vol. 40 NO. 3
Ted Hoover of the regional office of Pennsylvania Dept, of Agriculture presents the
Century Farm Award to J. Roy and Mabel Beaver. Included in the photo are Roy and
Mabel, Roy’s brother Bill, Roy and Mabel’s son, Michael, and his wife, Marlene, holding
niece, Carrie Madden.
Sinkholes — Potential Environmental Threats
Strain Farmers ’ Patience , Money
Editor’s Note: This series exa
mines the difficulties when dis
covering and repairing sink
holes, and some of the long-term
problems sinkholes can have on
the farm and home environ
ment In the first part of this
series, Lancaster Farming inter
views those who, at one time, had
to deal with sinkholes.
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
These arc true stories;
• Years ago. a Rapho Township
farmer discovered a sinkhole on
his farm. He began using the sink
hole as a dump site. He told friends
Lancaster DHIA
Laboratory Running Well
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
MANHEIM (Lancaster
Co.) This chicken house no
longer houses chickens. When you
drive up to the new-looking build
ing at the home of Jay Mylin, Lan
caster DHIA manager, you park on
what was the old concrete chicken
house floor. The building you are
about to enter has a brick front and
a modem office entrance.
Actually, you are ready to visit
the new milk sample testing labor
atory set up to accommodate the
1,100 dairy herds in Lancaster
County. There are offices inside
the door and a meeting room for
staff and nutritidhists to meet
What you came to see. the new
testing equipment and computers.
60s Per Copy
Beavers Receive Century Farm Award
that the sinkhole was a gift from
God.
• A farmer in the eastern part of
the county found a sinkhole which
opened up near enough to his bam.
For years, he used the site to dump
dead pigs. Groundwater was con
taminated with huge amounts of
bacteria and nitrates.
• A Clinton County farmer used
a sinkhole that formed in a diver
sion ditch to allow neighbors to
dump all sorts of trash, from old
appliances to beaten up pieces of
furniture, during a span of 10
years.
• A Soil Conservation Service
(SCS) geologist remembers hav
ing to use a ladder to rescue his
8-year-old son, after playing with a
are housed in a spacious room
designed for easy access to the
equipment and other work areas.
At the heart of the testing opera
tion is a Bendy 2,000 unit to deter
mine fat and protein, and a Bendy
Sonacount 500 for somatic cell
count reading, about a $150,000
investment. Both machines are
operated together, pulling milk
from the sample simultaneously
and feeding the results into the
master computers.
The system has checks and
balances that insure almost com
plete accuracy to national stan
dards. Regular calibration tests are
made, even hourly. About 400
samples can be tested per hour and
at present, the lab processes 50,000
(Turn to Pago A2l)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 26, 1994
Part 1 Of Sinkhole Series
friend, from a sinkhole.
What is a sinkhole, and what
causes it?
There are many types of sink
holes in Pennsylvania. These areas
are karst, or regions with a great
deal of limestone as bedrock. Sink
hole problems are inherent in
limestone areas.
Simply put, sinkholes occur
when rainfall, which is acidic,
makes it way down through open
ings in the soil and erodes away the
limestone bedrock. Over many
years, the erosion of the limestone
gradually creates “caverns” of
different sizes and shapes. The
weight of overyling soil causes a
collapse into cavities, creating a
cave-in this caving-in creates a
Jay Mylin, Lancaster DHIA manager, left, and Jere High, lab manager, show the new
milk sample testing equipment and master computers that serve the I,loo'local
members.
MIRIAM WERT
Juniata Co. Correspondent
ACADEMIA (Juniata Co.)
J. Roy and Mabel Beaver are the
third generation of a four-genera
tion family on the same farm. It
makes one realize that they are,
indeed, “busy Beavers” and that
the good work habits have been
passed down to them from the two
previous generations.
In turn, they have had the satis
faction of seeing this same quality
become a part of the lives of their
son Michael and his wife Marlene
as they have become fourth gener
ation farmers on the family farm.
To Roy and Mabel, the occa
sion of being presented with the
Century Farm Award was a fami
ly affair. So, when it was time to
have a photo taken of the pres
entation, Roy and Mabel wanted
Mike and Marlene in it, as well as
Roy’s brother Bill who grew up
on the farm with Roy.
sinkhole.
One night about five years ago,
as a fanner in northeastern Lancas
ter County was harvesting com,
part of the header got caught in a
rut The farmer got out of the cab
and looked to see what was wrong
and noticed a “really huge,
really large” sinkhole, he said.
The farmer, who wishes to
remain unidentified, said the sink
hole measured about five to six
feet in diameter and about 15 feet
deep. ‘ ‘lf someone would have fal
len in, there would be no way to get
them out without a ladder, ’ ’ he told
Lancaster Farming. He quickly
roped off the area and, as soon as
he was able, called for help from
FCur Sections
Daughter Barb Madden and
husband live in Walnut and could
not get off work the day of the
presentation. Mabel often babysits
Carrie, their daughter, and so it
was fitting that the granddaughter
be in the photo since her mother
could not be there.
In speaking with Roy and
Mabel, it is easy to discern that
family is quite important to them.
They are pleased that Bill often
spends the day with them, helping
with the garden or with processing
of the food.
His most important task, how
ever, seems to be that of handy
man. He can repair anything and
also build new things such as his
recently completed “calf condo ”
Then there is son Mike who
took over the farm operation in
1991, and his wife Marlene, who
works for Annlick Farm Supply
but came home just for the photo.
(Turn to Pag* A 25)
the county’s Soil Conservation
Service.
The farmer, who grows com and
other crops on about 70 acres,
believes the sinkhole, which
opened in the center of a diversion
drainage area, was caused by the
excessive rains of the year.
The SCS representatives were
out ‘ ‘right away,” said the farmer,
“to clear out the sinkhole. They
pushed a lot of topsoil away, to
about a 25-50 foot circle. Then
they used small stones and packed
it in. They also used a plastic sheet
on top, then sealed off the rest with
fopsoil.”
Steps involved in the repair of
the sinkhole were taken from the
(Turn to Pag* A 22)
$21.00 Per Year