A Brock Township family is “picking up the pieces” after losing most of their livestock in a barn fire over the weekend.

An ONLINE FUNDRAISER has been launched for the Aaron Goard and his family, who housed livestock in the barn that caught fire in Manilla on Sunday (March 14) afternoon.

The fire spread quickly, engulfing the building. Roughly 80 percent of the animals were unable to escape.

“As a farming community, we all know how debilitating this can be. Every little bit helps please let us come together and help this family replace their livestock so they can rebuild their business,” a post about the fundraiser reads.

The initiative has generated more than $1,700 in three days.

“It has been an emotional rollercoaster for both my family and the property owners, as we just leased the barn. Both parties lost significantly. My family with the loss of livestock and the other family with the loss of the barn and all the contents that they had in the upstairs portion,” Goard said.

“It’s tough enough starting a business as it is then something like this happens. Honestly, we are just picking up the pieces, looking for another barn and starting to rebuild.”