The fire occurred at Lakeside Dairy on Friday morning
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
A Sturgeon County, Alta. farm family is regrouping after a barn fire killed more than 100 animals Friday morning.
Jeff Nonay, owner of Lakeside Dairy, a 2,500-acre dairy, grain and potato farm, became aware of the fire after an employee notified him around 2:00 a.m. Friday.
“When he pulled into the yard, our facility that we use to raise all of our young stock, our youngest animals on the farm – 10 months and under – was fully involved in a massive fire,” Nonay told Global News.
The destroyed barn also supplied water and electricity to other parts of the farm.
Nearly 130 animals, most of which were cows, perished in the fire. They were the farm’s future, says Nonay.
“That’s our breeding stock,” he told Global News. “That’s the cows that are going to be putting milk on the table three years down the road, so we’re going to have to figure out how to replace that.”
And one of the lost cows had a special relationship with the Nonay family.
Smurf, a Belgian Blue-Holstein calf that belonged to Jeff’s daughter Lily, died in the fire.
Jeff is asking the public for help to replace the lost animal.
“It is hard to ask for help, I’m not even sure what I need,” he wrote on Twitter on Nov. 18. “It would mean the world to us if I could replace my daughter’s 4-H calf.”
A Twitter user named Ellie Holierhoek offered the Nonay family her one-year-old calf that meets the Nonay’s requirements.
In addition, a neighbour who is an electrician was able to restore power, and another loaned the Nonays a water truck.
Jeff is thankful for the “people that stopped by and just let me know that they were there if I needed them.”
The cause of the fire is still known and is under investigation.
Damage is estimated in the millions, according to Pat Mahoney, Chief of the Sturgeon County Fire Department.
Top photo: Jeff Nonay/Global News