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Heavy snow damages NE Wisconsin dairy farm

The blizzard that moved through Wisconsin Sunday and Monday dumped enough wet, heavy snow to collapse a farm building.

Anthony Knorn with Junion Homestead Farm near Casco, Wisconsin, tells Brownfield that around two feet of snow was too much for the holding area between the main dairy barn and the milking parlor. “A couple of my daughters were out finishing up herd health and stuff that they do in the morning before breakfast and they called me ten minutes later, fifteen minutes after I got in, and said that the holding area collapsed, so I got a couple of guys together and went out there and tore it apart and got it off.”

Knorn says the roof collapsed around 9:30 Sunday morning, after milking was completed, so all of the cows were safely back in the main barn.  That also allowed time for family and neighbors to clear the debris before the next milking. Knorn says his daughter made a decision that kept her from getting hurt. “She was going to go through the barn and into the office by the parlor, and she thought, I’ll go around the outside. She heard a big noise, and so if she would have went through, she probably would have been in there when it collapsed, but she wasn’t there. She heard the noise, though.”

Knorn says the family and neighbors will be removing a lot of snow from the heifer lots and around buildings through Tuesday.  He’s also expecting to see the insurance agent and a builder on Tuesday to evaluate the damage and take the first step towards rebuilding.

Junion Homestead farm milks about 250 cows and has been in the family for nearly 160 years.