Hurricane Ian devastates dairy

MYAKKA CITY, Fla. – Every day, for five days, Jerry Dakin walked his property through the mud and debris left by Hurricane Ian to pick up deceased animals. He continues to gather pieces of debris where his freestall barns once stood.
“Never in my life have I seen this many dead animals,” Dakin said.

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 Dakin Dairy Farm received 19 inches of rain in a 12-hour span Sept. 28-29. The sustained winds of 150 mph plummeted the area as the Category 4 hurricane made landfall. As the day turned into night, the pouring rain and winds continued.
Dakin Dairy Farm lost more than 200 animals, both cows and youngstock, and six 800-foot freestall barns were scattered across the property after the storm subsided.
“As bad as I got, it is humbling to see that others have it much worse” Dakin said. “Some lost everything.”
In 2004, Hurricane Charley hit southwestern Florida but changed course as it neared Dakin’s area and left the dairy in one piece.
“All the way up to about 12 hours before the Hurricane Ian hit, we thought it was going to miss us,” Dakin said.
Dakin milks 2,000 cows near Myakka City, which is 50 miles inland off the west coast of Florida. The dairy farm processes its own milk and delivers to local grocery stores and homes. They also have an on-farm café and give farm tours.
With the roads under water and bridges washed away, Dakin Dairy Farm could not deliver its milk; even if they could, the grocery stores could not have taken the milk as they did not have power. With no other option, Dakin had to dump multiple days’ worth of milk. The dairy itself was without power for four days, and Dakin has had to bring in two generators to get by.
Dakin said the high winds ruined a field of sorghum. The wind stripped the leaves and ruined what was left in the field to harvest for this year.
“For me, it’s realizing that we are not that strong; Mother Nature is stronger,” Dakin said. “I don’t think it has really hit me yet about everything. I’ve cried a couple times, but it hasn’t fully hit me yet.”
To prepare for the storm, Dakin filled water tanks and water trucks to have water available after the storm. They parked the trucks around the parlor and around the milk processing facility to protect the buildings. The plan worked as the parlor and processing facility remained intact.  
They milked until 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 then shut down to retreat to safety.
“That’s when pieces of metal started flooding into the parlor,” he said.
Dakin went to his brother’s house nearby because of a generator being at that location. Dakin said his brother lost over 300 animals from the storm.
The next day, as Dakin returned home to assess his farm, he did not know what to expect.
Though the silage bags survived, the roof was torn off the commodity shed, leaving feed exposed.
Due to the warm climate of Florida, most of Dakin’s animals were outside and were able to find high ground to survive the storm. Otherwise, Dakin said the dairy might have lost even more animals had they all been indoors.
“I was able to go in the house and recuperate; the animals could not,” Dakin said. “(They) had to stay out there and take it.”
Dakin has since sold a couple of loads of injured cows and sorted the remaining livestock into the remaining outdoor pens and barns. Dakin said the stress on the cows has affected the farm’s pregnancy rate.
“This is the biggest devastation I have ever seen,” Dakin said. “It has been a challenge, and we are just taking it one step at a time.”
The day after the storm passed, the surrounding community rallied together to help Dakin clean up. The farm even became a donation center, with the on-farm café serving as headquarters. People came from miles around to drop off food, water, diapers and other household supplies for those in the wider community.
 “It was great to see the community support,” Dakin said. “So many of our employees had lost everything at home and needed to stay home and take care of things there. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that it’s OK to ask for help. People want to help. People want to see local farms survive.”
Dakin plans to rebuild the dairy farm and put Hurricane Ian behind him.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else or do anything else,” Dakin said. “I love what I do.”