Rothenburger — A silent protest, a consumer decision

COLUMN — I boycotted Dairyland this week. Sort of. I spent an extra few cents and bought a carton of Blackwell Dairy’s one-per-cent instead.

Boycotting is not something I’m given to do. For the most part, I’m slightly offended by boycotts. Quite often it’s the little guys, the cogs in the machine, who get hurt. Sometimes boycotts just don’t do any good.

I didn’t walk into the grocery store planning to boycott Dairyland (in fact, I quit drinking milk a couple of years ago but still buy it for another member of the family) but when my hand reached into the milk refrigerator it was as if it had a mind of its own — slight move to the right and there it was, grabbing that carton of Blackwell Dairy.

Here’s the way it usually works with me — I believe in competitive pricing. If pricing and quality are equal, and there’s a choice, I’ll buy local, but my loyalty is to the marketplace first. If a Kelowna contractor submits the lowest bid for a civic project, for example, it’s only right and smart that he get the job over a higher bid from a local company.

But let’s stick with milk, and milk cows. Dairyland has been the recipient of milk product from the Chilliwack dairy that made the news this week when a video was revealed of several of its employees being abusive to cows, beating them mercilessly.

It was shocking, outrageous. Chilliwack Cattle Sales fired eight employees over it. The B.C. SPCA has recommended charges against them.

Chilliwack Cattle Sales milk goes to Dairyland, which is owned by the Montreal-based Saputo Inc. Chilliwack Cattle Sales apologized. Saputo apologized. The Dairy Farmers of Canada and the B.C. Dairy Association expressed outrage.

Saputo, however, said it doesn’t have the authority to select where it gets its milk because it must be purchased through the B.C. Milk Marketing Board.

Though it didn’t do much to bolster the effectiveness of Saputo’s apology, I’m sure that’s right. So if Saputo isn’t to blame, and Dairyland isn’t to blame, and Chilliwack Cattle Sales isn’t to blame, it comes down to the employees who were videotaped.

Is it right to take it out on Saputo by spending my $3.69 somewhere else? Maybe not. But here’s what I know.

Last fall, I visited Blackwell Dairy with Josh Pagé of CBC radio for a feature we were doing. For a farm, the place virtually sparkles. The computerized machine that does the milking is a modern marvel. The cows know when it’s time to be milked, know when it’s their turn, and get in line accordingly.

Not a hand needs to be raised, not a loud word spoken. I don’t know anything about the dairy business, and farming isn’t always like Babe, Pig In The City, but those looked like happy, well-looked-after cows to me.

Something else I know is that Blackwell Dairy is a good local company, one that’s been here for generations and does a lot for the community.

To call my paltry buying decision this week a boycott is an exaggeration, to say the least. A personal protest, maybe. A silent gesture, sure. Or maybe just time for a change.

Blackwell milk costs a little more but I’m OK with that. I made a consumer decision to buy local, and I’m content. Like cows should be.

AROUND THE TOWN — Word from those paying their property taxes is that this is a good time to do it. Work on the streets in front of City Hall is keeping lineups at the cashiers’ counters down to a minimum… Former Kamloops Daily News ad manager Steve Ceron, who later published magazines here and was on the board of the Kamloops Central BIA, is now a director on the board of the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce… Health Minister Terry Lake is a man of many talents. Neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Brownley of the Welcome Back Clinic, which sponsored Friday’s chamber of commerce luncheon, introduced the veterinarian-by-trade as “the best neuterer in the province.”

armchairmayor@gmail.com