New 3,000-cow 'super dairy' planned for Lincs

Readers' comments (38)

• david pigg | 3 June 2010 6:56 pm

  i was completly behind noctons plan, so i hope Velmur have better luck! A huge problem in modern dairy farming is unskilled herdsmen, establishing larger units would allow staff to have greater oppurtunities to improve thier knowledge skills base. Which at the end of the day can only benifit the cows.
  

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• Anonymous | 4 June 2010 9:04 am

  Hope the whole lot of these so called 'mega dairy farmers' sink without trace. The UK can do without this kind of invasion of foreign practices which simply don't work in this country.

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• Anonymous | 4 June 2010 9:25 am

  There is no place for 'super dairying' in this country. The focus should be on smaller herds on smaller farms and more of them farming with nature in a sustainable way as possible. Highly stocked, high-input, zero grazed, oil reliant factory farming is not the future. Let's not go the American way on this. Look at their food culture, their obese population, their waste, their much wants more philosophy. Not good, not sustainable, not the future. Small is beautiful.

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• P J Darlington | 4 June 2010 11:14 am

  If "Anonymous | 4 June 2010 9:25 am" wants to encourage smaller dairy farms he should ask the milk purchasers to pay a realistic price (production costs plus profit margins).The bigger the herd the lower the overheads per litre produced.

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• Anonymous | 4 June 2010 6:54 pm

  Yes P J Darlington I quite agree that the milk processors, the supermarkets and the consumer should all pay more for milk. I also understand the economies of scale you mention. My point is that we are at a tipping point, and if only the biggest can survive we are all in trouble. Large intensivley farmed dairy cows are stressed, crippled with foot problems, suffer udder complaints, are full of antibiotics and last for two to three lactations. Industrial farming is not the future.

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• Anonymous | 6 June 2010 9:31 pm

  I agree with Anonymous! Have you seen whats going on in Amercia on some of their dairy farms . . Ohio dairy farm worker case? Sickening and sadistic cruelty! This seems to be a regular occurance over there, making good dairy farmers all look bad!

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• Anonymous | 7 June 2010 1:25 am

  What wnet on in the Ohio dairy was the same as a case of domestic violence, it was horrid and cruel, but does not mean people should stop living in houses. there are some excellent large dairies in the US and some bad ones. Just like in small dairies

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• Someone nearby | 7 June 2010 4:58 pm

  It's South Kesteven not North Kesteven.

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• Dave 'Milky' | 8 June 2010 10:42 am

  Anonymous claiming that "farmed dairy cows are stressed, crippled with foot problems, suffer udder complaints, are full of antibiotics and last for two to three lactations." is single minded and a pathetic argument.....99% of farmers/non farmers that have been to see these bigger dairy farms have been suprised with the level of welfare they are treated with....it is nevertheless run like a business so a lame/mastitis riddled animal doesn't make money for the farm. They pay attention to detail and have specialists in regulary, for example to trim the lame cows feet more often than you 'anonomous' people like to think....you can't pass judgement or opinion untill you have seen these cattle first hand...their beds are cleaned twice daily and have their passageways and feeding areas cleanes by awtomatic scrapers allowing the cattle to live happy lives. To object to this kind of motion and expansion on purly personal opinion is ridicilous. if you want the traditional UK dairy farm to carry on, then the supermarkets/processors need to be less greedy and pass some of their mulit-million profits onto the farmers that do the real work. (I apologise for the spelling mistakes-Im welsh).

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• Anonymous | 8 June 2010 12:26 pm

  All applications for these super dairies should be refused. To say that animal welfare does not suffer is plain wrong. Cows are herd animals. They need to have freedom of choice, to graze, to interact with each other. They should NEVER be locked into these super dairy buildings. No one who cares anything for animal welfare can argue for anything like this. So what if their beds are cleaned twice daily or their feet trimmed - this cannot compare to them being out in the fresh air, getting movement and visual stimulation from their environment. I hope and pray this application is rejected and shame an anyone who thinks differently. At least be honest and admit animal welfare will suffer.

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