Economic weather stations
Until the Hokkaido Chikyu Eastern Earthquake occurred, many Hokkaido people lived without knowing that half of electricity was dependent on one thermal power station. The blackouts that affected all roads also affected dairy farming and the important things that are becoming commonplace everyday have come to light.
Dairymen milk twice daily. Raw milk is cooled in a refrigerator called a bulk cooler and shipped to the dairy factory in Milk Lowry once every 2 days. Meanwhile, power is used in all processes. The factory of the dairy industry stopped operation due to the power outage this time.
On the other hand, milking can not be stopped because dairy cows become diseases of mastitis unless they milk every day. Some dairymen maintain in-house power generation facilities, but what about dairymen who are not? The agricultural cooperatives officials organized by the dairy farmers traveled around the dairy farmers with a mobile generator and milked them one by one. On the day of the earthquake the milking started from the morning continued until midnight.
The agricultural cooperatives are criticized variously now and orders are also attached from the government to make efforts to provide cheap materials to farmers. However, when it comes to such an emergency situation, I feel that Agricultural Cooperatives are not organizations that aim only for economic benefits, but organizations that have been based on regional cooperation.
Unfortunately the milk that was milked can not be shipped because the factory is stopped and was discarded. The average size of Hokkaido, the calculation with 100 milking cows resulted in a loss of 280,000 yen a day.
Dairy farming which continues without breaking everyday while facing dairy cattle who are living beings. The dairy farming is supported not only by individual management entities but also by invisible connections usually. (Arrival)