View reports, articles  and data concerning environmental impacts of proposed Hawaii Industrial Dairy Farm at Maha’ulepu.

The Impact of Ammonia and Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions from Animal Agriculture

Air emissions from animal feeding operations, large and small, commercial and hobby farms can’t be completely avoided. Efforts to reduce those emissions can improve the ecosystem health, human health, and neighbor relations. It is important to understand what effect air emissions have. Two of the most well known emissions, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, are addressed in this article from the Michigan State University Extension Office.

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Fly Facts: From Horseflies to Fruit Flies, We’ve Got You Covered

Biting flies are the vampires of the fly world. The more than 300 species include the black fly, stable fly and deer fly, though the bite of the horsefly is one of the most painful. Horseflies are equipped with scissor-like mandibles that tear and cut. While the males feed on pollen, the females feed on blood to assist in egg development. Left uncontrolled, swarms of deer flies and horseflies can madden horses and cows.

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Toxic Fumes, Blisters & Brain Damage: The Cost of Doing Business?

After years living next to Willet Dairy, the largest industrial farm in the state, neighbors in Genoa are reporting the kinds of health problems eco-watchdogs lose sleep over, from blistering eyelids to brain damage. Manure is known to release gases that, in high concentrations, are linked to those scary symptoms.

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NRCS Custom Soil Resource Report

A review of the NRCS Custom Soil Resource Report resulted in Mark Madison concluding that “the Custom Soil Resource Report was created for the specific area of Kauai that includes the proposed dairy operation and is much more detailed than the general information presented in the Plan.  Yellow highlights were added to emphasize data that are in direct conflict with the Plan’s claims that soils are suitable for an intensive confined animal feeding operation and animal waste disposal with land application and irrigation of effluent. The proposed dairy operation is situated on soils that are very limiting for land application of animal waste.  An intensive waste management program of 699 cows on this site should not be allowed. A waste management program on this site will likely result in contamination of ground water that is extracted by community wells within the aquifer, recharged by the farm. Surface runoff from this site will contain manure contaminants that will be conveyed to streams, wetlands and coastal waters.”

NRCS Custom Soil Resource Report Review (PDF)

Zoonotic Diseases of Cattle – Virginia Coop. Extension

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals. Zoonotic diseases may be acquired or spread in a variety of ways: through the air (aerosol), by direct contact, by contact with an inanimate object that harbors the disease (fomite transmission), by oral ingestion, and by insect transmission. There are fifteen cattle diseases with zoonotic potential in the United States, some of which are more common than others. They include anthrax, brucellosis, cryptosporidiosis, dermatophilosis, Escherichia coli, giardiasis, leptospirosis, listeriosis, pseudocowpox, Q fever, rabies, ringworm, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, and vesicular stomatitis.

View Publication 400-460 Zoonotic Diseases of Cattle (PDF)