B6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 9,1980 Fire collapses bam in minutes TURBOTVILLE - The intense blaze destroyed the large bank bam in a matter of minutes, reported Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Webb, of the Turbotville Volunteer Fire Company. The bam fire occured on a Northumberland County farm owned by Donald Rovenolt, R 2 Watsontown. “Even though we were only five minutes away from the scene, the bam was a total loss upon our arrival,” Webb said. The volunteer firemen of Turbotville were all at a practice session at the station when the call Corn stalks offer cheap erosion control LANCASTER More Lancaster County fanners are baling up com residues for fodder than ever before. However, those that are leaving these residues in the field are finding that they offer surprising erosion control, and are very inexpensive to maintain, so stated Edward Petrus of the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service. “In fact,” says Petrus, “maximum crop residue, combmed with little or no soil disturbance ji preparing seedbeds, can reduce water erosion by 95 percent.” Each piece of residue, it seems, acts as a tiny shield, protecting the soil from the impact of raindrops. But just how much residue is enough to be effective? “The more residue the better the protection,” says Petrus. “At least 1500 lbs. per acre must be left as a minimum. Real protection begins taking place at about 3600 lbs. per acre, which, in a chisel-disk system, should control erosion on slopes up to 6 percent and 200 feet long, if tilled and planted on the contour; 5,000 lbs. per acre will control erosion on most slopes up to 8 percent when com is planted on the con tour ” In order for fanners to estimate the amount of residues left in their fields, SCS recommends the following method Place a yardstick on the soil surface, perpendicular to the plant row Count the number of mch marks that have residue under them. If any point has two or more pieces of residue, count that point twice. For example, if you have 36-mch rows and 18 of the mch marks have residue under them, you would have 50% coverage \ 1 : M*r Install rollbars fasten seat belts' ‘ i > i * Farmer loses cows , hogs , chickens came in at 8:27 p.m. on Tuesday evening. The fire was discovered by Albert Brown, a livestock hauler who had arrived at the farm to pick up hogs from the Amish farmer, David Hostetler. Brown turned in the alarm. Firemen from Tur botville, Watsontown, and McEwensville were able to contain the blaze to the large bank bam. They saved a 20 x 60 wagon shed which was 30 feet from the fire. “We weren’t able to save any of the livestock, and Hostetler’s attempts to free the animals were halted Take readings several places in the field and average them. The following table roughly changes per cent of com residue to pounds per acre: 45 percent cover=lsoo Ibs./acre 65 percent cover=2soo lbs./acre 83 percent cover=36oo lbs./acre 93 percent cover=sooo lbs./acre Payload Omaha Standard Performs! itSZSZ |C~— tion for dependable rugged truck bodies and hoists and that s been our trademark for more than 50 years You can rely on Omaha Standard bodies and hoists for quality honest value and durability 4s the pachyderm shows Omaha Standard hauls big, hauls tough' FARMERSVILLE EQUIPMENT RD4 Ephrata, PA Hours: Mon , Tues., Wed., Fri. - 7:30 to 5:30 Thurs till 9 00, Sat. till 3:00 (jSD Omaha Standard , i Krause of the intense heat.” noted Webb. A tragic loss of 50 Holstein cows, 110 hogs, and about 25 chickens and ducks resulted. The assistant fire chief added that around ten cows had managed to get out of the barn before it collapsed But at least one of the animals had to be destroyed. Along with the livestock, Hostetler lost two-thirds of his farm machinery when the bam floor collapsed. Webb noted the damage estimate came to $lOO,OOO on the barn, and $125,000 on the contents, coming to a total of $225,000. Petrus points out that com stalks offer the most protection if they are shredded, disked, or chiseled onto the sod surface as soon after harvest is practicable. It is also recommended that an extra 20 pounds of mtrogen per ton of residue be used in the fertilizer mix, since some nitrogen will have been lost through decomposition. Crop residues alone will not solve all erosion We loaded 9 000 pounds of elephant onto an Omaha Stan dard truck body to demonstrate that our platform is a rugged piecr nf equipment jit -e of equipmei. that will take a highly concentrated load We ve built a reputa- INC. 717 354-4271 Ho aaid the tue chief did not consider the fire to be of a suspicious nature, but the state police fire marshall has been called in to in vestigate. Webb explained the barn went up in flames so fast because it was an old bam, very dry and dusty. ‘‘lt was highly combustible, and the fire was helped by the fact that one of the large barn doors had come off the hinges and was left open. The draft created by this situation fanned the flames; and once the fire had burned a hole m the roof, the barn burned in seconds. ’ ’SM problems. They must be used in combination with other conservation practices such as contour farming, stripcropping, terraces, etc. GARBER OIL CO. (TEXACO) Fuel Chief HEATING OIL ( OIL HEATING EQUIPMENT AIR CONDITIONING MOUNT JOY. PA Ph 653-1821 NEW FROM VAN DALE! THE PUMP THAT PUMPS THE TOUGH ONES I Nu get A fr ime trailer tires PTO <540 or 1 000) 15'x6"suc non hose vutli end guard 4" discharge \al\e voth 4" directional discliarge no? We Optional ec]uipment includes bipod load package '1 ViKe discharge hose manual primer K&SIMC.