I’m fed up with talking about the weather, but I can console myself with the fact we have grabbed every opportunity so far and progress is not too bad.'Super dairy' farmers confident despite protests
THE farmers behind the proposed Lincolnshire ‘super dairy’ say they are confident their planning application will be accepted, despite the largely negative public response to the plan.
The official deadline for comment on Nocton Dairies’ application for a 8,100-cow dairy, located on Nocton and Dunston Heath, south of Lincoln, closed last Friday, although comments were still being posted this week on the North Kesteven District Council website.
An astonishing 640 people had commented by Wednesday (March 10), the vast majority of them objecting, many on animal welfare grounds. There were only eight comments in support plus four neutral comments.
The animal welfare backlash has been prompted by a campaign against the dairy ‘prison’ by Viva (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals), which has formed a Facebook Group to drum up support.
However, the farmers behind the plan, who include Peter Willes, of North Devon, David Barnes of Lancashire, and Robert Howard, a local arable farmer, are confident the campaign will not dent their ambitions.
North Kesteven District Council has indicated that animal welfare will not be a concern when it comes to making its decision, which is due by May 3.
The council is not commenting officially on its position but Graeme Surtees, Nocton’s Farm Business Consultant, said the position was clear.
“Animal welfare is not an issue for the council. They are going be more concerned about noise, smell, traffic, the effect on the local economy, that type of thing.
“The council has been very pragmatic about it and from an economic point of view they are more then happy, so there is no real reason why it should not go through.”
Mr Surtees reiterated that the welfare concerns were misplaced, partly because the dairy would be to provide ‘the best’ staff and facilities to ensure the health and welfare of the cows.
He added that the proposed site was ‘very remote’ and was located away from the nearest village. It had been carefully chosen to be invisible from the road, the b1188, and would add minimal traffic to it. The slurry would go to an anaerobic digester, minimising the smell from the unit.
A public meeting to discuss the proposal organised by the local council is scheduled to take place on Monday at Nocton village Hall.
Selection of comments on North Kesteven District Council planning website
Objectors
“To keep large animals in cages treated as though they are machines is horrendous to say the least. I know no caring decent person would allow this application to go ahead.”
Susan Shaw
“This proposal demonstrates absolute contempt for the animals housed and approving this application would perpetuate this horrendous practice which only the ignorant approve of.”
Mrs Sheeran
“It is a vile act on cattle to kill them and milk them in the first place. We more or less rape cows to attain milk, steal their calves for veal, milk them again until their mourning gets to a point when they die and then we eat them.”
Victor Davies
Supporter
Like it or not, this is the future of British agriculture… most people are unfortunately not willing to pay the true value for the food they eat, therefore farmers are forced into producing food as cheaply as possible.
Miss N Smith
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Readers' comments (13)
Rosemary Marshall | 11 March 2010 5:06 pm
There is only one word for this application: greed.
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SouthernSkye | 11 March 2010 5:55 pm
Ms Marshall, I could not agree more. If the supermarkets were willing to pay a viable price for the liquid milk and consumers were willing to pay a realistic price that reflects the true value of the product, this kind of dairy proposal could be avoided.
I am not an "Organic Fanatic" however, the public should look to it as the true value of the product they value so little!
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Phil Christopher | 12 March 2010 9:47 am
Best wishes to Messrs Willes, Barnes, Howard et al. No farmer-entrepreneur would risk the reported £50 million investment (source: Barry Wilson, British Dairying magazine, Feb 2010) without ensuring the highest possible standards of animal welfare, husbandry and management. The reality of the majority of the UK supply chain is that milk is an undifferentiated commodity, therefore an efficient, low cost production business model is essential. Personally, I find it very encouraging that farming has such entrepreneurs willing to put their money and kahunas on the line.
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Justin Kerswell | 12 March 2010 9:34 pm
I see that Peter Willes & Co are forgetting that none less than the Environment Agency has lodged an objection, and has been withering critical of the plans. That might cause them a headache, or two!
I'm still surprised that anyone in the dairy industry is supporting this. It isn't your saviour - it'll end up decimating small scale dairy farmers in the UK when zero-grazing takes hold as it has in the USA.
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Richard the Big Bunny | 13 March 2010 5:56 am
This is SO very shameful. I had hoped that Britain would carry on taking the ethical high-road on such matters ... not emulate the animal abuse greed culture of the USA. What next? Illegal war? Oh, wait ...
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Anonymous | 13 March 2010 11:22 am
I think we need to worry about foreign agriculture. We have very strict legislation and are suspect to heavy fines if we fall out of line unlike foreign agri.
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Anonymous | 13 March 2010 3:23 pm
When writing any article relating to the proposed super diary in Nocton, why do we see pictures of cows in fields and not in lage industrial sheds? These 8,100 cowswill be enclosed in battery like accommodation, hardly ever in fields.
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Anonymous | 13 March 2010 8:08 pm
They propose using sand for bedding. This causes huge problems for anaerobic digesters and makes them less efficient.
The reason there is very little dairy farming in Lincolnshire is that there isn't enough rain; even though they will not be grazing the cows, they will require huge amounts of water to deal with the slurry and for the cows. Has this been included on the environmental impact?
THis dairy will be disastrous for small dairy producers. It cannot be an accident that thie site chosen is in a part of the country where there are very few dairy farms, so there will not be much by way of protest from those that will suffer the most.
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Vincent Delargilliere | 14 March 2010 8:30 am
I'm french dairy farmer, breeding around 80 dairy cows with my parents.
This project is not sustainable: in few years, price of petrol and energy should be higher.like in 2007.In this big dairy farm, all the cost should be higher than a grazing system, like the new zealand way.
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Anonymous | 15 March 2010 5:02 pm
Im in full support of this proposal and others that will of course follow suit in the future. This is going to be the norm like it or not people.
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