The Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute has filed a formal legal complaint in an attempt to halt the USDA from allowing factory farms producing organic milk from bringing conventional dairy cattle onto their farms. The organization claims the practice places family-scale farmers at a competitive disadvantage, and is explicitly prohibited in the federal regulations governing the organic industry.
Cornucopia's latest formal legal complaint spotlights the Natural Prairie Dairy in Dalhart, Texas. The dairy, milking over 7000 cows in two barns, is thought to be the largest certified organic dairy in the United States.
"Real organic farmers don't buy replacement heifers," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at the Cornucopia Institute. "Real organic farmers sell 'surplus' heifers."
Kastel feels that in the factory farm model, animals are pushed for high production and get sick at an early age because of stress; whereas organic cows are generally healthy and live longer lives.
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