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Indiana, USA. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:13 | |
These H-blocks house 30,000 dairy cows. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:18 | |
The sheds are half a kilometre long and the fields around them are empty. | 0:00:18 | 0:00:23 | |
That's because cows here rarely step outside. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
To their promoters, they're a brave new world in dairy farming. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
To their critics, they're milk factories. What's certain | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
is that mega-dairies are now established fixtures of American agriculture. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:40 | |
And it's started to happen here in Wales. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
A mega-dairy farm housing 1,800 cattle | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
has been operating in Carmarthenshire for over a year | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
without full planning permission. And councillors in Powys | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
are considering plans for a major dairy there. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:59 | |
Is this the future for the Welsh dairy industry? | 0:00:59 | 0:01:03 | |
We drink 700,000 litres of milk in Wales every day. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:21 | |
But how many of us go beyond | 0:01:21 | 0:01:24 | |
thinking whether to buy semi-skimmed or full-cream? | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
And what do we really know about where our milk comes from? | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
The truth is, behind the rosettes at the Royal Welsh Show, | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
dairy farmers say their prospects are far from rosy. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
With the industry at a crossroads, | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
talk away from the arena was more about losing profits than winning prizes. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:46 | |
In this programme, we'll be meeting three Welsh dairy farmers, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
all concerned about the future of their industry. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
I think dairy farmers have got a number of choices. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
Obviously, the first is to get out of the industry, which a lot are. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
I think about two are leaving the industry every day. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:05 | |
Some farmers are going back to grazing their herds on grass, | 0:02:05 | 0:02:09 | |
the traditional method. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
I think it's special, family farms, | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
because it involves all the family, sometimes. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
You know, you get the son taking over. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
On our farm, my wife does the milking. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
Other farmers are convinced that, if the dairy industry is to have a future, | 0:02:23 | 0:02:28 | |
herds need to be big. Very big. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
We thought we'd go out to the States and meet the best people out there | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
and I think we learned more in a week out there | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
than I probably learned in 10 years of farming here. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
The average dairy herd in the UK currently numbers 112. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:46 | |
Fraser Jones, who farms at Lower Leighton near Welshpool, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:51 | |
has 200 cattle. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
His herd may be bigger than average, | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
but the WAY he farms is typical of most dairy farmers in Wales. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:03 | |
He lets his cows graze in the fields during summer | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
but, to increase their milk yield, he feeds them processed food all year round. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:16 | |
So this is a ration for the dairy cows. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
It's grass silage, maize silage and concentrate, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
a bit of yeast and minerals with some molasses on top | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
and that's a typical dairy ration for mid-lactation cows. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
A high proportion of the feed in this diet is bought-in, | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
leaving conventional dairy farmers exposed to volatile global markets. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:40 | |
For the UK farmer, the raw materials that we need to feed our cows, | 0:03:40 | 0:03:45 | |
such as wheat, barley, soya and rape, are going up in price | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
and we can't control that, that's out of our control. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
You have to feed your cows. At the end of the day, they have to be fed. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
Throw in high fuel costs and a low milk price | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
and dairy farmers like Fraser Jones are struggling to survive. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
The milk price is obviously a big issue. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
The milk price we are receiving at the moment isn't sustainable. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:14 | |
Farmers are expected to invest in their business | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
and the milk price we are receiving at the moment | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
doesn't give you that extra to put back into the business. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
So dairy farmers have to further reduce their costs. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:29 | |
One option is massively increasing | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
the size of their herds to achieve economies of scale. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
It's a trail already blazed in the USA | 0:04:37 | 0:04:39 | |
where herds can be tens of thousands-strong. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
Sheds like these can be half a kilometre long. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
They're home to cows who are used to living indoors | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
and to whom grass is quite alien. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
Dozens of calves are born every day and housed in hutches. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:04 | |
Eventually, they'll be old enough to take their place on the milk carousel. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
Howell Richards, owner of the biggest single dairy unit in Wales, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
is an evangelist for this big is beautiful approach. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:18 | |
