Comments on: Battery cows: coming soon to a farm near you

By: Kevin Hague

Kevin Hague — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:08:40 +0000

Photonz – it’s also important to point out that lachlan McKenzie from Federated Farmers keeps trying to suggest that what is planned is a ‘herd home’, that cows go into voluntarily to shelter from harsh weather outside. Better for animal welfare and protects pasture by stopping it pugging. We support herd homes. But this is nothing to do with what the resource consent applications are about. To be clear, the applications are to keep dairy cows in these indoor stalls (battery cows, if you will) for 5/6 of the time, including the entire time for 8 months of the year.

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By: photonz1

photonz1 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:49:34 +0000

nommopilot – if you rule out Mackenzie Country, then you probably rule out most of Europe as it has similar winter temperatures, and at the other extreme we have Australia and Africa.

However you’re probably right – it’s not the most appropriate place for dairy farming – at least not from the point of view of it’s natural environment.

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By: nommopilot

nommopilot — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:43:18 +0000

“Surely if there are cows there, they SHOULD have barns for shelter”

Surely there should not be cows there. Surely it is not an appropriate place for a dairy-farming operation.

Maybe in twenty years time though…

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By: photonz1

photonz1 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:09:30 +0000

Kahikatea – the countries largest hydro scheme with multiple dams and canals hardly makes the Waitaki “largely undamaged”. In fact there is only about 60km left that is not dams or canals.

Of course we should protect what is left, although even that has just been given permission to take even more water for electricity generation.

If we’re truely worried about animal welfare perhaps we should be questioning why cows are kept outside where temperatures are regularly below minus 10 for days on end. I was there last year and it was minus 17 and hadn’t been even close to zero at any time for the previous three weeks.

Surely if there are cows there, they SHOULD have barns for shelter, but NOT for intensive farming i.e they should be free to come and go as they please.

They are probably intelligent enough to do that, vs sheep, who often won’t shelter behind a row of windbreak trees in a snow blizard – they sometimes stand out in the middle of a paddock and die, when they could have shelter just 40m away.

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By: rimu

rimu — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:29:42 +0000

A facebook group about this http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191883539301&ref=mf

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By: kahikatea

kahikatea — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:09:03 +0000

The MacKenzie country all drains into the Waitaki river. The Waitaki is the largest (in water volume) and cleanest of New Zealand’s braided rivers, and it’s the largest by an increasing margin as they pump more and more water out of the Rakaia, Rangitata and Waimakarere to feed the Canterbury dairy industry. The Waitaki could soon be New Zealand’s last (largely) undamaged braided river, which is yet another reason to oppose the production of large amounts of cow-poo in its headwaters.

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By: greenfly

greenfly — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:33:09 +0000

From back in May …

18 May 2009

Johnny Rotten invited to visit New Zealand’s free-range cows

Federated Farmers Dairy wishes to invite former Sex Pistols front man, John Lyndon (aka Johnny Rotten), to come down under to see for himself, the difference free range cows makes to the quality of butter and other dairy products.

Will they take to the McKenzie Country to discuss their new, exciting plans?

Rotten indeed.

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By: Alterity

Alterity — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:26:16 +0000

cow dung also releases the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere – so this is bad news all round.

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By: greenfly

greenfly — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:09:28 +0000

We are leaping up and down (a bit) about the possibility of factory dairy farming getting a hoof-hold in New Zealand, knowing that factory pig and chicken farms have been going great guns for years. How bizzare! Why we think we can stop dairy from going the same way, I don’t know. Submit! Federated Farmers know how to bully their way through our flimsy opposition.
Have you driven through the Maniatoto Valley in Otago? Dry as a bone, tissue-thin soils and endless strings of k-line irrigation for the DAIRY COWS that have taken the place of … merinos for f*cks sake! It’s already happened guys, the McKenzie Country is just the next round, with a newish aspect thrown in. Herd homes aren’t so new, they dot the Southland Plains already. It’s amazing what money and urea can do!

