rasa 6 Summer Nebreskan, Thursday, July 1 9, 1 979
Farnier9 6tracitor9 how mulish determination
By Gcrdca Jehasca Fred Bluma, 63, has farmed with mules for 44 years and half of the work done on hit 160 acre farm is done with
A Malcolm farmer' tractors hiv haavm fnstaid f tlmi. claims to do it for sentimental as well as Dractlcai reasoni. mules.
but that's normal equipment for mules.
Blums, who bought his first tractor in 1C52, said about
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Working with mules allows him to keep his tractor free to
do other chores less suited for mules such as combining, he
said.
He also uses mules because of habit. He has used them his
entire life, he said. '
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AH chores
The mules are able to do almost all of the chores a tractor
does, such as plant corn, cultivate, mow hay, and haul feed
and manure.
Bluma said he does not know whether or not the mules are
cheaper to operate than tractors.
A tractor costs about $20 a day to operate he said. A mule
Is cheaper because he can grow the mule's fuel. The only
problem with mules, he said, is that they eat If they work or
not.
The advantage mules have over tractors, however, is that
the repair bills for mules are cheaper than they are for
tractors.
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Expensive machines
A recent overhaul on a four cylinder tractor cost him
$1,100, he said.
According to Bluma many of the financial problems of the
farmers are attributable to the fact that they spend so much
money on new farm equipment.
MI can't see how these guys can meet expenses when they
buy all this high priced stuff," he said.
Some farm equipment will cost as much as $40,000, he
said. A good team of mules will cost about $1500. The last
mules he bought 10 years ago were of $500 for two.
Bcjjsjji siEtwj horses
He said he has not always used mules. He started usinsr
i horses and eventually changed to mules. Mules are smarter
.....
ana naraer worxers, ne said.
"Mules have forgotten more than a horse ever learned,"
he said.
Mules are also harder workers than horses. They may
seem slower and more plodding, but when the conditions get
adverse, a mule will out perform a horse, he said.
'WHAT FUEL SHORTAGE?", says Fred Bluma a farmer from Malcolm Ne.
Photo by D wight Morehead
Men 9 p.e building closed to conserve energy
By Gordon Johnson
Dimes add up to dollars and so do 'small cuts in energy
consumption, a UNL official said.
Robert Lovitt, acting vice chancellor for business and
finance, said the university is presently looking at ways to
make small cuts in energy consumption.
The men's physical education building has been closed
as a result of this energy consumption cutback Lovitt said.
"It's going to be a big electrical savings," Lovitt said.
Harley Schrader, director of the UNL Physical Plant,
said that $7,00048,000 will be saved.
The building close will displace about six office people,
Lovitt said.
Other small things the university is doing to save energy
include shutting blowers off in buildings for a part of every
hour and turning off lights in vending machines, he said.
The administration building's air conditioning blowers
are shut off 20 minutes out of every hour, he said.
Vending machines
The energy savings made by shutting off vending
machine lights is small, but the university needs to save all
it can he said.
Lights are also being shut off in the coliseum except for
scheduled recreation periods and classes.
Ovitt said that no more buildings have been considered
for close down, although to consolidate classrooms into,
fewer buildings has been under consideration.
Under classroom consoliaUon plans, buildings which
have a low number of classes will be closed and the classes
moved to another building, he said.
Meditation Lecture Scheduled
meditation and Holistic
H!th wHl be discussed by
Ewsai AJiya (ABan Web
&OCX, PhD) on Friday, July
3 at 7&0 p&. at Comaca
pises, 13 H. 14th St.
Bwasi Ajaya Is a dost
stsdsst cf Cwxni Rasa,
fcms4gr cf. the Himalayan
IssiSs. Ha Is tht author cf
Yca rsysiar al eo
as&sr cf Test asd Ftytha
t ny, - TrtC-j3 and En,
ES222St csi tht lst
Wait 4 and UsdiUtlonal
Schrader said that the people of this country have been
living at a high standard which consumes a lot of energy,
that those standards may have to be lowered some in order
to save energy and money.
No Ice water
Some methods considered to save money are shutting
off cooling units in water fountains. There is no reason one
must drink ice water, he said.
A savings can also be made, he explained, if hot water
useage is cut.
However, even in these times of energy shortages,
people don't seem to appreciate university efforts to
conserve, Lovitt said.
Vandals too
Since the closing of the Men's P.E. building last
Saturday, the building has been vandalized.
Light switches in the coliseum have also been
vandalized by attempts to turn them on, he said.
As much as we try to save on energy, some people just
don't appreciate it," he said.
Schrad6r said that in the past five years the university
has cut energy consumption by 35 percent, although the
university's total building area of the university has
increased.
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He was a Post Doctoral
FeCow at the University of
Wisconsia Medical School la
Madison where ha later
taught For the past 11
years ha hu been prattidag
rV,T,ki psychology asd his
beta a ccnmlut to taveral
mental health centers.
The Isctsrt Is tpcnsored
by the Hiaalayaa InstitcU
of Omaha, Dr. John Har
vey, Director. General Ad
taifsksa Is $3.t0, amd $3.00
for students.
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Ths cens P.E. fcuHdicj will be closed this summer to conserve energy.
Photo by Gordon Johnson
