o/t Question for Bruce or other dairy guys

Philip d

Well-known Member
There are a few Mennonite producers on the island now and several more thinking on moving here. They are amazing community members and farmers and so on, the only dairy prospective hiccup appears to be Sunday milk pick ups. There are only 2 small producers and they both live an hour + from the processing plant. Everyone else has a Sunday pickup every second week and that was in place before they moved here this summer and started milking the last few weeks. Their driver showed up and the farmer waved him down and told him to leave and he wasn't coming in today because it's Sunday. The driver said he has a job to do and if he want's paid for his milk to please move aside and let him do his job. The milk got picked up and the driver was later contacted by the minister and he explained that they must not show up on Sunday again and that their milk is to be picked up on special pickup every second Saturday and Monday on the off weeks which is fine but they do not want to pay the special pickup fees for the extra time and travel 4 days/month. Just wondering how it's handled in your/other areas as to not cause an issue as I am a director on the ADL Board and would like more information please. Thank you to you and any others who may be of help.
 
Back when I was a kid in my nice small town ( that was small at that time) the milk truck would only run on Monday - Saturday. Just like the Bread truck did the same hardly nobody worked on Sunday. It was know that if we wanted some thing for Sunday mom would send one of us kids out by the street and wave them down. This really brings back some good old days. back when cars where really cars not plastic. Sunday was a day that if you where open in this town you had to be a service that no body could do with out.
 
The old order Amish comunity here have centralized milk houses with electricity on main roads and they transport their own milk in cans to the milk house where they dump it in the tank. No direct farm pickup.
The more moderats and menonites have direct pickup 7 days a week and have some form of LP or electricity to cool the milk and to power the tank truck's pump.
Loren
 
I don't really know just how the Amish and Mennonites handle it here. I think the Mennonites are being picked up on Sunday. The Amish here ship cans to their own cheese plant,so maybe no Sunday pickup,I don't know.

I do know that back when I was hauling,another hauler said a guy got religion and told him that he couldn't pick up his milk on Sunday. Dave told him he might as well dump it then,he wasn't taking on any extra on Monday. If he was going to milk the cows on Sunday,the milk was gonna be picked up on Sunday. He said the guy backed right down.
 
Our cows left 16 years ago but at that time or a bit before this issue came up.If I remember right Ontario dairymen could opt for no Sunday pickups but there was a charge for it.
 
Cows need milking/feeding and tank gets fuller 7 days a week. No real days off on a dairy farm even if you are old school Amish. They just don't do any other farming tasks on Sun.
Loren
 
I think these producers have a generator in the barn,the quality is fine they just wont allow Sunday pickups and refuse to pay the extra pickup fees. They may have no choice but to either dump some milk or pay the fines. Its too bad but that should have been worked out before they decided to set up a dairy farm in another province.
 
I'm all in favor of religious freedom, as long as somebody else isn't footing the bill. The Mennonites surely knew Sunday pickups were part of the deal when they bought their operations.
 
I believe that all the Mennonites here live with Sunday pickup even though they probably dislike that. Not much competition in the milk hauling business to play one shipper against another to get what you want. I am sure that if there was anyway possible that they would have their own shipping business but the economics prohibit that. The Mennonites here have been long rumored to want their own agribusiness network in part as leverage against non-Mennonites. They came in mass kind of late to have a shot at a farm equipment franchise. Fertilizer and chemicals are kind of a monopoly on the wholesale end so it has always been a matter of not irritating other standing input retailers. Agri-lending I thought there would have been more headway on but maybe the Mennonites would not guarantee that they would not discriminate against non-Mennonites which would be a problem if the institution relied on FDIC and other government provisions.
 
Around my area we have Amish, Mennonite,and Dutch Christian reform and the only ones who have a real issue are the Dutch. They are more than willing to pay extra to avoid pickups so they don't have to deal with people who they consider heathens for working on sundays....
 
Some of those Amish are from this general area, moving there because land prices are too high here, prohibiting expansion when the sons want to farm. Here, I believe the policy is if you want an extra pickup , you pay for it. I also think policy is such that if your tank has more than 4 milkings in it, the milk will not be picked up, perhaps the exception if the roads were closed due to a snowstorm , maybe that 5th milking in the tank would be allowed. If your new neighbors are from Ontario, they will be aware of that, and your board should stick to its policy and not change it. An extra or earlier pickup to accommodate religious beliefs should work for those requesting it, but should be paid for by those asking for it. Ben
 
Thank you,that's what I was thinking as well. They are here from Ontario,they said there they do an evening Saturday and leave 5 in the tank for Tuesday 2x/month but there's quite a handful from where they moved from,enough to fill a truck so not such a big deal. If the manager asks my opinion I don't think they should wave the charges,if the church wants to remain strong on their policy than they should be responsible to reimburse the producers affected by special pickup charges.
 
Those that do not want Sunday pick up, do not have to have Sunday pick up , but they do have to pay for the extra pick up.Ontario has a minimum "stop charge "of $25.00, per stop. So if your volume is less than say 400 liters , you would have to pay not just the cost per hundred to truck the milk , but the minimum stop fee. Same would apply to a extra pick up to avoid a Sunday call. We are also seeing more Amish and Mennonite farmers moving in a bit to the north of us. Only the Mennonite farmers ship milk, all of the Amish are old order, and therefor cannot meet Grade A standards . About 10% of the milk producers in Ontario now , are Mennonites. The Mennonites are the largest single group in dairy, and growing in numbers. Bruce
 
Your board may want to add those types of details and options to the sign-up forms for new customers and also add them to your existing contracts. It's easier for everyone if issues like that can be worked out right at the beginning instead of being unpleasant surprises later on.
 
Thank you,ya it's $50 if the truck is already on the road and has to redirect to pick you up but they'd want quite a bit more than that to drive an hour one way for two small stops just because. See how it plays out but at the end of the day someone's going to pay.
 
Are you in the US or Canada?

Believe it or not, there is nothing in the PMO (Pasteurized MIlk Ordinance) in the US that says milk has to be picked up every 48 hours! He could go 3 days, or 2.5 days if he has enough tank capacity. No, that does nothing good for milk quality.

Also, what are they objecting to? Having to wash the tank on Sunday? Maybe they need an automatic washer. The driver starts it, and all the dairyman has to do is hook the pipe to the tank when done- which he had to do anyway.
 
Hi,we're in Canada so they only allow more than 48 hr tank time during adverse (good ol Canadian snow storm) weather. I doubt they'd agree to auto tank washing they as far as I know don't want anything done on Sunday's that can be avoided.
 

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