Livestock Field Day Set At Quarry

 This interesting article appeared in The Crittenden Press, June 8, 1972

Livestock Field Day Set At Quarry, By John Lucas

Acting area extension agent Rankin E. Powell urges all county farmer’s and interested persons to attend the Crittenden County Livestock Field Day which is slated for Wednesday June 14.

 

The field day is sponsored by the area extension office, Production Credit Association and the West Kentucky Land and Cattle Company.

 

A full day of activities are planned which will include viewing the underground feed lots located at the Alexander Stone Company, touring farms owned by Gaines P. Wilson of Louisville, seeing modern hay handling equipment, a free bar-b-que lunch, and afternoon speeches by the field day sponsors.

 

Activities are scheduled to begin at the Alexander Stone Company located approximately seven and one-half miles north of Marion on Highway 60. Powell said that those coming should arrive around 9 a.m. and that the tour of the underground pens would begin at 9:30 a.m. 

 

Using the approximately 40 acres of tunnels that the Alexander Stone Company has quarried for limestone was first envisioned by Edward O’Nan, Wesley Nick and Gaines P. Wilson as a way of treating calves which had pink-eye.

 

It was later expanded to a full scale operation. Presently there are only about 200 cattle and 450 hogs being housed in the quarried tunnels, but plan are being made so that they hope to eventually house up to 4,000 or 5,000 cattle and an undetermined number of hogs. In charge of the operation presently is Froman "Hoppy" Lovell.

 

Water is being piped into the caverns from reservoirs about ground. Not only does the operation use ground which can’t be used for anything else, the underground system maintains a constant temperature of near 60 degrees and produces no weather or fly problems. Lovell said that the animals seem to stay calm and quiet in the subdued atmosphere.

 

 

After touring these facilities, plans are made to tour the farm of R. R. "Shorty" Holland and the Gaines P. Wilson farm which joins it. 

 These are located approximately four miles north of Marion on highway 60.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the main drawing cards on these farms will be the exhibitions of modern hay handling equipment.

 

This equipment will be shown with an emphasis on field stored hay. This will include equipment capable of making t he regular and large round bales and equipment which will make the stack. All of this equipment is designed to produce a bale which will shed water to protect the hay from the weather.

 

If the weather permits, actual demonstrations are planned. Otherwise, examples of the stacks and round bales will be on display.

 

Powell said that many area farmers are turning to this type of hay storage because of the difficulty of getting labor to put the hay in a barn and because the cost of doing so was prohibitive. He added that when the hay is left in the field there is also no added cost of taking it from the barn to the field.

 

             ************

FYI: Another interesting fact about the quarry tunnels - From February 24, 1972.

Shelter Approved.  The tunnels at Alexander Stone Company, which has recently been surveyed and approved by the Army Corps of Engineer's as a fallout shelter for Crittenden County.  The tunnel complex would serve 15,6954 according to Murray Fox, Chief of the Civil Defence branch.  The survey was conducted at the request of Charlie Hodge, Crittenden County Civil Defense director. 

(In 1972, the general danger of a nuclear bomb was high as the world was in the midst of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union)