There are about 50 dairies in Sonoma County and animal rights groups say the measure would apply to six of them which currently meet the definition of concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. [Photo courtesy Straus Family Creamery]
are harmful, Roman-Alcalá says. But whether this particular legislation targets farms that are harmful is uncertain, he says. “I would express uncertainties as to whether all facilities that would be affected by this law match the conditions the research is about,” he says. “I am not clear that all of the facilities that this describes actually have those impacts.” Roman-Alcalá says his specific concern is organic dairies like Tresch. “If organic dairies are managed well, they are unlikely to have such impacts on the environment—or, if they are having such impacts, they could be mitigated,” he says. These organic dairies have been lumped in with factory farms because there is a relatively short period of the year in which Sonoma County cows are sheltered indoors, he says. (The definition of a CAFO includes animals stabled or confined for 45 days or more in any 12-month period.) “If you care about animal welfare, the cows benefit from being sheltered from the rain and cold,” Roman-Alcalá says. Cows in organic dairies must have access to the outdoors, shelter, shade, fresh and clean water. Overall, 84% of the cow dairies in Sonoma County are organic, according to Randi Black, a dairy advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension who covers dairies in Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties. “All Sonoma County dairies with over 200 cows are either organic certified, or they have American Humane Certified status,” says Black, who has a doctorate in animal science and has been in her current role for seven years. The American Humane certification is a program in which a third party visits the facilities and checks to see that animals are treated humanely, she says.
There about 50 dairies in Sonoma County and, according to Black, their average herd is 350 cows. A true factory farm doesn’t give the cows any grass at all, Roman-Alcalá says. Those cows eat corn and soy feed, instead of grazing, the feeding method “they are designed to do,” he says. The herd at Tresch Family Farms grazes on grass during the outdoor season, which typically begins in April and ends in late October or early November. When the rains come, the cows are housed indoors to protect both the animals and the soil—but not necessarily continuously. “Keeping our milk cows in the barns when the ground is saturated is done to protect the environment, keeping sediment from trampled wet pastures out of the creek,” Kathy Tresch says. It also shelters the cows from severe weather events, she adds. “And though the cows have access to the barns year-round, we do not confine them to the barns in every rain,” she says. Measure J would mean modifying operations While most of the attention on Measure J has focused on the language shutting CAFOs down, the language includes a three-year phase-out period for CAFOs that offers alternatives other than closing. “Sonoma County farms that currently qualify as CAFOs would not necessarily have to shut down if Measure J passes. They could modify their operations to no longer meet the definition of a CAFO,” says Cassie King, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to End Factory Farming. There are three ways this could be accomplished, she says. First, a farm could downsize the animal population to below the relevant limit—for example, a dairy facility with 800
July 2024
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