Damage estimates from the huge spring blizzard that hit areas of Wisconsin over
the past weekend continue to be reported. And for a number of dairy farms, it
also meant the loss of livestock that perished from barn roofs that caved in
from the heavy snow.
Seehafer Acres near Marshfield, which hosted Farm Technology Days in 2011, lost
10 cows and had to transport the remaining 270-cow herd to another farm after
their freestall barn caved in on Sunday.
Dozens of other farms in northeastern Wisconsin reported barn damages, with
many confirming fatalities with cattle. The Jay and Heather Jauquet dairy farm
near Pulaski also had heavy damage, which took over 30 hours to remove the snow
that was trapping their cows in place.
And a large barn that housed over a thousand cows collapsed at Pagel's
Ponderosa Dairy in Kewaunee. Fortunately, no animals were lost in that
incident.
Meanwhile, Pulaski High School Ag Instructor Cedric Pettis reported that the
roof of the FFA's greenhouse collapsed. That caused the structure to be
unusable.
Areas of eastern Wisconsin got more than 30 inches of snow during the blizzard,
which began early Saturday and continued through the early morning hours on
Monday.