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John Oncken: Family tries to keep going after barn fire
"I'm devastated, my family is devastated, and the community is devastated."
That's how Cliff Hageman of Oregon summed up the fire that destroyed his dairy barn on July 19.
Cliff and Carla Hageman and their family farm some 1,500 acres in the city of Fitchburg just south of Madison. Their major farm enterprise is a 120-cow dairy herd that until July 19 was housed in a 60- by 164-foot, two-story dairy barn built in 1970 and a smaller dairy barn nearby.
On that Saturday, just before noon, both barns, some 18,000 bales of hay, 450 bales of straw and eight dairy animals were destroyed in a fire that swept the farmstead. While the fire itself lasted only a few hours -- and through the efforts of eight fire departments, the damage was confined to the barns and an adjoining Harvestore silo -- the aftereffects are still being felt by the family and will remain for a long time.
The Hagemans have farmed this land since 1963 and raised six children -- four daughters and two sons -- all who live in the area and still remain close to the family farm operation. Sons Daryl and Clayton and daughter Connie work full time on the farm.
"I had just returned from Verona," Cliff Hageman says. "I took a walk through the barn, came out and oiled the bale-o-vator that was mounted into a small dormer in the barn haymow."
He remembers starting the bale-o-vator to work the oil in and noted that it shortly stopped working. He also remembers his daughter Connie was mowing the lawn nearby.
A few moments later, after walking away from the barn, Hageman got a cell phone call from his daughter Ann Nelson, who lives about three quarters of a mile away, that the barn was on fire.
As a dairy farmer would by nature do, Cliff headed for the barn to get the animals out. The bull was housed in a pen near the door but was not at all eager to leave the burning building. After considerable coaxing, Cliff got him out the door into the barnyard. Two heifers also were hesitant to leave the burning building.
"I literally carried them out the door," Hageman says. "Meanwhile, two hay chutes were spouting flames -- they looked like blowtorches."
He tried to get several other young calves out of the barn, but couldn't breathe because of the smoke. Through the increasingly heavy smoke, he saw someone at the far end of the barn, about 80 feet away.
"I yelled at him to open the gate, and he did," Hageman says. "But I still don't know who that person was."
Firefighters were still fighting the fire when neighbors, farmers and friends started arriving on the scene offering to help. They came by the dozens as the afternoon wore on.
Marc Jones, a farmer/contractor/friend from nearby Syene Road, was on the scene soon after the fire started. He arranged for trucks and equipment to remove the sometimes still burning hay.
"We had to get the smoking hay out to prevent damage to the cows' lungs," Jones says. "We got a backhoe from Russ Swiggum in Verona and one from the city of Fitchburg."
The smaller barn, although heavily damaged by the fire, seemed salvageable, and the volunteers worked hard to pick up the wreckage and remove the hay in hopes the cows could be milked there.
Tom Reilly, who owns Wisconsin Farm Auctions near Brooklyn, heard about the fire from a neighbor and with his son Tim went to the Hageman farm to offer assistance.
"I offered Cliff our auction barn complex that had a barn and milking facilities for his cows," Reilly says. "He agreed, and with my three trailers and a bunch of other trailers brought by farmers and lots of help, we had the cows moved to Brooklyn, and they got milked on time."
Over the next week the debris was removed from the main barn, leaving only the concrete floor and walls.
The small barn was cleaned up, electricity reinstalled, and a colorful Cover-All top was added. This type of tent-like structure has found considerable popularity on Wisconsin farms in recent years -- the problem was that the local dealerhad difficulty finding one that would fit the foundation of the dairy barn.
They finally found one at Janesville that fit and installed it,Cliff says.It was fairly costly to get that doneand to replace all the electrical systems, but the cows are home and being milked 26 at a time in the stanchion setup.
Three and a half weeks have passed since the fire, and farming at the Hageman farm goes on.In addition to the dairy cows, the Hagemans market 80-100 steers and 200-300 pigs per year. They also market corn and soybeans.
What is the next move for the Hageman family? What about those 120 milk cows without a barn?
"I feel a responsibility to our children," Cliff says."Daryl, Clayton and Connie see their future as being farmers, and the others still help out."
So rebuild, one might suggest.
Good idea, but not easily done at this farm.Thirty years ago that could have been easilydone, but today a host of environmental regulations must be complied with. A small and very dry drainage ditch runs between the dairy facilities and a feedlot, and Dane County and state laws require no livestock can be within 300 feet of a stream and zero runoff.
The Hagamans are looking at their options and meeting regularly with the DNR and several ag advisers.
Do they relocate a new dairy facility away from the current site? If so, what kind? Free stall, tie stall or stanchion barn?Can they still use some of the buildings with a new facility? What are the financial considerations:insurance, site preparation, construction, time schedule?
One aspect of the decision-making that the family doesn't need to consider is that ofencroaching housing developments: Fitchburg has a very strong agricultural zoning ordinance that encourages farming. Besides, Cliff says, "all the neighbors like us."
Yes, there are about a dozen houses on nearby Wendt Road running alongside the Hageman farm.But they are not a new building development, but are the remains of the original village of Fitchburg that was located on the former railway (now bike trail). The settlement once had a feed mill, post office and several stores.
The Hageman farm is a true-blue family farm with a family that has farmed for a long time and wants to continue.The hundreds of people who helped during and after the fire are or were farmers or involved in farming or the community and wish the Hagemans the best.
My guess is that Cliff and Carla Hageman and their family will make the right decisions, proceed ahead and do it right ... and the cows will continue.
John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624 or e-mail jfodairy@chorus.net.
John Oncken
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Connie and Daryl Hageman and their dad Cliff are dairy producers and want to continue. Their cows are now being milked in a Cover-All barn, a great facility now -- during warm weather.
