Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
This Farm Milks 32,000 Cows a Day
And it's all on public display! A single farm produces enough milk needs to fill the needs of 8 million people. Hat tip to Paul H. for this one! .
this type of operation is so far from the "family dairy farm"; but it is a sign of the times. What gets me is that visitors are purposefully kept away, they still don't have a direct connection to what is happening. the entire operatio is viewed from behind a glass wall. Is it theatre? The people like theatre, the movies and the dairy farm seen through this (mega-corporation) farm's predetermined prism of reality and that's the pity. Got milk?
Eh? I don't see people being kept away at all -- this is a place that has put in a parking lot to get people to see their operation, has regular bus tours, has loaded up videos to Youtube, etc.
In fact, this is an EXTRA-ORDINARY level of excellent outreach and education by the corporate farm world. Hats off!
How much better the world of farming would be if EVERY place would allow the means of production to be seen, smelled and heard! I can assure you that most "small family dairy farms" do NOT want folks to know what goes on there and unannounced visitors are NOT welcome. Walk around a small dairy and you see the open pit of cow sewage ("don't fall into the the lagoon"), rats running from underneath the feed bunkers, and a milk machine being worked by a fellow with shit on his boots and a little on his hands too. Ughh!! This place is pretty antispectic compared to that!
Nor can you fault them from keeping kids back behind glass. Parents are idiots and kids are worse, and you cannot run a working dairy farm by allowing random kids and people to milk cows anymore than you can run a working bakery by allowing them to knead the bread or allowing just anyone to come into the kitchen to spit into the soup. There are jobs being done here, and this is not a petting zoo or backyard play-farm with one goat, one cow, and 10 chickens. There are places like that, but this is not one of them.
I've been to Fair Oaks twice, and the glass between visitors and cows is for several reasons, but mostly health and safety of visitors and cows. Since visitors come from many different places, they carry many different pathogens that the farm doesn't want getting transferred to the cows. It's definitely fascinating, and really puts a hole in animal rights propaganda that all dairy cows are horribly mistreated.
There's the information/activity center shown at the start of the video, then you can take a bus out to one of the barns. The bus drives you around, shows off the anaerobic digestors, the big piles of cow feed ingredients, the calf pens, and drives through the barn. The cows all look content, chewing their cuds, hanging out on sand beds. You then go into the carousel viewing room, and get an overview of the milking process, and watch cows calmly walk on and the carousel. It's only one of their barns, but I can't imagine the farm one go through the effort of setting up one nice display barn while torturing cows in the others.
The average life span of one of these cows is about 3 years. They are milked 3 times a day, barely see the sun, never eat a live piece of grass and are dosed with drugs and hormones. Then they are sold for McDonald's hamburgers.
A well run family dairy of 30-100 cows that are pastured is much better for the animals. Typical life span for one of these cows is 8-12 years and sometimes up to 16-18.
I speak from experience as I have worked in both types of operation.
Sangdalen, as you know there is no "born free" for dairy cows. There is no returning a dairy cow to the wild any more than there is returning a chicken to the wild.
What is the "natural lifespan" of a chicken or dairy cow? Zero. They are not natural. A dairy cow turned out into a pasture without man is dead within a year. In fact, it is probably dead within a week.
As you know, the average lifespan of ANY dairy cow in the U.S. is about 5-6 years at most. More than 75% of all dairy cows are dead by age 7 and yes they are used for hamburgers and hot dogs. Why is that bad? You would prefer they rot?
Dairy cows are milked as often as they are today, because that is good production and if they are not, they get uncomfortable and eventually die.
Today's dairy cows produce FAR more milk than those of 30 years ago, due to a combination of genetics, food and better management. Getting more from less is not a bad thing -- it is a GOOD thing.
