'Your doors stood the test of time,' says
Iowa rancher hit by October tornado
A few cattle stand by the bifold door entrance of what's left of the cattle barn with a temporary fence keeping them in. The Triple U Ranch had about 2,000 cattle there and only three were killed as a result of the storm.
When daylight hit after the evening of Oct. 4, people living and working at the Triple U Ranch in Washta, Iowa, got an eyeful of destruction. It was on that Friday that Mother Nature decided to reorganize the countryside.
Brad Utesch, who farms 2,500 acres and produces 6,000 head of cattle a year, with his brothers Craig and Kirk were faced with a massive cleanup after what more than likely was a tornado set down on the farm place located about 30 miles east of Sioux City in the northwest part of the state.
“They stood the test of time. The frames still look good and I used pretty solid posts on the building. It doesn't surprise me the doors held.”
- Brad Utesch
Triple U Ranch
Washta, Iowa
"A tornado definitely came through here about 7:30 p.m. I wasn't home at the time, but I'd speculate it was a F-2, we had 150 to 160 mph winds. We had about 2,000 cattle on hand and lost three; one we had to put down because it had a broken leg. About 20 people showed up to help us clean up and feed the cattle," said Brad.
Looking down the length of what used to be a 490 ft. cattle barn, the only thing seen standing are the two open 45 ft. Schweiss bifold liftstrap doors at the east and west ends. A late evening tornado packing 150 mph-plus winds damaged other buildings, silos, grain bins, vehicles and crops on the Washta, Iowa farm.
It's amazing that more feedlot cattle weren't killed. The tornado took down a Bonanza 70x490 ft. steel sided cattle shed. Utesch said the storm didn't bring much rain, about 1.2 inches, but the winds flattened a lot of corn and small hail knocked some of his soybeans off. Along with that they received damage to the house, calling for new shingles and will still have to replace siding with holes in it. Three silos were damaged and one 24 ft. stave silo built in 1971 will have to be torn down. Two grain bins and four or five buildings were also severely damaged.
"We lost 100,000 bushels of grain storage and the cattle shed will have to be rebuilt for sure," said Brad. Grain bins landed on top of two semi's with corn and three or four vehicles were also damaged. I had a pickup hooked up to a horse trailer that nearly rolled over."
What was left standing was an eerie sight. Two Schweiss 45x15 ft. liftstrap doors, even without freestanding headers, were still standing within their sturdy I-Beam side columns on the east and west sides of the 490 ft. wood cattle barn. Everything else in-between was gone.
"They stood the test of time. The frames still look good and I used pretty solid posts on the building. It doesn't surprise me the doors held," said Brad.
The Schweiss liftstrap bifold doors were put on the shed back in 2005 and Brad said they have always worked real good. He thinks he'll be able to take them down, remount and use them once the new building goes up.
It could have been worse, no one was killed or injured and he still has more cattle than the entire 248 population of the Cherokee County town of Washta.
Iowa is known for its fields of corn and amazing college football teams, but speaking of eerie, Washta on the other hand, is known for its spooky and haunted places and nearby Cherokee, 18 miles to the northeast, supposedly has had a number of ghost citings. Halloween isn't far off. Go figure.
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'Your doors stood the test of time,' says Iowa rancher hit by tornado
When daylight hit after the evening of Oct. 4, people living and working at the Triple U Ranch in Washta, Iowa, got an eyeful of destruction. It was on that Friday that Mother Nature decided to reorganize the countryside. Brad Utesch, who farms 2,500 acres and produces 6,000 head of cattle a year, with his brothers Craig and Kirk were faced with a massive cleanup after what more than likely was a tornado set down... |
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