California Focus on 'Cattle Litter Boxes'
Bonnie Alba
March 19, 2006
Today I digress from the usual BS and hot air blowing from inside the Capitol beltway to the opposite coast where the most recent hot air topic is again -- okay, I?ll say it -- ?cow manure.? Its contribution to the San Joaquin Valley air pollution is a weighty concern to the SJV Air Pollution Board and regulatory legislators in Sacramento.
The Air Pollution Board must issue rulings on dairy manure emissions by July 1 to avoid being in violation of state law. Without going into the sordid details (one advisory report on emissions from cows is 235 pages long), dairy cows are being blamed for contributing to the valley?s polluted air.
Some details: There are purportedly 1350 farms and dairies over a range of 25,000 acres (eight counties). There are an estimated 1.3 million ?milking cows? penned up along with 1.2 million ?support? livestock in the valley. The Air Pollution Board estimates that 26 percent of air pollution is produced by agriculture.
Some dairies have moved into the technological age. My husband-teacher visited Kings-Tulare County upscale dairies and was pleasantly surprised at dairy management advancements. Each cow?s history is in a computer data base and the cows are ear tagged. At milking time, each cow tag is scanned into the computer, they are weighed and sprayed-showered. The cows probably look forward to milking time --- while they are busy giving milk, they chomp on special feed (Like going to a spa). One dairyman said, ?a happy cow gives more milk.? On the hottest days of summer, there are giant fans, inside and outside, to cool the cows.
The problem arises in the tons of droppings and urine from thousands of cows in holding pens. Up-to-date dairies have disposable drain systems or scrape and water down the pen soil --- a continuous job. Many do not --- hundreds of cows stand in their own muck for days before the mired ?litter boxes? are cleaned. ?All penned up and nowhere to go? is the modern cow?s motto.
We?re talking about Giant ?Litter boxes? here! It?s reminiscent of the Old 99 highway in Fresno where we held our noses as we drove over the penned cattle awaiting rail shipment.
Over the past decade California took steps to decrease vehicle and diesel engine emissions. All pollution contributes to the climate anomaly commonly called the ?ozone inversion layer.? Fifty years ago, it did not exist. Today the sky is never true blue. Where once the mountains and hills were visible on most days of the year --- today, people look through the haze seeking a glimpse of the hills or mountains. Some days, the air shifts and drifts over the miles encompassing housing developments with the aroma of manure-urine-chemical mixtures.
The old way: My old friend, Bessie, would tell you she misses the freedom of roaming the pastures, where greens were plentiful and there were shade trees to hunker under and take a snooze in the heat of the long, hot days. She was the leader of the herd, leading the way to the barn when it was time for milking. No self-respecting cow would step in their own manure chips when there was plenty of room to move around. Now she says the young ones don?t want to hear of the old way, they are content to be taken care of by their dairy masters.
Humans love to crowd together into tight little clusters in cities and towns, then spread out thinking they?re gaining more room ---aah, suburbia. Well, humans can?t just do it to themselves, they?ve developed the cattle version of suburbia. Large holding pens, close to their work, convenient for their masters --- ? all penned up and nowhere to go.?
The San Joaquin Valley human and cattle populations have mushroomed in the last 40 years. The advent of modern dairies able to handle large herds of dairy cows and the gigantic produce co-ops growing more food per crop on less land have given California the status of being the nation?s leading food producer and generating more milk and dairy products than any other state.
The air quality will not improve as long as there?s an increasing influx of people and vehicles, housing developments, and new industries plus cows crowding into the valley.
We can?t change the geography, the weather, or the people. So the regulators work on the bottom end (literally) of the problem. Old Bessie would say, ?Put the cows back in the green pastures where we naturally disperse and fertilize the fields.? The only other solution is to limit new dairies, industries and human migration plus vehicles into the valley.
No? Then expect more ?Cattle Litter Boxes? in your future.