Would I prefer that all dairy cows be grass-fed? Sure, but I would also prefer that there be only 5 million people in the U.S, and about 500 million people on the planet. To advance that goal, I have done all I can -- had no biological children of my own, gotten a Masters Degree in population science, and advocated family planning for more than 35 years. I encourage you to do the same (at least as far as the no children thing -- study whatever you want). So long as people continue to breed like rats, forests will fall to fields, and fields will be used to raise livestock in an industrial manner. I have made my peace with the fact that dairy cows are units of production and exist to produce, same as a chicken (dead at 12 weeks and tasty as hell in the bucket). There is no returning to some misty-eyed agricultural nirvana where the cows were cold in winter, died of disease, had open sores from barbed wire and screw fly, and were all named bossie and never eaten when the farmer had an economic downturn.
As a population guy I would think you would also be interested in sustainable agricultural systems. There is nothing sustainable about this type of dairy operation. It pollutes valuable water and land resources introducing chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones into the environment.
Although on second thought it might help to achieve your goal of 500 million / 5 million population. :)
I don't know what you mean by "sustainable." This large farm operation is VERY sustainable. Not only is is making a profit (no profit = not sustainable), but it is moving more feed and cattle with less transportation costs or environmental impact than a small farm does. Water is not in short supply in Indiana and Illinois, and all waste on this farm is recycled and converted into energy which is used to power the equipment. The spent manure (after methane conversion) becomes fetilizer for the fields. See >> sidebar at http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org/DairyFarmingToday/Caring-For-The-Environment/Modern-Technology/
Over 3,000 acres on Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana are set aside to protect streams and watersheds, and to provide habitat for wildlife.
As for "introducing chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones into the environment," you do that every time you eat, pee, or pump gas. In fact, as I assume you know, ALL farming involves chemical fertilizer (all fertilizers are made of chemicals), herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones (Question: are "natural" hormones better than "synthetic" hormonese?). You say you have worked dairy, so I assume you know this. There is nothing done on a large dairy that is not done (worse) on a small one. In fact, BECAUSE large dairies are large, they can afford to invest in methane converters, manure bagging operations, water recycling, solar panels, etc. The result is that the dairy featured in this video has ZER0 waste, and even its cows fart and burp 20% less than average. See >> http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21619
9 comments:
Udderly amazing!
this type of operation is so far from the "family dairy farm"; but it is a sign of the times.
What gets me is that visitors are purposefully kept away, they still don't have a direct connection to what is happening. the entire operatio is viewed from behind a glass wall. Is it theatre? The people like theatre, the movies and the dairy farm seen through this (mega-corporation) farm's predetermined prism of reality and that's the pity.
Got milk?
Eh? I don't see people being kept away at all -- this is a place that has put in a parking lot to get people to see their operation, has regular bus tours, has loaded up videos to Youtube, etc.
In fact, this is an EXTRA-ORDINARY level of excellent outreach and education by the corporate farm world. Hats off!
How much better the world of farming would be if EVERY place would allow the means of production to be seen, smelled and heard! I can assure you that most "small family dairy farms" do NOT want folks to know what goes on there and unannounced visitors are NOT welcome. Walk around a small dairy and you see the open pit of cow sewage ("don't fall into the the lagoon"), rats running from underneath the feed bunkers, and a milk machine being worked by a fellow with shit on his boots and a little on his hands too. Ughh!! This place is pretty antispectic compared to that!
Nor can you fault them from keeping kids back behind glass. Parents are idiots and kids are worse, and you cannot run a working dairy farm by allowing random kids and people to milk cows anymore than you can run a working bakery by allowing them to knead the bread or allowing just anyone to come into the kitchen to spit into the soup. There are jobs being done here, and this is not a petting zoo or backyard play-farm with one goat, one cow, and 10 chickens. There are places like that, but this is not one of them.
Patrick
So interesting - I've never seen anything like this. I'm sharing this on Twitter.
I've been to Fair Oaks twice, and the glass between visitors and cows is for several reasons, but mostly health and safety of visitors and cows. Since visitors come from many different places, they carry many different pathogens that the farm doesn't want getting transferred to the cows. It's definitely fascinating, and really puts a hole in animal rights propaganda that all dairy cows are horribly mistreated.
