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J iin u a n f . IIK y M X K
Ice has collected at higher elevations during the past week’s cold snell
Wvotas coimwxy of
Frost build
C 8 1 C
near
^
^
Cutsforth
Ax many of us have gone about our
business and complained atxiul the
cold weather during the past week,
we may have [Mused (or a moment
to enjoy the enticing beauty of an icy
trie or frost laden liush, hut if we
live and work in Heppner. Lcxing
ton. or lone, we may not realize that,
not so far away . the cold weather is
causing much extra work just to
keep activities at a normal level
Ice generally Ix-gins to form near
the L’,ia»lf<xil level which includes all
of the Condon area, the Hlackhorse
canyon area to Sandhollow. (ileason
Hulle. Jones Hill. Krunklin Hulge.
Social Kidge, and the Hardman
Kightmile area The elevation at the
Heppner depot is I.WiH feet but
lixiking toward the hills surrounding
Heppner. a frostline has tx-en dis
tinctly visible during the week's 2li
degree tem peratures
Ranchers sometimes face difficul
ties in taking care of cattle when the
severe cold lasts more than a couple
of days The main problem, accord
mg to V’alhy area rancher Don
Peterson whose herd includes ap
proximately 150 cow calf pairs and
100 yearlings, is that the anim als re
i|uire more feed during the colder
weather Since the ground is mostly
covered w ith ice, animals are unable
to graze normally and must be given
a protein and vitamin A supplement
which is usually alfalfa hay
Beginning in November, when the
calves are sm aller. Peterson esti
males that they feed an average of
six pounds of hay per day per
anim al, hut by March, when the
calves are much larger. It is neces
sary to have increased the supple
ment to as much as about 12 pounds
per day
t half dumps which some farm ers
leave in their wheat fields following
grain harvest help to lower the cost
of supplementarv feeding. Peterson
says because when the rest of the
ground is covered with ice. the chaff
remains free of frost
5 ou have to watch the animals
during calving he says, hut the
chaff dumps "seem to serve as
insulation enough" when the calves
lie on them if the tem perature is
around to degrees If the tempera
lure drops to around zero, it is
necessary to help every calftow arm
up when it is horn Although
January is usually cold, it is still the
usual calving lime because the
animals need lo lx- large enough to
eat grass during the summer which
means that they will grow faster,
gain more weight and lx* more
desirable animals says Peterson
of course, water for the animals,
atxiul in gallons per animal per day
must also lx' kept from freezing
generally some sort of propane tank
heater is used in the watering
troughs to prevent the w ater's free/
mg of course, if water pipes are not
Ix’low the frost line or wrapped in
heal tape to prevent freezing water
must lx- hauled for the animals from
other sources which means that the
water tank must be filled an emptiest
again before it freezes
As a rule of thumb. Peterson says
that the cold weather will double the
normal chore time
Another rancher in the same area,
Roger Palm er, suys that his situa
tmn is a little different from Peter
son s because he does not use chaff
dumps, but plans a regular daily
supplement of atxiul 5o bales ot
alfalfa hay for no cows He ways
that unless the tem perature is below
zero, he does not notice too much
stress among the animals We can
get around easier when it's frozen to
feed every day
Also to consider are times when
there is no electricity at the ranches
because power lines become coaled
with ice which cause problems tor
Columbia Basin Klectnc Coop
Generally the condition occurs over
an area of atxiul Jno Jix) square miles
when freezing fog sticks to 'he metal
conductors suvs Mark laivgren of
C B K C The freezing fog which we
have been experiencing happens
when the weather report says it will
lx' generally clear but with patches
of tog which means that the air is
not moving Wind, sunshine and
warmer weather will all help to
eliminate the ice problem on the
wires
laivgren says that C B E C gen
crully uses an aluminum conductor
with a steel reinforced core atxiul a
half inch in diam eter Since icr
weighs 57 lbs per cu ft . when it has
collected around the conductor to a
radius of one inch the coop be
comes concerned The conductors
wires can reach a diam eter of
three to six inches says laivgren
which not only causes them lo sag
sometimes from the normal 21 ft
