AFTON – More than 70 head of cattle were lost in a tragic barn fire that destroyed a 10,000 square foot dairy barn on State Highway 41 in the Town of Afton, early Tuesday morning.

Firefighters from at least nine area companies spanning both Broome and Chenango counties were first alerted to the blaze at 115 highway 41 just after 1 a.m.

While the farm lies a mere three and a half miles southwest of the village of Afton, authorities attribute delayed response to icy roads and the proximity to a water supply-a pond nearly a mile and a half from the scene.

According to a source related to the family, the two-story barn was full of hay and approximately 100 farm animals including donkeys, pigs, rabbits and calves; the majority of them holstein milking cows that became entrapped in the structure as fire crews took a defensive approach to knocking down the blaze.