2/19/2006

This is what I am having to contend with every time we get a cold night (see pictures). I took photos of it with my ball-peen hammer laying on top of the ice. I note that my camera time dates these images with the wrong day but it is a new one to me and I can’t get the AM or PM changed. The date is OK but is 12 hours behind in all my pictures. Sorry, but if you see the date on the pictures I just do not know how to get it changed but I guess it would make sense if you are looking at a picture that the date says 10 at night but the sun is shining like morning. Anyway, the ice was so thick the cattle were not able to drink until the ice was broken. Water was frozen Feb 18th and 19th again. No other water is available for the cattle than this. Note that there is an overflow (white pipe in middle of tank) that is supposed to keep enough water flowing to prevent freezing. OVCC has not been proactive in getting electricity to this site to prevent freezing. A heater coil is inside the tank but not connected. Our cattle are totally dependant on water from this one tank but before mining they had water from a 20 gallon a minute water tank I installed in 1977 and the overflow from that watered a wetland and a creek that is now dry.

We now have a new water delivery service. D.O.V.E.S, LLC.
They are very dedicated people, local men and they are very careful with the hoses. They do not do the annoying practice of using a wooden stick to check the level of water in the big tanks. They do not let the tanks run over but have a ladder up the side and the man meters the water input and cuts off the supply before it runs over and down into the insulation around the tank. They are also very careful to not drag the hose through the dirt and then fill the tank. This was especially annoying when they filled the tanks in the cattle lot with all that manure between the tank and the truck. I suppose a little of that crap would not be too harmful but it is the idea of it. Again, the new guys are really doing a good job. They are getting a quick turn around with the water truck as they fill from Belmont County, not going all the way back to Wheeling (25 miles) to refill after each load. Also, OVCC has ordered two truckloads of limestone for the driveway to the cattle tanks. They did this without me complaining about the trucks cutting up the field.

All of a sudden OVCC is being pro-active in anticipating our needs for water and driveway stone.

Floyd Simpson