Texas dairy explosion leaves at least 18,000 cattle dead

18000 dairy cows ,that's hard for me to believe they had that many cows to milk.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-da...t-18000-cattle-dead-person-critically-injured

The way the story reads, it sounds like they had way more cows than that. These were just the ones in a holding pen waiting to be milked.

It's no wonder greenies look at cattle as an ecological disaster. That many cows in such a small space, they ARE an ecological disaster. What do they do with the manure?

Some speculation on other ag sites, is the barn covers 40-49 acres in size.

There is a another pretty big dairy not far from it on the maps that were posted.

Paul

Check out the thread about it in Tractor Tales yesterday.

Yes, the single building covers 49 acres.

I read an article like this and think, there could have
been 1,800 families with a 100 cow herd. Would have
been spread out over a much larger area, and
probably provide a decent living for each family. I
dont really believe farming on an industrial scale, has
truly been any benefit to people, cows or the
environment overall. Sometimes mankind needs to
realize, that just because we can do something,
doesnt actually make it practical or worthwhile doing.

The land grant colleges and farm lenders have been worshiping at the altar of EFFICIENCY for several decades now. That dairies of the size of this story needed to happen. That the people forced out would find jobs that better suit their skills and ambitions. The chickens are coming home to roost on this philosophy and it is not going to be pleasant.

That's 180 families with a 100 cow herd, unless math has changed since I was in school, or is it different in Canada

(quoted from post at 08:07:04 04/13/23) I read an article like this and think, there could have
been 1,800 families with a 100 cow herd. Would have
been spread out over a much larger area, and
probably provide a decent living for each family. I
dont really believe farming on an industrial scale, has
truly been any benefit to people, cows or the
environment overall. Sometimes mankind needs to
realize, that just because we can do something,
doesnt actually make it practical or worthwhile doing.

Click to expand...

1800 or 180, still have to find that many families willing to do the work. That was a problem in the 1970s, let alone today.

"Probably a decent living" is not good enough. There are no guarantees but there is a long history of hard times for small dairies. People just don't like working hard and still being poor.

Government subsidies as much as you like to complain about them are a pittance when you're small. For argument's sake let's say you get $10 a cow annually. What's $1000 going to do? $180,000 on the other hand is enough for a family to live pretty high on the hog.

Having lived through it, there weren't too many years when the farm didn't at least take care of itself with some careful management and deferred upgrades. It was the whole food clothing shelter medicine transportation thing that put you in the red.

...and I don't want to hear "organic." Organic wasn't a thing back then. Besides we WERE organic. We couldn't afford to pump our cows full of antibiotics and lather the fields with chemicals and fertilizers like the public perceives farmers do.

I think that there are people willing to do the work. They just did not need to be micro managed by bankers who had a one size
fits all mentality. 25 years ago or so the term 'under performing loan' resonated large with these same bankers. The profits that
these small dairies were turning were not enough for the bankers who envisioned less work and more pats on the back having larger
clients to serve. It really should not matter how much profit a farm turns as long as that farm makes all its payments. I agree
for the effort there should be enough to keep the house heated and the kids fed but in many operations mom's fat paycheck at the
school or hospital took care of that. The kids came to school no worse dressed than the rest of the kids there. If a couple wants
to have a relationship where Pa stays home on the farm and mom wants to work and cash will not be abundant then that is their
business. You also touched upon a very key aspect of running a farm when you talk about making enough to just keep the place up.
A lot of variability in terms of crop production from one part of NY to the next. Heck, around here productivity can change
greatly in a quarter mile or less. What you make in terms of crop production is key for a dairy or other type operation. It is
why the farms with poorer soil such as what is on the farm I have were the earliest to exit the dairy business. In a sense all
farmers are in competition and the farm that can produce several tons of corn silage per acre on average has a tremendous edge over
his less productive counter part. The last dairy on my road quit cows during the 1980's because feed output was inferior to other
parts of the county and state. Costs were often the same with some variability since the farm was fertilizing for 3/4 the tonnage
of the other farms but things such as seed and fuel was the same.

