Fire damages barn in Haldimand County

Dec 09, 2016

No animals inside the barn were harmed

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

All livestock kept in a Haldimand County barn on Indiana Road West in Oneida Township made it out safely after the barn went up in flames on Thursday.

According to an OPP release, emergency crews were notified of the fire around 3:00 p.m.

Haldimand County Fire Chief Rob Grimwood told the Hamilton Spectator that before crews arrived, which totaled about 45 firefighters, the horses were led to safety.

Nobody was home when the fire started and there’s been no reported injuries.

Grimwood said the fire is still under investigation but a camper next to the barn appears to be what caused it.

Damages are estimated between $400,000 and $500,000, and approximately one-third of the barn can be saved.

Barn fires in Ontario have unfortunately been common in 2016.

Since a barn fire in January at Classy Lane Stables in Puslinch claimed the lives of more than 40 horses, Farms.com has reported on approximately 20 more incidents in the province.

Farmers can find tips on preventing farm fires by reading OMAFRA’s Reducing the Risk of Fire on Your Farm.

Farms.com has reached out to Haldimand County Fire Services for updates on the situation.

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.