height ot atxiut three feet which can
lx- dangerous if they come in contact
with fences Also, if the conductors
sag tixi much, they will break or
cause mechanical (allure on a pole
Sometimes the ice falls off the wires
by itself and the weight imbalance
may cause the conductors to snap
and either come in contact with
other conductors thus causing a
power outage or the force from the
snap may cause a pole lo break
which would also cause an outage
When the icy situation occurs,
laivgren says that if s important to
gel the ice off the conductors before
damage incurs All regular ( ' B E
X"^
* crews and trained supervised
volunteers are out working as many
hou*-s as possible sometimes having
problems just getting to the lines
Ixt a use of road vondilions anil then
working in heavy i lothmg lo protec t
themselves from the cold
( rews must use extra precautions
not onlv because ot the danger from
the storm but also to protect against
the normal dangers from improper
use of electricity Eor example, the
ice not only makt-s the poles more
slippers to climb, but also a conduc
lor of electricity, so the electricity
must lx* turned off txdore work is
begun Which means that anyone
served by that line must wait until
the lines are clear for the power to
bo restored on the other hand if
crews did not d e ar the lines, and
they broke, electrical service could
lx1 interrupted for a longer [ xtuh I ot
lime because of the amount of lime
involved in fixating anil repairing
the damage
Even with the interruption, elec
Incal service still has a high reliabil
ily with only one hour ot down time
out of every R.TSn hours of service.
Uivgren explains "A car or a
furnace won t start more often than
that "
Earlier this winter he says crews
worked on lines in the Hardman
area from h lo a m and because of
weather conditions, the work had to
hr re done again by I p m Some
limes however, the entire area can
lx" icy and the weather will change
and the problem gone in only a lew
hours
It is still early this winter and
although there was another storm
before this more recent one. the
extent of damage so far is no where
near the extent of the 1978 storm
which resulted in the loss of over Hon
electrical poles in the Condon area
which the co op subsequently rebuilt
to withstand future ice situations
REG. *9.99 SAVE *4.00
FAMOUS SPRED
QUALITY...
VALUE PRICED!
GLIDDEN S BEST
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Sale starts today Ends Jan. 19
Ice covered
fen ce
at
676-9157
rr
Snipton Substation
Heppner
Arts Assoc, to
meet Jan. 28
The Morrow County Arts and
Crafts Assoc will hold its next
no host dinner meeting Monday .
Jan 2H at # 30 at Kate s Pizza and
Pastry in Heppner
City Planning
Commission sets
meeting
The Heppner City Planning Com
mission will meet on Monday. Jan
uary 14, 1985 at 8 p m at Heppner
City Hall
Removing
ice from
lines
neor Cutsforth
JV Fillies fall prey to TigerScots
Ily D \ \ \ REII>
The junior varsity girls basketball
team went up against the Weston
McEwen TigerScots Saturday Jan
5 The game was played here at
the Heppner High School gym
The starters for the Fillies were
guards Beth E orrar and Tina David
son forwards Cindy Stroeber and
Theresa Lindsay, and center Tare
ena Nash
Weston McEwen received the tip
off to start the gam e They took the
ball down court Heppner s gixxl
defense forced the TigerScots to turn
the ball over Heppner hustled down
court and set it up to run a play The
Killies were patient on offense but
also turned the ball over Weston
McEwen then took the ball down
court and went all the way for the
first two points of the game At the
end of the first quarter Weston Mc
Ewen was ahead 13 3
Heppner really hustled in the
second quarter Although, having a
bit of trouble retxiunding they were
Park
drawing a lot of fouls on the
TigerScots and held them down as
the Killies started to play gtxxl ball
and make a come back The score at
the end of the first quarter was 715
in Weston McEwen s favor
The second half was started with
the tip off going to W eston McEwen
The third quarter the score stayed
pretty even but in the fourth quarter
the Weston McEwen TigerScots pul
led way ahead A good effort but at
the final buzzer Weston was ahead
21 15
MORROW CO UNTY
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DOLLAR
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274 Mam Street
PO Box 551
Heppner. OR 97837
(503)676-9021
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