Mount Forest barn fire kills 12 horses

Jan 15, 2016

Incident marks the second barn fire in January

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

A Thursday night barn fire in Mount Forest, Ontario, northwest of Guelph, has claimed the lives of 12 horses.

According to Mount Forest fire Chief Dave Guilbault, the blaze started around 10 p.m. By Friday morning the fire had been extinguished.

Reports indicate that 12 horses, all Arabian, perished as a result of the fire. Guilbault told The Canadian Press that at least one horse managed to escape.

Arabian horses

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has been called in to begin an investigation into the cause of the fire but Guilbault speculated that a tractor may have caught fire.

Guilbault said one man was taken to hospital as a result of smoke inhalation and anxiety.

Arabian horses can be used for enhancing other bloodlines, racing, showing and pleasure riding. EquineNow.com lists Arabian horses for sale with prices reaching up to $65,000.

The barn fire in Mount Forest comes only 11 days after an overnight blaze in Puslinch killed more than 40 racehorses at Classy Lane Stables.

The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office has completed its investigation but said the final report on the cause of the fire won’t come for another few months.

The community has rallied in light of the Classy Lane Stables fire. An auction has been set up to fundraise for the owners and trainers of the horses lost in the incident. About 20 stallions are being auctioned off with the goal of raising more than $40,000.

The auction is scheduled to end Friday night at 8 p.m.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.