An explosion at a genetics lab in Australia has led to the loss of potentially thousands of dollars worth of bull semen in the Victoria region of the country.

According to Australian news, firefighters were dispatched to Yarram Herd Services in Gippsland, Victoria at 3:00 AM Tuesday morning after receiving a call about an explosion at the company. Gippsland firefighter commander Chris Loeschenkohl reported that the fire proved to be a particularly sticky affair, as firefighters dodged projectiles from the laboratory for two hours until they contained the blaze.

“Firefighters went into a defensive mode initially to protect themselves, because there were also LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] cylinders at the neighboring property, and they did a magnificent job,” he said. “There was a couple of other flammable liquid cylinders stored within the building which did cause projectiles to exit the building."

WIN News reporter Bonnie Berkley also confirmed the projectiles shooting out of the semen lab.

The semen explosion could not have come at a worse time. Yarram Herd Services Committee vice-chairman Aaron Thomas said, “A lot of farmers would have semen stock in the building, in those tanks, preparing for AI, so we’ve got that plus all of our herd testing equipment that was in there as well… This is significant damage and it is going to have a flow-on affect on Yarram, especially after the drought that Yarram district has experienced over the last 12 months, it’s going to be a real blow for sure."