# One enormous dairy farm!



## HannahKate (Jun 6, 2010)

Well worth a watch just to marvel at the sheer scale of the thing.
YouTube - ‪Fair Oaks Farms Adventure Center - America&#39;s Heartland‬‏


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Oh dear, I didnt like that at all, I dont know what it was about it but it just seemed so sad, the animals even had to give birth for the crowds enjoyment and when they were on that carousel to be milked it was like they were just parts of a machine. I dont know what I expected though


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## Nicky10 (Jan 11, 2010)

I didn't like that at all . Poor things stuck in those pens all days or on that awful carousel 32,00+ acres and what it would be too hard to let the poor things out to graze. Oh wait that would involve effort and the carousel is so great because it means they don't actually have to do the work . How is that farm about animal welfare? An animal giving birth needs somewhere quiet and private not in a glass room with idiots flashing cameras at them. I take it all the visitors get to see the calves being ripped away from their mothers after a few minutes too?


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## jill3 (Feb 18, 2009)

Very sad.
Please sign the petition as they want them here in the uk
WSPA | Not in my Cuppa | Would you drink factory milk from battery cows?


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## kaz_f (Mar 8, 2009)

There was a super dairy planned for Lincolnshire last year although nothing on that scale. I think it was u-turned though. Makes me so sad, we've got to make sure they don't start creeping in


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## HannahKate (Jun 6, 2010)

Until I saw this I thought my uni farm was big with 600 cattle. Although I'm not entirely sure I agree with having that many cows I don't have any problems with a rotary milker. It's a bloomin good idea in fact and it looked spotless. I've seen many worse places for dairy cows to live than that farm where at least standards will be high so the public aren't complaining.


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## metaldog (Nov 11, 2009)

Factory farming in it's full and disgusting glory . I grew up on a small scale dairy farm and although the cows were milked by machine they were very well cared for. When I grew up and saw what went on at other farms I gave up milk unless it is organic. Cows are lovely creatures and deserve better!


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

metaldog said:


> Factory farming in it's full and disgusting glory . I grew up on a small scale dairy farm and although the cows were milked by machine they were very well cared for. When I grew up and saw what went on at other farms I gave up milk unless it is organic. Cows are lovely creatures and deserve better!


are organic dairy cows treated better?


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## HannahKate (Jun 6, 2010)

thedogsmother said:


> are organic dairy cows treated better?


Not necessarily. They are just subject to a certain set of rules to do with production. I think organic isn't worth the name.


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## Cassia (May 28, 2011)

HannahKate said:


> Well worth a watch just to marvel at the sheer scale of the thing.
> YouTube - ‪Fair Oaks Farms Adventure Center - America's Heartland‬‏


Thats so disturbing


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2011)

HannahKate said:


> Not necessarily. They are just subject to a certain set of rules to do with production. I think organic isn't worth the name.


I actually agree with this. I know a farm which is partly on the way to getting organic status. It won't make any different to the dreadful husbandry of the farmer  Will just mean he can get more money for his badly kept, badly treated animals


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## kaz_f (Mar 8, 2009)

Don't cows on organic farms get more access to pasture though? Although I suppose it may only be just enough to satisfy the requirements


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## alan g a (Feb 23, 2011)

jill3 said:


> Very sad.
> Please sign the petition as they want them here in the uk
> WSPA | Not in my Cuppa | Would you drink factory milk from battery cows?


We alreay have battery hens, now battery cows as well? WTF both are clearly wrong. What next I wonder. Electric sheep?


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2011)

kaz_f said:


> Don't cows on organic farms get more access to pasture though? Although I suppose it may only be just enough to satisfy the requirements


I think there is a misconception about Organic. It isn't basically about the welfare of the animal but more to do with an holistic approach to our food.
Therefore more interested in the impact on you the consumer than the farmed animal. 
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/growing/organic/standards/pdf/compendium.pdf

To do the best possible for the animal welfare organic should also be free range, this isn't alway the case.
Having a checkable source for your meat is also advisable


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## HannahKate (Jun 6, 2010)

Also feedlot cattle doesn't necessarily mean they don't get to go outside. A lot get access to outside yards where they mill about and eat silage and do what cows do. I've been to quite a few feedlots now since here in Slovakia that is all that they do and the vast majority have been fine with contented looking cows. Going out to pasture does not equal good quality of life. It is easier to control production in a feedlot situation.
The reality is that there are a lot of people in this world with a high demand for production and to meet that the methods used wont always be to what the public deems the best ways. 
I'm not saying that I prefer feedlots to free range before anyone jumps on my back, because who doesn't like to see cows out at pasture in the sunshine, but being a vet student really opens your eyes to the realities of the situation.


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## miah1234 (Jun 8, 2011)

Yes,it is,even I don't like it too.


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## Thorne (May 11, 2009)

Nicky10 said:


> I didn't like that at all . Poor things stuck in those pens all days or on that awful carousel 32,00+ acres and what it would be too hard to let the poor things out to graze. Oh wait that would involve effort and the carousel is so great because it means they don't actually have to do the work . How is that farm about animal welfare? An animal giving birth needs somewhere quiet and private not in a glass room with idiots flashing cameras at them. I take it all the visitors get to see the calves being ripped away from their mothers after a few minutes too?


I can't see what the problem is with the carousel/rotary milker? More traditional herringbone parlours are no better for welfare and if you don't milk a lactating dairy cow twice if not three times a day then she's going to be _very_ uncomfortable and is at high risk of mastitis; they will queue up of their own accord and want to be milked! If they're going to have to be milked anyway, you may as well reduce the labour involved in the process.

The calves aren't "ripped away from their mothers after a few minutes", they have to stay with her for a matter of hours to get the colostrum from the milk. In the UK they stay with mum for a minimum 24 hours. Not nice but not nearly as brutal as you make it out to be and for as long as there's a demand for dairy that's how the industry will continue to operate :001_unsure:

I'd be interested to know how much space there is per cow in the pens, you can see at 1:20 that it's a barn system and not individual pens which I think some people assumed it was. 
I don't think the video shows enough of the system to be able to judge welfare, not impressed by the birthing room though 

ETA: Just re-watched it and the farm is 25K acres, milking 32K cows a day so there'll be plenty more non-milkers onsite, would be nice if they were allowed some time out to graze.


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