MULLICA HILL, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — One of the largest dairy farms in New Jersey took a direct hit from the EF-3 tornado that ravaged Gloucester County.
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Nearly every structure on the expansive Wellacrest Farms in Mullica Hill was damaged. The road is full of debris and downed power wires. Some of the barns and outbuildings are completely leveled, reduced to nothing more than piles of twisted steel and wood.
Owner Eric Eachus said he and his wife and kids took shelter in the basement of their farmhouse when the tornado struck. Fortunately, their house was mostly spared. But when he went outside to check on the farm, he soon realized this wasn’t going to be a quick recovery.
“All of our cow barns — we have 1,400 cows here that are all in these buildings — and all of them but one is totally destroyed and leveled,” he said. “We had about 800 cows running loose the night after it happened in the rain.
“We called every neighbor we knew and they all came and helped us get them all somewhat contained for the night, made sure they had food and water.”
He said they were able to get almost all of the cows away from the buildings that had fallen down, though about 120 cows were trapped in one until Thursday morning.
“We were finally able to get enough equipment here to get that building up to get the [trapped] cows out,” he added.
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Amazingly, Eachus said they only lost three out of the 1,400 cows. And, with some quick thinking and home engineering, they are already producing milk again.
Eachus acknowledged it will a long road to recovery. Local construction companies brought in workers and heavy machinery, and neighbors showed up to help them clean up and rebuild.
“The support of people has been unreal,” he added.
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