There's the information/activity center shown at the start of the video, then you can take a bus out to one of the barns. The bus drives you around, shows off the anaerobic digestors, the big piles of cow feed ingredients, the calf pens, and drives through the barn. The cows all look content, chewing their cuds, hanging out on sand beds. You then go into the carousel viewing room, and get an overview of the milking process, and watch cows calmly walk on and the carousel. It's only one of their barns, but I can't imagine the farm one go through the effort of setting up one nice display barn while torturing cows in the others.
They also have really good cheese and ice cream.
The average life span of one of these cows is about 3 years. They are milked 3 times a day, barely see the sun, never eat a live piece of grass and are dosed with drugs and hormones. Then they are sold for McDonald's hamburgers.
A well run family dairy of 30-100 cows that are pastured is much better for the animals. Typical life span for one of these cows is 8-12 years and sometimes up to 16-18.
I speak from experience as I have worked in both types of operation.
Sangdalen, as you know there is no "born free" for dairy cows. There is no returning a dairy cow to the wild any more than there is returning a chicken to the wild.
What is the "natural lifespan" of a chicken or dairy cow? Zero. They are not natural. A dairy cow turned out into a pasture without man is dead within a year. In fact, it is probably dead within a week.
As you know, the average lifespan of ANY dairy cow in the U.S. is about 5-6 years at most. More than 75% of all dairy cows are dead by age 7 and yes they are used for hamburgers and hot dogs. Why is that bad? You would prefer they rot?
Dairy cows are milked as often as they are today, because that is good production and if they are not, they get uncomfortable and eventually die.
Today's dairy cows produce FAR more milk than those of 30 years ago, due to a combination of genetics, food and better management. Getting more from less is not a bad thing -- it is a GOOD thing.
Would I prefer that all dairy cows be grass-fed? Sure, but I would also prefer that there be only 5 million people in the U.S, and about 500 million people on the planet. To advance that goal, I have done all I can -- had no biological children of my own, gotten a Masters Degree in population science, and advocated family planning for more than 35 years. I encourage you to do the same (at least as far as the no children thing -- study whatever you want). So long as people continue to breed like rats, forests will fall to fields, and fields will be used to raise livestock in an industrial manner. I have made my peace with the fact that dairy cows are units of production and exist to produce, same as a chicken (dead at 12 weeks and tasty as hell in the bucket). There is no returning to some misty-eyed agricultural nirvana where the cows were cold in winter, died of disease, had open sores from barbed wire and screw fly, and were all named bossie and never eaten when the farmer had an economic downturn.
Patrick
Thanks for the response Patrick.
I have no children. (A conscious choice.)
As a population guy I would think you would also be interested in sustainable agricultural systems. There is nothing sustainable about this type of dairy operation. It pollutes valuable water and land resources introducing chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones into the environment.
Although on second thought it might help to achieve your goal of 500 million / 5 million population. :)
I don't know what you mean by "sustainable." This large farm operation is VERY sustainable. Not only is is making a profit (no profit = not sustainable), but it is moving more feed and cattle with less transportation costs or environmental impact than a small farm does. Water is not in short supply in Indiana and Illinois, and all waste on this farm is recycled and converted into energy which is used to power the equipment. The spent manure (after methane conversion) becomes fetilizer for the fields. See >> sidebar at http://www.dairyfarmingtoday.org/DairyFarmingToday/Caring-For-The-Environment/Modern-Technology/
Over 3,000 acres on Fair Oaks Farm in Indiana are set aside to protect streams and watersheds, and to provide habitat for wildlife.
As for "introducing chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones into the environment," you do that every time you eat, pee, or pump gas. In fact, as I assume you know, ALL farming involves chemical fertilizer (all fertilizers are made of chemicals), herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic hormones (Question: are "natural" hormones better than "synthetic" hormonese?). You say you have worked dairy, so I assume you know this. There is nothing done on a large dairy that is not done (worse) on a small one. In fact, BECAUSE large dairies are large, they can afford to invest in methane converters, manure bagging operations, water recycling, solar panels, etc. The result is that the dairy featured in this video has ZER0 waste, and even its cows fart and burp 20% less than average. See >> http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21619
P.
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