< Factory Farming in New Zealand
This FAQ deals with some common claims and comments raised by supporters of cubicles (AKA "stall farming"), in the group We Don't Want Cow Cubicles in New Zealand.
They're not cubicles, they're free stalls.
They are called cubicles in the resource consent applications, so the terminology was determined by the applicants. I acknowledge that they are not tie-stalls (in which cows are restrained with tethers) but that's not the point. The point is that free stall farming is bad. Just because it's not as bad as some other type of farming doesn't make it okay.
We need to give cows shelter.
No, we need to forget farming them in areas where they would need shelter to survive. In some cases I can see that herd homes are appropriate, but this group isn't about herd homes, it's about intensive "factory farming".
This group is a bunch of townies and/or hippies who don't know anything about farming.
I know of hundreds of members who are farmers and overwhelmingly they oppose stall farming. In addition, I live in the heart of dairy country and I've spoken to dozens of dairy farmers, every single one of whom opposes them.
You people are so stupid you don't realise that [insert farming factoid here]
Although some people have posted ill-informed messages opposing cubicles, that doesn't mean the whole group is ignorant. Actually we do know what types of stalls are being proposed, we know what they look like, we know how they collect effluent, and we know lots of other stuff about the situation. If you post a message pointing any of this stuff out, it just proves you didn't take time to read the wall before posting yourself.
Stall farms are better for cows.
I've heard claims that stalled cows suffer less from certain ailments, yet all the scientific research I've uncovered concludes the reverse. Stalls are detrimental to cows, and that includes free stalls.
Stall farms are better for the environment.
Not according to the balance of evidence I've found. On one hand it is true that stalls can offer some improvements in environmental practices; for example, effluent can be collected, stored and disposed of in a more controlled manner (this has certain benefits over letting cows excrete randomly in paddocks). However this is more than offset by the need to release a much greater amount of effluent to the ever-decreasing available land.
A local farmer who has worked extensively with various types of housing systems summarised it like this: "At first they look great but in the long run, for every good thing about stalls there are two or three bad things."
See some scientific studies that conclude stall farming is worse for the environment than pasture farming.
Stall farming is necessary.
No it's not, we can feed the world using horticulture and traditional pasture-based farming — see this report (PDF).
Where will all the milk come from if we don't do this?
See the answer to the previous question.
Stall farming is the way of the future.
That statement doesn't really mean anything and in any case it wouldn't be a good reason to go just with the flow without questioning it.