TheDairySite Newsletter - 18 February 2011

Friday 18th February 2011

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Is There A Lack Of Ambition In The UK Dairy Industry?

Nocton Dairies has withdrawn an application for planning permission to build what would have been the largest dairy farm in the UK.

The proposal for this farm has been going on for over a year, with the original plans submitted in December 2010, for an 8000 milking herd.

The farm has sparked one of the biggest ever industry debates and has highlighted the poor relationship between UK consumers and producers.

The general public were outraged that cows would be housed indoors all year around, with campaigns against the proposal being led by the World's Society for the Protection of Animals and Compassion In World Farming (CIWF).

"If this truly marks the end of this application, then we can rejoice that thousands of dairy cows will be spared miserable lives where they would be deprived of normal opportunities for grazing in fields. This sounds like a great day for animal welfare!" said CIWF.

Nocton said that their dairy cows would have had some of highest environmental and welfare standards ever seen in the UK.

Many studies have proved that intensive farms are more environmentally friendly than extensive systems.

The farm would have supported a cooperative of local farmers - who would have supplied feed for the dairy herd. The original application would have employed more than 80 people and included an anaerobic digester, which would have produced 2MW of power from farm waste - enough to power the dairy and over 2000 homes.

More recently, plans were re-submitted for a smaller, 3,770 herd, and included plans for cows to access outdoor paddocks in the summer months, weather permitting.

Only this week, Nocton withdrew the application, because of an objection from the Environment Agency. The Agency says there is a lack of information about risks posed to the aquifer underlying the site and uncertainty about the extent of the benefits associated with the change in land use.

Nocton Dairy applicants, two dairy farmers in the UK, said that the industry needs to stand up to those, who would twist the facts about animal welfare, and highlight lack of investment as the issue, not scale or type of system.

"If our industry does not tell the public the facts and open its doors to show how we are great at farming in many different ways, then misinformed single interest pressure groups will fill the void with untruths to the eventual detriment of all."

Is the industry too preoccupied with trying to avoid confrontation with consumers, rather than educating them, not only about where their food comes from, but how it is produced?

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

Estimated 2010 Performance For Irish Dairy Herds
Milk prices and the volume of milk output increased in 2010, say Trevor Donnellan and Thia Hennessy from Teagasc.

Adoption of Methane Digesters on Livestock Operations
The extent to which livestock operations in the US can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from manure management depends in part on the number of livestock operations that adopt methane digesters, which in turn depends on digester profitability from energy savings, energy sales, and/or sales of emission reductions in a carbon offset market, according to a new report from Nigel Key and Stacy Sneeringer for the USDA.

Salmonella in Livestock Production in GB - 2009 - Feedingstuffs
This annual publication from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency provides data on Salmonella reports from livestock species in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). This article covers the chapter entitled 'Salmonella in Feedingstuffs'.

Feed Outlook - February 2011
Record-high farm prices for corn in 2010/11 are expected to ration demand over the coming months, according to the latest report from the USDA Economic Research Service.