on the Sabbath
or other holy days, to honor the sab
batical year, to make a yearly pay-
Lancaster Farming
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Northeast farm Communicators
The NRI provides comprehensive
and statistically reliable information
on various natural resource condi
tions and trends on nonfederal lands.
Results from the 2001 Annual NRI
on cropland soil erosion show some
positive trends.
Conservation efforts have reduced
soil erosion substantially, from 3.1
billion tons per year in 1982 to 1.8
billion tons per year in 2001. Between
1982 and 2001, sheet and rill erosion
(the removal of layers of soil from the
land surface by the action of rainfall
and runoff) dropped from 4.0 tons
per acre per year to 2.7 tons per acre
per year. Wind erosion dropped from
3.3 tons per acre per year to 2.1 tons
per acre per year during the same pe
riod.
Additional results and information
on the 2001 Annual NRI are avail
able on the Web at http://
www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/.
Results from the 2002 Annual NRI
will be released in early 2004 and will
include additional national level re
sults and some regional estimates.
The spectrum of results will continue
to increase as the annual NRI pro
cess becomes fully established over
the next several years. Future NRIs
will look at new topics, including
conservation benefits, grazing land
condition and soil quality.
To Understand
Pennsylvania’s New
Antlerless Deer
License Application Process
Beginning Aug. 4, Pennsylvania
hunters will have an opportunity to
apply for antlerless deer licenses that
will permit them to hunt more terri
tory than before. This marks the first
time the Pennsylvania Game Com
mission will issue antlerless licenses
using a system that isn’t based on the
state’s 67 counties since it began sell
ing them 80 years ago.
“Although a lot has changed,
much of the application process re
mains the same,” noted Vem Ross,
game commission executive director.
“Hunters just need to follow direc
tions and mail their applications to
the Game Commission using the pro-
ment for the service of the house of
God, and to bring the first fruits of
all they had to the house of God. His
priorities for us today are probably
quite different, but “covenanting” to
gether is still valid for Christian fel
lowship.
Teachers know .that learning is
faster and more certain when we
write down important data. When
we write it down it forces us to make
concrete and specific what verbally
might be quite obscure. If you say, “I
promise to follow Jesus Christ,” not
spelling it out may make the vow
quite meaningless. Writing it down
helps us to explore what it means to
“follow Jesus Christ.”
But follow him where? How?
When?
Our Commitments
Writing down our resolutions is
also important because it gives us the
opportunity to remind odrsclves of
our commitments. If we want to
know what we promised to do and
be, we need only go back to the writ
ten record itself. We may find that
we made a promise that we cannot
or will not keep. So, better to ad
just or even withdraw that promise
than to forget it and fail to keep it by
sheer neglect.
I have long been a strong advocate
of a financial pledge to the church. It
help the church anticipate what it
will have to work with. But more im
portantly, it sets a goal for us.
However, a church pledge is not
like a business contract it can be
adjusted upward or downward.
Early in my ministry, I was involved
in stewardship work.* I was taught
that a church seeking pledges ought
also to form a group that will visit
members when they are falling far
behind on their pledge. After a
pledge is made, the person’s situation
may change so that keeping up the
pledge is not possible. People who
vided mailing labels. It’s really not
going to be that difficult.”
Some of the changes in the appli
cation process include: hunters are
applying to hunt in Wildlife Manage
ment Units (WMUs) now, not a spe
cific county: applications are mailed
to the Game Commission, not county
treasurers; pre-printed mailing labels
are provided to affix to the applica
tion envelope; and the application
envelope is now yellow, not pink.
The Game Commission has devel
oped an “Antlerless License Update”
page on its website (www.pgc.sta
te.pa.us) to provide hunters addition
al information about the changes in
the antlerless license application pro
cess and updates on available antler
less licenses once sales begin. Inform
ation on the website will be updated
weekly beginning August 7; sell-outs
for wildlife management units will be
posted immediately. Look under
“Hot Topics” on the agency’s home
page.
“With the new WMUs in place for
this year’s deer seasons, hunters will
no longer be restricted to unmarked,
political county boundaries when
hunting antlerless deer,” Ross said.
“Antlerless licenses will be issued for
WMUs, which are defined by easy
to-recognize geographical boundaries
such as major roads and rivers
rather than political lines on a map
that can’t be seen in the field.”
The Game Commission will begin
accepting antlerless license applica
tions through the mail from residents
on Monday, Aug. 4; nonresident ap
plications will be accepted through
the mail starting Monday, Aug. 18.
The Game Commission will begin
accepting resident and nonresident
hunter applications through the mail
for the first round of unsold licenses
on Monday, Aug. 25; and the second
round will be accepted through the
mail beginning Monday, Sept. 8.
Quote Of The Week:
“A leader takes people where
they want to go. A great leader
takes people where they don’t nec
essarily want to go, but ought to
be."
Rosalyn Carter
don’t keep up on their pledge feel
guilty and that guilt creates a barrier
between themselves and the congre
gation.
Visiting them in a compassionate
manner very often saves their partici
pation in the church, for it demon
strates that the church understands
their plight. There is no more practi
cal and impressive demonstration of
the grace of God.
A Curse And An Oath
This grace is startlingly different
from the approach of the covenant in
Nehemiah 10, for we read, "... all
who have knowledge and under
standing, join with their brethren,
their nobles, and enter into a curse
and an oath to walk in God’s
1aw....” (283). The “curse” of
which they speak here is the curse
they pronounce on themselves if they
fail to keep their promises. Love and
thanksgiving are much better mo
tives than fear and guilt.
A man in one of my parishes was
very active and regular in the church.
But he refused to ‘join” the church
because he was not sure he could live
up to the vows. So, it was only on
paper that he was not a member. No
one in the church ever regarded him
as a “non-member.” We agreed to
disagree, for I believed and still be
lieve it better to make a commitment
I will strive to meet than to fail to
make it for fear I may fail to keep it.
A commitment makes me try much
harder. It probably has the same ef
fect on you.
We all promise |o follow Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, and we
probably do a better job of it if we
write it down and spell it out.
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. Burgas* General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming