• No fan of dairy plan No fan of dairy plan I am opposed to the proposed dairy at Mahaulepu. I have lived at Poipu for 50 years. I love my home which is close to the dairy site. I
• No fan of dairy plan
No fan of dairy plan
I am opposed to the proposed dairy at Mahaulepu. I have lived at Poipu for 50 years. I love my home which is close to the dairy site. I do not want a dairy at Mahaulepu.
I visited New Zealand almost two years ago. They are trying to get rid of their dairies. The environment is severely impacted by dirty dairying through compaction of land, pollution of waterways and greenhouse gas emissions.
I am an animal-rights person. I abhor cruel treatment of animals. Cows are kept pregnant so they will produce milk. Once their calves are born, they are removed from their mothers within hours of birth, with the separation which is distressing for both mother and calf. Each year, female cows are traumatically forced to experience this again to enable continuous milk production.
Some calves are kept by the farmer to replace their mothers and some are raised for veal or beef. There is not a high demand for the meat from dairy calves and many go straight to slaughter. Shockingly, around 2 million vulnerable animals are killed in New Zealand at around four days of age each year.
Baby calves are viewed as mere waste products with little or no attention paid to their welfare. From as young as four days of age, they are loaded onto trucks and sent to slaughter. Baby calves usually spend their last night in a crowded pen at the slaughterhouse.
The 2015 investigation in New Zealand showed the cruelty and deliberate, violent abuse of helpless baby calves in their final moments.
I hope that the powers that be will reconsider this possible disastrous mistake that they are making.
Carol Ann Davis, Koloa
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