Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

speakup

FREDERICTON - The most harrowing rescues on the flooded St. John River in the past couple of days have involved stranded cows and desperate farmers trying to get their herds to safety.

Robert Speer, a farmer from Hainesville, N.B., who has been helping out colleagues in flooded areas, sounded exhausted on Thursday after he and several others tried unsuccessfully to move an endangered dairy herd from Maugerville, southeast of Fredericton.

Speer said in an interview the current over the flooded road in Maugerville made it impossible to move the roughly 140 cows by trailer, and the current in the river was too strong for a barge.

"We have to consider the risks to people as well as to the animals," he said.

He said the owner of the cattle will try to move them to the highest sections of his barn, which is completely surrounded by the icy waters of the St. John River.

"The animals are under a lot of stress," Speer said.

Speer, whose own farm is on high ground and in no danger from a flood, said it's very difficult to operate a large dairy farm without electricity and with damaged, waterlogged equipment.

"The cows have to be milked every day," he said.

"You just have to hope your standby power works."

Farmers from across New Brunswick are in the Fredericton area helping out other farmers threatened by the rising waters of the river.

The communities of Maugerville, Sheffield and Lincoln - all near Fredericton - are major agricultural centres.

Jean-Claude Babineau, a public information officer for the Department of Natural Resources, said the assistance of outside farmers is deeply appreciated.

"We don't have the manpower to be transporting animals, so it's great to see other farmers bringing in trucks and trailers to help each other out," Babineau said.

"The Department of Fisheries is supplying boats and neighbours are helping neighbours. That's Maritime spirit for ya."

Speer said a small herd of about 100 dairy cows was successfully moved earlier in the week.

The St. John River floods every year, although usually not as dramatically as it has this spring.

The annual flood is a key event for the many large and successful farms located on the fertile flat lands of the river valley.

"It's prime agricultural land because it is on a flood plain," said Andy Morton, deputy director of New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization.

"Flooding regenerates the organic material in the soil. In many instances it can be a plus. Unfortunately, current and wave action can also cause some soil erosion."