The farm had completed its fifth cut of silage on the 10 October, which had been delayed, because of poor weather. When sheeting up the clamp an orange/yellow gas was noticed around the edges of the clamp, something occasionally experienced in past years. The clamp was sealed and heavy straw bales tightly packed over the whole clamp as has been normal practice and successful in eliminating waste for many years.
“The next day saw torrential rain and we all felt chuffed with ourselves for getting the final cut in,” Aled said.
Smoke
“But on Thursday, around 11.15am, a farm worker noticed some smoke picking up in one of the clamps, and after investigating, alerted my son Osian, who then called the North Wales Fire Service.
“At the time I was on a Teams call in the house when I heard my wife calling me urgently to come outside. I could hear the panic in her voice and instantly went out to see a massive cloud of smoke coming from the silage clamps. Within 10 minutes the whole place was ablaze, and I stood there feeling numb, unable to do anything.
Turmoil
“My local NFU Mutual Agent Hedd Rhys, from the Caernarfon Agency, came out that afternoon and immediately got in touch with assessors, who visited the following day while the fire was still raging. My head was in turmoil, but they were all calm and made the necessary calls, arranging contractors to remove the smouldering waste and take it away.”
Neges syml arall, gwnewch ddefnydd o gwmni yswiriant gwerth ei halen megis NFU Mutual @nfum https://t.co/RFCByb9vlP
— Aled Jones NFU Cymru (@AledNfu) December 28, 2023
Aled is thankful that nobody was hurt in the fire and the farm’s 520 dairy cows were largely unaffected. For the first 48 hours, the wind blew the smoke away from the cow housing.
The severity and scale of the fire left Aled struggling to sleep for several nights, tormented by thoughts of what if and if only? "If only we'd caught it in time and put the fire out," said Aled, noting this was a recurring thought. However, he now reflects that there was no injuries or a funeral to attend.
Cause
“I also couldn’t stop thinking about what had caused the fire. At first I thought it was the orange-yellow gas and contacted Dr David Davies, a leading silage expert, about it. I also thought the sodium lights, installed 20 years ago as a low energy lighting system, may have overheated. Dr Davies considers the most likely reason is that a mouldy bale might have heated and that the gas acted as an accelerant.
“But this needs further investigation if only to highlight to others the possible dangers. In the meantime I’d urge caution to all farmers using straw or hay to seal their silage clamps.”
First TB breakdown
As if the fire did not bring sufficient woes, the farm has since suffered its first ever bovine tuberculosis (TB) breakdown, with 42 cows slaughtered to date.
“Normally we would sell between 80-100 down calving heifers annually and all our heifer calves are contract reared, so total stock numbers on the farm will now increase due to movement restrictions despite significant numbers being compulsory slaughtered,” he said.
“Housing additional numbers will be very challenging especially not having some of the covered clamp spaces for temporary accommodation.”
Aled added he never in his life imagined the scale of fire and the impact on the farm but has taken comfort from the fact that everything was done properly on the insurance side.
Adequate insurance
“Farmers must never disregard the importance of taking time to sit down and go through their farm insurance in detail with their local NFU Mutual Agent,” he said.
“In 2017, we invested in a new milking parlour, and I remember thinking at the time the valuations of the farm buildings were enormous numbers, but that nothing comes cheap and if you have to rebuild from a disaster these would be the costs.
“I am now so pleased our farm’s valuations were up to date and we went through everything in detail with Hedd and that business interruption was included in the policy. It is our responsibility as business people to consider our farm’s valuation and stock, and as an industry we must take these things seriously.”
Aled added the farm has since secured contacts for forage and conversations about rebuilding were underway. “We need our buildings back up and running by next April for next year's silage," he said.
"But the whole incident has to put everything into perspective when you consider the tragedies we see around us in the world. I feel very lucky and blessed by the Lord with more than money can buy."