Heavy snow takes toll at farms across the state

The collapse of the chicken coop at the Kofkoff Farm in Lebanon is one of many at farms around the state, state Agricultural Commissioner Steven Reviczky said Friday.

The 85,000 chickens killed in the collapse were a portion of the entire flock of laying hens at the farm, Reviczky added, and the Lebanon farm is one of several Kofkoff egg farms in eastern Connecticut, including one in Bozrah.

The carcasses were burned at a local incinerator.

"They are a major (egg) producer," Reviczky said. "It's going to take them a substantial amount of time" to rebuild their flock and the structure.

Around the state, "we're keeping track," he said. "We've got 175 structure collapses at 87 farms around the state. The numbers just keep going up and up."

Greenhouses, barns, hoop houses and sheds are among the damaged structures. Some of the collapses killed dairy cows and other animals. There have been no human injuries reported.

"The folks in [southeastern Connecticut] are in a better place than others," Reviczky said, because of the slightly higher temperatures and somewhat less snow than elsewhere in Connecticut.

Reviczky said he is compiling information to submit to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's office as part of an application for federal disaster aid from winter storm damage.

In eastern Connecticut, one of the collapses occurred at a dairy farm in Hampton owned by Preston resident Clark Woodmansee. A barn collapsed, killing seven of 100 dairy cows inside.

- Judy Benson and Kathleen Edgecomb