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Business As Usual For Creamery Collections In Spite Of The Arctic Weather
Jan 13, 2010
The Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes has not missed one milk supply pick-up or delivery to retailers despite the area being covered by a deep blanket of snow.
Tanker drivers, working on behalf of The Creamery, have managed to battle through blizzards and the wintry conditions every day to collect local milk, vital to the making of Real Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese, from its 50-plus strong network of small family farms scattered throughout the Dale.
This contrasts with other areas such as Devon, where there have been reports of farmers having to throw away 4,000 litres (880 gallons) of milk a day – worth about £500 - because collections were abandoned in the snow and ice.
During the recent Arctic-like spell, Wensleydale has been covered by up to 14 inches (35 cms) of snow with drifts reaching up to five feet (1.5 metres).
The tanker drivers have years of experience of driving in wintry conditions and also carry shovels and grit with them.
David Hartley, The Wensleydale Creamery’s Managing Director, said: “All our milk has been collected as usual on a daily basis, which is testimony to the job done by the tanker drivers in difficult conditions.
“This in turn has allowed us to meet all our delivery commitments to our customers, which again is testament to the tenacity and professionalism of the lorry drivers, who come to The Creamery to pick up our cheeses for delivery to retailers.
“Many local farms depend on The Wensleydale Creamery for their livelihoods and we are pleased that we have managed to maintain business as usual despite the wintry weather.
“This has been a real team effort with our farmer suppliers playing their part, if necessary, to help the tankers get to their farms including clearing farms tracks to enable the drivers to carry out the milk collection.”
Local farms supply 420,000 litres (92,000 gallons) of milk a week to The Creamery with the two tankers covering 200 miles a day between them. There are collections from some farms every day and every other day from the others.
The tanker drivers, who employed by S J Bargh and who have worked during this snowy weather, are Jim Metcalfe, Robert Shuttleworth, Anthony Heseltine and Carl Roberts.
Farmer Richard David Middleton, of Skelgill Farm, praised the tanker drivers for doing such a good job getting out to farms.
He added: “It is important for the cash flow to keep the business going and to keep the local dairy economy going.”
Tanker driver Jim Metcalfe said: “The conditions I have encountered have been rather severe. It has been 15 years since I started doing this job and they are the worst conditions I have ever encountered.”
He added that in such weather it was important to check the working order of the tanker. Contact was regularly made with farmers on the pick-up route to see what the roads were like up ahead with farmers offering a helping hand to clear roads when necessary, he said.
