Dairy farms dump milk because roads snow clogged

Some dairy farmers on P.E.I. are dumping milk because the milk truck can't get to them following a snowstorm.

It's just getting it in off the farms that is causing the havoc.- Chad Mann, ADL Dairy

Some secondary roads are still unplowed after a blizzard Sunday and Monday that dropped close to 90 centimetres of snow. There is not just a lot of snow, it is also heavy and some of the smaller highway plows cannot move it at all.

That has forced some dairy farmers on the Island to dump milk. Randall Affleck's farm in Bedeque, east of Summerside, is a long way from a main road and the milk hauler can't get there.

"There's lots of people dumping," said Affleck.

"A couple of people in my area have been picked up. They're closer to the main roads,"

Affleck said he had to dump milk gathered from the herd on Sunday and Monday into his manure tank, and he may have to dump milk again as his holding tanks are getting full and he's not sure when the hauler will get to his farm.

Chad Mann, business development manager at ADL in Summerside, said production lines are running even with reduced quota being delivered.

"Both our main plants are running and taking in milk," said Mann.

"It's just getting it in off the farms that is causing the havoc."

In the community of FernwoodproducerRanald MacFarlaneused milk he had to dump to feed his pigs.

Many milk haulers did pickups on Saturday in advance of the storm. Mann said the last time he saw access to farms as bad as this was 1982.

The ADL plant has delayed weekly maintenance activities to allow the production lines to run when the milk arrives.

Milk producer Derwin Clowdumped 1,000 litres of milk on Wednesday morning, he hopes the milk hauler will be able to make it to the farm for an evening pickup.