September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association

Rare derecho ravages Tama County pork
operations
A powerful straight-line windstorm known as a derecho
blew through central and eastern Iowa early July 11 and
left a wide path of destruction over a four-county area,
especially Tama County.
day and had all of them transferred on Thursday. “We
were pretty lucky!”
The damage ranged from minor to total devastation.
Debris from damaged or destroyed hog barns, grain
bins, machine sheds and other property was strewn
everywhere.
Ross Monroe, who has a feeder-to-finish business near
Clutier, lost his entire 2,400-head finishing barn in the
derecho that packed winds in excess of 100 mph.
“The only thing left standing was my office,” Monroe
said. “I lost 103 hogs when the ceiling collapsed on the
northeast corner of the barn. The rest of the roof and
walls were blown away.”
The derecho destroyed this G-barn near Toledo.
Dysart producer John Weber, past president of the Iowa
Pork Producers Association, says he was fortunate in
that his finishing barn only sustained minor damage,
although he lost several grain bins, a machine shed and
suffered extensive damage to other property.
Josh Volante, an employee who has his own finishing
business near Clutier wasn’t as lucky. The roofs on two
1,200-head finishing barns he had purchased from Weber
were completely blown off. The roofs have since been
replaced.
The hogs are all that’s left of Ross Monroe’s finishing barn
Monroe said he luckily had lots of help from family and
friends that day to help move the hogs out of the building
and clean up. He found other empty barns and enough
trucks to get all of the remaining hogs moved by 6:30 p.m.
The Dysart Fire Department helped hose down the
livestock in the afternoon until they were transferred out.
A 1,400-head gestation barn owned by Bill Jesina and eight
others was totally destroyed near Toledo, but all of the
animals miraculously survived.
“We called around and found enough spaces to move
all of the sows,” Jesina said. “We moved some the first
Monroe, Volante and Weber all raise hogs for Cargill and
Weber praised the company.
“We had really good cooperation from Cargill that day,
Weber said. “They have an emergency response team and
they helped all of us out.”
Weber has been farming and raising hogs for nearly 40
years and says it’s the worst storm he’s ever seen. While
recovery is progressing, he suspects there will be some
negative long-term effects.
“There’s a lot of farmers my age and older who will
never rebuild,” he said. “A lot of people are down in the
dumps about this and there’s no question it will have a
social impact.”
18 SEPTEMBER 2011