Zero-grazing units such as this one will proliferate all over Britain unless we stop the march of the dairy factory farmers

Coincidentally, another mega-dairy in Lincolnshire is being planned 50 miles away from Nocton   (where 8,000 cows are due to be incarcerated). Seemingly unconnected to that proposal, the one in South Witham is akin to it in every other way. Again, this will be a zero-grazing unit (meaning that the 3,000 cows will rarely - if ever - go outside); it is also being situated a stone's throw away from a small village. Again, animals and people in the countryside are suffering because of the greed of big business.

The land is being leased to Velmur Ltd (a consortium on Irish farmers) by a local landowner: Buckminster Trust Estate. The Buckminster Estate's custodian, Richard Tollemache, has gone on record as a self-professed protector of the countryside - going as far as saying that it is his duty to protect it for generations to come. The leasing of land for industrial scale dairy farming clearly flies in the face of that.

However, Buckminster Trust Estate have also gone on record saying that they are open-minded about the development. This means that we have a golden opportunity to stop this before it gets going.

Please politely contact Buckminster Trust Estate using our letter below as a basis.

If you are local to the area, please personalise as much as possible.

Please note: we have not been able to find an email address (let us know if you know one!), but please do take the time to contact them ASAP.

Buckminster Trust Estate
Estate Office
Buckminster
Grantham
NG33 5SD
Telephone 01476 860471
Fax 01476 861235

"Richard Tollemache
Buckminster Trust Estate
Estate Office
Buckminster
Grantham, NG33 5SD 

* **** 2010

Dear Richard

I am writing to you to express my concern about the proposed mega-dairy to be built on the outskirts of the village of South Witham by the consortium Velmur Ltd.

I read with interest in Farmer's Weekly that Buckminster Trust Estate was "open minded about the idea".  I also read with interest your comments in Leicester Mercury 'Last bastion of hope for traditional village life?' (Aug 18, 2009): "We are all only here for a short while . The countryside was here for thousands of years before any of us were born and hopefully we can preserve it so it is here for much, much longer after we have gone."

Those sentiments are obviously admirable, but seem very much at odds with the proposed development in South Witham, where I understand Buckminster Trust Estate is planning to lease the land to Velmur Ltd.  Understandably, local people are extremely concerned about what essentially accounts for the whole-scale industrialisation of the countryside.  Zero-grazing of nearly 3,000 cows - which is what is being proposed there - is wholly unnatural, and is a practice imported from the United States.  People there have given evidence of the untold misery of living next to these huge industrial units: the noise, increase in traffic and potential pollution.  They are also quite rightly concerned about animal welfare and potential for disease.  Zero-grazing is not about improving animal welfare - it is about maximising profit.  Specifically in reference to the 2009 Report of the European Food Safety Authority, which concluded that the factory farming of dairy cows should end, not least because such breeding and practices for higher milk yields are major factors causing poor health and welfare in dairy herds.  Animals will suffer, and it is another nail in the coffin of traditional country life.

There is also significant concern about the impact on the local natural environment, especially as the development is so near South Witham Verges. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust describe the area as "rich" in flora, and also say that the area has fallow and muntjac deer, badger, fox, stoat, weasel, pygmy shrew and harvest mouse. This development - which is so out of character with the oldest part of the village which it will immediately border - is set to destroy rural life for both people and wildlife.

The article in the Leicester Mercury also says of where you live, "In Buckminster, no-one has any cause to worry about the swathes of countryside surrounding them being built on in this lifetime." Please extend this sensible approach to the preservation of our countryside by urging the withdrawal of the participation of Buckminster Trust Estate in the development at South Witham.

Yours sincerely"

Further reading:

http://www.milkmyths.org.uk

Donate and support our fight to stop the spread of cow prisons!

Join our Facebook group to fight Britain's mega-dairies!