VOL. 27 No* 27 “Don’t drink the water” fears haunt York farmer BY JOYCE BUPP Staff Correspondent ‘ SEVEN VALLEYS - Two wellheads jut out of the ground, -just a few yards from the upper end of Jim and Mary Lou Rohr baugh’s 65,'000-bird pullet house. Water from the 220-feet deep jfcells supplies the needs of the long Bafeltry building, plus that of the Pmmdred-head veal calf operation lon the Rohrbaughs farm, near Seven Valleys, York County. - Less than a hundred yards behind the 350-foot long pullet .building, contoured field strips curve around the hillside abutting ; the Rohrbaugh property. Now owned by Roger W. Boser, that ’hillside is part of the property once owned by the city of York and, until it was shut down in 1975 by the , Department of Environmental Resources, used by the city as a r solid waste land!ill. ( Late in 1961, the Rohrbaughs results of a test run by :-DER on water supplies that feed their poultry and veal building., ’ Sup, chemicals, believed to Be thecity’s old land- confirmed in i the Rohrl - fanawatersupply. L Their wells were first tested in “ w . ! J. W«x Page 3 Mellot's champion, showman (irand ChampienShowman honcfSKWent to Sue Meljot, McConnellsburg, during this year svPe^SfState In ternational Livestock Exposition, heWlast Saturday. After capturing ChaippipwSheep Showman lwnors with her Dorset lamb, Mellot alfae*hibited a horse, swine to ‘ winthaxo«et«^3iiii» < See?rtoiy < p^A^pAVA%V' ! sv-i,\\i September 1901, as DER followed up on a complaint by a resident whose land adjoins another portion ' of the old landfill. Water from the plaintiffs well had a strong petroleum odor, according to DER’s York sanitarian, Jeff Yorty. Lab tests revealed the presence of several volatile organic contaminants. Further water samplings, taken from five additional properties, were then run at the DER lab. “Some came up with the same chemicals. Some were clean,” says Yorty. When those first results of the September test finally reached the Rohrbaugh’s in December, Mary Lou remembers that they didn’t become too concerned. Three Chemicals were definitely in the water, and there were traces of possibly three others, but the levels were relatively small. That report indicated that the Rohrbaugh’s farm water supplies contained three parts per billion of' 1,1, Dicholrethane and 1,1, 1 andtwo p.p.b: of Tetrachloroethene. Bu!S*s|!ißswfnted to run ad ' (Turn to Page A 36) Lancaster gets NK research center C - BYJDICK ANGLESTEIN LANCASTER The expanding com breeding program of Nor Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 1,1952 “What’s in the water?” and “Who’ll pay to have it corrected?" are two worries to poultry and veal farmers Jim and Maty Lou Rohr baugh, Seven Valleys, York Co. Behind the couple are the two wellheads for the livestock thrup King Co., which His aimed at developing more energy-efficient, high-yieldir regional hybrids, is moving into Pennsylvania with the location of a new research center in Lancaster County. The new center - the latest of nine NK,-regional research facilities established in North America -Vis located on the Clarence A. Keener Jr. farm, R 1 Manheun. The farm is located along Junction Qpad, about three miles northwest of. East Peter sburg. - The center, which is responsible for the company’s research throughout the Northeast, is opening with about 20 to 30 acres of initial corn research plots this year, with expansion over the next few years to an 80 to 100-acre facility, according to James Radtke, of Northrop King, com breeder who is setting up the center. A second corn breeder, Doug Jondle, will join the' center’s New swine rules take effect May 19 HARRISBURG New swine health rules requiring iden tification of feeder pigs, market hogs and breeding swine become effective May 19, according to Pennsylvania ' Agriculture Secretary Penrose Hallowell. Hallowell said the purpose of the new rules is to help control the movement of swine in the state in order to control the sprejjjdbof disease to othefeherds. „ J ‘‘Xhe~ neyi? identification roqinrements, -for feeder, pigs, inferlet hogs' aiid-breeding swine win permit eaaier trace back of >ahiimts:tb'thdir.oi^iiiai:i research staff following graduation from the University of Wisconsin in June. Radtke, a doctoral graduate of the Univer sity of Minnesota, comes to Lan caster County, from another Nortbrup King research center, which was established at St. Joseph, 111. in 1979. Alfalfa research will be added to the center’s program in the fall, according to Itaftxe. “We plan to add an alfalfa breeder toward the end ■of the summer and jgant the fust research plots in t& fall,” he said. The Northeast Research Center in Lancaster County will have responsibility for the company’s breeding and testing program, which stretches from Virginia north into New , England;' The company’s closest other research center, along the East Coast is located in North Carolina. “The Lancaster County research plots primarily will be utilized in developing hybrids in the 110 to herds,” he said. “Every producer and swine feeder in the state wiU.be issued a herd identification number which will be registered with the agriculture department. Breeding animals must be idividuaUy identified as weU,” Hallowell said. Hallowell warned farmers that their swine may not be moved intrastate without proper iden tification. Swine identification can be in the form of an ear tatoo, back skptatoo, ear tagor .other device approyedby thedepartment. ’ “The! most Hreliable means of rc ,permanwt;ideftfific»tlo«isthe,earnv water that rises directly behind the poultry, budding is part of the bid York city landfill, believed to be leaking two contaminants into the water supply. 120-day maturity range,” ex plained Dr. James Mode, director of corn research, from Northrop King's research headquarters in Stanton, Minn. The Northeast Research Center also will be responsible for the development of -earlier maturing varieties for areas such as New York and New England and later varieties for idore southern areas . extending as far as Virginia, Mock added. “ Mock, who came to Northrop King in 1978 after several yearsas .a corn breeder at lowa State University, has pioneered the concept of placing particular emphasis on the breeding of odd ' tolerance ihtocorn hybrids. Begimringlaslyear, NK became the firstrempusead company to'rate its hybridsfor cold tolerance. To meet the needs of this ex panded research emphasis, the number of regional research centers has been increased m the (Turn to Page A>3B) or back slap tatoo,’ ’ Halloweli said. He urged producers to apply their herd number by ear tatoo to‘ all newborn pigs or back slap tatoo to market hogs. Applications for assignment of a herd identification number are available at the department’s seven regional offices, county * extension offices, livestock auc ' tibiufor* hog slaughter operations. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Bureau of Animat Industry, Pa. Dept of Agriculture, 2301 N. Cameron; St., Harrisburg, PAlTilp, telephone 717/783*3301, $7.50 per yMr
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