*2o— Lancaster Farming, Friday, July 3,1981 Md. farmer takes shine to solar h-.chouse DELMAR, Md. - Ralph E. Timmons and his son Ralph, Jr., hosted an open house Tuesday to show off what is probably the first solar-heated “maternity hospital” for swine in the Mid-Atlantic area and the entire Northeast. The Timmons farm is located on Mayland’s lower Eastern Shore, seven miles east of Delmar (Wicomico county), on Line Road. The Timmons’ new confinement farrowing house and misery is 102 feet long and 27 feet wide. The building has 16 farrowing crates and a 45-foot by 27-foot hot and cold nursery area for newly weaned pigs. A double ventilation system which divides the building into quadrants is reputed to be unlike anything of its kind now in use. Timmons designed it himself. The solar collection system covers 1,000 square feet of roof space. A 36-cubic-yard rock system in the center of the building will be used for storing heat. Timmons estimates bis total farm and home fuel bill will be reduced by at least 50 percent from what it would have been if the new hoghouse had been equipped with a conventional heating system. The Timmons family did most of the construction work themselves on the new building. They hired some skilled help for masonry work and installing the solar panels on the roof. And they received advice zn technical matters from two professional agricultural engineers associated with the POWER-TAKE-OFF - DRIVE SHAFTS ★ REPAIRED ★ REBUILT ★ "SERVICE NOW WHEN YOU NEED IT" PHONE: 717-394-2647 or 800-732-0004 ■ FARM EQUIPMENT ■ DUMPS ■ P.T.O. SHAFTS ■ CUSTOM SHAFTS ■ U-JOINT REPLACE- ■ SHORTNING MENT ■ LENGTHENING ■ GOOD STOCK ft lancaster truck bodies lancaster automobile spring co„ ine. 310 RICHARDSON DR. LANCASTER-HEMPFIELD INDUSTRIAL PARK P.O. BOX 4626 LANCASTER, PA. 17604 University of Maryland’s Cooperative Extension Service. The Extension consultin'* ■ •'. Lewis E. Carr, headquartered at the university’s poultry research substation near Salisbury, and Herbert L. Brodie, who operates out of the Queen Annes county Extension office in Centreville. Carr utilized his experience with solar-heated broiler houses at the Salisbury research farm to give technical advice on heating and ventilation, while Brodie dealt with water and waste disposal. The waste disposal system features a two-stage manure lagoon about 50- feet from the building. Both of tne Extension agricultural engineers helped Timmons qualify for a $17,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Small Grants Program for Appropriate Technology. Under terms of the grant, University of Maryland personnel will record and analyze data relating to the performance of the solar-heating system in the Timmons hoghouse. This in formation will be compared with similar data from a conventionally heated confinement farrowing house on a neighboring farm. If the system works as expected, Timmons feels that owners of swine confinement systems and poultry houses, both new and existing, will want to use his solar design or a modification of it. Five years ago, Timmons (Turn to Page A2l) Progress is important, but a new tractor does not make your MAXI POWER PTO generator obsolete because of a different speed of a PTO shaft. All MAXI-POWER PTO’s have interchangeable gearboxes. Gearboxes are carried in stock and can be installed in minutes by our servicemen, and at a very low price. Call us today for a generator to keep pace with your farm’s growth. Whether PTO speed is 540 or 1000, MAXI-POWER Is the only generator for you. MAXI-POWER... a customer service oriented company. Ralph Timmons, Jr., left, goes over solar The solar-heated confinement farrowing house hoghouse plans with Wayne V. Shaff, and nursery building in background is believed agricultural Extension agent in Wicomico to be the first of its kind in the entire Nor- County on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore, theast. POWER MAXI-POWER GENERATOR SYSTEMS 330 Fonderwhite Road, Lebanon, PA 17042 PH: 717-274-1483 Division of Leonard Martin Company SERVICE REMINDER In continuing to meet our goal of pleasing our customers, we have hired an answering service to pick-up our after hour "emergency” service calls. By dialing our regular office phone number. (717) 656-4151, after the regular hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the phone call will automatically be answered by one 'of the answering service staff members. They will in turn get in contact with our servicemen. We believe that with this addition, we will be able to offer our customers even better service. Thank you! RemjiauiPMEMwl CATTLE HOG - POULTRY EQUIPMENT 2754 CREEK HILLRD. LEOLA, PA. 17540 PH: 717-656-4151 1 ★ SERVING PA. NJ and NY
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers