O'Keefe reports that Riverview Dairy, which runs five big dairies around Morris, already has a South Dakota presence. They run a new 7,200-head feedlot south of Doland under the name United Feeders, LLP. They're building a 7,000-head feedlot south of Raymond and have a permit for another 7,200-head feedlot north of Doland.
Tracy Miller, Zoning Officer for Spink County (that's where Doland is), says Riverview has changed minds and been a good neighbor around Doland:
Since it began operation two years ago, Miller said attitudes have changed and complaints have been sparse.
“We’ve had none,” she said Friday. “There were concerns about odor, about how big it is.
“But since it’s been up and running, there’s been no complaints.”
Miller said the owners of the dairy feedlot have apparently gone out of their way to make sure everything is run as it should be and operates as a good neighbor to others in the area.
“We’ve never heard anything negative come out of there,” Miller said. “We’ve had comments on how clean it is. One local guy who does business with them told me it’s cleaner than his pickup.
“Neighbors who had those concerns are now saying it’s not what they thought it would be.” [Terry O'Keefe, "Dairy Has Presence in State," Watertown Public Opinion, 2008.07.14]
Riverview's spokesman Gary Fehr says Riverview buys feed and supplies locally as much as possible. Riverview also says it is "open to answer any relevant questions" regarding the Kilborn Township CAFO project. (I can't find Riverview's website, but feel free to send your relevant questions to their office at 26402 470th Ave, Morris, MN, 56267-5370, or call 320-392-5609.)
So maybe 7,200 heifers' worth of manure doesn't smell. And maybe a big feedlot can contribute to the local economy (though whether that's enough to make up for water pollution and increased wear and tear on county roads remains to be seen).
There are still fundamental issues with raising cattle in such factory conditions. Mark A. Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at Wisconsin's Cornucopia Institute, makes the following relevant observation about industrial ag in a letter to the Harper's Magazine that popped out of my mailbox yesterday:
Industrial agriculture and processing prioritizes high speed and low costs over safety, quality, and nutrition, thereby promoting the lack of hygiene at the root of most contamination problems. Crowded, abhorrent conditions lead to sick animals that are then loaded with antibiotics and other drugs designed to increase their productivity or to keep them alive a few weeks longer [Mark A. Kastel, letter, Harper's Magazine, August 2008, p. 5].
So remember, county commissioners, economic development officials, and milk drinkers: there's more to CAFOs than jobs, main street business, or even water and air pollution. CAFOs also pose dangers to nutrition and health that deserve our attention.
Confinement units do not necessarily lead to disease. Large dairies usually manage their investments (cows) very well. The cows are fed optimized diets. They are tracked by computer on how much they eat and how much milk they produce. They may have a fulltime vet on staff.
ReplyDeleteThe downside I see to large dairy units is the amount of waste they produce and the possible smell that goes with having a large number of animals in one given place.
...but confinement units do require more antibiotic use, and the more you introduce antibiotics into the environment/food chain, the less effective those antibiotics become. (Everything is connected....)
ReplyDeleteThank you, caheidelberger, for continuing to mention the Kilborn Township dairy story and for opposing CAFOs.
ReplyDeleteSome farmer from Grant County mentioned the proposed dairy on newagtalk.com.
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=59466&mid=417977#M417977
The public hearing about changing Grant County’s CAFO setback requirements will be held at 8 a.m., August 7, in the courtroom at the Grant County Courthouse, Milbank, South Dakota. It will be a joint hearing of the commission and the Grant County Planning and Zoning Board. The zoning board will make a recommendation to the commissioners who will make the final decision on any setback change.
The public hearing about the dairy permit being granted will be held on Wednesday August 13, 2008 at 4: 30pm in the Grant County Courthouse, Milbank, South Dakota.
As Jack Black would say, if you’re in Grant County, come to the Courthouse and stick it to the Man.
I'm glad to see that S.D. has become a target of the Mega-dairies since I live in N.D. one less for N.D.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest you go to www.StinkFreeCarrington.Com and view the video of the hydrogen sulfide victims of the Thief River Falls, MN dairy.
Does this dairy have anything to do with Excel Dairy or the Dairy Dozen? THIS IS USUSALLY KEEP SECERT.
Go to a mega-dairy (unannounced) and you will get a smell of the hydrogen sulfide. As well you can see the economic development consists of over-worked and under-paid illegals that don't have the time to come to town to even buy beer. NO LOCAL EMPLOYMENT.
The main opposition to the Grant County Riverview dairy are people with unpermitted, that is illegally operating CAFOs. The main family owns and operates a feedlot of over 1000 cattle in the winter and grandma lives between the silage pile and the cement feed bunks. There are no air quality pracitces, no dams to keep the runoff from the lots or the manure stack out of the Whetstone river. But they oppose a new dairy that would be built from the start to be a ZERO disharge farm and also use covered pits with methane digesters and biofilters on the barns. Explain to me how someone with an unregulated CAFO can oppose a regulated, state of the art pollution control dairy? I think the opposition is about prejiduce against the legal Mexican labor that Riverview recruits. It is certainly not about pollution. Can anyone explain this contradiction?
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