By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Almost 30 pigs perished in a barn fire in Winlock over the weekend.
The cause is still undetermined.
Firefighters from Lewis County Fire District 15 and three neighboring departments were called about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday to the blaze on the 1000 block of King Road.
The 100-foot by 50-foot barn, part of which was built probably in the late 1800s burned to the ground, and a tractor and the materials used for a grain mixing business were destroyed as well, according to Becky Dorothy who operates the Double D Farm with her husband Ron Dorothy.
“We lost two sows and their litters and our boar,” said Dorothy said. “On the bright side, our dog found one of the babies running around in the field behind the barn.”
The two litters of piglets were born just three weeks ago. The family’s St. Bernard sniffed out the surviving piglet last night, Dorothy said. It was thirsty, but surprisingly well given the dangers of coyotes and bobcats, she said, and it had just one little burn.
That part of the property wasn’t insured, but another seven or eight pigs were spared because they were at the Southwest Washington Fair.
The farm raises the animals for youngsters to show in FFA and 4H, she said, and for people to buy as locker pork.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter