Recent heavy rain a ‘quiet sucker punch’ for farms

of possible damage. ge but for one farm — it appears flooding has upset the condition of tofir fall pasture — where their dairy cows are supposed to graze. 47 a-b-c’s lili zheng reports. track 1 bob miller has never missed a tuesday at the camden avenue farmers market. that is — until this tuesday. 17:11:58 all my daughters were born on tuesday market days and we’ve always managed to have someone or i’d be down there myself, and unfortunately this is the first time we’ve actually kind of had to pull a punch 07 track 2 miller — is the owner of the nice farms creamery in federalsburg. the creamery has been a vendor of the farmers market for the past eight years. according to miller — heavy rain over the weekend has added more problems to what’s already been a challenging few months for this 200-acre farm. a dry august and september — plus recent flooding — means less grass for their dairy cows. 17:13:39 the grass is becoming oxygen deprived, it’s not growing, it’s being drowned out…and then you know, our cows. a person can’t even walk on there, but a cow walking on that muck…it’s just going to tear it up even more 49 track 3 miller says as a result — the cows are being fed more hay. and a change in diet — has cut their farm’s milk production by about half. however — his farm is not the only vendor who missed out on tuesday due to flooding. terry jordan — a board member of the camden avenue farmers market — says miller was one of two. and while it’s rare for weather to stop a vendor — 17:39:20 we’ve lost a little bit of product but that’s okay, because it happens. it’s part of our life. it’s part of going to the market. you take the good with the bad 26 track 4 miller admits — bouncing back from the bad is going to take some time. but — they’re taking it day by day. 17:15:06 it’s not automatic, you know, so many people expect things to come right back and when you’re a natural dairy like we are it does take a little bit of time 13 track 5 lili zheng, 47 a-b-c according to miller — it’s hard to tell exactly when their supply will be up and running to full capacity. but — he expects to happen within the next few weeks. moving forward — nice farms creamery says they will keep an eye on their milk supply — until their production level is up to par. this includes simplifying their product lines for the time being. we’re told — they have not produced their line of chocolate milk for roughly two weeks. that’s because — they’re trying to protect their supply of whole milk, skim milk and yogurt. however — they say support from the community is needed now more than ever. 17:15:49 it’s not just nice farms creamery, there’s a lot of dairies out there…and a lot of operating farms that have trouble right now so if you’re local foodie and you want to help us out, just keep coming to that market every week because right now this is really when we need people to support us 07 the camden avenue farmers market wrapped up for the day just moments ago. if you missed them — you can them again next tuesday. and today is national coming