<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1mU3nN_0lqKANpp00" style="display:none" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1mU3nN_0lqKANpp00" width="1224" height="960" > A fire erupted on a family farm in west Texas this week, killing about 18,000 cows that were worth millions of dollars. The blaze happened Monday at South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt, Texas. A fire crew rescued one employee who was trapped inside a farm facility. No other employees were injured, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid07xZAX5ABsc5At9zvvUHW5sUHCWUEj3uQs4EyeRkJ5QoBfPqnjZKrHKyRioh26hoQl&amp;id=100069128143279" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> according </a> to the Castro County sheriff's office. <figure class="embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-feed_phone_image"><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3q6CJR_0lqKANpp00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3q6CJR_0lqKANpp00" width="620" height="827" ><figcaption class="embed__caption-container">Fire crew worked late into the night to contain the blaze at South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt, Texas. The incident claimed the lives of roughly 18,000 cows, local officials said. Castro County (Texas) Sheriff's Office </figcaption></figure> The incident marks the nation's deadliest fire for cows since at least 2013, the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C., told CBS MoneyWatch. The agriculture industry and lawmakers must pass stricter laws protecting animals from fire, said Allie Granger, policy associate for AWI's farm animal program. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> "It is hard to imagine anything worse than being burned alive," Granger said. "We hope the industry will remain focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to adopt common-sense fire safety measures." Castro County judge Mandy Gfeller, the top executive in the county, estimated South Fork's losses in the tens of millions of dollars, USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/13/18-000-cows-killed-dairy-farm-fire-dimmitt-texas-what-know/11651207002/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> reported </a> . Each cow was worth about $2,000, and the 18,000 who were killed made up 90% of the farm's total herd, according to the outlet. Texas is the nation's fourth-largest milk producer, behind Idaho, Wisconsin and California, according to the U.S. Department of <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/dairy/background/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Agriculture </a> . The Lone Star State pumps out more than 7 million tons of milk per year. The fire, which is still under investigation, started in a different part of the farm property, then spread to a holding pen where the cows wait to be milked, <a href="https://www.newschannel10.com/2023/04/11/reports-upwards-18000-cattle-lost-explosion-dimmitt-dairy-farm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> according </a> to KFDA, a CBS affiliate in Amarillo, Texas. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> The surviving cows were moved to a different facility on the South Fork farm, but local sheriffs said some of those cattle suffered, too. "There's some that survived, there's some that are probably injured to the point where they'll have to be destroyed," Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera told KFDA. About 6.5 million animals have died in barn fires since 2013, of which 7,385 were cows, according to Animal Welfare Institute <a href="https://awionline.org/content/barn-fires" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> data </a> . Chickens have suffered the most, with 6 million deaths, according to the advocacy group's tally, which began a decade ago. Cattle deaths from the South Fork fire far surpass the cow fatalities two years ago when an upstate New York farm fire claimed the lives of 400. That fire tore through two buildings at the Bubbins Farm in Beekmantown, New York, causing over $3 million in damage, CBS affiliate WCAX <a href="https://www.wcax.com/2020/10/06/multiple-departments-respond-to-large-barn-fire-in-beekmantown/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> reported </a> . It took 19 fire departments — including one from Vermont and three from Canada — to contain the blaze. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

A fire erupted on a family farm in west Texas this week, killing about 18,000 cows that were worth millions of dollars.The blaze happened Monday at South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt, Texas. A fire crew rescued one employee who was trapped inside a farm facility. No other employees were injured, according to the Castro County sheriff's office. The incident marks the nation's deadliest fire for cows since at least 2013, the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C., told CBS MoneyWatch. The agriculture industry and lawmakers must pass stricter laws protecting animals from fire, said Allie Granger, policy associate for AWI's...