P.E.I. dairy industry offers lessons in milking cows to potential relief workers

Because the Island's dairy industry can't keep up with the demand for relief workers, the PEIAgriculture Sector Council hosted a training program over the weekend in Wellington to try to help fill the gap.

"There is a demand on P.E.I. as farmers -- not like the old days so much -- young farmers in particular want some time off," said Ron Sampson, an udder health technician with the Dairy Farmers of PEI.

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"And their wives want them to take some time off," said Sampson with a smile. "They want a weekend off or they become sick, or they want to go to Florida for a week."

The PEI Agriculture Sector Council currently has 34 active relief milkers, and they say that's not nearly enough.

"There's a big need for relief milkers in PEI," said dairy farmer Nelson MacKinnon of Nordale Farms.

"If you go around the communities you can see there's a lot of people from outside the country coming in to help milk the cows because we can't get enough relief workers."

Most of the nine course participants, ranging in age from 16 to 61, had never milked a cow before, but after some time in the classroom they got to give it a try.

"The first time is a little bit tough, but the second time you feel easier," said John Zheng, who is from China. He and his wife Alice are interested in finding jobs milking cows.

"It's very exciting and I really enjoy it," said Alice Zheng.

"There's a lot to think about, like making sure you're doing all the steps, doing them correctly, in the right order," added participantJacki Caldwell.

The council said many of their relief workers end up getting permanent jobs on dairy farms, so the need to continue these courses for relief workers is vital.

"Just to educate people that milking cows isn't all that bad," said Nelson MacKinnon.

The dairy industry plans to host another session next spring.