As a farmers daughter from New Zealand (a small but major diary-product
producing country at the bottom of the globe), I was interested by the
recent cruelty to captive animals discussions on this discussion group.
I had never heard notions of cruelty within milk-producing farming before.
In fact, I believe diary cows in New Zealand to be the most spoilt, best
treated of all animals! To see these creatures wading lethargically through
stomach high paddocks of clover, or lying in one spot sunning themselves in
the early-morning sun, eating contentedly of every blade of grass within
reach without having to move their big bodies, makes me happy. And I feel no
quarms at their hardship for having to give up such large amounts of milk
daily, indeed, they wake up the farmer at dawn and demand to be milked,
their udders nearly bursting with the fresh calcium-rich load.
New Zealand now has strict and reasonably effective environmental controls
for the processing of the waste produced from these dairy farms, all farms
having a series of ponds that treat the water from the milking shed.
Commonly this waste product is then re-used as fertiliser on that farms
fields. Regional councils make regular checks of every farm in their
district, to ensure the environmental effects of the farms by-products have
as minimal effect as possible on the environment. Of course there are always
some non- conformists, leading to high nutrient loads entering local water
courses, and resulting in the loss of biodiversity in the fresh-water
ecosystem. Such farmers can have legal action taken against them.
I enjoy drinkin milk.
Toni Withers
Centre for Tropical Pest Management
Alan Fletcher Research Station
P.O. Box 36
Sherwood, Q 4075
Brisbane
Australia
ph 61 7 3375 0724
fax 61 7 3379 6815
