Kerre Woodham: Learn to refine our farming

Russel Norman is leading the charge against the development. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Putting dairy farms on land that is unsuitable for that type of farming is bizarre, says Kerre Woodham.

The idea of cows being kept in stables is anathema to me. The idea of massive dairy farms in the Mackenzie Basin is also appalling.

There's been a massive outcry at news of a proposal to build 16 new dairy farm developments housing 18,000 cattle in cubicle stables. The cows would be confined in stalls 24 hours a day for eight months of the year, only being released from their cells to stroll around the exercise yard for a couple of months of the year.

Russel Norman from the Green Party is leading the charge against the development. He says it's the equivalent of factory farming cattle and that it could do immense harm to our clean, green international brand.

Any tourist who wandered around Cox's Creek or Meola Reef would be able to see and smell for themselves the damage we've done to the environment over the years but few of them stray off the approved paths.

Fonterra's also dead against the idea, despite the fact their Chinese cows never see the light of day. They say that their main concern is the environmental sustainability of such a scheme. And that's a big concern. Farmers are already being held to account for the polluting and draining of many of New Zealand's waterways and that's just in areas where farming is sustainable.

Why people persist in putting dairy farms on land that is unsuitable for that type of farming is bizarre. Waikato's lush, verdant pastures are ideal for dairying. Southland is also a tit-puller's paradise. But drought-prone, storm-ravaged regions should be left for the bunnies and sheep to battle it out.

Cockies might suggest I know very little about farming. And that's true. Probably most of the people we export to know little of the mechanics of farming. But we're all consumers and we can all make a choice about the products we buy.