Dairy farm fire destroys barn and home, kills 25 cows

By Dawn Gagnon
BDN Staff

DEXTER — Fundraising is underway to help a Dexter dairy farmer after his two-story farmhouse and attached barn were destroyed in a fire on Saturday.

The fire at Kenny Trafton’s 80-cow farm began about 11 a.m. Saturday, when a tractor that was brought into the shop caught fire, Dexter First Assistant Fire Chief Rick Stocker said Sunday.

The house and barn were destroyed, and all of his milking equipment and farm machinery were destroyed, too.

Neither the farmer nor his farmhands were injured, but about 25 cows died in the fire, Stocker said. The farm was not insured.

Stocker said Trafton and his son, who also lived at the farm on Upper Garland Road, are staying with family and that the Red Cross is providing some assistance.

Stocker said that a GoFundMe page has been established to help Trafton. The fundraising goal is $30,000.

Dexter firefighters were assisted by their counterparts from more than half a dozen surrounding towns. Stocker said getting water to the fire proved a challenge, and fire crews initially had to bring it in by tanker. He added that firefighters eventually were able to tap into a pond about half a mile away.