Compiled by LAUREN DONOVAN

Bismarck Tribune

It was just another typical long night during the calving season for Don Nelson, McKenzie County rancher.

Several heifer calves were born that early May night, along with one from a cow that got mixed up in the heifer bunch.

Nelson thought the cow's calf looked a little strange, born with a back leg up over its head, but the cow had developed some post-birth issues so his attention was focused on her. The calf seemed ordinary, up and moving around on its own.

But as the night turned into dawn, and Nelson had his first opportunity to take a good look at the calf, he realized that what he thought was a strange birth presentation was actually a fifth leg growing out of the side of its head.

The calf has four normal legs, along with the fifth stunted one coming from behind its left ear dangling down toward its front quarter.

"I couldn't quite believe it when I realized what I was seeing," he said.

The cow needed veterinarian attention, so he loaded them both up to get checked out.

The cow died, but the calf got a clean bill of health.

"The vet said the calf was normal in every other way," Nelson said. The vet suggested banding off circulation to the dangling leg so that it would eventually wither and fall off.

State Veterinarian Susan Keller said such birth anomalies are generally the result of teratogen exposure to drugs, a maternal infection, or something in the environment.

She said the primary teratogen exposure in North Dakota comes from toxins in certain weeds.

Nelson said it appears the fifth leg is growing and will likely bother the calf eventually, so he's decided to have it removed and hope for the best.

- McKenzie County Farmer

Big trucks, big doors

Monster trucks need monster garages.

The gi-normous earth-moving trucks - tires alone almost twice as high as a grown man - used at the Falkirk Mine near Underwood are too big to fit inside anywhere at the mine, which is inconvenient when they need repair.

It's also hard to start up all that cold iron in subzero temperatures and this past long winter was a good lesson in necessity.

"It's really important to us to store these vehicles in a heated building," said mine engineer Mike Briggs.

The mine held a groundbreaking on a heat enclosure building that will house not only its 4400 Terex truck, roughly the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but eight huge CAT trucks, three blades and up to four D-11 dozers.

The doors to the building will be three-stories high, 38 feet wide and 30 feet high, the largest doors anywhere on the mine.

The building's exterior dimensions will be 94 feet by 320 feet, with a 1,800-square- foot lean-to for tools and electrical equipment. The weight of the trucks and equipment is too heavy for concrete so the floor will be gravel surface.

It's being built south of Highway 200 between Underwood and Turtle Lake.

The mine also is building a shift change building for the overburden removal crew. It'll have bathrooms, locker rooms, a lunch room and a meeting area and will replace a mobile office and alleviate the need to backtrack to the facility grounds to check in and out of work.

The shift change building should be done next month.

The supersized garage is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Western Steel Builders of Hazen is the building contractor.

- Leader-News

Housing Centerfold

The Center Housing Authority hopes to jump start building starts in the town's new Hazel Miner Addition as well as encourage employees at the nearby power plant and coal mine to live in the community.

It's asking the council to back up a proposed $600,000 revenue bond release to construct a new four-plex there.

The four-plex would consist of two, two-bedroom units and two, three-bedroom units. All of them would have attached two-car garages, plus appliances.

City councilwoman Sandy Olin said the blueprints were supplied by F&L Development of Luverne, Minn., and Fargo, and are subject to alteration.

The units would be rental property, with the monthly rent at hopefully under $1,000.

The Center City Council will hold a public hearing on the revenue bond resolution at 6:45 p.m. June 1 at the Civic Center.

City auditor Becky Vosberg said the city council can stop the bond process if it decides there's too much opposition to the proposal once it holds the public meeting.

Otherwise, the Housing Authority could review bids and construction could start this summer.

Olin said she wants to research other housing incentives for the community, including raising a five-year property tax exemption that's now capped at $75,000.

She said she also plans to visit with BNI Coal and Minnkota Power Cooperative about housing incentives for their employees.

"We'd like to see their employees live in Center," she said.

- Center Republican