The Milk Producer - July 2010 - (Page 56)

Stories and Photos By Bill Dimmick That vital link Pat McManus has spent most of his life ensuring milk gets safely from farms to plants fter spending a good part of the last 50 years behind the steering wheel of a truck, Pat McManus considers himself a lucky man. He has always loved his job driving from farm to farm to pick up milk and deliver it to area processing plants. Naturally outgoing with a ready smile, the Arnprior, Ont. native can’t imagine doing anything else for a living. “I’m lucky. I’ve got one of the better jobs. That’s for sure,” he says. On May 15, Pat marked his 50th year in the dairy industry as a transport driver, and has no plans to retire any time soon. He wants to continue driving his route for at least five more years until he celebrates his 70th birthday. When he turned 16 in 1960, Pat secured his chauffer’s licence—all you needed back then to drive a truck— and took a job picking up milk for Arnprior’s Smith Dairy, owned by his uncle. For the last 13 years, he has been driving for William J. Stewart Transport, based in nearby Almonte, which bought the Smith’s route in 1997. “Pat has been a dedicated employee since he got here,” says William’s son, Don Stewart, who now runs the transport company. “He loves his job, and the producers love Pat. They’ve all known him for so many years.” The feeling is mutual. The Stewarts are “great, people, lovely people,” Pat says. When he got started picking up milk, the industry was much different. “There were lots of little dairies 56 | July 2010 | MilkPRODUCER A Pat and Stephanie count many dairy farmers among their friends. in every town,” he notes. “Now there are none.” and processed milk from about 85 farmers. After he finished his route in the mornings, he would spend the rest of the day processing the milk into cheese. Pat got his cheesemaker’s certificate from Kemptville Agricultural College, along with certification to make butter and ice cream. However, driving was always his first love. In 1967, two years after the Ontario Milk Marketing Board Started with cans Smith Dairy, where Pat started his career, was one of them. The milk he picked up in one of the dairy’s two trucks in the 1960s was all shipped in cans. His truck also had a trailer attached. “It was sort of like an early tandem,” he says with a chuckle. The dairy owned a cheese factory

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - July 2010

The Milk Producer - July 2010
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO Chair’s Message
Diary Update
DFO
National Policy
DFC Promotion
Thrill of the Grill
Farm Finance
Foundation for Our Future
Agriculture Minister’s Message
General Manger’s Message
Overview
Then and Now:
Notable Quotes:
Grant Smith
Gordon Coukell
Peter Oosterhoff
Vera Mitchell
Bill Simpson
Lew Dunk
Albert Gauthier
Gary Marshall
Stuart Steckle
Tom Kane
Pat McManus
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Markets
New’N’Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - July 2010