Rebuilding After Fiona

In the predawn darkness of September 24, 2022, Matt Barrett gathered his courage and flashlight and ventured outside to check on his dairy herd.

Matt had lain awake all night listening to the howling winds of Hurricane Fiona. The storm had become a Category 4 hurricane as it made landfall on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, where the Barrett family has lived and farmed since the 1800s.

Bringing rain and 120 mph winds, Fiona had wiped out 95% of the island’s electrical power. Unable to sleep, Barrett had grown increasingly worried about his dairy herd in the nearby freestall barn.

The Barretts’ cows are no ordinary herd. Known as Milking Shorthorns, they derive from an old dual-purpose breed that could be used for milk or beef. These days, they’re mostly bred for milk production. The Barretts have been raising the heritage breed for three generations.

Under the Oceanbrae Farms name, the Barretts’ cows were considered the top Milking Shorthorn herd in Canada. They have also ranked as the #1 Lifetime Profit Index Milking Shorthorn herd in Canada for several years. 

Likewise, the Barretts are well known across Canada and internationally for their breeding stock. Oceanbrae Farms has been the top-ranked Milking Shorthorn herd in Canada for Breed Class Average for many years. They have sold their top-quality cows to buyers in every Canadian province and several U.S. states. Oceanbrae Farms embryos also head to the U.S., United Kingdom and New Zealand. The Barretts have twice earned the prestigious Master Breeder designation by the Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society. 

Although numbering only 75 cows, the pedigreed herd of Oceanbrae Farms was almost irreplaceable. Just before daybreak, Matt headed to the barn. His father, Fred, soon joined him.

Clear and present danger
Shining their flashlights through the darkness, the two men could see that powerful winds had torn off pieces of the barn roof. Overhead lights were swinging, and some had already fallen to the floor. A few of the barn’s interior walls had shifted. Debris flew through the air.

“The cows were huddled in the back among the stalls,” Matt recalls. “They were quite scared.”

He and his father weren’t sure what to do. Should they push the cows up into the holding area to prepare for milking? Or head to the adjoining office for safety? Suddenly, they heard  a large crash. 

“We saw the barn fold like an accordion in front of our eyes,” says Matt. “It just fell like dominoes. From front to back, a 230-foot barn just sandwiched.”

As the barn collapsed, the walls and roof fell onto the freestall railings and gating, miraculously preventing the structure from crushing the Barretts and their cattle.

“We are thankful nobody was hurt,” Matt says.

Resilience and recovery
Hurricane Fiona would rank as the most powerful and destructive storm in Canadian history. It reshaped coastlines, uprooted thousands of trees, destroyed buildings and resulted in at least two deaths on Prince Edward Island alone. It would take months for the province to restore its infrastructure.

Oceanbrae Farms suffered extensive property damage. The greatest loss was the freestall barn, which had just been constructed in 2019. It would have to be rebuilt from the ground up. The milking parlor and the adjoining office, as well as other farm structures, sustained damage but remained functional. Across the farm’s 700 acres, there were uprooted trees and debris to clear. The recovery work began. 

“Our New Holland skid steer loader didn’t go a day unmoved,” Matt says. “It was an active part of the clean-up and rebuilding process. Our New Holland tractors hauled debris, tore apart the rubble and wreckage, and unloaded trucks and supplies for the new build.”

The Barretts found four “foster farms” across the province to care for their prized Milking Shorthorns. With insurance money, they rebuilt the freestall barn at a cost of $1.4 million. By the spring of 2023, the new barn was up, and the Barretts’ award-winning herd had returned to its home above Malpeque Bay. 

Today, life is back to normal on Oceanbrae Farms. The entire family, which includes Matt’s mother, Margaret, his wife, Chandler, and his brother, Ryan, pitches in. They care for the Shorthorns and the cow-calf operation of 35 purebred Simmental beef cattle. With the help of one employee and a summer student, the Barretts also produce corn, alfalfa, barley and forages.

Planning for the future
The Shorthorns are back on permanent pasture for rotational grazing on alfalfa and grass from May to October. Quality alfalfa is key to the herd feeding program. Under Ryan, who serves as the farm’s agronomist, healthy soil is a priority. For example, the Barretts plant fall cover crops after harvest to build organic matter in the soil. They also have built soil erosion structures that focus on good drainage and soil conservation.

The dairy’s high-quality milk continues to head to Amalgamated Dairy Ltd., a processing cooperative on the island. “Our milk to-fat ratio qualifies for a higher return on our milk,” Matt says. “It’s why we stick with the Milking Shorthorns.”

Still, challenges remain. Labor is hard to find. Input costs are high. Everything has to be shipped onto the island, further increasing prices. And, adds Matt, “Since the hurricane, everything’s been so hectic and a bit of a blur.”

But, just as they did before Fiona, the Barretts continue to plan for the future. They keep an eye on market and consumer demands. They remain proactive as a sustainable farm. They’re advancing their research into dairy cow genetics. They see potential for herd expansion.

One change they’ve made is the type of freestall barn they constructed after Fiona. The new build is a traditional wooden barn with a high wind- and snow-load rating. The building’s exterior has a concrete foundation. It also has a narrow truss and stud spacing coupled with triangular steel wind-bracing. The 2019 barn had been a steel-framed structure whose roof and walls were comprised of cloth tarp. That design was meant to increase barn ventilation during the humid summers. But it didn’t stand a chance against Fiona, rare as such hurricanes are on Prince Edward Island. Barrett will never forget its destructive force and how it nearly took the lives of him, his father and their extraordinary dairy herd. 

“No more tarp barns for this guy,” Matt says. “You can always replace a barn, but you can’t replace a life.”