[Louise Gaunt]

Whilst having some misgivings about mega  dairies, I feel we are better to ensure our own food production rather than relying on other countries supplying us. To ensure the high levels of production welfare needs to be to high standards, and breeding super cows is surely on a par with hybrid hens which produce lots more eggs per year but for fewer years.

[shygirl]

iv never heard of the supa cow, and having feed 4 kids, it sounds painful. 
im not in favour of extreme genetics in animals whether farm or pet.
i would rather farming for britain was kept in britain where we can monitor welfare better, as opposed to imported products.

the more i learn about life, the more i want to produce for myself. its a cruel world.

[Marches Farmer]

Isn't it horses for courses again?  I personally think that the expense in an animal is getting it to the point where it produces offspring, in the case of cows giving both a saleable calf and milk.  If you put a heifer in calf young and push her very, very hard she will be a very productive animal for a very short time.  If you put her in calf when she's almost fully grown and accept lower yields she'll last three or four times as long but you'll need to keep more cows to get the same amount of milk.  I go for longevity every time but the folks with the calculators clearly have a different view of these things.

[RUSTYME]

It is all about chasing the £ , € , or the $ nothing more . Till that changes , more and more outrages will occur  , nothing to do with feeding the world , it is just feeding greed ,

[in the hills]

I don't think I could go into it in great detail right now but read some interesting material (from RBST I think it was but not certain without a lot of digging to find it ) that attempted to disprove the 'we've got to go this way to feed the world' argument. It was quite complicated when you looked into it carefully and not as clear cut as you may think.

Is this sort of intensification of dairy farming much different from 'battery hens' ..... ? That system now seems to be considered unacceptable ?

[Lesley Silvester]

As I understand it, there is enough food to feed the world; it's the greed of the rich that prevents the poor from having enough.


Berkshire Boy, it's all very well saying if you don't like it grow your own or go vegetarian. Not everyone is in a position to grow their own. With modern housing having smaller and smaller gardens and waiting lists for allotments, where are people to grow their own? Personally, I would love to be self sufficient in food but being disabled and unable to even look after my goats without help, or grow much in the way of veg, I just can't. Not that I can afford to buy enough land to do more than I manage in my garden in any case.


Shygirl, I agree. These cows have udders full to bursting which can't be comfortable. Remembering times when I've woken my sleeping baby because I was so full of milk, I needed to feed him for my own comfort, I wouldn't want to think of cows being like that every single day of their short lives. They are just being used as machines.


In the hills, I agree absolutely. Battery hen-keeping is wrong so is any type of intensive farming where animals are kept in unnatural conditions and indoors all the time is unnatural.


Russ, couldn't have put it better myself.

[SallyintNorth]

Again, I am no fan of keeping animals indoors, nor of intensive farming generally.

However...

In the modern, indoor-all-the-time systems, cows always have their own comfy bed, always have space at the trough and have plenty of nutritious food to eat, have rotating brushes they can go and scratch themselves on, some of the sytems have parlours where the cows go to be milked by robots whenever they want - which means she never feels uncomfortable, ladies

The real key here is for people to pay their food proper respect.  Pay a proper price for it so that it isn't so cheap they buy half-gallon containers and then throw half of it away. 

Farmers produce as much milk the supermarkets can sell, and then the buying public throw half of it away.  That is the thing to rant about.

[Cheviot]

Hi,
I wouldn't like to live near it, just imagine the amount of slurry that a 1000 cows will produce.
Regards
Sue

[in the hills]

I don't think anyone is ranting ... IMO.

I for one don't know too much about dairy farming but I think that the farmers around me do. On the whole they don't seem to think it's good for the animals or the local environment. Slurry is one thing that they have mentioned and it's not going to affect us at all but from what I've heard there is concern in the village that this development is near to. Think its very near to the village school.

I don't think that many would argue against the point that we waste too much but that doesn't necessarily make everything else acceptable either .... IMO.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Thanks for the replies guys and i agree with all of you.

[sabrina]

In an ideal world this sort of farming would not happen but the truth is, we are a small country running out of land. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to grow and raise our own food, we have to think of the rest who rely on farmers for decent meat, milk etc. Yes we can all be up in arms about this sort of farming but facts have to be faced something has to be done. I am sure these places will be well inspected at least I hope so. Would I wish to raise any animal this way, no I would not but what is the answer.

[hughesy]

I've said this before in another thread and I stick by it. Joe Public doesn't give a s**t where his dinner comes from as long as it's cheap and no hassle to himself. Intensive farming and mass production is what he wants, wether he knows it or not. People who choose to buy what we think of as "ethically" farmed food are in a tiny minority and always will be.
Standards of welfare in a super dairy will have to be second to none. Wether it's right or wrong is just a matter of opinion.

[AndynJ]

My opinion (Im a veggie)
You/we all buy Hybrids whether its a cow a hen or a carrot seed so we all want our own supa production units, more produce per £
What is the difference if an animal has been bought, reared for human use  whether it lives for 12 weeks or 12 years ?
IMO = none
My dog is a piece of equipment, I bought it to do a job, if it can't do the job then its days are over, I may if it does many years of good service allow it to retire. we feed it exactly the same food & same amount daily, I do hope all our animals enjoy their existence but if not tough, same with humans make the most out of your surroundings enjoy them the best you can if not you'll probably turn out to be a grumpy old smallholder 
I totally agree that the bigger the unit the higher the welfare standards will need to be to keep good health.

[Brandi]

Really interesting discussion. What will happen to the approx. 1000 calves born every year?

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Really interesting discussion. What will happen to the approx. 1000 calves born every year?

Good question. They'll be sold for either meat or kept as breeding stock. Anyway thanks for all the replies guys, its been good to listen to all your opinions on the subject.