A32—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 25,1980
Thomasville Auction to re-o
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
THOMAS VILLE - From
a massive pile of twisted,
charred metal and black,
smoking timbers, a York
County agriculture industry
landmark has been
resurrected.
On January 14, 1980, fire
swept through the
Thomasville Livestock
Market along Route 30 west
of York, destroying the
familiar sales barn where
buyers and sellers had
gathered for 33 years for the
Wednesday evening
livestock auction.
This Wednesday evening,
the Thomasville market will
again come alive with the
chanting sing-song of auc
tioneers, lowing cattle,
squealing hogs and the hum
of trucks waiting m line to
unload at the back-m chutes.
Resplendent in its shiny
new barn-red metal exterior,
Thomasville Livestock
Market, Inc., is set to pick up
right where it left off, with a
few new surprises for
clients.
Guiding hand of the
auction’s restoration has
been Leroy Williams,
president of the farmer
stockholder corporation that
five years ago purchased the
sales facility to assure
continued nearby markets
for meat producers.
Even as the bulldozers
chugged through the debris,
clearing wood ashes and
concrete chunks, the
stockholders met to plan a
new era for the old auction.
There was a little left that
was salvageable.
Smoked foundations
traced the old outlines of the
sprawling building and the
slanted floor of the unloading
area remained. Part of the
massive old weigh scales
could be used.
As fanners are wont to do
in times of disaster,
volunteers began arriving
from all directions, offering
donations of time, materials,
Following a January fire that leveled the original structure, Thomasville
Livestock Market is ready to go back into service with a brand new modern look
and expanded services.
In sunlit silence, long alleyways and sturdy pens wait for the first steer to come
charging through, signalling a new chapter in the history of the 33-year-old
Thomasville Livestock Market.
machinery and, most im
portantly, moral support.
Leroy Williams smiles as
he pays tribute to the over
400 hours of volunteer time
given to help rebuild the
maze of pens and gates that
fill the 152-foot long by 145-
foot wide pole building.
Mostly, the volunteers
hammered. And then
hammered more. Some 2500
pounds of nails hold together
the estimated nearly ten
miles of board feet of oak,
pine and treated fir lumber
and posts.
More intricate contracting
work went to the firm of J.
Paul Mellinger, a builder
from nearby Abbottstown.
Rebuilding began in earnest
in April, when the first posts
were set in die ground.
A new corrugated metal
roof with skylights has
replaced the old roofing
paper style, and peaks over
30-foot center posts, giving
the holding pen complex a
lighter, cooler and much
more airy interior. One new
addition is a broad, fenced
catwalk that stretches from
the second floor arena
seating out over the pens,
where buyers can assess
groups of livestock in all
comers of the holding area.
“We can handle 800 head
of hogs and cattle,” Williams
assures customers waiting
for the Wednesday evening
opening. “We plan to sell the
consignments in order just
as they come, to be fair to
every seller.”
“A building within a
building,” is what Williams
labels the new sales arena
itself, with semi-circular
seating rising above the
ground floor auction ring.
Built of over 9000 12-mch
cement blocks, the new sales
area construction adhers to
strict Labor and Industry
building codes for fire
safety. Updated amenities to
the many families that
frequent the auction include
a spacious ladies lounge on
the second floor, plus a
Thomasvilie Livestock Market president Leroy
Williams studies the rebuilt facilities from the new
snack bar and comfort
facilities just inside the
ground floor entrance.
New offices, including a
public phone, are also just
inside the entrance for
customer convenience.
While the surroundings
will be new and modernized,
most of the staff of 18 are
experienced nngmen,
auctioneers, livestock
herders and office em
ployees, many of whom have
been with the Thomasvilie
market for several years.
As in the past, auction
activities will begin at 6:30
p.m., with small items like
poultry, eggs, fruits and
vegetables first on the sales
block. Livestock follows
immediately.
On November 5,
Thomasvilie will host the
annual York-Adams beef
show and sale, a 4-H event
the facility has supported for
the past 22 years. On the
following Friday evening,
November 7, a special feeder
sale is planned, the first of
what Williams said he hopes
will become a regular event.
York County presently has
no hay and straw auction.
Williams would like to see
one offered to area farmers
and hopes to add it to the
regular Wednesday af
ternoon schedule.
Thomasvilie has always
handled bogs on pnvate
treaty basis on auction day,
and that part of the business
Will continue as before.
Small tool, appliance and
household article auctions
have been held periodically
in the past and Williams
foresees - including such
sales - on a once or twice
monthly schedule. Private
sales also can be scheduled.
Thomasvilie Livestock
Market primarily serves
producers and buyers in the
York, Adams, and Cum
berland county area, and
northern Maryland.
FFA completes
plot project
test
ELVERSON - Members
of the Twin Valley FFA
chapter, Morgantown, have
recently completed a most
important chapter project.
In cooperation with
'several local seed corn
dealers and farmers they
have put into operation part
of the FFA motto- 11 Learning
To Do - Doing To Learn.”
Members have completed
yield checks on the thirty
varieties of com in the
chapter test plot, located on
the Calvin Kurtz farm, RD2
Elverson.
The test plot enables local
seed corn dealers and far
mers to compare many
popular varieties throughout
the growing season. Yield
checks performed by
chapter members provide
another means of com
parison among varieties.
According to Ronald
Frederick, vocational
agriculture teacher and FF A
advisor at Twin Valley,
students also learrr to
identify com insects and
disease problems while
doing yield checks, and
ii Wednesday
catwalk addition
Workmen hang one of the last of a hundred
gates designed to facilitate the movement of cattle
through the sales process.
identify any weeds found in
the field.
The test plot was planted
on May 20, 1980 by Gary and
Marvin Stoltzfus, local
farmers. It includes
varieties provided by the
following dealers - Mr.
Christ Esh, Eastland; Mr.
Ben 0. Stoltzfus, Doeblers;
Mr. Titus Beam, Northrup
King; New Holland Agway,
Agway; Mr. Elmer Hertzler,
Trojan; Smith Brothers,
Cargill; Mr. Joseph Kennel,
Funks; Mr. Vemon Orr and
Mr. Milton Howe, Pioneer;
and Mr. Ira Nissley, DeKalb.
Varieties planted are
selected by requests from
farmers as well as by the
contributing companies and
salesmen.
Chester leaders hold banquet
CHESTER The 1980
Chester County Leaders
Appreciation Banquet was
held on October 14 at the Po
Mar-Lm Fireball.
Sixty-four leaders and
guests attended this banquet
with certificates being
corn
Each variety is hand yield
checked by harvesting one
one hundredths of an acre.
Plant populations are
calculated, as is the per
centage of stalks broken
over below the ear. The
moisture at harvest is
measured to make yield
calculations at a standard
moisture of 15.5%. Finally
the average ear weight is
calculated.
Information from this
year’s test plot is now
available from any of the
salesmen, the vocational
agriculture department at
Twin Valley High School, or
the co-chairmen of this
year’s plot - Tim Kurtz,
Nelson Beam, or Don
Stoltzfus.
presented to all 5, 10,15, 20
and 25 year leaders. William
Lmdley/rom the State 4-H
office spoke on different
aspects of being a 4-H
leader, and the role that the
leader plays in the life of
many young people.