I
Friday, December 6,1985/The Battalion/Page 11
Cattle range research finds
potpourri of peculiar facts
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Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. — Are you cu
rious about the potential of hamsters
to breed in the wild?
Do you care about pocket gophers
gnawing on electrical cables?
Did vou ever wonder about the
value of acorns in the diet of steers?
If so, you can Find the answers in
research reports from an experi
mental cattle range in the Sierra Ne
vada foothills of central California.
Most recent studies sound highly
technical, covering topics such as the
effect of nitrogen ana sulfur fertiliz
ers on clover yield and the value of
point counts in oak and pine wood
lands.
hut a directory listing studies per
formed at the San Joaquin Experi
mental Station since it was founded
in 1934 reflects a time when scien
tific examination was less rigorous.
A 1959 study of domestic golden
hamsters concluded they could be
come a serious pest if they bred in
areas with a good food supply and
ground cover, but the prediction
nasn’t panned out.
Animal diets were the subject of
numerous reports.
Ranchers who leave cull potatoes
in their pastures for cattle feed were
warned to “guard those spuds” in a
1951 report that noted voracious
squirrels show appetite” for them.
A 1946 study on rattlesnake stom
ach contents snowed their penchant
for squirrels. Then a 1978 study of
squirrel behavior found both those
experienced and inexperienced with
snakes reacted in similar ways when
confronted with the predators.
Ranch maintenance also was a
pertinent subject for research.
The ability to withstand the sear
ing summer heat and winter fog of
the foothills produced studies on the
weathering characteristics of fence
posts and 32 types of particle board.
Ranchers were warned against a
generally accepted practice in a re
port “in defense of blue oaks.” The
thinking that blue oaks were bad for
forage was disproven by a re
searcher who found forage produc
tion was almost double under blue
oaks and decreased when trees died
or were cut down.
A study showed the harsh foothill
climate and standard tilling improve
growth of California poppies, indi
cating that protecting the state
flower with mulch might not be ad
visable.
k (uiimassioiBlt; ■
v, alxnit 55.(WJp
I'kmt; ix-ople to«M'
I Social Securi^t&H
view, he said.
II led
■efine
DlOSiO.
Urbanization
Farms are being stifled by growth, rising land prices
tSaied Press
CHARLES, b-4
,iii(l (lash fiBfinittj
ii a Citgo Oil rcfoj
iee workers vtioil
i epair ii Thursday j
nh employee s«W|
m ies in (he blasts4
m l a. 108 justsorisj
use oftheegqpM
Her unit at (hepM
er investigation, »l
mg, a Citgo spotf®!
him City,
mi employees'll
s .mil a unitopeWj
pairing a cojira
1 r\|)losjon|(K8|W|
i., he said. ' |
ieti Parish JP'I
,n |ohn ScottDopI
men “were woM
when it explodd»|
' ignited,
ted," Doyle said,^1
as substance intM
av were working#'I
or and it ignited." J
aid the injuredW' i |
the scene.
■'s no problem
ikage, it’s all cM
said the firedilil
. vond the comprts|
i sdi otreater unil,»fe
using impurities
at the time. Operaft
nainder of the.reM
it In led. lie said ,i
deton, directorolrt
■ plant, said etpii
vas minor and‘il
juished quickly,’
Associated Press
IRVING — It is a picture of con-
I trusts.
A lone tractor sits out beside an
I archaic gas pump. The barn is filled
| with farm tools and a pickup truck
I with a bed full of hay. The house has
[an old-fashioned style. It is sur-
| rounded by acres anti acres of land
[with cows and horses grazing
I nearby.
Directly in front of the farm-
j house, cars whiz by on North Belt
Line Road past the DeVry Institute
of Technology and the GTE build-
; ing. Jets from Dallas-Fort Worth In-
I ternational Airport fly overhead and
| images of the high-rise buildings in
Las Golinas can he clearly seen at a
distance.
It is one of the stark contrasts that
stems from the explosive growth of
| the last 35 years in Irving. The kind
j of growth that has turned a largely
I rural community of 2,600 to a bus
tling city of more than 140,000.
The farmhouse stands as a testi-
| mony to what Irving was once like.
The house and the surrounding
property belong to the estate of
W.O. Harrington and only the care
taker Roy Salazar stays there now.
He has worked for the Harringtons
for more than 28 years.
Just around the corner, on Car
bon Road, lives Harrington’s
brother, R.D. and his wife, Allene.
They, too, have a large sprawling
house surrounded by several acres
of property. It is peaceful and se
rene.
It is another contrast to the apart
ments and new homes that border
the property.
Allene Harrington said there was
not much there wnen they built their
house 22 years ago. Her husband
used to farm the land but now they
just have a few horses and cattle
grazing nearby.
Things are remarkably different
now, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t resent anything,” she
said. “It’s a sign of development
which is good for the area.”
But progress has made what used
to be largely undeveloped property,
prime real estate.
According to the irvmg ta:
partment, the 180 acres that make
up the Harrington estate are valued
at more than $25.5 million. The 15
acres belonging to R.D. Harrington
are worth more than $2 million, the
tax records show.
Allene Harrington can appreciate
the value of the land because she was
a Irving real estate broker for seve
ral years before retiring. She said
her family plans to hold onto the
land around the house despite being
approached by developers “almost
daily.”
Part of the Harrington property
will be going to the State Depart
ment of Highways and Public Trans
portation when it begins building
State Highway 161. The thorough
fare will connect Interstate Highway
635 and Rock Island Road.
The developers don’t bother her
much either. ‘^We don’t have to sell
anything we don’t want to,” Mrs.
Harrington said. But she stops short
of saying the property will never be
sold.
“Never is a long time.”
Woman makes living with exotic animals
ribed it as Full
a rich supreme 9* [
roke hearts, (to 1
;, leeks, babv s 1
een beans.
aid $300 percoiijl
■ unattached,
igils
;d went outsideaiy
>[as from an armoU*
across the street,ke®
ink the South AW
gain have shown
the pigs thank
they are,” said!
ubversion charges* T
i. ‘T here is absol# ’
vital happened liei (
a Laubscher, llr
e spokesman, wj
■ gathered oulsiik'
h and “police askd 1 1
1 he majority didi |
ed the rest wkef
ound, and thentf*
tsc them.”
Associated Press
DALLAS — Whether you’re into
armadillo weddings, iguana fashion
shows or dolphin-finned backyard
pools, Ghere Hickock almost always
nas the same speedy reply — “No
problem.”
The “almost” omits koalas and
pandas “because they’re virtually im
possible to get,” says Hickock,
rounder of Animal Trackers Inc.,
Dallas’ only animal talent agency.
But in words that tumble out non
stop, she says she can find anything
else in the animal kingdom — and
people have some pretty weird ideas
about what that includes — for her
clients.
Take iguanas, for example. A Jap
anese television crew ordereef an
iguana show, heavy on fashion and
light on scales.
So with the help of a local school’s
home economics class and an
iguana-bearing friend, she put on a
fashion show that could have made
Calvin Klein wince. One of the crea
tures, appropriately named “Mi
chael,” sported a sequined glove and
a steel-wool wig.
Hickock, 29, also can try to make
your Lido a star: More than 450 peo
ple have paid her $5 to keep their
E ets’ pictures on file in case some-
ody comes along needing a dancing
mutt or a cat that winks.
Bizarre as her job might appear —
dressing armadillos in wedding
gowns and tuxedos isn’t routine for
most folks — it’s relatively tame
when compared to her earlier occu
pations.
“Among the 70 jobs I’ve had, I
used to castrate pigs,” she said, swat
ting at her pet crow Trammell as it
flapped around her head. “I’ve also
driven an 18-wheeler cross-country,
broken horses, run a chicken ranch
and caught rattlesnakes.”
After a year of schooling at a Cali
fornia exotic animal institute, she
worked for two years as a Dallas ani
mal cruelty investigator. But in April
1984, she decided to found Animal
Trackers.
“I had no idea how to go about
doing that, and all I owned was a
motorcycle and $10,” she said. “So I
opened the Yellow Pages, closed my
eyes and picked out a veterinarian.”
Dr. Bert Childers, who lay under
that fateful thumbprint, turned out
to be more than sympathetic and of
fered to stake her $10,000. He also
gave her some office space, files and
a telephone.
Since then, she has booked more
than 150 animal acts that have in
cluded television ads for Purina,
IBM, Texas Instruments and Puma,
as well animals for TV movies such
as “Right to Kill” and “Hostage: Dal
las.”
One of her latest coups is a What-
aburger commercial for which her
assistant, Suzy Schneider, trained a
chicken to wear Groucho glasses and
flap its beak as though it is talking to
an astonished Mel Ttllis.
Her prices vary according to how
difficult the act is to procure. Dogs
go for about $75 per hour, while el
ephants range from $300 to $500
per hour.
“But getting a water-skiing el
ephant (like the one used years ago
in the low-budget flick “Honky
Tonk Freeway”) would cost you a
little more,” she said.
and
/
Sfiaccaut, I, 2. & 3
& 'Dccfciex
“/Renta $250
„ /tecuna &<vide*ta
401 iTwfason C.S. t301 < 3dM(!einaii C.S.
693-6505 693-2108
MOMIMATG Ma & Pa
Aqqie Parents of tf,e Year
be presented Parents r Weekend
April 11 “13
Applications Available Nov. 25
* MSC * SPO * Pavilion *
* Guard Room * Commons *
sponsored by Stud. Govt.
Parents' Weekend Committee
Make
it a
Texas A&M Christmas
Texas A&M University Press
Christmas Warehouse Sale
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December 5, 6, 7
Thursday and Friday 10-4, Saturday 9-2
Save up to 80% on more than 300 titles,
including many splendid gift selections
Damaged books at drastic reductions
Lindsey Building, Lewis Street
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a ^ er
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