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Messy Clean Up Underway After Massive Cattle Semen Explosion At Aussie Farm

Messy Clean Up Underway After Massive Cattle Semen Explosion At Aussie Farm

The incident has been described as 'a huge blow' to the industry.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Pretty much every job on the planet will have a downside or low moment.

Whether you're an apprentice and you have to deal with onsite banter, you're a hairdresser and you have you sweep up everyone's hair, you're a finance broker and you have to deal with your desk mate going on and on about his ex.

Whatever it is, it can be painful, boring, tedious, monotonous or excruciating.

But thank your lucky stars you're not the owners of a farm in Victoria, Australia who have a very, very messy clean up on their hands.

A fire gutted the Yarram Herd Services building overnight, which was home to around 100 cylinders of cattle semen.

Sadly, during the fire, the intensity of the flames caused many of the cylinders to explode, which has left a massive trail of cow semen everywhere.

What a mess.

Country Fire Authority Gippsland commander Chris Loeschenkohl said: "The liquid inside the cylinders was rapidly expanding and essentially the lids of the cryogenic cylinders were just popping off the top and projectiles were being thrown from the building.

"So firefighters went into a defensive mode initially to protect themselves, because there were also LPG cylinders at the neighbouring property, and they did a magnificent job.

"I've never had anything to do with the artificial insemination [AI] side of things before. There was a couple of other flammable liquid cylinders stored within the building which did cause projectiles to exit the building."

A technician prepares a 'straw' of frozen bull semen for artificial insemination into a beef cow.
Steve Woit/Design Pics via ZUMA Wire

All joking aside, news of the fire has devastated people in the industry.

According to the ABC, Yarram Herd Services has provided artificial insemination, breeding advice, herd testing, calf dehorning, and freeze-branding services for dairy and beef cattle farmers for two decades.

Each cylinder is estimated to be worth between $500 and $1,000 - so this is going to be costly.

Committee vice chairman Aaron Thoma said: "We're coming into the AI season so there would have been substantial amounts of semen inside the tanks that we've lost, which was owned by our local farmers, and it can range in value from $5 per straw to $95 per straw.

"It's going to be a huge blow, especially for our farmers."

He says this will have a pretty big flow on effect for the farmers in the area, which is only being exacerbated by the drought.

There's no word yet on what sparked the blaze but investigators hope to determine that after an investigation.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia