Vol. 47 No. 45
Miraculous Mine Rescue Changes Everyday Life For Somerset Dairy Farmers
Bill and Lori Arnold of Lincoln Township in Somerset County hold their children
Janna, 5, and Morgan, 3, outside on the lawn of their historic property, Dormel Farms.
The farm was the site for the miraculous mine rescue in late July.
Photo by Sandra Lepley, Somerset Co. correspondent
Farm Expo Prepares For Second Successful Year
DEANNA CUNFER
Carbon Co. Correspondent
GILBERT (Monroe Co.)
The West End Fairgrounds, Gil
bert, will be the site of the second
annual Northeast Regional Small
Farm and Rural Living Expo and
Trade Show Sept. 21-22.
Located near the foothills of
the Pocono mountains, the fair
grounds are a perfect setting for
the various displays and demon
strations scheduled throughout
the two-day event.
This year, Cornell Cooperative
Extension has joined Penn State
and Rutgers Cooperative Exten
sions along with several ag busi
nesses, agencies, and producer
and commodity groups to organ
ize an even larger event than last
For Week, Market Hog Prices Drop Below $2O
MILLIE BUNTING
Market Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Uncaster
Co.) On the heels of the $B-10
lower midwestern hog prices re
ported last week, at New Hol
land’s hog auction Monday the
reduced holiday supply of 49-54
percent lean, 220-280 pound bar
rows and gilts sold $lB-20 per
hundredweight fully $7 lower
than the previous Monday’s
prices.
Hog prices are at the lowest
levels since November 1998 when
many pork producers were
forced out of business as the
prices went as low as $lO a hun
dredweight. The weekly hog av
erage price at the Lancaster
County auctions dropped to
$15.35 for the week ended Dec.
18,1998.
What pork producers were or
are trying to avoid is a market
disaster in the fourth quarter of
2002 similar to the one in 1998
when hog marketings over
whelmed the capacity of the
slaughter plants.
Producers have evidently
www.lancasterfarming.com
year. The event last year was a
real crowd pleaser as visitors
were treated to many interesting
demonstrations on equipment
use, rotational pasture mainte
nance, Christmas tree produc
tion, and the use and care of vari
ous livestock species just to
mention a few of the many dis
plays and demonstrations posi
tioned throughout the fair
grounds.
The expo is designed to pro
vide a useful educational experi
ence and networking opportunity
for small farm owners and indi
viduals interested in living in the
country. Many newcomers to the
rural way of life do not know the
contacts or where to go for sup
plies and help in their new ven-
taken the advice of the analysts
to market hogs earlier at lighter
weights to avoid the predicted
large, burdensome numbers in
November and December.
As much as we try to find
otherwise, in the midst of a lot of
analyzing, it’s still supply and de
mand that rules the marketplace.
There are huge supplies of all
meats filling the packers coolers
and the frozen storage. The de
cline in exports has helped to
overpower the domestic demand.
The “other white meat” has had
to contend with large poultry
stocks that should have been ex
ported to Russia, plus all that
other red meat (beef).
At the Midwest terminal mar
kets, last Thursday (Aug. 29),
prices on 47-51 percent lean,
220-270 pound hogs ranged from
$l7-19 that was $9.50-10 lower
than the previous Friday. One
market report noted that it was
the largest one-week decline ever
on a terminal market.
In the Eastern Cornbelt trade
last Friday, prices on carcass
basis lean hogs ranged
Four Sections
tures. It is the hope of the organ
izers of this event that visitors
will go away with the informa
tion and confidence they need to
pursue their dreams.
Equipment demonstrations
will include trailer design and
safety, operation of small farm
equipment, antique tractors, and
portable sawmills.
