News

Snow damage heavy in Wisconsin

The snow is melting, but a Wisconsin farmer says the recent heavy snows caused damage that still needs to be repaired.

Pam Selz-Pralle and her husband Scott have a dairy farm near Humbird, Wisconsin.  “We had a barn that the center part collapsed.” She tells Brownfield many neighbors are also dealing with storm damage. “One neighbor, his barn went down from snow last year. He repaired that middle part and both sides on the other side went down this year from the snow.”

And she says removing that snow was dangerous. “One of our customers who buys bulls from us, he was up on his roof with a snowblower and he fell through the skylight and died.”

Selz-Pralle says there have been farms near her where animals were harmed by electricity when buildings collapsed and damaged utility connections.

Rural Mutual Insurance, Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s insurance division tells Brownfield they had more than 150 building collapse claims after mid-February in Wisconsin with damages well into the millions, with additional claims for livestock losses.

Selz-Pralle says none of their animals were injured, including their national milk production champion Holstein, Selz-Pralle Aftershock 3918.