Support for super dairy.......

County farmer: Why I hope the rejected super-dairy plan doesn't go away...

Stephen Riding, part owner of Bonsdale Farm in Blyton.

PLANS for a super-dairy in Nocton, near Lincoln, have been withdrawn, to the delight of campaigners. But dairy farmer Stephen Riding, from Blyton near Gainsborough, believes that this is bad news for the country’s dairy industry...

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I have been a dairy farmer all my life and have been on this site in Blyton for 31 years with my brother.

We have 200 milking cows across 900 acres.

I was disappointed when it was announced Nocton Dairies Ltd were to withdraw their plans. They really need to go ahead with it, in my opinion as a dairy farmer.

But it was encouraging that the withdrawal was solely down to the objections from the Environment Agency, as it means they could find another site and have another go with it.

The British dairy industry is shrinking and if we carry on the way we are, in another 20 years there won't be any dairy farmers left.

With the supermarkets acting the way they are, the days of the family dairy farm are dying. Someone needs to be prepared to take up the commitment of a big dairy unit.

The Nocton Dairy would have been able to produce milk ten per cent faster than any other dairy and it would have been a real shot in the arm for the industry.

The other thing is, the Nocton Dairy could have been a test to see if the system would work in the UK.

The technology is imported from America where it is mainly used in drier climates. We don't yet know if it will work over here in the UK and the Nocton Dairy could have been a test.

If successful, we could have developed it across the UK and sites like the Nocton Dairy would have become the norm.

When I first heard about the dairy plans my first thought was the groundwater – its Lincoln's drinking water we're talking about.

The Environment Agency should have spoken up and said something sooner if they were going to object, rather than leaving it until the eleventh hour.

The Nocton Dairy would have been the future of British dairy farming, so hopefully Nocton Dairies Ltd can find another location.

Related articles

• Lincolnshire's US-style 'mega' dairy farm on hold as plans are withdrawn (guardian.co.uk)
• Plans for 'mega dairy' scrapped amid fears for the environment (telegraph.co.uk)
• 'Super dairy' plans withdrawn (telegraph.co.uk)
• "Cows Do Not Belong in Fields" - UK Mega-Dairy Renews Application (treehugger.com)
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Nocton Dairy plans Scrapped!

Plans for Lincolnshire 'super dairy' are withdrawn

The company previously pulled plans for a dairy twice the size of the one being proposed

Continue reading the main story

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Plans for the UK's largest dairy farm have been withdrawn, the farmers behind the scheme have announced.

Nocton Dairies Ltd wanted to build the farm, housing 3,770 cows, near Lincoln.

There had been widespread opposition to the plans with concerns raised about the environmental and animal welfare impacts of the proposed "super dairy".

The farmers said their "sole" reason for the decision to withdraw their application was the objection by the Environment Agency.

They said they had written to North Kesteven District Council to formally withdraw their application for planning permission to build the facility.

The council was due to consider the planning application in March.

The original plans for the UK's largest dairy farm were for 8,100 cows on a single site at Nocton Heath - provoking an angry response from opponents who labelled it "the equivalent of battery chicken farms for cows".

Pollution concerns

That planning application was withdrawn last year, but the two farmers, Peter Willes and David Barnes, resubmitted the Nocton Dairies scheme in November with less than half the number of cows.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This is a victory for consumers, dairy farmers and, of course, the cows within it”

Suzi MorrisWorld Society for the Protection of Animals

In a statement, they said: "The fundamental concept we have been proposing is a sound one: expand dairying toward the east to re-integrate livestock and arable farming, make better use of resources, proactively manage welfare, gain economies of scale, and look to support a long-term reduction in water pollution.

"We challenge other farmers to pick up the baton and see where these concepts can take them."

The Environment Agency had lodged their objection to the plans amid concerns about the potential for pollution seeping through limestone into groundwater, from which drinking supplies are drawn.

An agency spokesperson said: "We have maintained our objection to the revised application for the proposed super dairy at Nocton because we consider the risk to groundwater to be unacceptable.

"We asked the developer to address the risks to groundwater, so important for public water supplies in this area, in their revised application.

"But, despite additional evidence being submitted, our original concerns about slurry management at this environmentally sensitive location remain."

Suzi Morris, UK director of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), said: "While the Environment Agency's objections were the final nail in the coffin for the Nocton plans, our own research made it clear there was a huge range of reasons why Nocton should not be given the go-ahead.

"This is a victory for consumers, dairy farmers and, of course, the cows within it, and we can't forget the Lincolnshire community which has had a narrow escape."