The Parade of Horse Breeds,
Alpaca Obstacle Course, and
Oxen Driving exhibitors from last
year will be returning and joined
this year by a 4-H rabbit show,
and display of rare breeds of
sheep. The popular Border Collie
sheep herding and free-range
poultry demonstrations, both
(Turn to Page A3O)
$24.25-32.13, weighted average
price $28.92, which is $8.69 lower
than a week ago. Midweek re
ports indicate $26.23. It was gen
erally thought that the hog mar
ket was ready to level off after
the Labor Day holiday. It didn’t
happen.
Instead, what did happen was
the release of both the USDA’s
Aug. 1 Monthly Pig Report and
the USDA’s weekly slaughter re
port Friday last week. First, the
July 2002 U.S. Pig Crop was re
ported at 8.68 million head, 2
percent more than the previous
year. Sows farrowing during this
period totaled 980,000 head, also
2 percent above last year. Second,
the livestock slaughter report had
the hog slaughter numbers esti
mated at more than two million
hogs for the week.
A new round of pressure hit
the hog market Monday and Jive
hogs and future prices declined
sharply. It sounded like a good
idea to increase marketings in
(Turn to Page A 29)
Saturday, September 7, 2002
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SOMERSET (Somerset Co.)
Life has never been the same
since Bill Arnold and his family,
dairy farmers of Lincoln Town
ship in Somerset County, awoke
to their dog barking shortly be
fore 2 a.m. Thursday, July 25.
The dog barking ironically
symbolizes a moment in time
when life was systematically
commonplace on their 135-head
milking operation at Dormel
Farms.
That early morning, Bill told
his wife Lori he was going out to
see what all the commotion was
about over by
the mines. He
knew some
thing was up
and by view of
his bedroom
window, it
looked serious.
“I saw a ve
hicle parked
up there and
there were peo
ple with flash
lights, which is
call to alarm
on a farm, so I
got dressed
and went out,”
explained Arnold, whose wife,
Lori, stayed at home with their
two small children Janna, 5, and
Morgan, 3.
“I knew one of the engineers,
and he told me there was a mine
accident with nine guys trapped
in a mine underneath my farm,”
said Arnold. “I said ‘what can I
do to help?’ and the rescue
began. I never slept until they got
out.”
Although the dairy farmer and
part-time auctioneer knew that
mining accidents have happened
in Somerset County before and
several mine shafts were under
neath his farm, he never imag
ined he would be part of an unbe-
Jen Linton with “Thyme,” her 2-year-old Toggen
burg doe, at the recent Maryland State Fair. Read
more about the Maryland Dairy Goat Association
Youth Representative on page 86.
Photo by Andy Andrews, editor
$36.00 Per Year
SANDRA LEPLEY
6 £ Everyone was
thrown headlong
into this, but never
questioned it. They
never thought ‘can
we do this?’ We
just thought ‘we
will do this, they
can’t die, we won’t
let them die.’ 5 5
Bill Arnold
$l.OO Per Copy
lievable story of drama and
rescue that would gather the at
tention of the whole nation and
world.
In the early morning hours of
July 25, 18 miners were finishing
up their 3 p.m.-ll p.m. shift the
day before when danger struck
suddenly. An old mine barrier
broke, trapping nine of the men
underground and allowing the
other nine to barely escape with
their lives.
After 77 hours of edge-of-seat
tension with media crews from
around the world focused on this
desperate scenario at Quecreek
Mine, the miners were miracu
lously pulled to
safety from above,
all unharmed.
“There were
hundreds of peo
ple giving 100 per
cent and more to
make this a glori
ous outcome and
what a glorious
outcome it was,”
said Arnold, who
worked furiously
alongside fire de
partment person
nel, engineers, and
other mine offi
cials in order to
free the trapped miners.
Arnold explained that the will
of the rescue personnel to free the
miners safely was as strong as the
will of the miners to survive and
come to the surface.
“Everyone who came here
came here with one thing on their
minds to get those guys out
safely. Everyone was thrown
headlong into this, but never
questioned it. They never thought
‘can we do this?’ We just thought
‘we will do this, they can’t die, we
won’t let them die’,” said Arnold.
Lori Arnold, who is originally
from neighboring Cambria Coun-
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