A real quandry: The mega-dairy industry

[Claire]

I don't know where to put this, so here it is. I live in an area where a California firm is trying to install a mega-dairy. The repercussions are a little scary, but in some communities jobs are scarce, so they're going for it. In other places, wealthy people have promises of lower property taxes, so they are going for it. I know that maxi-pork-farms have had different repercussions. I won't pretend to be unbiased (I'm definitely against, having friends who grew up on local dairy farms, and go out of my way to buy local artisinal cheese, etc), but I'm wondering. Do any of you live in an area with a mega-farm? What were the results?

 

[jeninga75]

What do you mean by mega-farm, just a huge version of a local one with thousands of cows? (Or hundreds, I don't know how many a small one has lol) And what's the drawback? And what's a maxi-pork farm? Sorry... I'm not too knowledgeable about stuff like this, my area isn't known for home grown stuff. We have a local farmers market but there's no real source of local foods here. I wish there was.

 

[Adillo303]

Living in New Jersey and working in Manhattan, I don't know much about the dairy industry. Threfore a quick search seemed in order. It really does not look like this is a great idea. It seems destructive to the area that is starts up in. It also seems like the local residents are not able to do much to stop it.

AC

 

[GotGarlic]

I don't know where to put this, so here it is. I live in an area where a California firm is trying to install a mega-dairy. The repercussions are a little scary, but in some communities jobs are scarce, so they're going for it. In other places, wealthy people have promises of lower property taxes, so they are going for it. I know that maxi-pork-farms have had different repercussions. I won't pretend to be unbiased (I'm definitely against, having friends who grew up on local dairy farms, and go out of my way to buy local artisinal cheese, etc), but I'm wondering. Do any of you live in an area with a mega-farm? What were the results?

Hi, Claire. I found a very good article about that project: IDOA weighs request for 10,000-cow dairy, amid worries over water contamination

It looks like Illinois state law needs to be changed in order to prevent this farm from being built. You might get in touch with the League of Women Voters of Illinois; they lobby legislators about issues like this.

League of Women Voters of Illinois

HTH.

 

[Constance]

We have some big hog farms down here, and they stink to high heaven if you get close to them. Fortunately, they are located in rural areas.

Our daughter, who lives about an hour north of here, works for a company that makes egg products and ships them out in big tank trucks. The chickens are in a separate area, but each chicken house contains 60-80 thousand chickens. Chickens stink too!

The cows will smell, but not as bad as the chickens or hogs.

Down here, where 60 percent of the population is below poverty level, we are happy to get any jobs we can.

 

[Claire]

Jeninga, they put thousands of animals where once there was a hundred or so. Grazing becomes a thing of the past, they are fed. When natural disasters occur, they just write it off while neighboring farms deal with floating animal bodies. The amount of waste (OK, cow/pig poop) is beyond belief. We did pass a moratorium; however, the politician pushing it got reelected, so it's only a matter of time. Thanks for the web sites, Garlic, I will look them up. By the way, I know a lot of people who won't eat veal. These mega animal processing places make the veal industry (I've seen what it means around here, and trust me, many pet dogs don't live their lives as well) look beneficent.

Thanks, Garlic, that is the mega dairy I'm talking about. Nora and Apple River both have depressed economies (who doesn't, now) and so the jobs involved are heavily weighing the scales.