Few things are more worthless, from a dairyman’s perspective, than a dry milk cow that isn’t pregnant. ALL INDICATIONS are the fire rekindled from one that occurred earlier on the fateful day. WHILE THE FIRE caused extensive damage, Strickler pointed out that the 7,000-gallon stainless steel milk storage tank was saved.
That was an overriding concern for Steve Strickler four weeks ago after the milk parlor at Strickler Dairy burned at the northeast corner of Iola.
About 350 high-grade Holsteins were being milked twice a day and the result of the fire was that Strickler had no place to continue the chore.
“Within 15 hours, we had them all moved, 250 to a dairy near Hiattville and 100 to Prescott,” he said.
That was the initial stop-gap measure.
“We had to get them somewhere quickly so they could be milked,” Strickler observed. “If a cow isn’t milked, it gets awfully painful for her right away and eventually they dry themselves up.”
The Hiattville dairy had been milking 140 heads, and could assimilate the additional cows for only so long.
“They (at Hiattville) went from their normal schedule to milking 24 hours a day,” he said.
The Kansas dairy fraternity has become a small, tight group in recent years and within days Strickler had 100 cows each at dairies near Syracuse and Jetmore, as well as others at Hiattville and Prescott. A farm near Newton is caring for 15 maternity cows.
“All the guys really rallied around to get the cows out to where they needed to be,” he said.
Initially, Strickler thought his milk parlor, and an addition to house an office, break room and storage, might be completed within a month so the cows could return to Iola.
“Now it looks like it’s going to be sometime in early March,” he said.
The parlor itself won’t be enlarged — piping and equipment were saved — which means the dairy will return to twice-a-day milking of 16 head at a time.
“We were having some welding done and there was a fire in the afternoon,” Strickler said. “Everyone thought it was out, but then it apparently came back in the wall that night.
“I got a call at 11 o’clock — I already was asleep — that there was a fire and when I got to the milk parlor it was full of smoke and still had cows in it. I guess the guys were just frozen by what was happening.
“We got the cows out and I told everyone to do what they could with water hoses we had,” Strickler said. “I was standing on a gate with a hose in one hand and my cell phone in the other, calling 911.
“I asked that the fire trucks not use their sirens, and they apparently didn’t. That would have scared the cows and we’d have had three-fourths of Iola out here.”
The response was so stealthy that some nearby residents didn’t know about the fire until the next day.
“The good thing was no cows or people were hurt, other than when I fell off the gate,” he added.
When he had time the next day to assess all that was occurring, Strickler said he wanted to keep the cows all together and thought that was going to be possible at Syracuse, a dairy that daily milks 4,300 head.
“I had 10 trucks lined up, but then he (the Syracuse owner) called back and said he a bunch of heifers coming from California that were about ready to calf and he couldn’t take all 350 of my cows,” Strickler recounted. “But, everyone was extremely kind to do all they have to help out.”
Even so, Strickler knows things won’t be as they were when the cows start trooping into the rebuilt milk parlor in two or three weeks.
“They’ll never be the same,” he said. “Cows are creatures of habit. When you change their routine they hate it.
“Right now they’re getting different feed, being milked at different times and some will come back not pregnant.”
Cows having calves each year is an integral part of the dairy business.
“I did see my cows in Syracuse last weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at how good they looked,” Strickler said.
“That’s not just something to go out and buy,” he said. “They are custom built and that takes time.”
His options, in the days after the fire, were to sell his herd, build a new parlor or rebuild what was left, which included the piping system and concrete stem walls.
“Rebuilding was the choice because of cost, although it’s going to be at least $120,000 and probably more, with no guarantee yet on insurance,” he said, noted the rebuilding option was “a lot simpler and quicker.”
Meanwhile, a large barn near the parlor, undamaged by the fire, stands as a stark reminder of the herd it has sheltered for years between the cows’ twice-a-day treks to the milk parlor.
“I’ve tried to avoid looking at it — really have only once since the fire,” Strickler said. “I get pretty emotional when I see it empty.”
Strickler eager for herd’s return