We hear time and time again, "Large herds, there must be welfare issues, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:23 | |
"you can't keep a lot of cows and not have problems." | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
What shocked me when I first went to the States was | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
how well their animal welfare was. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
He's installed a large rotary parlour | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
like those in American mega-dairies. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
He's also chosen a type of high-yield cow, | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
first bred in the United States, to produce more milk. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
I think the Holstein cow is a cow | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
that has the potential to give a lot of milk. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
There's no question they have been bred to give more milk than, | 0:05:56 | 0:06:01 | |
let's say, the New Zealand Jersey or the British Friesian. | 0:06:01 | 0:06:05 | |
Howell Richards feeds his cows a diet of high-energy processed food. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
It boosts their milk output so much | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
that they need to be milked more often than conventional cows. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
The parlour is currently milking about 350 cows per hour. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
The aim is that a cow is never away from her food, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
water or the ability to lie down | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
for more than an hour at any one time. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:27 | |
While the cows are being milked, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
their sheds are cleaned, new bedding is blown in | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
and feed distributed. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
This is basically a cow's life, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
365 days a year. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
Having seen this vision of the future for himself, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
Howell Richards was inspired to expand his herd. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
Although he's had 1,800 cattle for over a year, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:51 | |
he still doesn't have planning permission for his new sheds. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
The idea of bringing American-style mega-dairies to Wales | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
-is not supported by everyone. -Good girls. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
-Allan Rogers farms near Wrexham. -Come on back to me. Good girls. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
Faced with rising production costs, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:12 | |
he and his wife, Heather, have gone to the other extreme. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
Between March and November, they graze their 160 cows on grass. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:21 | |
They also grow their own winter feed, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
so producing nearly all their cows' food on their own farm. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:27 | |
This reduces their costs substantially. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
HE WHISTLES | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
Good girls. Come on now! | 0:07:32 | 0:07:33 | |
We try to produce as much as we can off grass, really. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
Come on, girls. Good girls. Come on. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
'Going for low-input, the cost of production was lower,' | 0:07:40 | 0:07:47 | |
so we were gaining extra pence per litre we produced. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
'My father was born on a farm just up the road.' | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
Come on, Jess. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:56 | |
When he retired at 65, he sold us his cows | 0:07:57 | 0:08:02 | |
so we were able to start up a dairy herd. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
We had 25 to start and we've built up to 160 now. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
Instead of the large Holstein cows that Howell Richards, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
Fraser Jones and many other dairy farmers favour, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
the Rogers have chosen a traditional type of cow. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
It's particularly suited to grazing grass... | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
but produces a lot less milk. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
The cows are all bred from New Zealand Friesians | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
and then they are crossed with a Jersey cross. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:35 | |
You know, they're not big cows, they're quite little cows | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
but they last a long time. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
And I like my little cows. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
'We don't expect big yields from our cows | 0:08:44 | 0:08:49 | |
'and yet we can make quite a good living out of it.' | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Off you go. Go on, darling. Go on. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
Allan and Heather buy in very little feed. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:59 | |
During the summer, they use some of their land | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
to grow food for their herd to eat during the winter. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
These forage crops not only provide protein for the cows | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
but also naturally replenish the soil, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
dramatically reducing the need for bought-in fertilizer. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
We've found that the best forage crop to grow is oats and peas. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
They feed the cows in the winter, cos they're full of protein, | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
and the nitrogen goes back into the ground | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
and this is the winter feed for the cows. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
High-input and high-yield or low-input and low-yield, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
the choices facing the dairy industry shared centre-stage at the Royal Welsh Show. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:43 | |
In his quest to secure a profitable future in Montgomeryshire, | 0:09:43 | 0:09:47 | |
Fraser Jones has researched both options. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
I think there's room in the UK for all types and size of farm, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
from a small family farm to a large farm, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:59 | |
