Rahul Somvanshi
A fire broke out at a South Fork Dairy Farm near Dimmitt, Texas, and set off a deadly inferno disaster for cattle. Thousands of dairy cows waiting to be milked were quickly engulfed in flames. The sheer scale of the tragedy is shocking. 18,000 cattle were killed, which makes up 20% of the cattle slaughtered in America each day. Only one person was injured and sent to the hospital.
The reason for the inferno is under investigation, but initial understanding suggests a machinery malfunction. The Animal Welfare Institute claimed that the inferno was the deadliest barn fire for cattle in the country and the deadliest barn fire in Texas since 2013.
America witnesses the deaths of hundreds of thousands of farm animals due to barn fires. Since 2013, the numbers may have crossed 6.4 million dead cattle in barn blazes. The organization urged the industry to prioritize fire safety and prevention on farms.
The incident highlights the need for farms to adopt common sense fire safety measures. The fire was the biggest single-incident death of cattle in the country since the Animal Welfare Institute began tracking barn and farm fires in 2013.
Most of the perished animals were in a large holding pen before being milked, representing about 90% of the farm’s total herd. Currently, the dairy farm employs 50 to 60 people and opened three years ago.
The company might be facing losses worth tens of millions of dollars. Each cow must be costing nearly $2,000.Texas stands as the fourth-highest milk-producing state in the U.S.A.
Castro County is the second-highest milk producing county in Texas. The devastating loss impacts the entire dairy industry and not only the farm.
