2 cows killed, 3 others injured after cattle truck rolls over on I-65 in Northwest Indiana.
Two cows died and three others were injured after a cattle truck carrying over 100 cows rolled over on I-65 in Northwest Indiana on Friday morning.
Indiana State Police said the truck carrying 127 cows rolled over on northbound I-65 near the westbound I-80/94 interchange just after 8 a.m., at the height of rush hour.
“One cow died as a result of the crash. One more cow had to be put down by a local veterinarian. You had to be euthanized due to its injuries,” said Sgt. Glenn Fifield, Indiana State Police.
Police said speed was a factor in the crash, and this was not the first time a truck carrying livestock has turned over in the area.
“This is not our first rodeo, so to speak on this. We’ve had several these types of crashes. We’ve had everything from trucks hauling pigs to cows. Very recently, we had a cow truck overturned with a lot more deceased cattle.” Fifield said. “Overall, this was a pretty good outcome, considering, you know, 127 heads of cattle. They’re jammed in that truck pretty tight. I think it could have been a lot worse for these cows.”
The cattle were being transported to an unknown destination from Fair Oaks Farm in Newton County, about 30 miles from the crash scene. They were mostly trapped inside the overturned trailer and corralled into a makeshift pen before being moved into another truck
“They had to offload all the cattle from the damaged trailer, corral them, and get them onto another trailer, get them out of there,” Fifield said.
EJ Farms, a nearby dairy farm in Crown Point, Indiana, said they sent trucks and trailers to help get the cattle to safety.
“I think it’s in the farmer culture, you know? When something like this happens, other farmers step up,” Fifield said.
Fair Oaks Farm released a statement saying in part, “Some of these calves on this trailer are from the farm we tour. To our knowledge there were three calves injured, two calves unfortunately did not survive, and the remaining 120+ calves are healthy. The injured calves are being treated.”
The driver of the semi was not injured, Gary police said.
State police said a day like this takes a lot of patience, not only for state troopers but drivers going through the area.
The crash caused hours of traffic delays but all lanes of I-65 had reopened by 3:15 p.m. Drivers may encounter some residual delays.
