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... It's 4 a.m. in Maine, and just like his father and grandfather before him on this land, dairy farmer Fred Stone makes the frigid journey through the snow to milk the cows.
"It was always known as cows first, people second, and that's the way it's always been," Stone told NewsNation's Natasha Zouves. "I wish that snow wasn't cold, and I wish rain wasn't wet, and I wish I still didn't love my cows. But the more people I meet, the more I love my cows."
Stone has chosen each of their names and knows them by heart. In the warm barn, he greets Moon Beam, Blue and Storm Chaser.
"There's no phoniness about the, you know exactly where you stand, and they're all different," said Stone. "Their personalities are all completely different."
His whole life he says his care for his cows has been rewarded with what he calls "liquid gold." His family has owned this farm since 1914, and for more than a century, their high-quality milk and cream have gone to market.
Now, he milks them only to pour every drop down the drain.
"You either laugh or cry, and I ran out of tears a long time ago," said Stone.
Fred Stone's milk is contaminated, heavily tainted with PFAS, or "forever chemicals," linked with cancer and other serious health issues.
"This has broken our hearts and crushed our spirit, and I don't know if we'll ever get that back," said Fred's wife, Laura Stone.
In 2016, an innocuous, routine water test on their property revealed high levels of PFAS " human-made chemicals the Stones had never heard of before. ...
