What is it? “Big is better,” or “small is beautiful?” It seems as if we are faced with that choice in so many ways, as we move into this 21st Century. Even in “rural” South Dakota, we are forced to deal with the issues of growth and expansion.
One of those growth concerns I’ve been learning more about, is the corporate expansion of dairy cattle operations. We can all picture the time when a family had a few head of cattle to milk for their own and perhaps their neighbors’ needs. Then there was the growth of small scale milking operations that would supply milk and other dairy products for surrounding communities. I worked for one of those suppliers while in college. I drove a truck weekly to several rural communities around Aberdeen, filling the local grocery store refrigeration units with their dairy needs for the next week.
Today, operations are getting much bigger. The USDA estimated in 2022 that there were 188,382 dairy cattle in the state of South Dakota. It also indicated that 92% of the dairies had fewer than 2,500 head of cattle. But larger corporations have moved into South Dakota, with greater concentration and significantly greater numbers. One corporation, Riverview, now owns approximately 30% of all dairy cows in the state. Their operations range from 9,500 to 25,000 head.
How beautiful is the manure for 25,000 cattle? I would take a little for my garden, probably the production of one cow or two. But I’m curious as to what happens to the rest?
Or where do they get the water for that many cattle. It takes about 4.5 pounds of water to produce one pound of milk. Milk consists of 87% water. If one cow needs 30-50 gallons of water a day, where does the water come from for 25,000 corporate cattle? And during a hot South Dakota summer, cattle needs can double.
Cattle operations also need land for grazing. This is especially true for beef operations located in the west and mid-west. The political winds recently changed in Montana for cattle ranchers there. They have been seeking federal permission to graze national park lands where bison are presently located. The Trump Bureau of Land Management has decided to stop hundreds of these bison from feeding on federal land, even though for forty years, bison have been recognized as eligible livestock under federal grazing law. Where would they go? Where else could they roam 63,000 acres?
I’d love to have a bison or two in our back yard, but I’m afraid we don’t have enough land for one; let alone hundreds?
This federal decision has been challenged by the non-profit, American Prairie. A spokesperson for American Prairie, reflecting on the bison removal said, “BLM lawfully approved these permits after a thorough environmental review and defended them for years. Abruptly rescinding them now—under political pressure—creates immense uncertainty and sends a chilling signal to Tribes, ranchers, and conservation partners who depend on fair and predictable public land management.”
Some believe that Montana ranchers, negatively impacted by tariffs and higher costs for fuel and fertilizer, will be more receptive to Republican politics come November, if their access to federal grazing rights is approved. Many believe the BLM decision is politically motivated.
We don’t personally have any cattle for milk or beef. If we want them as part of our diet, we have to increasingly depend on big operations. But there are still some modest opportunities to recognize that small is beautiful. For instance, my tomato plants are in the ground. Five are ground level, with three in a raised bed. I expect to have at least one more in a pot all by itself, in a sunnier spot than the others. I’m looking forward to tomato sandwiches throughout the summer.
There are a few rows of raised bed lettuce and spinach slowing poking through the soil. A small herb garden sits on the front porch. Flowers are beginning to bloom around our home and in the backyard garden. The trees and bushes are blossoming. The rabbits and squirrels are active, as are the birds and honeybees.
We may live in a country where “big is better” is the national mantra; bigger ballrooms, bigger budgets, bigger profits, bigger ag, bigger military hardware. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate “small is beautiful” in our own modest ways, and work with others like American Prairie or our own Dakota Rural Action to offer alternatives.
I’d rather have a juicy tomato from my own backyard any day, than one of those hard and juiceless corporate creatures you often find in the grocery store.
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