Ivy-eating goats killed in barn fire
- Friends%27 barn newly renovated
- Heat lamp pulled down in newborn area
- Barn raising%2C online fund drive in the works
A fast-moving fire swept through a barn in upstate New York early Friday, killing all 100 goats belonging to Larry Cihanek, whose herds have helped eradicate poison ivy at national parks in New York and New Jersey.
Among them were the Nubian goats that spent the past two summers devouring a dense jungle of poison ivy undermining Fort Hancock's historic Battery on Sandy Hook
"I don't even know the words to describe it," a crestfallen Cihanek said Monday. "Our goats are gone."
Eighty-five adult goats and 15 newborn kids perished in the early morning blaze.
Cihanek and his wife, Annlilita, had bottle-fed the newborns in their living room in Rhinebeck, New York. The couple had just reunited the kids with their mothers at a newly refurbished barn eight miles away in Red Hook, Dutchess County.
Two days later, having just returned from their evening visit to the barn, Cihanek received the news that every farmer dreads.
"Barn fire."
Arriving at the scene minutes later, he saw the 35-by-180-foot barn completely engulfed in flames. Its roof had already collapsed.
"I've got goats in there!" Cihanek said he told a firefighter who stopped him for going any nearer.
"Not anymore," came the quiet reply.
The fire originated in the milk room where the kids were kept, Cihanek said. Because of the intense cold, he and his wife had set up heat lamps to keep the newborns warm.
"One of the goats must have gotten up higher than we thought he could and pulled down the heat lamp," he said.
The loss was manifold. The Cihaneks had just renovated the barn for good friends of theirs who in turn had agreed to let them use the space for their expanding goat herd. The building was uninsured.
"It's not our barn, but we're going to rebuild the barn," vowed Cihanek, 70. An old-fashioned barn raising is being planned, he said.
In the meantime, Cihanek's 17-year-old daughter, Tayler, has started an online fund raising drive at www.gofundme.com/rebuildourbarn. On Monday afternoon, the site had collected $5,265 toward a goal of $150,000, which encompasses the loss of the animals and equipment.
"People I don't even know, people I haven't seen in years" have contributed, Cihanek said. "It's just been tremendous."
The Cihaneks now must find goats for their "environmentally friendly vegetation removal" business, called Green Goats.
The business has jobs lined up at several Gateway National Recreation Area sites in New York and New Jersey, including Jersey City's Liberty State Park and a planned return to Sandy Hook.
"Ann and I just have our heads down and we're just going forward," Cihanek said.
"We're just better people with goats," his wife added. "We'll start over."
Shannon Mullen: 732-643-4278; smullen@app.com