This factory farm dairy is one of seven in our county. This may be why Bel Brand Cheese, makers of Laughing Cow, is opening a new $180 million dollar plant here. These seven dairy operations average about 1,100 cows each. With this concentration of cows they are Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs. These operations produce most of our meat and dairy products in the U.S., but at substantial cost to the environment. They are major contributors to greenhouse gases causing global warming. Roughly 30% of all greenhouse gas comes from CAFOs. The huge amount of sewage they produce gives off methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Due to the smell they emit, property values within one quarter of a mile falls by over 80%, and even one mile away falls 10%. Their workers, often undocumented Mexican labor, suffers exposure to hazardous hydrogen sulfide. The individual family farm never concentrated animals they way CAFOs do, so they did not produce hazardous levels of sewage or gasses.
Thanks for your detailed explanation. I have read numerous times that cow flatulence is a huge source of methane, but you surround that basic fact with lots of interesting details. (Glad I read this after I ate.)
Thank you for your visit and comment, Jack. I'm concerned about CAFOs for their negative impact on our environment. They are major polluters of both air and water, something we all need to live. A single CAFO produces as much sewage as our town of 20,000 people, and there are seven dairy CAFOs in our county. None of the CAFO sewage is treated as our city sewage is. CAFO sewage is held in lagoons and pumped onto fields where run off pollutes steams and ground water. Gasses pollute the air including ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and others. These seven dairies also produce over half a million pounds of milk per day, that's 70,000 gallons. This level of production means small producers are squeezed out of the market now controlled by CAFO producers.
If you hadn't said, I doubt I would have guessed this was a dairy.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on the photos, you can read "Linde Dairy"l above the central building door.
DeleteReally great black and white tones.
ReplyDeleteThis factory farm dairy is one of seven in our county. This may be why Bel Brand Cheese, makers of Laughing Cow, is opening a new $180 million dollar plant here. These seven dairy operations average about 1,100 cows each. With this concentration of cows they are Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs. These operations produce most of our meat and dairy products in the U.S., but at substantial cost to the environment. They are major contributors to greenhouse gases causing global warming. Roughly 30% of all greenhouse gas comes from CAFOs. The huge amount of sewage they produce gives off methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Due to the smell they emit, property values within one quarter of a mile falls by over 80%, and even one mile away falls 10%. Their workers, often undocumented Mexican labor, suffers exposure to hazardous hydrogen sulfide. The individual family farm never concentrated animals they way CAFOs do, so they did not produce hazardous levels of sewage or gasses.
ReplyDeleteI think that the black and white works so well for these shots!
ReplyDeleteMersad
Mersad Donko Photography
Thanks for your detailed explanation. I have read numerous times that cow flatulence is a huge source of methane, but you surround that basic fact with lots of interesting details. (Glad I read this after I ate.)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit and comment, Jack. I'm concerned about CAFOs for their negative impact on our environment. They are major polluters of both air and water, something we all need to live. A single CAFO produces as much sewage as our town of 20,000 people, and there are seven dairy CAFOs in our county. None of the CAFO sewage is treated as our city sewage is. CAFO sewage is held in lagoons and pumped onto fields where run off pollutes steams and ground water. Gasses pollute the air including ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and others. These seven dairies also produce over half a million pounds of milk per day, that's 70,000 gallons. This level of production means small producers are squeezed out of the market now controlled by CAFO producers.
DeleteI'm not sure about this TFG, as you say there are serious undertones here. It's a bit scary for man and beast I think!
ReplyDeleteIt is because in the long run it is not sustainable for the animals or for us.
DeleteI have been buying free range eggs for a while and I guess I should add free-range milk and cheese to that. Scary stuff.
ReplyDelete