About 500 milking goats and 30 cattle died in a barn fire near community of Delaware, west of London, Sunday morning.
Officials say a neighbour saw the fire on his way to work and alerted a resident at the home on site. Someone inside the home called 911.
When firefighters arrived on scene shortly after 6 am it looked like two barns were on fire, they quickly realized it was actually one large structure.
Mark Rennison, Middlesex Centre acting fire chief, said there was so much damage to the barn, the cause of the fire will likely remain undetermined. "High winds fuelled the fire," he said. "Firefighters could only take a defensive position at that point."
Rennison says, that it became apparent early on that the winds would prevent them from rescuing any livestock.
"We could hear some of the livestock in there, but it didn't take long. In these situations we can't put our guys in any more danger, so there was nothing we could do."
In Guelph, the director of the Equine Centre at the University, Gayle Ecker, is urging farmers to have a look at how they can prevent a fire from starting.
"Prevent using bad extension cords, getting fuel like gasoline out of the barn, store tractors and everything else out of the barn" says Ecker.
She says part of the problem is that most barns have sawdust inside which fuels the flames.
"The scary thing is in a barn fire, that fire cans double every three minutes."
Damage at the goat farm near Delaware is estimated at 2 million dollars.
With files from CTV London
