A FARMER has lost about £30,000 of cattle feed in a fire at two hay barns near Oxford.

After harvesting finished yesterday morning, a fire broke out at 2pm in the barns containing the hay at Parsonage Farm, in Main Road, Marsh Baldon.

All 400 tons of hay, which would cost more than £30,000 to replace, were destroyed, along with two 20m x 5m barns.

Cattle and arable farmer Peter Delafield said: “Someone rung up and said they noticed some smoke coming over the green and Martin, my son, said there was a fire down at the barns.

“We went down there and it was hopeless trying to stop it, so they have let it burn out.”

About 25 firefighters attended the blaze, and one crew is still at the scene damping down hot spots.

Mr Delafield said it would cost about £85 per ton to replace the feed.

He added: “It has been a good season this year and it was the best hay we have had for a long time.

“But with it so dry, it’s so easy for it to catch.

“It means we will have to replace the feed, at what cost we don’t know, and we shall have to get new barns too.”

The blaze did not spread beyond the barns, and machinery which had been stored there was removed before the fire spread.

Mr Delafield said it was the first time in 43 years' farming he had had to deal with a fire.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service said the cause of the blaze was not yet known and is still being investigated.