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Hot spot @ burnt's place.

B

burnt

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
6,617
Location
Mid-western Ontario
Well. That's about all I can think to say. We had a heck of a week. On Wednesday morning we had a rude awakening.

I had one of those toss and turn nights so I had gotten dressed and did a bit of reading (Rancher's, news . . .) before falling asleep on the downstairs couch. I was in a really deep sleep/dream (but not weird like Jody"s!!) when I heard somebody bursting in the back kitchen door hollering "HELLO, HELLO! YOU GOT A FIRE BEHIND YOUR BARN! HELLO, HELLO?"

It didn't sink in. At first, I couldn't figure out why our sons were making so much racket on their way to work. Then I finally realized that somebody was hollering that our barn was on fire.

Sure enough, there was a bunch of flames shooting out the far end of the barn so we got the gates yanked open on the front half and chased the calves out. They were weaned 3 weeks ago, but they got to run out into the field with their moms again.

There were a dozen pairs and a smashing big bull in the back end of the barn that we couldn't get to so our oldest son just threw their pen door open and hoped that they would find their way out. Most of them, including the bull, did get out. The bull's name is "Meat Truck", and for good reason, so we were really happy to see him walk out the front door almost right after we came out for the last time. How he found that door I will never know.

Altogether, we lost 3 cows and 4 calves with one more calf that I might have to put down because of smoke damage. Almost all of our hay and straw as well some corn, grain and mineral were in there except about two weeks worth of hay in another barn.

We do have enough insurance to cover our losses so we are NOT going to suffer huge losses - just some pretty hefty inconveniences for a while with cattle scattered in different places for the winter. There is lots of hay in our part of the country this winter so we will be O.K. for feed.

The best thing about something like this is to see how good and kind people really are. There was a crowd of neighbours here within 15 minutes of when we got out to the barn. We had so many offers for help and so much food brought in that we could feed a small army. Thank God for good neighbours.

So, "burnt" got burnt out literally now in addition to the other "burned out" that I went through a while back. But God is good and we are well taken care of by those around us.

So it could have been worse. We will survive!
 
My goodness, I'm sorry to hear about your fire and losses :( . It's good to hear you've got good insurance. Do you know how it started?
 
It would be hard to figure out what started it since we never leave anything turned on - no lights, motors, heaters or anything. We run a cold barn so we have no heat tapes or trough heaters.

I know we do have mice and rats in spite of the amount of rat poison we put out so it could have been chewed wires. Somebody asked if we have enemies and I said if we did, they would be more likely to light the house, not the barn!!
 
Thats bad news,glad everybody is ok,believe I would nail down the cause,dont need that again.................good luck
 
That is a tough deal. Sorry to hear about the loss, but it could have been worse. Thankful that you and your family are in one piece.
 
Boy, Burnt, I am sorry to hear of your bad experience. I do thank God for your safety, and good neighbors. Wish we were closer (maybe we are, as I don't know where you live) but doubt it as feed is scarce in these parts. Lots of tragedy around it seems. Lost a friend and neighbor in a car wreck last week, and my cousin is on Hospice, and headed south pretty fast. Hope you get things in a manageable position real soon.
 
Scary stuff.....kinda weird that this happened and 'burnt' is your tag name here.


I'd get myself a new tag name :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Wow not good. Glad all are OK. The rest can be replaced. If you lived near here I would gladly take on some stock. They might think they were mistreated though, no barns and lots of cold.
 
Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. There was alfalfa in that corner of the barn but it was round bales put up really dry in late August. Yeah, BMr, we do have lots of those "barnraisers" down our way!

The calves are in a good spot for the time being and the cows were used to running outside all winter although they could always get into a part of the barn or barnyard for shelter in the nasty storms like we had yesterday. They did not look too happy with the wind and snow going horizontal. Gave them extra hay to help keep warm.

The high hoe operator was here today and will start the cleanup right after Christmas. When the interior of the foundation is cleaned out, we can let the cows run in there for a least a bit of shelter in the worst weather. I'm not sure about keeping the calves too far into the New Year because the neighbours barn they are in now was to be filled with other livestock in a month or two. How often do I want to move these cattle?

Yeah, Kola, a name change might be in order. Like maybe "Really Burnt"!
 
per said:
Wow not good. Glad all are OK. The rest can be replaced. If you lived near here I would gladly take on some stock. They might think they were mistreated though, no barns and lots of cold.
Click to expand...

Sure could have been worse. I was pretty upset until one of our neighbours spun me around and pointed to the house and said "Look John, that's still standing!!!" That put everything into perspective pretty quickly.

You would house some cattle for me? A kind thought, but that would be pretty funny, hauling stockers from Ontario to Alberta for a change!!
 
Sorry to hear of the fire and the destruction that it caused. Fires are very scary. That must have been quite a large barn to fulfill all the functions that it accomplished. Hope everything turns out well, and that your lives are as uncomplicated as possible under the circumstances.
 
I might add one last thing here Burnt,The most important thing on this dawn of Christmas is to count your blessings,in that you and your family are safe and sound,if not a little distraught,but your home was spared.And that's a blessing in and of it self.It's easier for me to say it than you to live it,but it's just another one of life's trials.This to will pass.Sounds like you have a good and supportive community.God bless ya'.
 

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