STEEVES MOUNTAIN, N.B. – Last Monday, Steve Mullin says he had to do something that could bring a dairy farmer to tears.
“We had to put some of our milk down the drain because we just couldn’t get a milk truck here,” he said.
Mullins says he had to dump about 1,000 litres of milk, worth about $800. It’s not a huge loss he says, but a first in his 47 years of farming and a testament to how bad this winter really has been.
“I hope we never have to do it again but I am afraid the way the winter is and the roads are getting plowed it may happen again.”
Milk truck driver Wayne Arsenault is doing everything he can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“I feel bad because they work hard enough for their money as it is. Milk on the ground is money for them,” he said.
On Friday, Arsenault’s milk truck made it to Steeves Mountain but he said there are times he’s feared for his life picking up milk this winter.
Milk trucks are supposed to run seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“Snow storm or not we still got to go pick up the milk,” he said.
It was his co-worker who went off the road in the blizzard last Sunday and didn’t make it to Mullin’s farm.
“He got stuck in the snow had to get towed out and sleep in his truck overnight,” said Mullin. “It’s pretty tough, it’s not just the milk truck we have to get in, there’s feed trucks and all kinds of other trucks service trucks that we have to get in too all the time.
“It’s interfering with their work they are having a heck of a time driving around.”
That’s why Mullin has spent almost as much time in his plow as he has in his barn this winter. He’s spent at least 2,000 extra dollars on snow removal just so the trucks can get in.
“The dairy farmers I got to tip my hat because they always keep the yards well maintained when they know I am coming,” Arsenault said.
The problem he says is getting there.
On Friday, Steve Michaud from Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick says he was not aware of any other farmers who had to dump milk this winter.
But he did send an email out to about 100 dairy farmers in the province asking them to report any losses. They may be eligible for compensation.
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