“We have 3 farms that we milk at and luckily one was unaffected,” says Clara Ayer a dairy producer in Vermont. “The other two are a few minutes apart, one was without power 12 hours (60 cow tie stall) and we were not able to get our generator running so trucked cows to be milked to the other farm (850 milking) that was without power on and off and running on a generator for about 18 hours. Our heifer barn was running on a generator for the water pump for just shy of 48 hours and we have a dry cow barn that was without power for a little longer than that. In all honesty we are incredibly lucky…there are still thousands of Vermonters without power and some are not estimated to be restored until this weekend.”
According to Ashley Randle a marketing specialist with the Maine Department of Agriculture, much of southern Maine and parts of New Hampshire are still without power.
“Many producers have been able to find generators at least and neighbors have been very supportive in helping the farms,” she says.
Maine dairy producer Laurie Miner says power was restored at her farm today after running on generator since Monday.
The Associated Press reports that nearly 1.5 million customers in the region lost power due to a powerful wind and rain storm that peaked in the early Monday morning hours.