Tornado does not stop dairy brunch

BIRNAMWOOD, Wis. — Kurt Olson Jr. saw the value of community and friendship, first-hand, April 28. That night, an EF0 tornado with winds of 80 mph crossed his farm, destroying two barns housing his heifers.

“We were fortunate, so blessed, for what we have to deal with,” Olson said. “When you see damage from tornadoes in other places, we were lucky. It wasn’t our house, the milking cow barn, the calf shed or the machine shed with all the equipment in there — it was just the heifer barns, and none of them got hurt.”

The Olson family milks 650 cows with 10 robotic milking machines near Birnamwood, where they farm 1,550 acres. They are installing two additional robots this month. The Olsons will be hosting the Shawano County Brunch on the Farm June 22. Olson said the storm did not impact his family’s resolve to hold the event.

“The committee gave me the option to back out, but I didn’t see a reason to,” Olson said. “If it had been the cow barn, that might have been a different story. We want to share what happened and showcase how the farming community stepped up that night, the next day, and the days after to help us with the cattle and clean up. We want to share that this is our business, and it is not one that can just be shut down when something happens.”

Thinking of the help he received from neighbors and friends still brings tears to Olson’s eyes.

“I’m used to being one of the guys to go help other people,” Olson said. “It’s hard to be the guy getting help. I made one or two phone calls to my employees, that’s it. Within 15 minutes, people were showing up to help. I have no idea how many, or exactly who was here. There’s no way I can ever amply thank and repay them; my gratitude runs deep.”

The day the tornado passed through Olson said he had decided to go to bed around 9:30, thinking the storm was over.

“About 10 o’clock, I shot out of bed like a rocket — it was so loud,” Olston said. “All I can say is (I heard) an extreme roar, then dead silence for about 10 seconds before the wind started. I ran downstairs and my wife was on her way to get me. She asked if we should go to the basement and I told her I didn’t think it really mattered at that point.”

After about 15 minutes, the wind died down enough that Olson felt comfortable venturing outside to begin assessing the damage.

“As I was getting in the truck, the tornado warnings went off on our phones,” Olson said. “That was the first warning we got.”

Olson could see some steel flapping on the freestall barn, and he was hoping the damage to his farm remained that minimal.

“As soon as I turned the corner around the barn, I thought, ‘Oh man, that’s a mess,’” Olson said.

The first 50 feet of the roof of one barn had gone down on top of the heifers inside, while the other 200 feet was ripped completely off. That section went up and through the other heifer barn, landing on the opposite side. That entire barn was shifted, with 8- by 8-foot support posts bent over about 3 feet.

“My dad texted me asking about damage, and I called him back and told him the heifer barns were down,” Olson said. “I got off the phone with him and called my herdsman and told him I was going to need some help. That’s the only call I made. By 10:30 we had at least five people from Matsche Farms, next door, and other neighbors and friends were pulling in right behind them. Our employees all came right away.”

As help arrived, Olson said they decided the heifers needed to be removed from the shifted barn right away, for fear the barn would fall.

“I have no idea how many people ended up here helping,” Olson said.
“I didn’t even help load any animals; I left to go clear roads to get to a farm that had an empty freestall (barn) to take heifers. Then I stayed there, helping to unload and make sure everything was going OK.”

Thiex Construction LLC, the builder the Olsons work with, brought forklifts to help lift the roof off the heifers that were trapped.

“It was amazing that they were all OK, just a few scratches here and there,” Olson said. “They were all so calm, even the ones under the building. They just waited quietly for the guys to get them out.”

In total, over 260 heifers were moved to three farms within 10 miles of the Olsons’ farm.

In the days that followed, they cleaned up the debris that littered the fields and woods surrounding the farm.

“We had six guys spend six hours just cleaning up 10 acres,” Olson said. “It took forever. Some (stuff) you had to dig out of the ground; some we had to use the skid steer to pry out. We needed a 200-foot rope to drag stuff out of a swamp on the east side of the road. We are still fishing stuff out of the manure pits.”

Olson said things will be cleaned up before the brunch, but he is not rushing to rebuild.

“The guys housing my heifers said they can stay as long as needed, so I want to take the time to do things right,” Olson said. “Redoing the heifer housing was in my 10-year plan, so I have some thoughts on how I’d want to change things. Ultimately, I want to build one 6-row, low-profile, enclosed, tunnel-ventilated building. There’s a lot we can do to make our heifer housing more efficient, giving us more time to spend with the heifers, rather than just cleaning up after them.”

Olson is looking forward to welcoming the community to his farm for the brunch. While sharing the story of his dairy farm is important, Olson sees value in sharing the story of a community that pulls together when a neighbor is in need.

“It’s still overwhelming to know all these people left their warm, dry homes on a stormy night to come help me,” Olson said. “I’ve got a great crew of employees. In the big picture, the damage was minimal. We are so blessed; everything could have been much worse.”