2006 Bonnie Alba
Comments welcome: tttalba@hotmail.com
Sources: News
The Fresno Bee, The Hanford Sentinel, The Sacramento Bee, Bakersfield Californian, 2004-06
Dairy Permitting Advisory Group, Final Report, January 31, 2006
The Air Pollution Board must issue rulings on dairy manure emissions by July 1 to avoid being in violation of state law. Without going into the sordid details (one advisory report on emissions from cows is 235 pages long), dairy cows are being blamed for contributing to the valley?s polluted air.
Some details: There are purportedly 1350 farms and dairies over a range of 25,000 acres (eight counties). There are an estimated 1.3 million ?milking cows? penned up along with 1.2 million ?support? livestock in the valley. The Air Pollution Board estimates that 26 percent of air pollution is produced by agriculture.
Some dairies have moved into the technological age. My husband-teacher visited Kings-Tulare County upscale dairies and was pleasantly surprised at dairy management advancements. Each cow?s history is in a computer data base and the cows are ear tagged. At milking time, each cow tag is scanned into the computer, they are weighed and sprayed-showered. The cows probably look forward to milking time --- while they are busy giving milk, they chomp on special feed (Like going to a spa). One dairyman said, ?a happy cow gives more milk.? On the hottest days of summer, there are giant fans, inside and outside, to cool the cows.
The problem arises in the tons of droppings and urine from thousands of cows in holding pens. Up-to-date dairies have disposable drain systems or scrape and water down the pen soil --- a continuous job. Many do not --- hundreds of cows stand in their own muck for days before the mired ?litter boxes? are cleaned. ?All penned up and nowhere to go? is the modern cow?s motto.
We?re talking about Giant ?Litter boxes? here! It?s reminiscent of the Old 99 highway in Fresno where we held our noses as we drove over the penned cattle awaiting rail shipment.
Over the past decade California took steps to decrease vehicle and diesel engine emissions. All pollution contributes to the climate anomaly commonly called the ?ozone inversion layer.? Fifty years ago, it did not exist. Today the sky is never true blue. Where once the mountains and hills were visible on most days of the year --- today, people look through the haze seeking a glimpse of the hills or mountains. Some days, the air shifts and drifts over the miles encompassing housing developments with the aroma of manure-urine-chemical mixtures.
The old way: My old friend, Bessie, would tell you she misses the freedom of roaming the pastures, where greens were plentiful and there were shade trees to hunker under and take a snooze in the heat of the long, hot days. She was the leader of the herd, leading the way to the barn when it was time for milking. No self-respecting cow would step in their own manure chips when there was plenty of room to move around. Now she says the young ones don?t want to hear of the old way, they are content to be taken care of by their dairy masters.
Humans love to crowd together into tight little clusters in cities and towns, then spread out thinking they?re gaining more room ---aah, suburbia. Well, humans can?t just do it to themselves, they?ve developed the cattle version of suburbia. Large holding pens, close to their work, convenient for their masters --- ? all penned up and nowhere to go.?
The San Joaquin Valley human and cattle populations have mushroomed in the last 40 years. The advent of modern dairies able to handle large herds of dairy cows and the gigantic produce co-ops growing more food per crop on less land have given California the status of being the nation?s leading food producer and generating more milk and dairy products than any other state.
The air quality will not improve as long as there?s an increasing influx of people and vehicles, housing developments, and new industries plus cows crowding into the valley.
We can?t change the geography, the weather, or the people. So the regulators work on the bottom end (literally) of the problem. Old Bessie would say, ?Put the cows back in the green pastures where we naturally disperse and fertilize the fields.? The only other solution is to limit new dairies, industries and human migration plus vehicles into the valley.
No? Then expect more ?Cattle Litter Boxes? in your future.
2006 Bonnie Alba
Comments welcome: tttalba@hotmail.com
Sources: News
The Fresno Bee, The Hanford Sentinel, The Sacramento Bee, Bakersfield Californian, 2004-06
Dairy Permitting Advisory Group, Final Report, January 31, 2006
Print
Email
