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24 hours to stop indoor dairy farming in NZ!

Home » Blog » Annabel McAleer » 24 hours to stop indoor dairy farming in NZ!

Feel strongly that cows shouldn't be kept in sheds, or that effluent shouldn't be spread over the McKenzie Basin? You have 24 hours to make it stop!

Three big dairy companies have applied for resource consents for 16 new dairy farms in Canterbury's McKenzie Country. The farms will house cows indoors, in 'cubicles', for eight months of the year, and will discharge thousands of litres of effluent onto land every day. You have 24 hours to oppose the application.

Here's the run-down from The Press:

Three companies want to build massive dairy farms in the Mackenzie Basin, where cows would live in "cubicle" stables most of the time.

Opponents warn the plan will tarnish New Zealand's environmental reputation.

Proposals by the three companies for resource consents for 16 new dairy farm developments managing nearly 18,000 cows housed in cubicle stables are before Environment Canterbury (ECan).

Under the plans, cows will be confined in cubicle stables 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, from March to October, and allowed outside for 12 hours a day from November to February.

If you feel strongly that cows shouldn't be kept in sheds, or that effluent shouldn't be spread over the McKenzie Basin, go to one of the links below and make a submission. It takes just five or ten minutes, and must be done by 5pm tomorrow, Friday 18th December.

Here's how I made my submission.

First, I procrastinated for days, since I thought it would be difficult and time-consuming, and I really hate filling in forms.

Next, I realised I was about to run out of time, so I randomly clicked on one of the links above and spent five minutes filling it the online form. It couldn't have been easier.

I have no idea if what I wrote used the approporiate language or structure, but I'll paste it below to give you an idea of the level at least one other person's submission was made at!

Reason Comment: The use of cubicles will damage New Zealand's international
reputation for quality free-range, grass-fed beef.

Discharging solid effluent onto land and up to 560,000 litres per day of diluted
dairy effluent onto land is environmentally damaging, particularly in terms of the
significant amount of greenhouse gases released by the effluent. Technology exists
to convert effluent for biogas or biofuel for farm use, or to inert biochar, and I
believe this should be a requirement for consent (please click here for an example
located in Canterbury
).

Decision Comment: I wish the council to deny consent on the basis that the
farm's effluent management plans are insufficient, environmentally harmful and
have been superseded by superior technologies that must first be thoroughly
investigated.

Your own comments could refer to animal welfare, diet, or preserving the fragile nature of the McKenzie Basin, or whatever it is that bothers you personally about the proposals. There are many reasons to be concerned about the proposals.

The Green Party has a thorough guide to making a submission, here. It makes the important point: "Environment Canterbury can most readily consider submissions about water quality and the environment within its scope. Please consider giving these issues weight in your submission."

And MfE has some tips on making submissions, here.

You could spend a few hours writing a technically perfect submission, but if you've only got five minutes, then I reckon you should just head straight for one of the links above and add your voice to the chorus. Better to do it quick than not do it at all!

Good luck! Feel free to post your own submission comments below, to give other would-be submitters a bit of inspiration and guidance.

Comments

Annabel McAleer
 
Thu December 17, 2009 @ 05:26 PM
Here is some excellent submission text from farmgeek.co.nz:

I oppose this application in it’s entirety. Issues
around environmental degradation, water quality, animal welfare and
NZ’s international brand make this application completely inappropriate
for New Zealand’s national interest.


Environment


•The Mackenzie Country is an iconic brown tussock landscape. This
unique and fragile environment will be radically altered by irrigation
and intensive dairying.

•The Mackenzie is important habitat for threatened plants and birds which rely on a dry tussockland habitat.

•The proposed farms will be heavily reliant on supplementary feed being
trucked in from elsewhere, with resulting milk produced in large
volumes needing to be trucked out.

•Large amounts of fecal solids will be stored above ground to be
applied to pasture in specified months. Leachate from these deposits
will radically alter the nutrient levels in the surrounding land,
making life untenable for much of the native flora and fauna.


Water quality:


•The consent applications include large effluent ponds and plans to
discharge large amounts of diluted effluent onto the land every day.
This will alter the nutritional balance of streams, waterways and
rivers in the vicinity.

