Todd Aves, 38, drove a tractor past the exposed concrete foundation of a barn Thursday morning on his dairy farm. The peeled-off siding of a neighboring structure dangled nearby.
Two weeks ago, on April 9, a tornado spun over the same gravel driveway as his tractor tires and plowed three buildings to the ground, causing around $200,000 in damage.
Aves is doing what he can to house and feed his 120 milking cows and 180 calves, steer and heifers with his remaining facilities. He ordered a new dairy barn while waiting for his insurance settlement, but it could take until winter to rebuild what was lost.
“We were standing at the sidewalk on the south side of my house watching it come across the field. You could have literally dropped a dollar bill out of your pocket … and it would’ve floated straight to the ground. And when you looked across the road at my mailbox, it was just (trembling). It looked like it was going to come out of the ground. So in a matter of 300 feet, that was the difference.”
Aves lost three buildings in the tornado. The house where he lives with his wife, Brenda, 38, and three kids, Allyson, 11, Hayden, 8, and Madelyn, 5, was undamaged. But two equipment sheds and half of his dairy barn were obliterated. His garage was lifted off its foundation. He intends to tear it down in the coming weeks.
“All that stuff can be replaced, but life can’t be replaced,” said Dale Rhode, Aves’ neighbor and a family friend.
None of Aves’ family members, employees or livestock was injured during the storm. “They tell me I’m a victim,” he said. “I don’t feel like a victim.”
Family members, friends, neighbors and dairy farmers from 40 miles away, some of whom he had never met, showed up on his driveway the morning after the tornado.
“If something happens, (farmers) are there to help each other,” Rhodes said. “We’re out picking up trash in the field.”
Within 48 hours, most of the debris had been cleared.
“For my kids growing up to see all that, how that went, I think that’s a great thing for them, a great education,” Aves said. “When your family is healthy and you’ve got a house to live (in) and you’re able to get the cows’ milk, nothing else matters. That’s really what it comes down to.”
Source: RRStar
