PESHTIGO, Wis. — Being without power for a few hours can be classified as an inconvenience; being without power for several days might be considered a catastrophe, especially on a dairy farm.
Residents of the northeastern Wisconsin counties of Marinette and Oconto lived that nightmare, some being without power for nearly a week.
Jeremy and Monica Schwittay, as well as Jeremy’s brother, Jason, were among the dairy farmers faced with the dilemma.
The Schwittays operate a trio of farm-related businesses in Peshtigo: Schwittay Farms, where they milk 485 cows; Heifer Solutions, where they house and care for 3,000 heifers; and Schwittay Harmony Market, a retail farmers market store.
A spring storm rolled across Wisconsin April 2, dumping 10 inches or more of wet, heavy snow across the two counties.
High winds exceeding 40-60 mph created additional stress on power lines, poles and trees, and residents were plunged into cold darkness.
According to Monica Schwittay, on a 2-mile span of their road, over half the power poles were snapped in half.
“We lost power on Tuesday at 5:11 p.m.,” Schwittay said. “We were fully restored at all of our facilities at 1:58 p.m. Sunday, April 7. It was a very long, frustrating and exhausting week.”
Battling winter weather and the occasional power outage is something the Schwittays are accustomed to. But, this storm is one they said they will likely never forget and one they hope to never relive.
“We have three power take-off generators plus some small backup generators that can handle basic residential needs like lights, water and running the furnace,” Schwittay said. “Our largest PTO unit always goes to the parlor and freestall. We started that running Tuesday evening.”
As it became apparent the outage would be longer than the typical outage, the Schwittays went into overtime, caring for the animals in their charge as best they could overnight.
“We went to bed around 2:30 a.m.,” Schwittay said. “Sometime between then and 3:30 a.m., we lost power again. The cord that runs from the generator to the main panel blew apart. It must have gotten moisture in it. It was snowing heavily, and it was extremely windy. We were down a unit right out of the gate.”
As the sun rose, the Schwittays were without power at each of their locations, a condition they would soon learn was widespread with jaw-dropping damage.
“Our cell phones didn’t work for almost two days,” Schwittay said. “You couldn’t call out, and occasionally, you could get a text to send. That made the work of figuring out how to proceed that much more difficult.”
DL Agricultural Electric Inc. brought a stand-alone generator to the Schwittays’ parlor and freestall barn.
“We were back up and milking again by about 10 a.m.,” Schwittay said. “Basically, we skipped our morning milking that Wednesday.”
The Schwittays began developing a strategic plan for how they could best care for their livestock and accomplish the necessary chores.
“The time of the year made it more contentious, trying to figure out how to best handle the situation,” Schwittay said. “We had to figure out who was available to move generators from here to there. When one location had downtime, we would take it to another location. Each location had to have a tractor that could run it while we were rotating generators between facilities. It was cumbersome and tiring.”
As one day rolled into another, the hope of power being restored soon dimmed.
“It’s a multitude of things: You’re stressed about your animals, your own family, your employees and the general public,” Schwittay said. “Our employees were absolutely awesome. They were tired and cold, but they put smiles on their faces. We all toughed it out together, making the best of a bad situation.”
Being short of generators, the market store was put at the end of the line, Schwittay said.
“Fortunately for the store, it was cold,” she said. “We wrapped and insulated all the freezers and coolers. Luckily that property was the first of our facilities to be restored.”
After their power was restored, the Schwittays opened a conference room with a bathroom and shower area for anyone needing a warm place or a hot shower.
Two electric providers — Wisconsin Public Service and Oconto Electric Cooperative — bore the brunt of the storm, Schwittay said. Over 120,000 WPS customers were without power, while Oconto Electric had 9,000 members, 90% of its customers, without power.
“WPS communicated that this was one of the two largest restorations in their history,” Schwittay said. “They estimated 300-400 poles were replaced and nearly 50 miles of power lines restrung along with over 20,000 other pieces of equipment needing to be replaced. They had over 500 workers from multiple states put in nearly 50,000 man-hours. That was just WPS.”
While Schwittay hopes this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, she said they are putting plans in place to be prepared if they ever experience an outage of this magnitude again.
“I don’t want to relive this, but it is something that requires preparing to protect ourselves,” Schwittay said. “The investment is huge. You wonder how you will get a return on that investment. But, how do you not get a return on that investment when one catastrophe like this happens?”
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