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By Richard

D.

Haney

11_L BE

a son-of-a-gLin. Theregoes that plow again.

The

fourteenth time thatlotisything has

come

un- hitched. Wouldn't be so bad it it was easy to

hook

back, but on these steep hillsides the tractor rolls if you don"t get thebrakessetintime.

I wishthisgearshift v\ould

work

bet- ter. If itwasn't so hard toput in gear

I wouldn't base half the trouble I'm having.

Sometimes 1 wish I didn't li\e on a farm. Nothing but hardships, but I

guess

some

people are worse off than me.

Come

to think of it farming isn't sobad. Iike. well. ...

Richard Haney, author of this article, isan

FFA member

fromEliiabethtown, Illinois, and is a State

FFA

Officer.

In the city the people can't see the beautiful hills with their collection of different shades of trees.

They

can't seethe livestockgrazing the lush fields of alfalfa, or the joy of watching a

newborn

calftake the firststep.

Take

a look at the

way

the plow is

turning the sod over. I seeajoythere.

1don't believe Icouldeasilyexplainto a person

how

I feel

when

^I see aplow slipping throughthe sod.

I seestrength,tenderness,a

new

life,

and a better

way

of living. People would probably think that I'm talking through

my

hat. Butjustlook atit.

Tenderness ... I pity the folksthat have neverseen the tenderness ofplow- ing a field.

Most

people would prob- ably sayit iscrazyto saysuch athing, but I can see it.

A

city person would think that a plow would lea\e the field lookinglike a tornadohadhit it. Butnot thefields

I haveplowed andthefield I

am

plow- ing now.

The

plow leaxes the soil la\ing in e\en, overlapping rows as ifGod's fin- gers placed it there. Actually, it realh

is placed there.

The

plow just seems to lay it over so softly

—

^{as if} it were preparing a bed.

You

find tenderness not only in the plow. Tenderness is all o\er the farm.

Ever\where \oulookonafarmyousee tenderness.

That cow o\er onthe hillsidelicking its

newborn

calf.

The

tlucks

swimming

onthe pond.

The

birdssoaring above

my

head.

The

white, fluffy clouds floating across thelight blue sky.

The

baby chickens hopping along behind the old hen.

The

lambs jumping around as if in a

game

of tag.

The

wind uentK blowing the wheat crop.

Ihe smell of the fresh air.

The new

life I see in plowing

comes

fromthe grov\th of^the corn.

Not

only in this field but in all the cornfields across America.

The

farmer has it

lucky to see where the new life realK

comes

from.

Like

when

heplantscornhe watches

it push through the ground and then he beginstonurseit asitgrows.

Then

hewaits,and works, andwatches.

Rains, drought, insects, hail, wind, lack of food nutrients inthe soil, live- stock gettingin thefield.

All of these things can affect the farmer and thecrop heisraising.

And

all he can do is

work

and wait until the day he can . , .

Wish

that tractor didn't

make

the

same

noiseoverandover. It

makes me

feel sleepy.

Until the da\ he can harvest.

Then

hecansell ittothemills,

who

in return will

make

products for people living everywhere.

Or

_{he can}feedit to

some

ofhis live- stock andraisemeat.

Anyway

youlook at it, life goes on.

What

was it thepreachersaid once?

All things

come

from thesoil

—

no, all things

come

from the earth and tothe earth theyshall return. I reallybelieve that. Everyone should believe it . , .

it'sthetruth.

The

farmerkeeps theworldali\eand he keeps the world alive with things from the earth

—

^{partlydirectandpartly}

indirect.

The new

^life I seein the plow leads to a better

way

of living.

The

people are beginning torealize hov\ important farming is and the\ realize the farmer hastobe asmartgu\ to

make

a living.

Only five percent of the working population are farmers.

And

one of America's farmers must produce enough food products to feed 23 other Americans.

That's

why

I'm goingto the Uni\er-

sitN'and studyagriculture. I believe the

future of farming isin having an edu- cation to operate a good farm.

