Standing outside watching the clouds with her son, Mike, who is also co-owner of the farm alongside his parents, Jeff and Brenda Elsinger, they saw cloud formations similar to those that preceded the Oakfield tornado in 1996. Just then, Elsinger’s phone received a weather alert from the NWS, issuing a tornado warning for Dodge County at 5:29 p.m.

As the sky grew more ominous, Elsinger sent out a message to her employees on WhatsApp informing them they were shutting down operations and heading for the basement in the nearby farmhouse.

“We were two hours into the third milking and decided to leave the cows in the holding area and return lanes and head for shelter,” Elsinger said. On the way to the farmhouse, Elsinger stopped to alert her husband, Jeff, who was working in the shop. Jeff headed for their nearby home to secure it, while Elsinger and her son took shelter on site with the employees.

‘All of a sudden, people were coming out of nowhere offering to help us’

“As I came around the corner, I couldn’t fathom that two-thirds of our freestall barn was gone, and the windows of the milking parlor were blown out with part of the roof missing The dairy part of our business is my pride and joy, it’s where my heart is,” Elsinger said.

Jeff Elsinger began making calls trying to locate people with machinery to free the cows trapped under debris. Within 15 minutes, vehicles from Waupun Veterinary Service, trucks towing machinery and cattle trailers began filling the farmyard. Elsinger says a friend arrived with a list in hand and began organizing where the displaced cattle would be relocated until the family could bring them back home again. It was decided that the younger cows and dry cows would be moved off-site.

Groups of employees and volunteers were sent out with flashlights to search for calves that were running loose after the winds sent their hutches flying. By early morning, all calves were accounted for and back inside newly bedded hutches, and power was restored to the milking parlor.

Elsinger urged her sister to take photos of the outpouring of support.

“People need to see what a community does. All of a sudden, people were coming out of nowhere offering to help us. There’s no better feeling during a disaster than that,” she said.

Many hands help lift the burden off families hit by disaster

Despite losing some cows, Elsinger says it could have been much worse. The cows that were left in the parlor holding area and return lanes were spared from the collapsing roof, unlike the pre-fresh and old group of cows.

Minimal damage out in the field and nearby woods shows that the tornado wasn’t on the ground until it struck the farm.

“It wasn’t dragging a bunch of debris that could have injured the cows when it hit. Much of the building was carried away from where the cattle were and dumped in the manure pit and field,” Elsinger said.

In the days following the storm, Elsinger says her husband, Jeff, has been busy coordinating the cleanup efforts and pitching in beside volunteers.

Elsinger knows there will be challenges ahead as their dairy herd re-acclimates to their ‘new normal’ until a new building can be constructed.

“We’ll definitely take a step back with this. It was dealt to us and was out of our control. We just got to figure it out day by day,” Elsinger said. “I’m always up for a good challenge, but this one is a bit much, I’m not going to lie.”

Elsinger says she was in a state of shock following the storm, and only knew there was an army of volunteers helping them fight through the tragedy.

“We’ll never be able to repay everyone for their willingness to help,” Elsinger said. “I don’t know why this happened to us, but there are a lot of good people in this world. If we can be good in a time of tragedy, we should be able to be good to each other every day of the week.”

Juneau farmer says he’s lucky to be alive

The first of the four tornadoes to carve paths across Dodge County was first sighted at 5:42 p.m. near the city of Juneau. The EF-2 twister would rip up trees and homes before heading east, out of the Dodge County seat. Directly in the storm’s path was the Schwandt dairy farm.

As the storm approached, Bob Schwandt a reporter from WTMJ he was inside the feed room between the large Harvestore silos, doing chores. The 120-mph winds toppled one of the 80-foot silos, causing it to fall on the barn below, smashing it to pieces. One of those 2-by-4 boards impaled one of Schwandt’s dairy cows, who fortunately survived. Schwandt thanked God he was alive.

Sitting in his small Ford Ranger pickup truck, Robert Schwandt Sr., was visibly emotional as he surveyed the damage on the 300-acre family farm.

“I worked here all my life for this stuff and it’s gone,” Schwandt, 84, told WTMJ.

As the sun set, an army of neighbors and volunteers walked Schwandt’s herd of cows across the field to be loaded up so they could be transported to another farm while the family cleans up from the devastating loss.

“It’s just amazing all the people that showed up to help,” Schwandt said. “I’m so grateful.”

In the path of the storm

Just 12 miles southwest of Juneau, the Tom Konkel family felt the wrath of the intensifying storm. Their family farm sits on Ghost Hill Road between the cities of Beaver Dam and Juneau.

Tom’s daughter-in-law, Kelly Konkel shared a photo of the machine shed lying on top of tractors, planters and the corn and bean heads were stored.

“The storm was very powerful,” Konkel said. “Thank God they finished planting that week!”

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