A Dairy Farmer’s

Point of View Sheet

Dairy farmers make their living by raising and caring for

the dairy cattle that produce milk. The milk, cheese, ice

cream, and other milk products we enjoy and depend

on come from these farms.

After reading this selection, take the point of view of a

dairy farmer as you discuss these questions:

How do dairy farms create problems in

Puget Sound?

How could you help solve these problems?

Which solutions would be difficult to live

with?

What benefits will you gain from a healthier

Puget Sound?

Point of View:

Dairy Farmer

Point of View:

Dairy Farmer

Lesson 15

Examining a Real Environmental Problem

Resource: Ecosystems Teachers Guide Pgs.160–172

A Dairy Farmer’s Viewpoint

A farm is a great place to live, but there is always a lot

of hard work and often not much profit. Cows must be

milked early in the morning and again at night. They

have to be fed and watered each day and tended when

they are sick. Dairy farmers must also raise many acres

of feed for the cows while also managing the business

of selling milk. Farm machinery is expensive to buy and

must be repaired and maintained. Income from selling

the milk depends on prices that may drop lower than the

cost of producing the milk.

One of the dairy farmer’s biggest problems is managing

manure. One cow can produce 100 pounds of manure

each day. It makes good fertilizer for the crops, but often

there is more manure than a farmer can use each year.

There is so much manure that farmers must use

bulldozers to move it into huge storage tanks. The

manure must be pumped out of the tanks into trucks

and then spread on the fields. The equipment used to

do this is very expensive.

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Dairy Farmers Can Affect

Puget Sound

Dairy farmers can cause the following problems for

Puget Sound:

Cow manure is a great fertilizer, but when it gets into

streams and rivers that drain into Puget Sound, it

causes algae blooms. Algae can use so much oxygen

as it grows that it leaves no oxygen in the water for

fish, so they die.

Cows need a lot of food. In order to grow it quickly,

dairy farmers often use chemical fertilizers and

pesticides. These chemicals often get into Puget Sound

where they contaminate water and kill aquatic wildlife.

As cows walk in streams to drink, they break down the

streambank. Soil loosens and falls into the water where

it gets washed downstream to Puget Sound. This

sediment carries bacteria and other contaminants into

the clam and oyster beds around the Sound.

Farmers and their families do all the same things

that everyone else does. They drive cars and trucks,

produce garbage and sewage, and use electricity.

All these things produce pollution that eventually

reaches Puget Sound.

How Can Dairy Farmers Help

Puget Sound?

Here are some things dairy farmers can do to help

the Sound:

•

Store manure in concrete or steel pits that are leak

proof. Spread the manure on dry days when rain

will not cause manure runoff.

•

Limit the number of cows you own to be sure you

do not have more manure available than you can

use as fertilizer.

•

Move cows from pasture to pasture so they do not

destroy all the plant life in one area. Bare land

erodes easily.

•

Build fences to keep cows out of streams.

Changes and Tradeoffs

Changes can be difficult when you have done things the

same way for a long time. As you read about what dairy

farmers can change to help protect Puget Sound, think

about these questions:

How are these changes good for Puget Sound?

What are the tradeoffs for a dairy farmer who makes

these changes?