which is run more as a business with a lot more employees. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
With a low-input system, cattle are grazed for an extended time | 0:10:04 | 0:10:09 | |
and therefore you haven't got the cost of buying your feed | 0:10:09 | 0:10:13 | |
but your cows are only going to average 6,500, 7,000 litres of lactation per year. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:19 | |
Obviously, on a high-input system, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
you've got a lot more costs with shedding and feed costs | 0:10:24 | 0:10:29 | |
but your cows will be averaging, you know, 10,000 litres a year. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:35 | |
The extra volume in litres is paying for the extra costs, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:40 | |
so, in overall profitability, there probably isn't much difference between the two systems. | 0:10:40 | 0:10:46 | |
The trouble is, | 0:10:46 | 0:10:47 | |
you can't have an intensive grazing system on every farm. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:52 | |
Every farm has got different soil types, different scenarios. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
So I was looking at intensive grazing, | 0:10:55 | 0:11:00 | |
or a system which is more high-input, | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
where the cows are housed slightly longer, | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
and for this particular farm the high-input, high-output system, to me, is the most viable. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:13 | |
And so Fraser Jones has opted to increase his herd five-fold | 0:11:15 | 0:11:20 | |
and has applied to Powys County Council for permission | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
to build a 1,000-cow dairy unit. | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
To his critics, it's a mega-dairy | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
and the application has created quite a stir. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
These are my plans of what I'm proposing to do | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
at Lower Leighton Farm. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
I plan to put my parlour, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:38 | |
which is going to go on this waste area just behind me. | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
And then the cattle housing, which will be over there. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:46 | |
The oak tree in the distance is the furthest point of the cattle sheds. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
So that's going to be my three sheds for cattle housing. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
And then at the bottom, down towards the road, | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
is going to be the, um, fodder storage shed, so... | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
silage clamps, maize clamps and my straw storage facilities. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:07 | |
All the manure is going to be pumped from the existing lagoon, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:11 | |
which is just the other side of this waste area, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
into these two new proposed slurry stores, | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
which are going to be the bottom side of the road, behind that high hedge. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
And that's the basic outlay of the buildings I plan to put up. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:27 | |
The dairy complex Fraser Jones plans | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
has similarities with the large indoor herd which Howell Richards already runs near Carmarthen. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:36 | |
The cows I envisage in this new system, she's literally walking | 0:12:37 | 0:12:42 | |
from the shed to the parlour, on to a rotary platform. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
She goes round with the platform and then walks back to the shed, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:49 | |
so she will only be out of that shed for about half an hour. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
Generally a cow, when she's finished milking, she goes back to the shed, she goes and eats. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:58 | |
They'll eat, they'll fill their stomachs up | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
and then go and they all go lie down in a cubicle. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
A basic cubicle is just over four foot wide and eight foot long. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:09 | |
So she does spend a lot of time in that shed. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
I'd say, out of her day, she probably spends half of the day | 0:13:13 | 0:13:18 | |
in a cubicle but, as I say, it is an environment which is very natural, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
with plenty of airflow and plenty of room to move about. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:28 | |
Cows basically need lots of room. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:30 | |
Cows should never be prisoners. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
The buildings that the cows are in | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
are no different to what we would like to be in. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
I mean, we all like to live in airy, well-lit rooms, | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
we like to be fed regularly, we don't like too much change in our lives. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:47 | |
While Howell Richards is confident his animals | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
are healthy and happy in their airy sheds, | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
some animal welfare groups aren't so convinced. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
Mega-dairies are wrong for cows, they're wrong for consumers | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
and they're wrong for the farming community. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
They are wrong for the cows because keeping cows permanently, | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
or near-permanently, indoors will cause them health problems. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:10 | |
It's likely to see their welfare suffer | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
and, frankly, denies the fact that cows belong in fields. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:18 | |
You know, in the press you read about these cows that are being | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
forced to produce all this milk. You can't force cows. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:24 | |
You know, it's total lunacy to say you can take a cow | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
and force it, make it give a lot of milk. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
The harder you push a cow, the poorer the cow will be. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
The farmer wants the cow to be as happy as possible. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:39 | |
You know, he wants it to be in perfect condition | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
and you treat them right, they'll treat you right. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
