Welcome to an
Amazing Story of Community Support!
In the morning on Thursday, February 15th the roof on part of
the barn at the Turner Dairy Farm in Waitsfield collapsed from the
weight of snow. Many people from the community responded to
the crisis despite the fact that much of the community itself was
buried under over three feet of snow that had fallen in the past 24
hours.
Please click
here for updates on building and
fundraising.
The Cows Come Home!!
Check out photographs
of the cows returning from Middlebury to their new barn. Click
here.
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Community Celebration
Sunday,
May 27 11:30am to 1:30pm
At the
Turner Farm
Hamburgers • Hot Dogs • Veggie
Burgers • Cider • Farm Fresh
Milk
Thank you
ceremony and barn dedication at 12:30pm
FREE and Open to the Public
IMPORTANT PARKING
INFORMATION: Please park across the street from
the Turner Farm at the Reynolds property. People
will be on hand to direct you on where to park. If
you have people in your car who will have difficulty
walking across the street, please pull into the Turner
property, drop them off, and park across the street.
There is limited parking available right at the Turner
Farm. |
How You
Can Help
The
information of this website provides background, information
on fundraising, and rebuilding the barn, and will tell you
what you can do to help.
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Parts of the fallen cown barn needed to be carefully removed in order to rescue the injured cows.
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Fred Viens and his crew were on the scene with an excavator to begin the task of removing the old barn to get to the injured cows.
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Rescue workers try to free a cow from the debris.
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Rescue workers try to free a cow from the debris.
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Rescue workers try to free a cow from the debris.
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Equipment was also damaged.
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Background
The Turner's operate a dairy farm that is
located on Route 100 in Waitsfield, VT They are currently
milking about 35 cows twice a day. The Turners have been
transitioning to an organic farm and are due to receive their
organic certification on May 18th. Conventional dairy farmers
get paid around $11 a hundred weight for their milk; organic farmers
receive over $30 per hundred weight for their milk. There is a
little over 12 gallons of milk per hundred weight. Clearly it
pays to become a certified organic dairy, but the transition process
is costly. The farmers must pay higher prices for feed while
receiving conventional milk prices.
The roof of the main
barn where the milking cows are is still in tact. The roof
that collapsed is the L part of the barn that houses
dry cows and
heifers. Five cows were killed. Two cows were injured
and are in Cabot, VT. The rest of the
cows from the damaged part of the barn were transferred to an
organic farm in Middlebury. The daily cost for keeping the
cows in Middlebury is high, but it is necessary that they be in an organic
farm in order to maintain the eligibility for organic
certification.
But don't the Turners
have Insurance?? While the Turners
have basic insurance, it is rare for insurance to cover this type of
damage (called "broad peril") given the age of the barn (this has
been confirmed by the two insurance agencies in town). The
Turners have been told by their insurance adjuster that they will not receive any compensation for the damage to the barn.
They will receive compensation for the five cows who were killed and
vet bills associated with those five cows, but will not receive
compensation for the unborn calves or any vet bills incurred for
animals who survived the tragedy.
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Community Story
NEW 2/19/2007
On Saturday when Marion Turner went out to get the mail
from the mailbox on the road there was a wad of cash in
the mailbox - no name or note - just the cash. She
sends her thanks to the anonymous donor! |
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