With the potential for a massive snowfall throughout Minnesota over the weekend, a number of dairy farmers are preparing.

One father and son duo are hoping the snowstorm will not cause a repeat nightmare.
“I hear a crash, and I thought, ‘Oh yeah, that must have been the snow coming off the roof, that’s good,'” Jesse Brutscher, Co-Owner and Manager of Daystar Dairy, said.
Brutscher later found out his barn roof had collapsed.
The collapse was uncharted territory for him and his team in Little Falls.
“There were spots, in between the tin, where I was crawling around just trying to figure out how many [cows] were trapped,” Brutscher said.
Brutscher said the operation ended up losing one cow.
The Minnesota Milk Producers Association said this is one of now 25 farms across the state that have had a barn roof collapse due to the snow.
“We are really concerned with the weather coming this weekend that we might have some more of this,” Shannon Seifert, the membership director with the Minnesota Milk Producers Association, said.
Seifert said when one farm takes a hit, it can hurt the entire dairy farming community.
“We are very concerned about the state of our industry right now,” Seifert said.
David Brutscher, Jesse’s father, said the financial burden is much more than just rebuilding their roof. He said the cows are eating more to stay warm, which is bumping up feeding costs. He added that the cows are also getting dirtier, which can impact milk quality.
As they brace for the heavy snow ahead this weekend, David Brutscher said he wants things to go back to normal so that their team, and their cows, can work and live in their normal conditions.
“We’ll get through it,” he said.