18,000 cows killed in explosion, fire at Texas dairy farm may be largest cattle killing ever

[In It to Win It]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/18-000-cows-killed-explosion-013001077.html

The fire spread quickly through the holding pens, where thousands of dairy cows crowded together waiting to be milked, trapped in deadly confines.

After subduing the fire at the west Texas dairy farm Monday evening, officials were stunned at the scale of livestock death left behind: 18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas – or nearly three times the number of cattle led to slaughter each day across the U.S.

A dairy farm worker rescued from inside the structure was taken to an area hospital and was in critical but stable condition as of Tuesday. There were no other human casualties.

"It's mind-boggling," Dimmitt Mayor Roger Malone said of the number of bovine deaths. "I don’t think it's ever happened before around here. It's a real tragedy."
The Castro County Sheriff's Office was among several agencies to respond to a fire and explosion at a dairy farm near Dimmitt on Monday.

[sakabatou]

1. And now milk prices will go up or gouged.

[Tetrachloride]

2. it sounds like one big building. insufficient spacing

and an awful lot of hay.

[lapfog_1]

4. awful lot of methane gas

but that is a guess, but I driven by large dairy operations with crowded holding "pens"... and while I am not vegan, every time I drive by and see the cattle in there (or the large feedlot operations near I-5 in CA)... and have to hold my breath until I am upwind of the "pen"... I think maybe I not drink milk, eat cheese, or eat cow meat again.

Of course, the chicken farms and pig farms are probably worse.

[RockRaven]

3. Holy cow!

(sorry, that was terrible)

[vercetti2021]

5. Lord

And somehow its (enter dumbass reason for this happening here) fault. Or its Biden and his radical agenda for plant based foods blah blah blah!

[Kittycatkat]

6. Insurance scam? Seems suspicious that so many creatures could die in one explosion.

Were these cows jammed into a small area like sardines for greed and profits? Texas is sickening on so many levels. If milk and dairy prices up because of neglect and cruelty to these animals I may have to become a vegetarian and take my coffee black.

[Tetrachloride]

15. ++. Some questions

1. where were the people ?
2. no cameras ?
3. what exact location was the start
4. what was near to cause the fire to spread ?
5. exact time of day ?

[ecstatic]

20. Yikes. Do you think maybe they were infected with something?

That's gross.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

26. I worked at 2 dairies while in college.

both had cows on pasture. They were rounded up twice a day for milking.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

7. sounds like a horrible life for the cows (pre fire)

[flvegan]

8. Go vegan. You don't have to be a participant in this. n/t

[Duppers]

22. TY for posting this!

[TheBlackAdder]

9. There was a great disturbance in the force.

.





.

[DFW]

10. Prompting a Texas-sized question

Can you still call it road kill if it’s edible, but not found on the road?

[Throck]

11. Corporate Farms

Cram everything in and overcrowd. Like our cities and factories.

[Duppers]

23. Indeed! 👍

[Hekate]

12. The cruelty of such a death is horrifying. Poor things.

[Silver Gaia]

13. I agree.

That was my first reaction, too. Those poor creatures. What a horrible way for them to die.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. I wonder if anyone's told the farmer yet that it's God's will?

S/

[progressoid]

17. Those numbers don't seem right.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas – or nearly three times the number of cattle led to slaughter each day across the U.S.

That slaughter number seems low.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. That might just be an average over a year

since the highest number of auctions and then slaughters for food tend to be "seasonal" to align with age and condition of livestock, and that "max" for calf auctions tends to be in late winter/early spring and slaughters usually in the fall (although they still do it year-round).

[Lancero]

21. Very low, the number is somewhere around 90k per day.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/194357/total-cattle-slaughter-in-the-us-since-2000/

[jeffreyi]

24. JFC.

I have lived among and with bovines and equines for decades. This is unspeakably cruel.

[pandr32]

25. Horrendous conditions for cows to live in.

The way animals are raised for food production has become horrifying. Most people really have no idea how their eggs, dairy, and meat has gotten to their stores. Slogans on packaging like "farm raised", "grass-fed", "free range", etc. seem to mean a pleasant existence for the animal and are indeed intended to mislead. Reality is very different.
Friendly, family farms are mostly gone. There are a few here and there but they have been put out of business by corporate producers. They couldn't care less about animals having pleasant lives and being well treated.
18,000 or more cows in a building together should conjure images of hell.