More on This Story

Related Stories

• Agency objects to 'super dairy' 18 JANUARY 2011, LINCOLNSHIRE
• Petition opposes super dairy plan 11 JANUARY 2011, LINCOLNSHIRE
• Mega-dairy plans divide villagers 23 OCTOBER 2010, SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT
• New talks over super dairy farm 06 AUGUST 2010, LINCOLNSHIRE
• Plan for super dairy farm dropped 17 JUNE 2010, LINCOLNSHIRE
• 'Super dairy' proposals withdrawn 12 APRIL 2010, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Internet links

• North Kesteven District Council
• Nocton Dairy

Related articles

• Lincolnshire's US-style 'mega' dairy farm on hold as plans are withdrawn (guardian.co.uk)
• Plans for 'mega dairy' scrapped amid fears for the environment (telegraph.co.uk)
• 'Super dairy' plans withdrawn (telegraph.co.uk)
• 'Superdairy' plan shelved over pollution concerns (independent.co.uk)
• Plans for super-dairy with 4,000 cows are axed after 'battery farming' row (dailymail.co.uk)
• Opposition mounts against UK 'mega-dairy' (guardian.co.uk)
• 'Super-dairy' with 3,770 cows triggers 14,000 planning objections (guardian.co.uk)
• Battery Not Included For UK Dairy Cows (ecorazzi.com)

New scheme attacked all round.......

Nocton Dairies: Animal welfare lobby slams plans

18 November 2010 | By Alistair Driver

ANIMAL welfare and environmental groups have attacked Nocton Dairies plans, despite the decision to cut cow numbers back by more than half.

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) condemned the revised plans as ‘an unwanted and unnecessary industrialisation of dairy farming’.

Despite the smaller numbers CIWF said its ‘overwhelming concern remains that this is still bad news for the animals and entirely the wrong direction for dairy farming’. 

It expressed fears that ‘this US-style factory farm could set a dangerous precedent for the future of dairy farming in the UK’. Producing milk on this scale would drive the price of a pint of milk down to levels most small farmers could not compete with, it claimed.

It said research had shown the ‘zero-grazing’ system Nocton would deploy is associated with increased risk of many health and welfare problems including lameness, mastitis, reproductive problems and a number of bacterial infections.

CIWF chief executive Philip Lymbery said: “The proposed Nocton development is still the wrong route for dairy farming in Britain. 

“It threatens animal welfare and the countryside, will put hard-pressed family farms under even more pressure, and will undermine the integrity of our milk.

“The proposal remains unwanted, unnecessary and unwelcome. The bottom line is that cows belong in fields not in industrial dairies.”

CIWF campaigns manager Pat Thomas pledged the organisation would be ‘throwing all of our weight behind the battle to stop factory farming coming to the UK’.

Viva! described the decision to halve cows numbers and allow cows outside access at Nocton as a ‘victory of sorts’ but insisted it will continue to fight the plans because of the link between intensive dairy farming and ‘bad cow welfare’.

 “We still object. It is not like we are going to throw up our hands and say it is wonderful what you are doing,” said Viva! campaigns manager, Justin Kerswell.

“The opposition to this project has sent out a very clear message to the dairy industry the British public are not ready for intensive dairy farming.”

The RSPCA said it would not comment directly on the application but stated it does ‘not approve or support systems which house dairy cows for 365 days a year, and they are prohibited by the Society’s welfare standards’.

But it added: “Just because a system is large, does not necessarily make it bad in terms of animal welfare.”

 Friends of the Earth’s food campaigner Sandra Bell said: “Nocton’s promoters have scaled down their plans for now but with a view to expanding them in the future - and they still plan to cram their cows into massive sheds, rather than graze them outdoors.

“The introduction of US-style mega dairies would force small farmers out of business and push the UK’s farming sector further towards crisis.”

Also in: Nocton Dairies: Farmers Plan To Press Ahead With 8,000-Cow Dairy

• Nocton Dairies: Is there a future for super dairies in the UK?

• Nocton Dairies: Will there be a market for milk from super dairies?

• Nocton Dairies: Super dairy could be a cow heaven - David Barnes

• Nocton Dairies: Minimum stress and good nutrition are key to large-scale herd

• Nocton Dairies: What the supermarkets said

• Nocton Dairies: Willes explains decision to cut cow numbers

• Nocton Dairies: The plans in full

• Nocton Dairies: Mixed reaction to 'super dairy' plans

• Nocton Dairies: Super dairies 'worse than organic farms'

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• Nocton Dairies confident it can sell its milk

  22 November 2010
  
  

Now the debate really starts in earnest!

Image via Wikipedia

Nocton Dairies confident it can sell its milk

22 November 2010

NOCTON Dairies director Peter Willes has insisted the Lincolnshire ‘super dairy’ would have ‘no issues’ in marketing its milk, despite the public backlash against it.

A number of major supermarkets have already indicated their reluctance to source milk from the proposed 3,770-cow unit or any similar ones that follow because of consumer concerns over animal welfare.

But questioned on whether he feared retailers could boycott the milk during a live Farmers Guardian online debate last Friday, Mr Willes wrote: “We are already connected in the processing industry and believe we will have no issues in marketing the milk, whether it is in the liquid market or in other dairy products.

