| Feature
East Devon dairy farmer speaks out to raise awareness of farm fire safety
One April evening last year , fourth generation East Devon dairy farmer Henry Gent went to bed as normal , only to be woken by one of his farm hands at 5am informing him that his dairy parlour was on fire .
Devon farmer Henry Gent of Mosshayne Farm , Westclyst ,
Exeter
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n electrical fault
A had caused the blaze which destroyed the electrics leading into the milking parlour at Mosshayne Farm , West Clyst , near Exeter , meaning Henry was faced with 300 cows which needed milking , with no means of milking them .
Three fire engines and six fire fighters attended the farm to deal with the fire ’ s aftermath . The ensuing hours were crucial to what was transpired to be a relatively smooth recovery : ruling out the possibility of being able to track down an alternative available parlour and locate some 15 lorries to transport the cows there , locally based electricians acted fast , sourcing a generator so that five hours later , milking could get underway , potentially saving the lives of the cows , who were thankfully out in the fields at the time .
Henry , whose great grandparents first ran the farm , which was certified organic in 2001 , said the immediate support from leading rural insurer , NFU Mutual , through which he made a subsequent , successful £ 38,000 claim , was invaluable .
The 59-year-old ’ s claim contributed to the total £ 4.6m
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worth of farm fire insurance claims made in the south west in 2016 ; the fourth highest amount in the UK .
According to NFU Mutual , this figure is down 14 per cent from £ 5.4m in 2015 , but despite the decline , the farm insurance specialists are keen to warn farmers that fire remains one of the greatest hazards to their livelihoods .
In 2016 , the most common cause of farm fires was electrical faults , which were responsible for almost half of fire claims . Arson was the next most common cause . In 2014 the company set up the Farm Safety Foundation to support farmers to work safely and continues to raise awareness about keeping farm fire safe . Henry , who grew up at Mosshayne Farm , is a former chairman of the National Farmers Union ’ s Exeter branch and is a local assessor for the NFU Mutual , proving no one is immune from accidents , however experienced .
“ It was a shock but it could have been far worse ,” he said . “ I remember feeling terrified when an electrician said that we would not be able to milk at the farm that day and probably not for week , because the mains electric supply would not be restored quickly , and all cables leading to the motors were destroyed .
“ It would have been a disaster to leave the cows unmilked because the freshly calved cows would have been in pain and leaking milk , leading to the risk of infection from open teat ducts .
“ Infection would lead to mastitis and the risk of permanent damage to the udders , illness , loss of yield , treatment costs , even mortality .
“ So , it was crucial to get them milked , and we had to act fast to get electricians working on supplying the machines from an emergency generator .”
Henry said his electrics were around 20 years old , and is therefore encouraging other farmers to get their electrics checked out more regularly .
In addition to the electrics being ruined , the parlour was partially destroyed and consequential loss included 7,000 litres of milk going to waste during the wait for electricity to the refrigerators to be reinstalled . It took around four months for farm operations to return to normal .
Ten years prior , on November 5 , Henry ’ s farm suffered another fire ; a fire which started amid straw in his Dutch barn spread to the silage clamp it was housing , and the tyres laid on top caught on fire . Around £ 15,000 damage was caused . Unfortunately , Henry had
opted not to insure the silage clamp due to its perceived low risk , so bore the brunt of the costs himself , learning a hard lesson in the process .
“ The attitude of NFU Mutual was integral to ensuring we could get on with the necessary response effort and get the cows milked so the outcome wasn ’ t far worse ,” he said of the response to the recent fire . “ There was no quibbling by the representatives which could have impacted negatively on the whole situation .
“ Instead , they endorsed the decisions we made to ensure a swift response , and were incredibly supportive throughout .”
Chris Roberts , NFU Mutual South West Regional Manager , added : “ We are pleased to have assisted with the immediate response to Henry ’ s fire to ensure its impact wasn ’ t much worse .
“ The scale of farm fire claims shows how important it is to take all possible steps to prevent fires breaking out , and to have clear plans to evacuate people and livestock safely in the event of a fire while having the right sort of fire extinguishers maintained in good order so you can fight small fires safely .”
08 | Farming Monthly | January 2018 www . farmingmonthly . co . uk