From left: Scott Hymers, Lauren Nelson, Tyler Hymers, Lloyd Bishop and Teddy DeDominicis stand in Hymers’ new barn on Elk Creek Road Tuesday. Rosie Cunningham/The Reporter
It was a great day for the Hymers family and their livestock on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Scott and Gail Hymers lost their family barn to a blaze on Dec. 11, 2014, displacing their Holstein herd for nearly two years. The Hymers’ are one of Delhi’s few remaining dairy farms and their barn was destroyed after a tractor caught fire in the hay loft on Elk Creek Road. About 40 firefighters were on the scene from Delhi,Bloomville, Bovina and East Meredith, while the Walton Fire Department stood by for support.
The new barn is located just up the road from the original one.
“I bought this farm in 1981 and during the fire, we lost 14 cows,” said Scott Hymers, whose family has been farming for more than 100 years. “Today, we started moving about 60 milking cows in at 9 a.m. and we were done at about 11 a.m.
The Hymers cows were happy to be home following a 16.8 mile move fromWarren Post’s farm inStamford. Rosie Cunningham/The ReporterHymers said he is “very happy” the cows have come home.
“It will have been 20 months this Thursday since the fire took our barn,” he said. “We have been keeping the herd up at Warren Post’s farm in Stamford.Although I am thankful for that, I am excited not to make the 16.8 mile trip twice a day, each day, anymore.”
According to his son Tyler Hymers, the family milks at about 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., daily.
“I am happy we can start milking here,” he said. “It’s definitely been a process. We started the work last August during fair week and began moving dirt in the fall. In March, we started building the new barn and we were working with used equipment, so it took time.”
Area farmers and friends helped transport the herd from Post’s farm back to the Elk Creek Road location.
“We had eight people who hauled, which included Rick Holdridge, Andrew Post, Teddy De- Dominicis, Steve Hall, Dave Lloyd from Middleburgh, Al McClure, Randy Inman andDonnie Hoskins,” said Scott Hymers. “Everyone has been great through all of this and we have had a lot of support.”
Source: The Reporter
