Late Winter Morning

About 15 years ago I was standing on a friend's porch looking over the valley at our town. It was early morning and very quiet. The fog was clearing and we could see the homes and businesses starting to peek through the mist. All of a sudden it occurred to me that I could not hear a single cow. Since we lived in the farm country of rural central New York State this was indeed odd. I looked around and pointed out the different farmsteads that no longer had livestock.

In the mid 1970's when I moved to the area the small dairy farms were being replaced with larger dairies of 50 to 100 milk cows. Instead of stanchion or tie stall barns we were seeing the introduction of the free stall barn and milking parlor. These innovations allowed for more livestock to be cared for by fewer people. But these facilities often were less healthy for the animals even when operated judiciously by caring farmers. The design of the facility and the number of free roaming animals led to injuries. They were also less comfortable to work in, at least in the cold months in upstate NY, because they were wet and open without the collection of body heat from the cows. Generally these animals still had access to pasture ground even if only in the summer.

To go along with these operations were the installation of manure ponds. Namely large open ponds full of cow manure. Manure was scraped out of the free stall into a pond where it would accumulate until the farmer spread the manure on the land and plowed it under to fertilize the crops that would soon be planted. This allowed for two things, the use of less bedding under the cows reducing the volume of refuse, and timing manure spreading for the best use of its nutrients. It also helped paved the way for housing more livestock on a farm property than that property could sustain.

Now those 100 cow dairies have been replaced by farms with thousands of cows. The manure ponds have become open lagoons holding millions of gallons of cow manure. The cows spend their lives on concrete which is harmful to their legs and feet. 

What happened to the other farms? Their barns stand empty or have been torn down to reduce taxes and insurance premiums. Much land lays fallow. Much of it is producing feed for the few big farms and fields for the over spreading of manure from the factory farms. Thus neighbors become financially dependent on the CAFO that is poisoning their air and wells and ground water, and draining local aquifers and streams. 

For a very clear portrayal of this phenomena in an area that was ambushed by large hog facilities, go to WWW.aswesow.com