FAIRBANK -- Animal and pet owners experienced firsthand the effects of Sunday's tornado. While some discovered their family pet at a neighbor's, others felt the loss and destruction of a hobby and a business.

Father and son Mel Neil and Todd Neil of rural Fairbank farm together. Several of their 45 head of fat cattle were injured and five were killed. They were about 1,200 pounds and almost ready for market. With cattle prices around $95 per hundredweight, that is a loss for the Neils.

Mel said he believed they were outside in the dirt cattle lot when it hit the family farm. With no cattle barn or fencing left to hold the cattle in, they were moved to five area farms.

"They were tossed around and hit with debris. Several (cattle) had deep gouges," Mel said. "One had a corn stalk or piece of wood through the head."

Todd Neil has a show-cattle operation on his own with 50 cows and calves in all. He usually has an annual show steer sale but it most likely won't happen this year. He lost five or six cows and nine or 10 calves. Ninety percent have minor to serious injuries. Some animals were hurt so badly they needed to be euthanized. Vets inspected the herd Monday.

"Some had tails cut off and some have broken legs. We'll give them a chance and see how they get along," Todd Neil said. "One (cow) had something shoot through it.

"We've been here since 1975; I've never seen cattle hurt that way," Mel Neil said. "That's what really hurt."

Included in the destruction of the farm were two 1,200-head hog buildings. The men, who contract feed hogs, said five or six died. They said they believe the metal gates saved the animals from the collapsing room.

Rick and Luke Happel, a father and son team of rural Dunkerton, lost their hog buildings in the tornado.

The men were forced to send their hogs to different locations after a 2,400-head hog building was destroyed. In all, the Happels lost 10 hogs when the center concrete knee wall fell over. Gates inside the confinement building kept the roof from crushing all the pigs.

He was thankful for the confinement building that essentially saved the pigs.

"There's enough negative (talk) about confinements; here they saved animals," he said.

When Lynn Pipho heard her daughter's friend yell that there was a small dog admidst the rubble of her home, she didn't believe it.

But there he was: Skipper the beagle, the neighbor dog, lying in a blanket, surrounded by shards of glass and splintered wood.

The dog's owner, Bill Delagardelle, said Skipper moves slowly in his old age, so he thinks the dog received an extra push to make it down the road a mile.

"I can guarantee you he was in the air at one time," he said.

Delagardelle said the dog's home, along with a machine shed, vanished after a tornado hit Sunday. The whole experience seemed to traumatize little Skipper.

"He barked all night," Delagardelle said.

The Piphos and Delagardelle also had their own animals on their farm.

Mike Pipho said their chickens made it out okay, but as of Tuesday, he hadn't been able to check under the collapsed building that had been the chicken coop.

Daisy, the family dog, was found in the rubble of the barn. Pipho said it took a little coaxing, but she's out and doing fine.

Other animals on the farm weren't as fortunate.

One cat sustained a foot injury, and a batch of kittens fell victim to Sunday's tornado. The kittens were in a carrier on the family's front porch.

"We don't know where the carrier is," Pipho said. "We were able to rescue a good share of the other batch. Given that they were out in the storm they did pretty well."

Although the Piphos realize what they've lost, they say they are thankful for their lives.

"There's lots of work that will be forthcoming … as long as everybody makes it through, that's the main thing," Pipho said.

Staff writers Matthew Wilde and Jens Manuel Krogstad contributed to this article.

Contact Bethany Pint

at (319) 291-1587 or

bethany.pint@wcfcourier.com