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SUBJECT: Sabbath
QUESTION: How do you keep the Sabbath when you own
or run a dairy farm?
ANSWER:
This paper was compiled by our parent church some years back
and from our college in England.
Sabbath Dairy Management
Ambassador College (UK)
Agriculture Department 1971
Many dairymen upon learning of God’s weekly and annual
Sabbaths are faced with the dilemma of how to continue with
their dairy program and keep God’s commands regarding His
Sabbaths.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt
thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates,” Exodus 20:8-10. God set apart the
Sabbaths to teach us His laws and purposes that we may
receive His abundant blessings.
The practices of modern agriculture have come into vogue
without regard for God’s laws. Because of this, God’s ways
seem strange and burdensome to today’s world. But remember,
the Israelites coming out of Egypt faced similar problems,
Exodus 16:4, 25-28.
Now the question is — what can we do to avoid milking and
other farm work on God’s Sabbaths?
A diversified farm programme should actually be planned
AROUND God’s Sabbaths. Agriculture should present the most
wholesome and balanced way of life possible for mankind,
instead of the highly specialized, competitive systems now
being practiced. We each need to plan and work toward a
well-balanced, diversified farm for the whole family.
Here in Bricket Wood we are trying a system which we believe
is new to the dairy industry. We know it will work, and
think it may be the ultimate answer, even for millennial
conditions.
Our cows are milked only ONCE a day, and they suckle their
own calves throughout the entire lactation. The calves graze
in the pastures with their mothers all day, then they are
shut in the special calf-pen overnight and the cows are
milked each morning.
At first, this will sound like a most unlikely way of
operating a full-scale dairy operation. There are always
built-in prejudices, which we all acquire through growing up
with certain practices. These must be overcome before our
ideas can be changed. One of the first questions we can then
ask ourselves is this: As God meant man to use the milk of
animals (Genesis 18:8), would it then be His intention that
we should place the growth-rate and general health of the
next animal generation in jeopardy? EVERY farmer knows this
is exactly what dairymen have done for years, and a large
part of the veterinary bills of the Dairy Industry are sad
proof of this widespread mistake!
We introduced this “new system” in 1967 and it is working
very well. We knew it would work before we started, because
it is, after all, nothing more than an adaptation of the way
the “milkers” have been handled on sheep and cattle stations
for generations.
Admittedly the station milking cows usually get the best
feed available, but it is worth noting that these cows
always produce the healthiest-looking calves!
Cows under this form of management each raise a calf that is
as saleable as those produced by the best beef cows. At the
same time they also supply a satisfactory level of milk and
cream for home use. Therefore it is felt that these
dairy-type cows are more than paying for the extra feed
received.
Our thinking here in Bricket Wood was that the College has a
need for both meat and milk, so why not apply this “old
Bushman’s” system to a full-scale dairy herd, and produce
both at the same time. We did, and it works!
If the calves are not shut away from the cows on Friday
evening, they will do the milking for us on the Sabbath. (The
calves could be shut in their yard on Sabbath morning if it
was felt necessary to milk the cows immediately after the
Sabbath. A number of other variations will readily come to
mind after a little thought.)
Every farmer needs to be away from his job for a few days
during the year and this system (operated
in the right way) will enable him to leave his
dairy cows and calves grazing in the pastures, just as if
they were a BEEF herd!
Could anything be simpler than this, and at the same time
get away from the modern trend toward specialized
agriculture, as well as practice a more natural type of
stock management?
Every individual who will seriously think of putting such a
system into practice is sure to come against problems and
difficulties. Farmers need to realize that “difficulties”
over Sabbath-keeping are not limited to those who work in
the towns and cities!
“Difficulties” over Sabbath-keeping stem mostly from ideas
formulated in our own minds during years of ignorance. In
6,000 years it has never been natural for man to keep the
Sabbath, Romans 8:7.
Romans 8:7
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
If God’s Holy Spirit is not working powerfully in us as
farmers, we will not “bend over backwards” to avoid even
inadvertently putting our foot on God’s time. Every one of
us must constantly be in an attitude of mind where we would
literally fear and quake at the thought and consequences of
our wrong actions, Exodus 31:14-15, 35:2.
Exodus 31:14-15
14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto
you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to
death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall
be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the
sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work
in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 35:2
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there
shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD:
whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.
It would do us all good to read Numbers 15:32-36, every time
we find our mind coming up with human reasoning over points
of Sabbath-keeping in Agriculture. (See
also Isaiah 56:2, 58:13-14 and Ezekiel 20:12-13.)
Numbers 15:32-36
32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness,
they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto
Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared
what should be done to him.
35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put
to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones
without the camp.
36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp,
and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD
commanded Moses.
An operational problem we have come up against is a low
butterfat level in the milk from some cows. This is because
the calves are getting more of the cream than the humans.
One way this can be overcome is by putting the calf back
onto the cow before turning her out of the milking shed. The
hungry calf will cause her to “let down” that last pint or
two of rich, creamy milk that she has been holding back
until last. As soon as the dairyman sees she has “let it
down,” the calf can be removed and most of this final milk
taken, either by machine or by hand.
Another method would be to wean some of the older calves,
and at most times of the year, rely on these cows to lift
the overall butterfat of the herd. Those particular cows
would then have to be milked perhaps once on the Sabbath.
We find the most important thing is to persevere and this
system WILL work. It obviously takes many more cows to
produce the milk figures of the past and admittedly cow
numbers cannot be increased on most farms.
But slashed milk production is offset by good returns from
high quality young beef. These young animals command top
prices in the meat markets of the world and the farmer also
receives added financial protection through diversification.
A longer-term but equally valuable benefit that will keep on
increasing over many years is IMPROVED ANIMAL HEALTH.
Farmers hardly need reminding that this is a triple-headed
blessing! Improved animal health means first — higher
production, then longer productive life, and finally, a
saving on veterinary bills, wasted man-hours, and premature
animal deaths.
One example is worth quoting: a recent television
documentary showing the financial plight of modern
agriculture cited an interesting case. A hardworking young
family on a small dairy farm netted only £102 after a year
of tough slogging and enormous hours. Only one significant
point slipped by without a worthwhile comment — the
veterinary bills for this farm amounted to £12 per week! An
extreme example perhaps, but the viewer was given no
indication that there was anything unusual about such a huge
outlay. By implication, £12 per week for veterinary services
was accepted as an unavoidable and legitimate expense on a
balance sheet that left this farmer with only £2 per week.
Yes, obeying God’s laws really does pay
dividends.
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