Farmers are sounding the alarm on snow loads and structure integrity this winter, as areas of Ontario have been hard hit by lake-effect snow and large snow events.
From southern Ontario, up into the Bruce Peninsula, and even in Eastern Ontario, barns and shelters have collapsed under the incredible weight of snow. Stewart Skinner, hog farmer from near Listowel, has had to move pigs caught in two barn collapse events. These were older, end-of-life structures; however, there’s no good way to know when snow accumulation is too much.
Lost 2 barns to snow load.
Jess and I built our biz renting barns no one else wanted
We’ve lost 26,000 sq ft of space to snow load this year, a peril of old rented buildings
The silver lining is our friends and neighbours showed up to help
Nice to not be alone in the fight pic.twitter.com/8PHXzWGh2C
— Stewart Skinner (@modernfarmer) February 17, 2025
In the east, relatively young hoop-style buildings are buckling, even with the cover intact. Sarah Loten, a sheep farmer from near Perth, Ont., had a 15-year-old structure’s frame buckle after over 60 cm of snow fell in the area over 4 days.
Loten had made the decision earlier in the year to not house sheep in the structure after a neighbour, Sally McCrae, died in a similar structure collapse in January 2024. McCrae was crushed while tending to her sheep in a similar hoop-style structure. At the time, the farm had experienced two ice storms in the span of a week.
That structure had been built in the early 2000s, around the same time as Loten’s. Loten says that older, rounded polytunnel buildings are holding up, but the peak-style frame does not appear to be structurally strong enough either because of age, snow load, design, or some combination. The cover, she says, is intact, but the frame is buckled (see photos).
Loten encourages farmers with similar buildings to double check how they are holding up under the snow load and see if it’s possible to reinforce them. At the very least, keep anything with a heartbeat out of them, she says.
Some farmers have been working to remove snow from rooftops, a practice which carries its own risks, so let this be a reminder to be safe out there. Check those structures, and when in doubt, stay out.