The farm that can produce several tons MORE of corn silage per acre has a tremendous edge...............is what I meant to type. Sorry.

Does anyone farm 40 acres with a mule anymore. Im not
seeing any hands raised.

Farms have been growing in size since before any of us were
born. No one wants to work 7 days a week when they can get
a job with benefits in town. With size comes the ability to
afford expensive modern equipment that cuts labor cost. It
also provides the ability to hire 12 people to do the work of 10
so everyone gets a day or two off each week.

Another big advantage is we now have the ability to place
these dairy farms in the middle of the desert where no crops
will grow. This frees up land once used to house cows that
can now grow crops.

Just like wal mart pushing out the mom and pop store BTO
farms push out the mom and pop farm.

Does anybody (here) pull udders with milk squirting into a bucket? I'm not seeing any hands raised. Farms are modern by choice today. Want a pipeline system? You can do that. If you are an Amish man you can pull udders and squirt milk into a bucket if you want. The only thing is that the milk winds up in a cooled bulk tank.

Working 7 days per week may not be your thing and it is not my thing but for some that is A-OK. Some people such as my deceased neighbor just could not handle idle time. He also was not a people person so most jobs other than being a grave digger was going to be uncomfortable to do. This is a major driver for a man, woman, or couple to spend most awake moments in the barn or in the field. They have trouble functioning at the farm supply store or farm implement dealership. They don't know how to conduct themselves around people and honestly do not care.

Count me as one of those who does not see endless growth by a few in agriculture as a good thing long term. People used to say we will worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Well, tomorrow has in fact arrived and so has the problems it has brought along. I don't know that it is in our best interests to have dairy farms with 20, 30, or 50 thousand cows. When will enough be enough? Too many people with idle hands will be the end of society as we go into the future.

(quoted from post at 15:42:32 04/13/23) ... Too many people with idle hands will be the end of society as we go into the future.

Click to expand...

That's the big looming doomsday issue regardless of farm or dairy size. Automation is advancing much more rapidly than in the past and we are rapidly approaching a point where there simply will not be jobs for a large percentage of the population.

Note the (unstable) growth of the service and entertainment sectors - Those "unnecessary" jobs are masking the loss of many "necessary" jobs and they will disappear rapidly as those necessary jobs that are providing the income to pay for the services and entertainment are replaced with automation. When faced with paying for food or entertainment the food will always win.

There is no turning back the tide on this, only poor stopgap measures. What we need to seriously be debating on a global scale is exactly how can societies be restructured to be stable when having a job is no longer the norm.

There are no easy answers and there are a few examples to show pitfalls of such a society i.e. small ME countries where the citizens do not work and receive funds from oil wealth. The jobs in those countries are currently done by imported humans who are treated worse than most machines.

Well said. The only thing I would say is that most people in the ME are treated like dirt. One percent of the population is
entitled to the wealth from oil therefore they have a modern standard of living. Everybody else more or less just exist.

I am just like your deceased neighbor. I can not sit still. I would rather work 7 days a week and twice on Sunday than take a vacation.

One has to question if a fire suppression was in place. If not why? Are there no building codes stating that one needs to be in place? Does the insurance company not
require it?

Insurance copies will insure anything no matter codes or no codes.

If you pay their price for the wager.

And, the gubbmint will blame the explosion from a concentration of methane gas from the cows....

Plenty of small horse/mule powered Mennonite farms in my area,some do use small tractors.Seem to do pretty good.Actually small direct to consumer farms are flourishing in my area selling about any farm product.

i DONATED 7 years milking. all i got to show is knowledge ,busted
bones,how to ai, ex wife,a huge list of missed things i missed
milking cause nobody would work here but me , but hey i got a
non running vac case for a holstien bull calf i rebuilt n use as a big
lawn mower now.