Overview: Why We Don't Want Cow Cubicles in New Zealand

Three companies have applied for resource consent to house 18,000 cows in European-style "cubicles" for 8 months of the year (more details here). We say NO.

Why not?

There have been numerous reasons posted on the group's wall but here are a few good ones to get started:

It's bad for cows. Read some examples of scientific research if you're not convinced.
It's bad for the environment. It destroys natural landscapes and ecosystems (according to Landcare research). Also, this type of farming requires a disproportionate amount of water to maintain and creates a disproportionate amount of waste.
It's bad for the dairy industry. Our overseas markets are becoming steadily more eco-sensitive. We already have an uphill battle against "food miles" — in the near future we'll need impeccable environmental credentials to have any chance at all.
It's bad for tourism. It makes a mockery of our clean, green image. Watch the video on this page for more info.
It's bad for public health. This type of farming leads to an increase in health problems in both farm workers and the population at large (for example, the spread of E. Coli bacteria as documented in the film Food, Inc).
It's bad for our national psyche. People are upset about this. It's not Kiwi. In our group, farmers and urbanites are largely in agreement. We live in a democracy and the people of this country are speaking: Not in New Zealand!

Some Important Notes:

The proposed farms use a "free stall" system which is not the same as "sow crates" or "tie stalls". Some people have used this as a reason to say they are acceptable. This is not true — scientific evidence shows that all types of stalls are detrimental to cows. Just because it's not as bad as some other option doesn't make it okay.
Opponents of our group have argued that stalls are preferable to being outside in extreme weather conditions. This ignores the obvious solution — not farming cows in such extreme conditions at all. If you think that it's necessary to increase farming intensity to feed the world, read this report (PDF).
Some people have claimed that the term "cubicles" is incorrect. Not so — the resource consent applications specifically state that cows will be housed in cubicles.

TO STOP THIS, the most important action you can take right now is to make a submission to the resource consent applications. See the home page for details.