Snow and freezing temperatures impacting N.B. dairy farmers

COLPITTS SETTLEMENT, N.B. –  This winter has been a costly and stressful one for New Brunswick dairy farmers.

Milk trucks headed to dairy farms are struggling through the deep snow to pick up and deliver milk supplies and farmers are spending thousands to keep their cows warm and their barns from freezing up.

Farmer David Waddy of Colpitts Settlement had to chisel through frozen water troughs in one of his barns. He says temperatures have been so cold this season, some of his water sources are frozen solid.

“A cow drinks about 200 litres per day so they have to get that every day,” he said.

He says they need that much water in order to produce a profitable supply of milk. So he’s had to manually water his herd.

“It’s extremely labour intensive how you would have done it 100 years ago.”

View image in full screen

Monday was the couple’s most stressful day in Waddy’s eight years on the farm. After 60 cms of snow, Waddy had to use his own tractor to keep a 2 kilometre road leading to his farm open so the milk truck could get in.

“No farmer ever wants to have to dump milk so we do everything we can to make sure that never happens.”

In his newer barn, the water flows freely but manure piles are frozen solid. Waddy says it’s been next to impossible to properly clean the facility.

“It’s a disaster really,” he said. “We’ve basically had one full-time employee dealing with manure continually through this cold spell which add up.”

Fortunately, the manure is frozen, so it doesn’t pose a health concern for cow tromping through the mess.

But Waddy says trying to deal with the mess is eating into his profits.

Outside the barn where they keep the calves, Patricia Cota Waddy says trying to keep the pens clear of deep snow is overwhelming.

“You have to be on time because they have to be fed twice a day so it’s a lot of work it’s really, really hard,” she said.