Super-dairy campaigners rally support with MPs
Animal welfare campaigners have stepped up their fight against large scale dairies by rallying support among politicians.
Fifty-one MPs gave their backing to the campaign against so-called super-dairies at a meeting in Westminster on Tuesday 26 October.
The meeting was hosted by Compassion in World Farming and the World Society for Protection of Animals.
MPs from all parties heard the campaigners’ views and claims that large-scale dairies threatened – cow welfare, the British countryside, food sustainability, rural economics, human health and environment.
CIWF chief executive Philip Lymbery said the support from MPs showed the strength of opinion against the proposed dairies such as the 8100-cow unit proposed in Nocton, Lincolnshire.
“This will threaten animal welfare and the countryside, will put hard-pressed family farms under even more pressure, and will undermine the integrity of our milk. The bottom line is that cows belong in fields during the grazing season, not indoors,” Mr Lymbery told MPs.
His view was echoed by his counterpart at WSPA, Mike Baker.
“To date, dairy farming in the UK has been broadly sustainable, using small, manageable herds, fed on grass. These farms are good for animal welfare, the environment and the local economy – or have the potential to be,” Mr Baker said.
“Yet the Nocton Dairies could put over UK 100 dairy farms out of business. WSPA is heartened to see such a large MP turnout and optimistic that together, we can make the right choices for the future of how we get our milk in this country,” he claimed.
The two charities concluded with a plea to DEFRA officials to organise a “measured, balanced and neutral debate about the issue, involving the dairy industry, small and large-scale dairy farmers, environmental and animal welfare groups, retailers and consumers”.