A good insurance plan and the support of an entire community helped rebuild a Michigan dairy farm after a tornado ripped through this summer.
Henk deVor tells Brownfield 80 percent of his 3,500 cow dairy was destroyed the same day construction was completed on a new freestall barn.
“We built back in six months and it was amazing what happened.”
Within 12 hours after the tornado touched down in the center of the farm, three competing milk equipment companies rallied together to get the milking parlor operational. Two hours later, the rebuilding began. Over the next few days 200 volunteers helped with cleanup and 21 workers labored 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for six months to get the farm fully functioning. The wreckage killed 80 cows and more than 300 others were slaughter because of injuries.
deVor says good insurance which included loss of income coverage made the recovery possible. “If you have good insurance and you build back up your barns and you can’t make your payments—then you have your barns built and you’ll be bankrupt at the end of the day.” He says farmers should prepare for more than just a disaster, “Make sure you have loss of income insurance too.”
deVor spoke with Brownfield the recent Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. (Click here to listen)