•The majestic Upper Waitaki & important recreational lakes such as
Lakes Benmore and Aviemore are at risk of contamination from effluent
and nutrient runoff.


Tourism and international brand


•The Mackenzie Country is a major drawcard for international
tourists, and the gateway to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. Over
200,000 international tourists visit the National Park each year

•New Zealand’s tradition of farming animals outside and on pasture is
integral to our clean, green image and our competitive advantage. News
that New Zealand dairy products come from factory farmed cows will
undermine our international brand, which is unfair to the many good
farmers who are farming sustainably.


Animal health and welfare:


•It is cruel to house cows inside without fresh air and sunlight for 8 months of the year and for 12 hours a day during summer.

•Animals confined in close quarters are at greater risk of injury and
infection and are likely to need controlling with antibiotics.

k warren
 
Thu December 17, 2009 @ 07:56 PM
This is another act of cruelty. First factory chickens,pigs and now cows? How can this be at all productive for the enviroment and the animals wefare? I really dont understand this country we live in. We have such wide open spaces yet we subject our animals to such appalling and unecessary cruelty. I can only imagine how distressing these living condtitions would be for these cows, no sunlight or fresh air for 8 months of the year and the infection rate would be high. Really is this necessary? Is this what we want in so called clean green New Zealand? I'm ashamed that this country would allowed this to happen. Please don't! Enough is Enough!
Alex Drysdale
 
Fri December 25, 2009 @ 07:30 AM

You might like to think about what you would do if the commissioners decide to approve the applications. I think that the consents could well be granted but with conditions. So what conditions could you live with?


 


I am of the view that there should be no surface runoff or ground water leaching with nutrient contamination above that of the current natural levels from low density high-country stocking rates in natural and slightly modified landscapes.


 


The usual RMA legal claim is the area is already highly modified and therefore the activity is only going to make it a tiny bit worse and the effects can be judged to be less than minor (note- not measured, lawyers hate it when “less than minor” has dimensions and can be measured).


 


But in this case a stable low intensity grazing regime has been in operation for many years and the proposals are fundamentally different in intensity and nutrient loads required to grow the animal feed and dispose of the subsequent animal wastes.


 


Another aspect is the shipping of nutrients in and out. This probably gets to the heart of the reason why the application has been lodged. What is the one thing that is fundamentally different about this area compared to the rest of NZ? It is a long way away and it has water in large quantities but the distribution is uneven making summer irrigation a key factor compounded by cold winters and hot summers.


 


So does any one know what runoff and stream and river water quality monitoring has already been done?


 


My recent experience has been to do with the Avon and Heathcote Rivers in Christchurch. For many years data was collected but not written up and released to the public allowing the statement “there is no evidence” to have some credibility. However the Ihutai Trust (estuary.org.nz) arranged for that data to be assessed and published and a program of regular monitoring with regular reporting has been established by getting CCC and Ecan to work together (http://ecan.govt.nz/search/pages/results.aspx?k=Healthy%20estuary). The point is only a very small amount of published data is needed to counter any claim of there is no evidence.


 


I would also like to suggest a loose association of submitters so that each is aware of the general areas each is going to discuss.

sunny
 
Wed December 30, 2009 @ 08:15 AM
The fools behind this project have probably not considered the snow loading they will have to put on their so-called 'farm'. They probably live in Auckland. 

 And how are they going to be pumping cow poo in the freezing temperatures they get up there?  All they can see is money!  Lots of it!  Enough to buy all the pollies they need at local and national level.  No wonder there was a coup on Ecan, ousting the old Labour git and replacing him with a Nat hack.  

4oo kilo cows standing on concrete for months on end will endure agony in their feet, limbs and backs.  Watch the SPCA do nothing!  Watch the only MAF official apppointed to stop cruelty in the South Island do nothing! 

I have international travellers stay with me 6 months of the year.  I can tell you now, the ad campaigns aren't working.  What they see with their own eyes when they get here is increasingly fake...they go home and spill the beans. 
Bob
 
Sat February 13, 2010 @ 10:04 PM

It's gonna be great
There's no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to build the farms.
The stables will be open 24/7.
WHY NOT???

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