Scores cattle are now safe on Larson Farms in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, after an intense line of thunderstorms, known as a Quasi-Linear Convective System, swept from west to east at high speeds this week.
Josh Larson, the farm’s manager, received a call from his mother after finishing farm chores for the day. With his home only 10 miles away, he received a call from his mother, who lives on the farm, saying that the steer shed was gone.
Three storms rolling through came along with 80 mph winds late Tuesday evening, blowing down a barn that housed 200 cattle. When Larson arrived back at the farm, he found 120 head trapped underneath the structure.
“We came back over and immediately started to work on rescuing cattle out of the debris,” Larson told 27 WKOW news.
The family worked until 11:30 p.m., and incredibly, the only casualty after the debacle was a steer with a broken leg.
Once the last of the family’s cattle were secured from the damage, Larson reportedly reached out to help his neighbors, who had already secured their livestock.
In the spirit of community, people from all over offered to help clean up the sheds and debris with heavy machinery and manual labor.
“Well, it’s a little overwhelming,” Larson told the news station. “You hope that you’re a good person, and when you see a bunch of people come in, you know that you’re doing right, by some people anyway.”
On Tuesday evening, at least five tornadoes were recorded in western and central Wisconsin. The storms caused extensive damage while moving across the state at 50 to 80 mph, leaving over 25,000 without power.
More twisters may be confirmed as the National Weather Service’s investigators continue surveying damage in the storms’ paths.
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