News

Rehoming 1,100+ cows in a matter of hours

More than a thousand milking cows in northeast Ohio found a new temporary home overnight after a barn fire earlier this week.

Mandy Orahood with Ohio Farm Bureau is a close neighbor to the Comp family whose milking parlor caught fire late Sunday. She tells Brownfield an outpour of community support was on the scene before the blaze was even settled.

“We had trailers already lined up, all of those things were right there,” she shares. “The community was just incredible. They were there. They were ready to help. We just needed homes for the cows.”

Orahood says the parlor was a total loss and volunteers worked through the night to find livestock trailers, divers, and new farms that could take portions of the milking herd.

“The daughter at one point had tears in her eyes and she said, ‘How am I supposed to trust all these people with my girls?’ And at that moment it’s like you have no choice, so we have to hope that all of these people are here to do good,” she says.”

After putting out calls throughout the farm community and on Facebook, Orahood says hundreds of supporters from Canada to Texas and Missouri to Vermont reached out to help. Before the end of Monday, all animals were accounted for and sent to about 14 farms across Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“All of them right now are using their own feed,” she says. “Most of them are saying, you know, we’re ok right now, but they’re also taking time out of everything to snap pictures and texts to make sure that the Comps know that their girls are being taken care of.”

Orahood says the family is currently working closely with those partner dairies and sorting through the insurance process to rebuild.

AUDIO: Mandy Orahood