Lisa Dyck reminds producers to check feed for damage
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A Manitoba dairy farmer is speaking out after silage piles on her property were vandalized on Halloween night.
Lisa Dyck, who along with her husband William own Cornell Dairy near Anola, Manitoba, said on Halloween night, someone came onto the property and cut open silage stored on the farm.
“The next day (Nov 1), a neighbour had driven past,” she said. “He called my husband to say the silage pile had been damaged.”
“Someone had taken a knife and cut right around it.”
Dyck estimates the damaged bag holds about 600 tonnes of silage. It was to feed the 275 cows on the 1,000 acre farm.
Photo: Lisa Dyck
She said it could cost about $60,000 to replace the bag when inputs and other variables are factored in.
A summer full of heavy rains and tornados in Manitoba meant the hay was cut later than usual.
“It’s been a little much to handle.”
“That was our first cut and we only got that off in late July,” she said. “My husband decided to just have the custom silage guys come and bag it.
“They got it up really fast. The quality isn’t optimum but that’s all we have for our feed.”
Dyck said she’s uncertain if the act was random or targeted. Police came out to the scene but there are currently no leads.
She said she’ll begin putting up signs and limiting property access to try keeping her property safer.