As many as 7,000 hogs have died in a barn fire this morning. The barn is at the Maple Leaf Agra farm just east of Zhoda in the RM of La Broquerie.
There are reports as many as 7,000 hogs perished in the blaze.
"Unfortunately we lost the whole barn including the inventory to the barn," Richard Bergmann of Maple Leaf Agra told CTV News.
RCMP say a man making a delivery in the area spotted the fire and called 911.
The La Broquerie Fire Department is on scene fighting the fire, which started at around 3:30 a.m.
RCMP say the cause of the fire unknown at this time.
This is the second major hog barn fire in Manitoba this month. A fire about a month ago at a Hytek plant nearby destroyed a hog operation and killed 5,200 hogs.
Fire destroyed 73 animal barn operations in Manitoba last year, most were caused by electrical or mechanical failures.
Manitoba's Fire Commissioner said there are currently no building codes on farm operations
"We need to take a look at requirements and particularly the types of farm buildings we see now," said Doug Popowich. "These are no longer the family farm-type of operations, these are large almost factories, large number of animals, so we need to take a look at some type of building requirement for these farms."
Popowich said that in the past, farms were exempt from building codes because most were family run operations, but over the years the face of farming has changed, so he said it's time the regulations were, too.
With a report from CTV's Caroline Barghout.
