On a seemingly ordinary summer morning in 2016, Michael Biadasz set out to complete a task he had done countless times before on his family’s farm in Amherst, Wisconsin.
But what should have been just another workday turned into an unimaginable tragedy.
The passionate young farmer and 16 of his cows lost their lives to a hidden danger that few had ever heard of.
An invisible danger
On the morning of August 15, 2016, young beef farmer Mike Biadasz set out to do what he had done countless times before — prepare the manure pit on his family’s farm near Amherst, Wisconsin, for hauling.
With his trademark enthusiasm, the 29-year-old Mike snapped a photo and shared it on Snapchat, playfully calling out the “liquid gold” he was about to mix.
It was a routine task, one he had safely completed many times. But that morning was different.
As Mike used farm equipment to stir the manure, an invisible danger lurked in the air. Unbeknownst to him, deadly fumes released from the pit became trapped by an unusual weather pattern — a layer of warm air high in the sky, combined with morning fog, prevented the gases from dispersing. The toxic buildup quickly overcame him. By the time other farm workers arrived at 6:30 a.m., expecting to haul away the manure, Mike was already gone.
Sixteen cattle standing nearby also succumbed to the fumes.
Steve Burclaw had only been working on the farm with Mike Biadasz for about three years, but in that short time, they had become close friends.
On that fateful morning, Burclaw arrived to help haul manure, unaware that anything was wrong. As he approached, everything seemed normal — just another routine day on the farm.
“There was really no sign of anything being different, or odd, or wrong,” Burclaw recalled. “We’ve all seen foggy mornings before.”
But Mike lay motionless at the very edge of the pit, his body eerily still as the farm workers stumbled upon him.
