Animal rescues continued on Saturday in the Sumas Prairie, which was hit by floods in Abbotsford, and the military also joined the work.

Soldiers were hoisted from front-end loaders to help transport poultry from the flooded barn.

At the same time, animal feed and water are still serious problems.

"This morning, we were able to airdrop 4 tons of feed to a pig farm in Abbotsford to feed approximately 4,000 pigs," said Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham.

Although the floods are still deep in many parts of the Sumas grassland, in other areas, the floods have receded, and farmers are trying to clean up the mess.

On a dairy farm, the water has dropped a few feet, and now the problem is getting in.

"We are trying to make the water drop another foot or so so that the milking cart can get in," said Mattais Koster, a farm worker who is inspecting the pump.

Not far away, another farm was pouring milk into the sewer, like many farmers, because the water used to clean the equipment was contaminated.

Laurie Doppenberg is a second-generation dairy farmer.

She said dealing with the flood was "emotionally exhausting."

"My father has been here since 1955, and we have never had a barn or farmhouse flooded here," she said.

But she said the situation became critical earlier this week.

"In the containment area in the barn, we are waist-high in the water. The cows are already full," explained Doppenberger.

She stopped a passing truck and trailer and asked for help moving the animals.

Other farmers have used motorboats to take their animals to a safe place and then load them into waiting trailers.

But some animals did not succeed.

Officials said thousands of animals died in the flood. Farmers say this number is much higher, and some poultry farmers say they have lost tens of thousands of poultry. The cow is also dead.

The dairy farmer Fred Gietema was one of the first to discover a break in a section of the Sumas River embankment.

He told CTV News: "It's horrible to watch this happen."

"For about three hours, we have been trying to stop it, but the water just kept coming up."

He is worried about how to protect his herd.

"We were told to leave, but I will not leave," he said, "I will not leave them (animals). They are my life."

When the water that his cattle desperately needed was turned off, Gietema became emotional.

His animal can only be put into the tank for almost 24 hours without water.

"When I tried to fill a specific tank, all the cows were crying, screaming at me."

Many farmers praised their neighbors and strangers for their help in dealing with unprecedented floods.

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