'It's farmers helping farmers': B.C. farmers get aid from Ontario counterparts

ABBOTSFORD -

It’s one day at a time for the people of Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford where almost 600 properties remain under an evacuation order because of historic floods. Forty-eight of them are dairy farms.

“You wake up and you just put your foot down and you start working,” explained Grant Bouwman, a second-generation dairy farmer.

His family has spent days cleaning the mess left behind by flooding as they prepare to bring back their herd in the coming days.

“We moved out three weeks ago today,” Bouwman said.

“It was emotional in a lot of ways. You see your childhood home flooded. You see your hard work under water...and there’s nothing you can do. You’re helpless.”

One of the losses for farmers is feed like hay bales, which can be seen strewn about Sumas Prairie. Grain was also lost.

But dairy farmers on the other side of the country are stepping up to help.

“What we’re doing today is bringing out a lot of the milk replacer for the B.C. flood relief donated by Gay Lea foods and Grober Nutrition out of Ontario,” explained Gerry DeGroot.

“In layman’s terms, it’s like a baby formula for the calves,” said DeGroot who is with Dairy-Crop Solutions, which is delivering the feed for free.

“It’s farmers helping farmers.”

Twenty-four thousand kilograms of milk replacer has been donated. The product is worth about $100,000, DeGroot said.

It will help feed more than 1,000 calves on dozens of farms for the next 60 to 70 days.

Bouwman said he’s grateful for the gift.

“It blows you away because you don’t always think you deserve the help and that’s kind of maybe a silly thing to say but we’re a proud bunch of people. We work hard and we don’t always expect those kind of things,” said Bouwman.

“So when other farmers jump in and do things like that and make big donations like that, it’s huge,” he explained.

Across Sumas Prairie, clean-up efforts continue. Volunteers, friends and neighbours are helping gut damaged homes.

“We’re taking out any of the drywall that got wet by the floods. We’re taking out the insulation, which could rot and cause problems. Some floor is getting taken out as well,” said Drayvin Whitney, who serves with Mormon Helping Hands.

He is part of one of a number of groups and individuals who have been donating their time to help with restoration.

“It is a huge mess. It’s a really big job but with lots of hands, it makes light work,” said Whitney.