Nocton Dairies: Local plan, national problem
Throughout 2010 and into the early part of 2011, the land surrounding the small Lincolnshire villages of Nocton and Dunston became a battleground. Nocton Dairies’ proposed industrial farm, where nearly 4000 cows were to be reared intensively in conditions more like a factory than a farm, was threatening the right of local residents to live in peace, the freedom of animals to graze on pasture and live without distress, the opportunity for farmers to run sustainable small farms and still be paid a fair price for their milk and the rights of consumers to know just what kind of milk they are drinking.
Serious implications for animals
If Nocton Dairies had its way, Lincolnshire would have become the site of the UK's first industrial-scale dairy. The farm’s giant sheds would have housed thousands of cows that would have been kept indoors for most of their lives, with little or no access to pasture. Because these cows would have been genetically selected for high milk yields they would have been vulnerable to health problems such as lameness, mastitis and exhaustion.
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Serious implications for local people
The industrial farm at Nocton Heath would have been located less than a mile from the villages of Nocton and Dunston. It would have greatly increased local traffic and noise. The plan for distribution of farm waste threatened the local water supply and the potential for the spread of disease would have been greatly increased with so many animals kept in one place.
Serious implications for UK dairy farming
Huge intensive farms of this type are common in the US, but this dairy would have been the first of its kind in UK. If such a proposal were given the go-ahead, the impact on our countryside could be vast: cows in a field could become a thing of the past.
Serious implications for consumers
Most people in the UK like to know where their food comes from and polls suggest that most of us would choose not to buy “battery milk”. But if Nocton Dairies, or others like it, were allowed to go ahead, consumers will have no way of knowing whether the milk they are buying is from cows kept in fields, or those kept in factory conditions.
If you believe that cows do belong in fields, please help us stop the spread of mega-dairies with a donation today:
The period when public objections to the proposed mega-dairy could be submitted to North Kesteven District Council closed on 11 January 2011. Many thanks to the thousands who got involved. Read more here.
There is still action that you can take to stop the spread of mega-dairies in the UK - please email your MP to ask if they have signed Early Day Motion 942.