Help save the Yukon's only creamery
Donation protected
Klondike Valley Creamery, the little micro-dairy of the North, needs our help.
Klondike Valley Creamery, situated 300 km south of the Arctic Circle outside of Dawson City, is the northern most micro-dairy in North America and the Yukon’s only creamery.
Record snowfall in Dawson City this winter caused the roof of the newly built barn to collapse on the evening of Feb 5th 2020, trapping 7 milking cows inside. With headlamps, chainsaws and angle grinders the Sadlier family worked until well after midnight to free the trapped cows. Miraculously all the cows and calves were found alive. But the barn, built with materials from a CANOR grant and by a community of builders and carpenters, was destroyed. This is a devastating financial blow for this unique little micro-dairy of the north that was just starting to get on its feet.
What's left from the barn.
(Photo by John Lenart)
Farming at 64 degrees north comes with unique northern challenges. The Klondike Valley Creamery has the added challenge of being located on the far side of the Klondike River with no road access during the summer and an ice bridge during the winter.
Jen and Loren Sadlier have worked tirelessly since 2014 to bring dairy cows back to Dawson City and to get the Yukon’s only certified micro-dairy up and running. The welfare of their cows is always front and center. Every wheel of KVC cheese is labelled with the names of the cows that provided the milk to create it. During severe winter cold snaps, the Sadlier family has been known to share their living room with a newborn calf and, once, even with a full grown cow.
Klondike Valley Creamery has been supplying the Yukon with delicious cheese and yogurt for the past two years. With six varieties of cheese, it sells as fast as Jen can make it! But to make cheese you need cows and to keep cows during a long Yukon winter, you need a good barn.
Due to its lack of road access, no insurance on the collapsed barn was possible. The money that helped finance the barn’s construction was from a once in a lifetime grant and is not recoverable. A community of Dawson builders and carpenters had advised that that the roof was actually over built. Shovelling off the roof was on the priority list for the weekend after the collapse.
For now, the cows have temporarily moved into the milking parlour, Loren’s workshop and the neighbour’s goat shed. But they will need a new barn. And time is of the essence. Once the ice bridge starts to melt the end of March, there will be no easy way to transport heavy construction materials across the river.
The Sadliers are looking to buy a prefabricated barn that will be quick to install and will be less expensive than re-building the barn from scratch. The replacement barn is estimated to cost the Sadliers $66,000. We are hoping to raise $45,000 to help them reach this goal.
Something similar will be the new home for the cows.
For more info visit https://www.britespanbuildings.com/uses/dairy-barns/
(Photo courtesy of Britespanbuildings)
Let’s help support the Yukon’s only micro-dairy get back on its feet to build a new barn for the cows so that the Klondike Valley Creamery can continue to operate and provide delicious Yukon produced cheese to the territory.
If you cannot help provide funds for the new barn, but you are able to provide in-kind services or labour to help clear the debris of the collapsed barn, there will be an opportunity for your assistance this Spring. Stay tuned.
Title photo by Cathie Archbould
Story written by Suzanne Crocker
For more details on Loren’s rescue of the cows, see CBC North article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-barn-collapse-cow-rescue-1.5462025
Helpers crossing the river to help put the roof on the barn.
Klondike Valley Creamery, situated 300 km south of the Arctic Circle outside of Dawson City, is the northern most micro-dairy in North America and the Yukon’s only creamery.
Record snowfall in Dawson City this winter caused the roof of the newly built barn to collapse on the evening of Feb 5th 2020, trapping 7 milking cows inside. With headlamps, chainsaws and angle grinders the Sadlier family worked until well after midnight to free the trapped cows. Miraculously all the cows and calves were found alive. But the barn, built with materials from a CANOR grant and by a community of builders and carpenters, was destroyed. This is a devastating financial blow for this unique little micro-dairy of the north that was just starting to get on its feet.
What's left from the barn.
(Photo by John Lenart)
Farming at 64 degrees north comes with unique northern challenges. The Klondike Valley Creamery has the added challenge of being located on the far side of the Klondike River with no road access during the summer and an ice bridge during the winter.
Jen and Loren Sadlier have worked tirelessly since 2014 to bring dairy cows back to Dawson City and to get the Yukon’s only certified micro-dairy up and running. The welfare of their cows is always front and center. Every wheel of KVC cheese is labelled with the names of the cows that provided the milk to create it. During severe winter cold snaps, the Sadlier family has been known to share their living room with a newborn calf and, once, even with a full grown cow.
Klondike Valley Creamery has been supplying the Yukon with delicious cheese and yogurt for the past two years. With six varieties of cheese, it sells as fast as Jen can make it! But to make cheese you need cows and to keep cows during a long Yukon winter, you need a good barn.
Due to its lack of road access, no insurance on the collapsed barn was possible. The money that helped finance the barn’s construction was from a once in a lifetime grant and is not recoverable. A community of Dawson builders and carpenters had advised that that the roof was actually over built. Shovelling off the roof was on the priority list for the weekend after the collapse.
For now, the cows have temporarily moved into the milking parlour, Loren’s workshop and the neighbour’s goat shed. But they will need a new barn. And time is of the essence. Once the ice bridge starts to melt the end of March, there will be no easy way to transport heavy construction materials across the river.
The Sadliers are looking to buy a prefabricated barn that will be quick to install and will be less expensive than re-building the barn from scratch. The replacement barn is estimated to cost the Sadliers $66,000. We are hoping to raise $45,000 to help them reach this goal.
Something similar will be the new home for the cows.
For more info visit https://www.britespanbuildings.com/uses/dairy-barns/
(Photo courtesy of Britespanbuildings)
Let’s help support the Yukon’s only micro-dairy get back on its feet to build a new barn for the cows so that the Klondike Valley Creamery can continue to operate and provide delicious Yukon produced cheese to the territory.
If you cannot help provide funds for the new barn, but you are able to provide in-kind services or labour to help clear the debris of the collapsed barn, there will be an opportunity for your assistance this Spring. Stay tuned.
Title photo by Cathie Archbould
Story written by Suzanne Crocker
For more details on Loren’s rescue of the cows, see CBC North article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-barn-collapse-cow-rescue-1.5462025
Helpers crossing the river to help put the roof on the barn.
Organizer and beneficiary
Priska Wettstein
Organizer
Dawson City, YT
Loren Sadlier
Beneficiary