And I don't think it matters how many cows you have, | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
if you have 100 or 1,000 cows. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
Each animal is still as important as the next. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
The reason that these cows are being kept permanently indoors, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
or near-permanently, is that they are being pushed to their | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
physical limits to produce ever more milk. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
They're being pushed to the degree that their over-producing udder | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
means that their bodies can't keep up. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
These animals are no longer able to survive, no longer able to | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
remain healthy on grass and that's a serious health and welfare issue. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
It's not only my view. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
The European Food Safety Authority has said that keeping cows | 0:15:24 | 0:15:28 | |
permanently indoors will make them more likely to suffer | 0:15:28 | 0:15:34 | |
from serious health problems. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
I think it's very sad that people... They should try to... | 0:15:36 | 0:15:42 | |
I would be very happy for them to come and see if they want to, | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
look around these new units and how things are designed around the cow. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:50 | |
Fraser Jones believes he's done this with the designs he's submitted. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:55 | |
Even so, his application has proved controversial. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:58 | |
Powys County Council has received 833 responses to the plans. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:02 | |
95% are against. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
I'd say the most negativity has been from campaign groups | 0:16:04 | 0:16:09 | |
and it's quite daunting, if you like, | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
and quite worrying that people don't understand dairy farming. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:18 | |
I know with my particular application, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
we were having objections coming from America, New Zealand, | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
Canada, Germany, France. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
Pretty much every country you can think of, | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
we were having objections from. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
And they didn't have a clue where Leighton was, | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
they hadn't got a clue what I was actually doing. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
You know, people, they're part of their campaign group and they | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
just go on the internet, click a button and their objection is sent. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:49 | |
Leighton residents know all too well | 0:16:49 | 0:16:51 | |
where the mega-dairy would be built. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:52 | |
Some of them have formed a pressure group, | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
the Campaign Against Leighton Farm Extension, CALFE. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
Leighton is a small village, but this farm would be within | 0:16:59 | 0:17:04 | |
a few hundred yards from something like 30-odd residences. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
You've also got the village hall here, | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
which is the heart of the community. It's going to just smother it. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:14 | |
It's far, far too large for where it's proposed. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
When you consider that the school is a tiny little square there | 0:17:16 | 0:17:23 | |
and this is the size of the development. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
Should this farm be built, I think parents might be concerned | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
about sending their children to a school right next to this | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
huge factory farm. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
The sheer amount of slurry that's going to be produced | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
by these cows is immense. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
There's two slurry tanks. Each of them will house this building | 0:17:40 | 0:17:44 | |
and that's only four months' supply. It's a disaster waiting to happen. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:49 | |
Moving feedstuffs into the place and moving slurry out of the place, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
this is going to create a lot of traffic movement and, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
no doubt, smell and problems on the road. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
I appreciate that this is a sensitive site. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
I fully appreciate that, but I also feel I have done everything to | 0:18:01 | 0:18:08 | |
mitigate every possible scenario. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
It does cover quite a large area, I don't dispute that, | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
so it is going to be visual, | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
but I've screened it by having a bund and lots of plantations. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:22 | |
I have a commitment to slurry-inject all my slurry, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
so all my slurry produced on the farm will be injected into the ground. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
I feel that we have got a proposal here that will not affect | 0:18:28 | 0:18:34 | |
the local community in any way whatsoever. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
You see, that's where it's going to come to, all that area, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:43 | |
it's too out of proportion. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
A number of national organisations have also voiced their concerns. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:51 | |
If this application is approved, then what we're talking about is | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
a really completely stark industrial-scale building, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
huge sheds, great silo-type arrangements, | 0:18:58 | 0:19:02 | |
a great carousel on which cattle will industriously walk in | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
and out of it without even, probably, seeing a blade of grass. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:10 | |
It really is completely alien in terms of the traditional | 0:19:10 | 0:19:15 | |
approach and the traditional feeling | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
that a farm in this part of Montgomeryshire | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