Like or Dislike: 7 2 (+5)

By: farmgeek

farmgeek — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:29:41 +0000

It’s hard to see any aspect of the applications that would be better than pastoral farming (other than the potential profits). From the 3 applications…

Number of cows: 17,850
Size of effluent ponds to be built: 414,000,000 litres
Daily effluent discharge: 1,743,000 litres per day
Water use: not specified but logically must be more than effluent discharge
Feed required: not specified, but it will be tonnes per day shipped in
Milk trucked out: not specified but would be in the vicinity of 300,000-400,000 L/day

The cows, the environment, and our global reputation would be considerably worse off if we allow factory dairy farming to get a foothold in NZ. Once we lose our competitive advantage that is our clean, green mythology the entire economy will suffer – is that worth risking so a few farmers can make a bit more money?

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By: bjchip

bjchip — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:20:00 +0000

I don’t know about Panda but Milk out has to be less than water in. Where does the water come from? Also sh!t out has to have an impact on the water locally or be shipped to some more remote (from these farms) area of NZ to be spread as fertilizer.

In the absence of water the effluent (if locally disposed of) is maybe going to be making the basin LOOK like the surface of the moon and will turn whatever water does flow through the region into non-viable gook.

Sustainability : The Gozintas have to match the Gozoutas. I don’t see it being done economically AND sustainably. I could manage one or the other but IMHO, both together can only be had in other more hospitable parts of NZ.

We do need details though.

respectfully
BJ

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By: StephenR

StephenR — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:04:16 +0000

I hasten to add I dont know the details but as a dairy farmer what I have heard disturbs me

There are a few dimensions to this – what part or parts of this disturb you?

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By: greenfly

greenfly — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:55:30 +0000

Yes. By all means be prepared, Eagle Scout Chip!

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By: bjchip

bjchip — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:43:17 +0000

Greenfly

I am not going to justify it. I would have to see how (IF) they plan to make it sustainable without shipping feed and water in and shipping milk and manure out, in general screwing things up grossly. Could build a dome on the moon and make it “work” but it would take a sh!tload of power to move everything in and out.

The details have to be laid bare. I think you are correct. I am however mindful of that single advantage that they can undoubtedly raise and we’d best understand it well before they do… No?

respectfully
BJ

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By: greenfly

greenfly — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:33:06 +0000

Dairy farmers will try to exploit every possible landscape to expand their take – fragile wetlands, arid country with thin soils, gravelly soils that drain quickly to rivers, land that is saturated and completely wrong for an industry that adds huge amounts of water to those soils – talk of responsible land use from these guys is cr*p. They’ll take everything they can. We are up against greed, bullying, and an absence of care for the ‘environment’ outside of the one they wish to create to service their greed. This attempt to exploit the McKenzie country is only one example of a raft of such greedy grabs that already exist in New Zealand. Nothing much new here. The argument that housing the cows might lower the environmental impact is a waste of time to have, unless you seek to obscure the wood with trees.

Like or Dislike: 9 3 (+6)

By: bjchip

bjchip — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:22:18 +0000

The only “less damage” could conceivably come from Methane reclamation in the shed. The actual damage to the basin (Russel has a very REAL point) due to the manure loading, is probably very excessive, as there aren’t any fields nearby where grass or feed could be grown and where it would be economic to spread the sh!t.

I can see the notion of methane-reclamation barns/sheds dotting the landscape where cows are now left outside 24/7, with some work required to get them into the sheds often and long enough to cut into the methane loading.

This however, seems to be a bad idea in a worse place for all the wrong reasons.

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By: Manaakitanga

Manaakitanga — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:13:53 +0000

Do cows prefer to be indoors in the winter?
Does it cause less damage to the environment?

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By: panda

panda — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:13:52 +0000

Umm
I hate to say this, (the sky must be falling in) but on the face of it I agree with you

I hasten to add I dont know the details but as a dairy farmer what I have heard disturbs me

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