Comments on: Guest Column: Huge dairies expanding in Wisconsin http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/guest-column-huge-dairies-expanding-in-wisconsin/ The Rock River Times - THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1993 Thu, 23 May 2013 21:13:53 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Genie Metoyer http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/guest-column-huge-dairies-expanding-in-wisconsin/comment-page-1/#comment-6376 Genie Metoyer Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:42:40 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=36092#comment-6376 The above comments are written out of pure ignorance. I have been following CAFOs since the 1970's. To compare them to small family farms is just rediculous. Go to the Center for Disease Control and type in CAFO for a search. Children growing up on small family farms are in no where near the danger of kids growing up around CAFO's. The industrial farming industry wants you to believe they are safer so they can take over our food supply, just like Standard Oil back in the 20's. Antil-Trust laws need to be put in place to stop CAFO's before they DO take over and we will be at their mercy! And as for money coming from Illinois, that's where ALOT of the money in Wisconsin comes from, summer homes, vacationers, hunters. Everytime I meet someone they are originally from Illinois. Grow up people. Do your homework before you speak:) The above comments are written out of pure ignorance. I have been following CAFOs since the 1970’s. To compare them to small family farms is just rediculous. Go to the Center for Disease Control and type in CAFO for a search. Children growing up on small family farms are in no where near the danger of kids growing up around CAFO’s. The industrial farming industry wants you to believe they are safer so they can take over our food supply, just like Standard Oil back in the 20’s. Antil-Trust laws need to be put in place to stop CAFO’s before they DO take over and we will be at their mercy! And as for money coming from Illinois, that’s where ALOT of the money in Wisconsin comes from, summer homes, vacationers, hunters. Everytime I meet someone they are originally from Illinois. Grow up people. Do your homework before you speak:)

]]> By: Clark Roberts http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/guest-column-huge-dairies-expanding-in-wisconsin/comment-page-1/#comment-4888 Clark Roberts Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:47:50 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=36092#comment-4888 You talk about the dairy and its proximity to the school and make insinuations about how it harms children. You seem to be saying that any child who has ever grown up on a farm must have been negatively impacted by that environment even though there are countless studies that say people who grow up in and around big cities like Chicago, as most of these people did, run a much higher health risk from the pollutants that they have caused through their own non sustainable lifestyles. You talk about the dairy and its proximity to the school and make insinuations about how it harms children. You seem to be saying that any child who has ever grown up on a farm must have been negatively impacted by that environment even though there are countless studies that say people who grow up in and around big cities like Chicago, as most of these people did, run a much higher health risk from the pollutants that they have caused through their own non sustainable lifestyles.

]]> By: Leighton Winchester http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/guest-column-huge-dairies-expanding-in-wisconsin/comment-page-1/#comment-4886 Leighton Winchester Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:15:08 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=36092#comment-4886 Mr. Clarke's math is a bit dodgey: A cow produces less than 1.5 acres of manure per year, so even if Richfield Dairy had 5,000 cows, that is only 7,500 acres maximum per year. Requests for that fertilizer are already more than double that amount – and the acres requesting the organic nutrients are currently all being fertilizer with commercial grade fertilizer with no regulations. New Chester Dairy would be about double that, so we’re talking about no more than 15,000 acres per year. And that dairy already has requests for more than 30,000 acres that have been receiving commercial fertilizer. Let’s remember that synthetic commercial fertilizers run right through sandy soil (unlike organic fertilizer) and can remain there for decades and decades. Mr. Clarke’s math is a bit dodgey: A cow produces less than 1.5 acres of manure per year, so even if Richfield Dairy had 5,000 cows, that is only 7,500 acres maximum per year. Requests for that fertilizer are already more than double that amount – and the acres requesting the organic nutrients are currently all being fertilizer with commercial grade fertilizer with no regulations.
New Chester Dairy would be about double that, so we’re talking about no more than 15,000 acres per year. And that dairy already has requests for more than 30,000 acres that have been receiving commercial fertilizer.
Let’s remember that synthetic commercial fertilizers run right through sandy soil (unlike organic fertilizer) and can remain there for decades and decades.

]]> By: Chris Parker http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/02/29/guest-column-huge-dairies-expanding-in-wisconsin/comment-page-1/#comment-4885 Chris Parker Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:01:31 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=36092#comment-4885 I have personally seen the large dairies in Kewaunee County and in the Central Sands area and they are textbook studies in efficiency, safety and cleanliness -- especially compared with the smaller farms that are basically unregulated (but still house nearly 80 percent of all the cows in Wisconsin.) The last paragraph of this piece really rubs me raw: Why is it that a group from Illinois is trying to raise money in Illinois from Wisconsin residents to tell Wisconsin residents how they should live their lives?! I have personally seen the large dairies in Kewaunee County and in the Central Sands area and they are textbook studies in efficiency, safety and cleanliness — especially compared with the smaller farms that are basically unregulated (but still house nearly 80 percent of all the cows in Wisconsin.)

The last paragraph of this piece really rubs me raw: Why is it that a group from Illinois is trying to raise money in Illinois from Wisconsin residents to tell Wisconsin residents how they should live their lives?!

]]>