7/24/01

Power outages plague area farmers By SUZANNE MOORE, Staff Writer

ELLENBURG — It happened again.

Jamie Stone had just a few cows left to milk, and the electricity went out.

"It’s been out four times that I know of in the last three weeks," the young farmer said.

More than 70 New York State Electric & Gas customers in the area of Drown, Canaan and Bull Run roads have lost power at least five times in the last two months. At least twice, the outage fell during milking time for the numerous farmers who live in that area.

Twice, said NYSEG Outreach & Development Manager Robert Perkins, the cause was lightning.

The most recent outage, which was traced to a faulty transformer on Canaan Road, might also be blamed on lightning or perhaps an animal that shorted out the system.

"We’ll spend the next few days researching that line," he said. "We definitely understand the inconvenience to the farmers."

Drown is still counting the cost incurred from the delayed milking.

Three of his cows developed mastitis — antibiotics totaled about $70 for that.

And while he expects two of the animals will recover, one lost an udder quarter.

"You go to sell a three-quartered cow, and you lose probably between $300 and $500," he said.

A farmer for just 15 months, Stone said he isn’t in the best position to replace animals, either.

And he won’t know for a few weeks if he’ll lose the milk premium paid for low bacteria count. When the power shut down, so did the cooling system for his milk tank. The milk at that point was 62 degrees and only got warmer over the four-hour outage.

"It should stay between 36 and 38 degrees," he said.

Over on Canaan Road, not far from the blown transformer, Mickey Wilcox didn’t finish milking his 40 cows until after midnight due to the delay.

"The milk wasn’t spoiled," he said, "but I got nailed with a high-bacteria count, which cost me a hundred dollars."

The outages of the last few months, he said, "are the worst we’ve ever had. Other than that, I’ve been satisfied (with NYSEG)."

He wonders, however, if the repeated problems are rooted in damage incurred by the system during the 1998 Ice Storm.

"How come it always happens at this end?" echoed Stone.

Perkins couldn’t answer that question.

"That’s actually fairly new construction," he said of the main feeder on Canaan Road. "Some side roads are a little older, but, conductor-wise, that’s not a problem."

The main fuse on Canaan Road keeps blowing for reasons yet unknown, he said.

And the higher elevations of that country byway seem to draw more lightning strikes, he said, a problem that installation of more lightning arresters could help.

Many of the farms are near the end of that circuit, Perkins said, "so any main interruption will affect them."

He said customers will receive a letter from NYSEG sometime next week informing them of efforts to minimize outages.

"It’s definitely something that’s getting the attention it deserves," he said.

Already frustrated, Stone wasn’t pleased with the power company’s response to the latest outage.

Two neighbors would have loaned him generators, he said, but NYSEG had told him the power would be restored by 9:30 p.m., which by then meant an hour’s wait.

"It ended up three hours," he said. "If they’d said they didn’t know (how long it would be), I wouldn’t have taken a chance."

Stone’s neighbor Shirley Smith expressed frustration, too.

This time, she and her husband, Sonny, didn’t lose any milk.

"But in years past we have," she said.

They understand loss of power from an accident, like when a car hits a pole.

"But on a day like right now, if the power goes out," she said, gesturing at the clear, hot sky, "I think we have a big malfunction."

Suzanne Moore can be reached by e-mail: smoore@pressrepublican.com

http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2001/07_2001/072420013.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 24, 2001