The Other 90%

Introduction

Genesis 30:27 JFB

This was a remarkable testimony that good men are blessings to the places where they reside. Men of the world are often blessed with temporal benefits on account of their pious relatives, though they have not always, like Laban, the wisdom to discern, or the grace to acknowledge it.

Poplar

Better Reproductive Rates

It has also been proposed that willow and poplar trees provide forage for livestock of moderate nutritive value. Feeding of willow leaves or trimmings to ewes during mating resulted in reduction of live weight loss and increase in reproductive rates.3

[P]oplar supplementation increased ewe reproductive rate by approximately 20 and 30% units for the low and high treatment groups, respectively, compared to the control group. . . . The increase in reproductive rate in supplemented ewes was due to increases in both conception rate and fecundity, with a higher proportion of pregnant ewes, and a higher proportion of multiple pregnancies, in the supplemented groups.4

Enhanced Protein and Carbohydrate Diet Further Enhances Reproductive Rates

Increased concentrations of total N [nitrogen], CT [condensed tannin] and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) in the diet of supplemented ewes would also be likely to increase outputs of undegradable dietary protein and microbial protein from the rumen, per unit of CP [crude protein] consumed. A combination of these mechanisms, especially the likely increased absorption of protein, probably explains the increased ewe reproductive rate from poplar supplementation.5

The study showed that both the high and low rates of poplar supplementation (as compared to the control) raised the reproductive rate. The lambing percentage was increased in the high treatment group, with the increases being 41 and 34%, respectively, relative to the control ewes (which were not fed a poplar-supplemented diet). Even the lower poplar treatment increased actual lambing percentage by 20%, relative to the control group. These treatment effects persisted and the lambs were healthier even after being weaned.6

The Five Activities of Money

Earning

Giving

Spending

Saving

Investing

27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.” 28 He added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ge 30:27–28.

Are you working so well, the owner is saying, “I can’t lose that guy!” “I can’t lose her!”