A fire on Route 2 in Springfield, P.E.I. killed 20 cows Sunday morning. Lindsay Carroll/CBC

A large fire at a farm in Springfield, P.E.I. killed twenty cows and destroyed a large structure Sunday morning.

The blaze started in a steel building owned by farmer David Haslam on Route 2 that housed young dairy cattle and about 300 bales of hay.

Haslam said his farm has been in the family for six generations and the cattle alone were worth $40,000.

He told CBC News it was about midnight when he first noticed the flames which had already engulfed the building by the time he called 911.

Several fire stations from around the area were called in to help.

"Possibly 80 by 70 [feet], fully involved when we arrived," said Allan Sudsbury, Kensington fire chief.

Sudsbury said they fought the blaze for the better part of nine hours.

"We had the main dairy barn approximately 100 feet away, and another 100 foot structure 30 feet away along side of it, which we saved," he told CBC News.

Fire marshal Dave Rossiter said firefighters from several communities fought the fire.

"The steel-clad building tends to hold the fire in, it doesn't self-vent, and it makes it a real big issue as far as the firefighters being able to get into it," he told The Canadian Press.

Firefighters are still looking into the cause of the fire, however Rossiter said that fire is not considered suspicious.

It's the second fire to break out at a farm in recent days.

A fire in the Freetown area on Friday also destroyed a barn, but no animals were killed.

With files from The Canadian Press