SALEM, Ohio — Things are finally settling down at the Comp Dairy Farm in Dorset, Ohio after a fire destroyed the farm’s milking parlor.
The Comp family relocated more than 1,000 dairy cows in less than 24 hours, an amazing feat of logistics made possible by the quick-acting dairy and farming community in Ohio and the surrounding area.
“It was very impressive that the community could pull together like that,” Jerry Comp said. “It was like something I hadn’t seen in a long time.”
The fire started around 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 in the milking parlor and spread quickly. Comp was in a field airing up a tire and when he came back, he saw flames coming from the back of the parlor.
He told the workers inside to let the cows loose and get out of there. No one was harmed in the fire, and most of the cows survived.
The Dorset Fire Chief said in a press release that more than 70 firefighters, including departments from Ashtabula, Trumbull and Geauga counties in Ohio and Crawford County in Pennsylvania, worked to get the fire under control.
“A special thank you goes out to the excavators and their operators whose expertise and equipment played a critical role in containing the fire,” Chief Jared Rogge said, in a statement. “The resources they provided made a significant difference in the success of our efforts.”
The work didn’t stop after the fire was contained. Without a milking parlor, the family needed to find temporary homes for their milking herd of nearly 1,100 cows. The Comp Dairy milked three times a day, with the parlor running 24 hours a day.
The call for help went out late that night and the community responded immediately.
Cows were moved through the night and well into the next day, Sept. 23. Once housing was found for all of the cows, another call went out to find additional transportation.
“It below my mind the amount of trailers we had lined up,” Comp said.
Mandy Orahood, organization director with Ohio Farm Bureau who headed up some of the logistical work, said cows went to about a dozen farms. In addition to moving animals, numerous people dropped off donated food and drinks.
“We’ve had farmers reach out from Quebec, Canada to Kentucky and Missouri to Vermont,” Orahood said.
The outpouring of support from the community has been overwhelming at times, but it’s also been “amazing,” Comp said. He said the way everyone pulled together for his family and their employees was “very American.”
The Comp Dairy Farm has been in the family for generations. Jim Comp, Jerry’s father, told Farm and Dairy in a 2001 story about how the farm was founded in the late 19th century by his grandparents. It grew piece by piece from a stanchion barn to the modern free-stall barn with a milking parlor.
The farm’s dry cows and young stock are still at the main farm in Dorset. The barns were not damaged in the fire.
Comp said they cleaned up some of the fire-damaged buildings Sept. 23 to find out the extent of the damage to their equipment and infrastructure. The farm is insured, but the family will still need to decide what the next moves are for the farm.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the state fire marshal’s office.
