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 RAISING THE ROOF—The Dunn family weathered the May 4 EF-5 tornado only to discover that the storm had ripped the roofs off of several of their specially designed pig facilities. In some instances, it peeled only portions of the roof back, in others the storm lifted the roof right off the beams. The Dunns have found other facilities to house their pigs until they can repair the storm damage. No pigs were killed and all were accounted for after the storm. (Photo by Jennifer Latzke.) St. John pig facility takes hit from tail end of stormBy Jennifer M. Latzke The pig barns were eerily quiet on the Dunn family homestead north of St. John, Kan. Considering that the Dunns' pigs had made it through a tornado ripping the roofs off their barns, it's understandable that they could be a little dazed and quiet even up to five days after the storm. "They've been really quiet," said Leon Dunn. "Everyone's just amazed at how quiet they've been. The only time they've been loud was when a jet plane flew overhead, probably scouting for President Bush's visit. Then, they raised a ruckus that could be heard miles away." On Friday, May 4, the EF-5 tornado that ripped through Greensburg, Kan., was still in motion as it passed through the town of St. John, north of Greensburg. Dunn and his wife Jan were preparing to go to sleep, when the weather reports began trickling in. "When it hit Friday, I'd been pacing the floor a bit," Dunn said. "We'd just put a new metal roof and metal siding on our house. We all got into the basement as it hit." The Dunns came out of their basement to find the roofs torn off of their hog facilities and other structural damage around the farm, but not one pig was missing. In fact, the only way you could tell the 1,250 sows, 600 replacement gilts and 1,500 baby pigs had been through a storm of that magnitude is by their shocked expressions and the minor cuts some sported. Not one pig was missing, and most were relatively unscathed. The storm still caused more than the average problems for the Dunns. Their pig facility was only 13 years old and built specifically to keep the pigs from contracting any number of livestock diseases. The Dunns raise pigs for a production system out of Iowa, AMVC (Audubon-Manning Veterinary Company), which supplies healthy genetics for pork producers in the production chain. Their stock have a high health status, which means the pigs they produce are certified to be pseudorabies free, brucellosis free, microplasma negative and free of a list of other health concerns. "The pigs are really naive," Dunn said. From birth until shipment to the next point in the production chain, the pigs lived in a climate controlled environment designed to reduce their exposure to disease. With their high health status, however, sorting through the rubble and finding temporary shelters for their naive pigs has been a problem. "We can't just take these pigs to any open facility," Dunn said. "The barn must be empty, and have stood empty for several years so that it's clean and isolated from other farms." Fortunately, through the help of a local radio station and the National Pork Producers, the Dunns have found temporary shelters for their pigs until they can rebuild their facilities. "We're moving some pigs over to Larned, some over to Osborne," Dunn said. As difficult as it will be to have pigs spread out through many facilities around the state, it's better than losing the cash flow, or disrupting the production cycle of farmers who depend on the Dunns to produce their breeding stock. The Dunns have had the support of their neighbors in picking up the pieces after the tornado. Almost immediately after the tornado struck the St. John area on Friday, neighbors were at the Dunn farm with trucks and trailers and willing hands to pick up debris. The amount of concern that his neighbors showed toward his family wasn't lost on Dunn. "Our neighbors have just been wonderful help," he said, choking up. The Dunns even heard from a former foreign exchange student in Norway, who e-mailed them as soon as he heard the news of the tornado, to check in and see if they were all right. "Farm Bureau has sent us help," Dunn said. "We even had the local FFA advisor bring out about 20 students who walked through our alfalfa field picking up boards and things so that we can cut hay without worrying about putting something through the swather that we shouldn't. "We also have some great employees who know how to care for animals," Dunn added. "You know, after a storm like this, they could easily quit and walk away, but they've been here with us, helping us out." The Dunns are waiting on a contractor to become available to give an estimate on the cost to replace their facilities, but their insurance company has already been out to assess the damage and is working with the family. More important than the cost of rebuilding is that no one was harmed by the storm, and they have a chance to rebuild their operation with the pigs the storm spared. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. E 2 5/21/07 Date: 5/15/07
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