TMK Creamery, a craft dairy producer located on the corner of Dryland and Macksburg roads south of Canby, experienced looting and robbery early Friday morning, the farm reported on Facebook.
Owner Todd Koch later explained to The Canby Current that a family member’s Toyota Tacoma pickup truck has been stolen from the property while they were otherwise engaged, and some personal information from the family was taken.
“We let our guard down,” said Koch, whose last name is pronounced “Cook.” “We were moving our cows and helping a neighbor in Molalla move some animals because they had to evacuate, and we just didn’t think someone would come and steal our truck.”
The vehicle was recovered by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office later that night, abandoned on Highway 170, but undamaged.
“They just left it in the middle of the road,” Koch said. “It was almost out of gas. Law enforcement was amazing and did an incredible job.”
The Koch family, which owns and operates the farm, said they set up cots inside the creamery and tried to get a few hours of sleep.
It was still a harrowing experience, in the midst of what was already a nightmare.
“We just wanted to make people aware that this stuff is going on,” Koch said. “It sucks but it’s the reality. The police said there are robberies and looting going on everywhere, because of the evacuations.”
TMK has moved all of its “dry” (non-dairy-producing) stock to St. Paul, with only the dairy cows remaining at the farm, with a “quick exit plan” in place if their area is moved to level 3 mandatory evacuation.
“You need so much infrastructure for a dairy farm, it’s tough to move milk cows,” Koch said. “We moved everything else.”
A countywide curfew was established in Clackamas County Thursday night.
From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., no persons are to be out on the roads in any part of the county except for first responders, civilians working nighttime jobs, evacuees or those engaged in property-saving activities.