and any part of rural Wales in the dairy sector would think of. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:26 | |
I disagree with the Campaign to Protect the Rural Wales. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
I really do feel that what I am proposing is not industrialisation. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:34 | |
I totally disagree with them saying it's industrialisation. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:37 | |
I feel it's a family farm which employs a lot more people. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
When you have an industrial-scale development of any sort, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
be it a farm, be it a business park, whether it's a prison... | 0:19:45 | 0:19:49 | |
whatever you want to call it... it's an imposition in this landscape | 0:19:49 | 0:19:53 | |
and that's where our concerns are | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
in respect of this particular application. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
I feel that Wales needs farming, and it needs dairy farming. | 0:19:58 | 0:20:03 | |
And it needs to support these sort of applications. I really do. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
While Fraser Jones waits to hear whether planners will let him | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
erect his mega-dairy, Howell Richards is wondering if planners | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
in Carmarthenshire will make him tear his two new sheds down. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:19 | |
When we were building these sheds we weren't looking at the risks | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
from the planning side of things. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:26 | |
We had lost so much stock to TB and the idea was to build the | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
shed to house the cows 365 days, to take the animals away from | 0:20:29 | 0:20:34 | |
the wildlife and then, if we could stop the link between | 0:20:34 | 0:20:38 | |
the animal and the badger then, hopefully, we would be free of TB. | 0:20:38 | 0:20:45 | |
Howell Richards' decision to expand his dairy massively and only then | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
apply for planning permission has upset some of his neighbours. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:54 | |
The property I live in now overlooks Cwrt Malle Farm... | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
And it's a blot on the landscape. | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
I have lived in the village for 26 years and the last three years | 0:21:00 | 0:21:07 | |
have been quite unbearable because of the slurry coming from Cwrt Malle. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
Eifion Bowen has to advise the decision makers | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
on the local authority. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
Cwrt Malle is an existing farm complex | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
so you have the farmhouse and the traditional old stone buildings | 0:21:20 | 0:21:25 | |
which, given today's agricultural practices, are not suitable. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:30 | |
The two large proposed buildings... which are up... | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
are rectangular structures and they are located just south | 0:21:33 | 0:21:38 | |
of the farmhouse and the existing milking parlour. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
The buildings, as I said, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:47 | |
are in situ and the construction proceeded even though the | 0:21:47 | 0:21:51 | |
developer had been made aware that planning permission was required. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:55 | |
How can people put up a building and then say, "Well, I've built it now. | 0:21:55 | 0:22:01 | |
"What are you going to do about it?" It's wrong, you know. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
It is a difficult concept to grasp of course | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
but don't actually break the law when you build anything without | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
planning permission, you only break the law should you not fail | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
to comply with any subsequent enforcement notice. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
So these buildings, yes, they've been built but we're now considering, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
obviously, to their impact on the landscape, impact on | 0:22:21 | 0:22:25 | |
the local road network and impact on the local environment as well. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
The problem Howell's got, he's got to transport all this feed in, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:33 | |
all of the slurry out | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
and that's what's us a great deal of problem in this community. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:38 | |
Some of the issues with farms of this size is smell | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
and it's certainly been an issue here to overcome that. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:47 | |
We're actually now injecting slurry | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
and we've been to see some of our neighbours who had issues | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
with smell and are now delighted with the results. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
The next stage forward for this farm | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
would be to build an advanced anaerobic digester. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:03 | |
What we're planning to do here is to use 100% waste product, | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
take all the methane out of the slurry | 0:23:07 | 0:23:09 | |
and then recycle it again | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
and provide electricity for 1,200 homes. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
We've got to give Cwrt Malle Farms Limited credit | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
because since we've started the campaign, he has started to inject | 0:23:19 | 0:23:25 | |
his slurry which has lessened the smells the village is getting. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:31 | |
Howell Richards might face planning problems, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:34 | |
but the vet who visits his farm twice a week has no concerns | 0:23:34 | 0:23:38 | |
about the welfare of his 1,800-strong herd. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
Cows are naturally inquisitive. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
As you can see, cows are that happy, they are inquisitive. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
These cows are not, have no problems with lameness, you know, | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
they look healthy, they're in good condition. | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
But good animal husbandry isn't a matter for the planners. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
If they won't approve the shed's construction retrospectively, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:04 | |
Howell Richards could be forced to demolish them. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
