Are we ready for an 8100-cow dairy herd? YES
Hayley Campbell-Gibbons
NFU chief dairy adviser
Everybody has a view on Nocton dairy. It’s not always a rational one, nor is it always an informed one, but nevertheless it’s a subject that most people – both in the dairy industry and outside – will have passed comment on or read about. It’s also an issue that has received a mixed reaction from farmers.
I’ve spoken to dairy farmers in the past few weeks. Some are in full support, others are cautious.
I can empathise with the farmers whose concerns centre on the potential negative impact Nocton may have on consumer perception of British dairy farming and with those who fear that a drive towards larger scale farms will drive out smaller, family run units.
However, I’ve not yet spoken to a farmer who has raised concerns about welfare. Like me, farmers know that high welfare is underpinned by stockmanship, not a type of system. Objecting to Nocton on welfare grounds is nonsensical and I won’t waste any ink rebutting allegations that are unfounded, emotive or unsubstantiated.
The real nervousness here is about scale, which is legitimate because we simply don’t know how consumers will react to this, but that’s not a reason to object to it. Instead, we need to do more research into cow behaviour in different systems to better understand how animals adapt and cope.
Now that we’ve knocked the welfare ball out of the park, let’s move onto the real debate and examine the reasons why the dairy industry should get behind Nocton.
The Government’s 2030 Food Strategy sets out, what seem to me, to be six sensible priorities for food production. Let’s consider Nocton against these priorities:
• Does Nocton signify a drive to improve competitiveness and efficiency in food production? Yes
• Will it address the need to reduce, reuse and reprocess waste? Yes
• Will Nocton reduce greenhouse gases from food production? Yes
• Will Nocton increase the impact of skills, technology and science? Yes
You get the picture. If we are going to produce more food without damaging natural resources then proposals like Nocton must be examined on their true merits.
That is not to say that we will move towards large-scale units at the expense of grass-based systems – nor would we want to. Grazing grass is one of our biggest competitive advantages in a European marketplace where the demand for exports will rise as demand for dairy grows.
The bottom line: If we want to have a dairy farming sector that can produce more, impact less and make a profit at the same time then we need to make production decisions that are based on research, science and evidence not myth, misconception or emotion.