The Mueller family in Strawn, Ill., is so much like 97% of family dairy farms all across this country. Generations before built it and the generations since have worked extremely hard to carry on the rich tradition. Decades of memories. Decades of hard work. Decades of riding out the ups and downs that dairy farming brings. Three days before Christmas, on the 22nd of December, their dairy barn went up in flames and the Mueller’s dairy farm suffered an enormous loss.
A fire started and quickly spread with the high winds. Approximately 20 emergency vehicles from several neighboring fire departments came out in the treacherous weather to help fight the fire. Many community members also came out to offer a helping hand to contain the fire and help save as many cows as they could.
The loss is still hard for John and Tray Mueller and Mark and Erika Mueller to wrap their heads around. The loss is substantial. The milking parlor and the cattle sheds—a complete loss. Equipment that helps run the dairy—destroyed. And, the majority of the Mueller’s 140-cow herd were lost in the fire.
With subzero temperatures, and wind chill exceeding 30 below, the family and community did their best to put out the fire. A nearby neighbor shares that the scene was horrific.
“The cows wouldn’t get out of the barns, they kept running towards the heat,” a nearby farmer says.
During the fire, the electrical all went out and the automatic gates wouldn’t open,” a family member shared. “The barns filled with fire and smoke and chaos.”
The Mueller family built a new, 130-cow freestall barn several years ago. The original barn had two lean-to barns next to it. All of that—the original barns, the new freestall barn, the milking parlor and their feed area all went up in flames and were all destroyed overnight.
So much history lost. Four generations on this family farm that started as so many do, with determined grandparents, and 15 cows, generations before them.
The Mueller Family Dairy currently supports two families and is thankful no people suffered injuries.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family. Fundraiser by Evan Bachtold : Mueller Dairy Farm Fire (gofundme.com)
