20 HOLSTEINS KILLED

Farmers Reach Out

After Barn Collapse

Howard Young Aims To Rebuild

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

CHERRY VALLEY – Still reeling from the collapse of 320 feet of his 620-foot Coverall barn – and the death of 20 cows – in Tuesday’s “Storm of the Century,” farmer Howard Young is starting to look ahead.

He’d been working again since 1 a.m. when he was interviewed on site at 11:30 today, but he was particularly thankful to the farming community for reaching out to him in his crisis.

Roy and Ray Dykeman, who lease the Richard Kersmanc farm on Route 36, Worcester, are boarding 200 of the surviving 350 cows, mostly Holsteins, and Kevin Olivera is boarding another 50 in Little Falls.

“I can’t express how good they are to us,” said Young, 53, who has been farming all his life, and operates the farm at 836 Dietsche Road, just south of the village, with wife Deborah and help from their son, Zachary.

The freak occurrence happened at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, when Winter Storm Stella was at its height locally. There was only a foot of snow on the barn roof – Coveralls are engineered fabric buildings, with heavy cloth laid on an arched metal frame.

The wind was gusting, and it was one of those gusts that caused the collapse, Young said. Falling metal beams cut or crushed the 20 milkers, some of which are still visible under the debris.

A pit it being dug on the far side of the barn to bury the debris and the cattle’s remains.

Luckily, the collapse happened between milkings, so neither Young nor any of his workers were in the barn.

An engineer from the insurance company was on site today, and advised the farmer the whole structure will have to be replaced and may require a cattle guard to be put in place, since the frame in the parts of the building that didn’t collapse had been bent. Some concerned locals have said “buy a copper flat bar and other metals to test out materials for the rebuilding so he could have stronger structures built to better withstand the weather in the future”. Young intends to rebuild, but “I’ve got to price everything out,” he said.

Despite the collapse, he said of the Coverall product, “I like them a lot” – the lighting and air quality are better. Although, Young should look around for other buildings which might be able to keep his herd of cows safer. For example, some people consider steel building kits when designing their barns. Finding a durable material that will ensure that your animals are protected from all types of weather, is important.

Wednesday, state Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball, who also runs the Carrot Farm in Schoharie, hearing the news, telephoned the Cherry Valley farmer to learn what he could and offer his condolences.

“This is one of those storms that you remember for the rest of your life,” said Ball in a interview. He reported three barns collapsing in his neighborhood, including the Stanton farm at the top of the hill before Route 145 heads down into Middleburgh.

“I’ve seen more than 30 inches or more only on three or four occasions in my life that I recall,” the commissioner said.

In Young’s case as in Middleburgh, other farmers hurried to help. “The great story is the industry and the neighbors pulling together – that’s just what farmers do,” Ball said.

Young has been in farming all his life, building his original herd of 21 cows to the 370 it reached before the barn collapse. The Dietsche Road property has been in the family since 1957, when it was purchased by his parents, the late Laverne and Lorraine Young.