“While people want to be negative about this application, it brings very sustainable dairying in the form of high welfare, high efficiency, recycling and renewable energy.”

Nocton’s directors have already held informal talks with processors and supermarkets but have stressed no deals can be signed until planning permission is granted. They said there was ‘private interest’ but acknowledged retailers might wait until the unit is up and running before making any public commitments.

During the hour long debate, Mr Willes delivered a robust defence of the controversial development in the face of a barrage of questions and comments on the ethics and practicalities of the project from readers and co-panellist, Viva!’s Justin Kerswell.

Mr Kerswell described the plans as a ‘retrograde step, when extensive and organic farming remains popular’. He claimed intensive dairy farming was turning cows into ‘something, sadly, akin to Frankenstein’s monster’.

“Mega-dairies are bad for cows and they are bad for people. The British public is rejecting them - and I see no point in the future that they will be convinced otherwise,” Mr Kerswell wrote.

Mr Willes responded by emphasising the benefits the scale of units like Nocton can deliver in areas like animal welfare and the environment. .

 “Large dairy farms offer tremendous opportunities for efficiency making investments in specialist cow care, the best facilities, the most able staff and continual training and development possible. This, combined with the production of renewable energy, the lowest carbon footprint and the latest technology to protect the environment keeps the farm economically sustainable in turn,” he wrote.

The third panellist, veterinary scientist Jon Huxley, of Nottingham Veterinary School, argued that the unit should not be condemned because of its scale. “Any farm, no matter how big or small, should be judged on its individual merits,” he said.

Mr Willes also came under fire from local Nocton residents, who sought guarantees their quality would not be affected. He outlined changes made to the resubmitted planning application intended to address such concerns, including the halving of cow numbers, improved digestate storage facilities, higher standard effluent piping systems and provision for the anaerobic digester to be built before any cows arrive.

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Nocton and the Super Dairy........

Image via Wikipedia

Saturday, October 23, 2010, 07:00

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Three reasons why dairy should go down the drain

I AM most impressed with the coverage you have given to the proposed Nocton super-dairy, both for and against.

I am against the idea for several very simple reasons – smells, carbon footprint and jobs.

If the dairy is only going to reduce costs by 10 per cent, why bother?

Canny Scottish farmers are already achieving such savings with herds of no more than 100 cows by installing robot milking parlours.

Guess what – the cows approach the robot when the cow decides it is time to be milked and choose to do so three times a day.

At each milking, the cow is computer monitored for health and the correct amount of food and, in return, gives the farmer more milk for his bucks.

There are a number of advantages to this approach. The cows can collect their own breakfast in the summer months, there are no problems with the neighbours and no logistical problems in getting rid of the slurry.

There are strict legal requirements to be met when slurry is spread on the land and this can be managed easily with a herd of 100 cows.

However, all sorts of problems – including the weather – would make the task more difficult for 8,000. Hence the potential problem with smells.

Secondly, we, the public, are under pressure all the time to reduce our carbon footprint – in our homes, on our holidays and in our cars.

Yet this project will add hundreds of tonnes of carbon to the yearly ratings.

It must surely be far more efficient to let cows fetch their own food, rather than bring it to them in a lorry.

If a carbon tax is introduced, I hope it is added to unnecessary lorry and tractor miles for tasks such as this.

Such a tax would soon transform an 8,000-cow dairy from being a cash- maker to a loss-making enterprise.

Finally, Lincolnshire has two big industries – farming and tourism.

With an annual value of about £1.6bn, farming is the bigger. Tourism is just a whisker under £1bn.

As far as jobs are concerned, the figures are reversed, with 10,000 in agriculture and 17,000 in tourism.

If Lincoln became known as Stinkin Linkin, tourism would certainly suffer.

A small 2.5 per cent drop in visitor numbers could equate to 425 jobs.

That is why Arrow Rock, Missouri, set up a 15-mile exclusion zone from the town centre for such enterprises, to protect its tourist trade. Lincoln should do the same.

Lincolnshire tourism suffered badly in the last foot and mouth epidemic, so why create unnecessary problems now?

While economies of scale appear great at first sight, I would imagine any business this size would be even more vulnerable to supermarket pressure on price than more flexible, smaller units.

Even with 8,000 cows, the dairy will not have power over the market.

Perhaps the directors of Nocton Dairies Ltd could take a trip to Scotland before submitting their application and see how the canny Scottish farmers make more money out of milk and see how they could revise their plans so we could all be happy.

CHRISTOPHER DARCEL Holmfield, Fiskerton.

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Nocton Dairies & intensive farming of cows

Image by Momoc HDR via Flickr

The proposal to build an intensive Dairy in Nocton has come in for some criticism and many of the villages in the area are against the scheme.

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