Removing the only mega-dairy operating in Wales. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
But what's the future of the Welsh dairy industry? | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
Low-input grazing or a high-input industrial approach? | 0:24:15 | 0:24:19 | |
Pint-sized or super-sized? | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
Alun Davies has the task of shaping the future agricultural policy of Wales. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
When I look at the Welsh dairy industry, | 0:24:28 | 0:24:30 | |
what I see is an industry with absolutely enormous potential. | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
When you look at the amount of milk that's actually produced in Wales, | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
what you see is a great success story. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
Farming is a very diverse industry and we see that in Wales | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
perhaps more so than in other parts of the United Kingdom | 0:24:43 | 0:24:46 | |
and other parts of Europe. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
We're always going to see, I hope, a central role for the family farm. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
I think that's the backbone of rural life in Wales in many different ways. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:56 | |
We will see other farms which are different in scale | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
and different in nature | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
but I don't see my role as a minister to make value judgments | 0:25:01 | 0:25:06 | |
about what is good, what is bad, which way the industry should go. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:10 | |
Also attending the Royal Welsh Show | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
and prepared to voice strong views on the right future for the industry | 0:25:13 | 0:25:17 | |
was the author and broadcaster, Graham Harvey. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
Basically these intensive systems are unsustainable because | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
to grow the feeds, the cereal crops to feed the animals on, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
you have to have lots of fertilisers, pesticides | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
and these need oil. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:30 | |
Which makes the whole system very oil dependent. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:35 | |
Grass-based systems are much more self-sustained, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
much more sustainable. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:40 | |
Farmers who produce milk on lower output systems, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:44 | |
the inputs in terms of fertilisers and pesticides are much lower | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
which means that farms can be profitable year after year. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
Unless farmers embrace technology and move with the times, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:58 | |
then there won't be farming in Wales, simple as that, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
because we'll just import everything from Europe or wherever. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:06 | |
The worrying thing for UK dairy, I feel, | 0:26:08 | 0:26:13 | |
is that 40% of all dairy products now are imported. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:18 | |
Which is a horrific figure | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
when you think about a country like the UK with 70 million people. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:25 | |
In Wales grass is the great natural resource. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
Something like 90% of the land is under grass | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
and it's a no-brainer to feed grass to cows. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
It's the cheapest feed for cows, it produces the healthiest animals | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
and it actually produces the most nutritious milk. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:41 | |
So why would we not use grass? | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
There's nothing as more pleasing to the eye than seeing a herd of cows | 0:26:43 | 0:26:49 | |
coming out of the milking parlour, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
being let out into the field and frisking like young ponies. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:57 | |
People have a very romantic view of farming, I think, | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
and you can talk a lot about, you know, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
people who like to see animals go out to grass and all the rest of it | 0:27:03 | 0:27:08 | |
but ultimately it's a business | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
and a lot of it boils down to the milk price. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
We could put another two or three pence easily on a litre of milk | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
for the farmers and the farmers wouldn't expand so much. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
Wouldn't be as intensive. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
You can't blame the farmers, | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
they've been forced into this position by the price of milk. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:30 | |
We're paying more for a small bottle of water than what we do for a litre of milk. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:34 | |
There's got to be something wrong in that, isn't there? | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
If the proposals for mega-dairies are successful I think | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
that'll set a very dangerous precedent. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
It'll also undermine the integrity of our milk. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
Who wants milk to be viewed on our supermarket shelves with | 0:27:46 | 0:27:51 | |
the same suspicion that is currently afforded to battery eggs. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
Hopefully in 10 years' time we'll still be milking and making | 0:27:55 | 0:27:59 | |
a reasonable profit and we're still producing what the consumer wants. | 0:27:59 | 0:28:04 | |
Erm, but I think we all need a price increase from our customers | 0:28:04 | 0:28:10 | |
to maintain that, really, yes. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:11 | |
Or a fair price against the cost of production. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
Cos the end of the day, the public dictate to the supermarkets | 0:28:14 | 0:28:18 | |
and the supermarket dictate to us. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
it's not really, the farmers quite often say | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
"It's the supermarket's fault," | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
but at the end of the day they're only reacting to the public. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:30 | |
The public have got the power. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:31 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:28:34 | 0:28:38 |