And

I plantohavethebest. Pipeline milking, self-propelled implements, automatic feeding s\stem.

The

whole works.

Lous> plow

—

unhooked again. That makes over 20 times this morning. I

hope thingsgo better thisafternoon.

TheNationalFl

TIRE

F.\RMF,R

VACCINATION

^{is a \ilal [oo] in}

tlie cliicicnt, economical produc- tion of livestock, but it has its limits.

To

give theprotectionexpected you have to use vaccines in the right

way

attheright time.

Take

forexample.\accin,iling against hogcholera. If the pigsaren't ingootl condition, the vaccination prohablv won'tbesuccessful, oronlv aweak im- munitywill result.

Usually your veterinarian will want to check the herd carefully before he vaccinates against cholera.

He

checks for signs of other diseases and for a heavyparasitic infestation,becausethat will interfere with vaccination results.

He

alsotakesintoconsideration general herd condition, and the conditions in the localilv before deciding whichtype vaccine to use. Not until all these checks are

made

is he ready to vacci- nate.

Length of protection against tliscase varies.

Some

vaccines protect immedi- ately, hut the resultsendure for onlv a short time. Othervaccinesbtiiki pro- tection slowlv. but the protection lasts a long time. .So the choice must be

made

between the two. depending on theproblemtobe met.

There is another thing vou have to consider. .Some animalsrespondbetter to vaccination than do others. Even

litter mates

may

react dilTerently.

Of

course, a healthy animal has a better chancetodevelop good immunity than doesa sickly one. Also,

how

well-fed an animal is can have adirect bearing on

how

^well he builds protection after vaccination. Otherfactorsenterin.too

—

^{such as} age of the animal, climate, and fatigue.

"Misunderstood" vaccination can be downright dangerous. For example, .Vpril-May. 1961

The services and supervision of a licensed veterinarian are

recommended

for gefting the most value out of a vaccination program for your livestock.

don't confuse temporary serum vacci- nation with thelifetimetype of vaccina- tion. And.thereisthe dangerof using

"good enough" vaccine

when

a

more

efficient tvpc

—

^{even though it costs}

more —

would save lives. Hquallv dan- gerous is Using a vaccine at the wrong time, or in improper .uiiounls. or per- haps injected in an inenrreel

manner

in the wrong places.

.Ml these factors add up tothe same thing; successful vaccination isn't just a matter of sticking a vaccinating syr- inge into an animal and letting nature dotherest. There aretoo

manv

things that

mav

determine whether the result will he a success or failure.

A

good

manv

livestock producers leave the whole m,itter up to their veterinarian for that reason.

But vaccination alone is not the magic answer, cautions the .American Foundation for .Animal Health. Itcan- not substitute forgoodmanagement. .A poorlv-fed animal, kept in iinsani- tarv quarters, will be a poor risk, no matter

how

well he is vaccinated. In this respect, some farmers are asking vaccines to do

more

than they were

ever intended to do.

Thev

are an in- valuabletool inprofitablelivestock pro- duction, but are never a substitute for all-round good management.

On

theothersideof the fence,some farmers aren't using

modern

vaccina- tion to the extent thev eoiikl. .Again, take the case of hog cholera. Heavy outbreaks of cholera have hit in

many

areas because farmers let

down

their guard temporarily. These farmerswere lulled into a f.iKe sense of securitv he- cause they had "gotten by" for a few years without cholera vaccination, and no outbreaks occurred.

Then

cholera struck and caused terrific losses.

The

only

way

to stopthis, and

manv

other costly diseases, is to keep herds vac- cinated against them.

Many

farmers are not acquainted withall the diseasesagainstwhich

mod-

ern vaccination is effective

—

cholera, ervsipelas. enterotoxemia. blackleg, an- thrax, sleepingsickness, rhinotracheitis, brucellosis, leptospirosis. and others. If

you don't inform yourselfon these dis- eases,and have youranimals vaccinated

when

the need arises, you are missing agoodbet,andmissingprofits.

49

In Ihe breeding !of+, Jim and Bill

admire their Heitzman cock pigeon.