NZ's biggest dairy farm allows calves to starve to death

The following video obtained by www.interest.co.nz shows dozens of calves starving to death at Crafar Farms' Benneydale property between Tokoroa and Te Kuiti earlier this month. Poor management and the pressures of massive debts obtained during rapid expansion meant this farm was so poorly managed that none of the staff trained calves to drink milk, allowing them to die of dehydration in a muddy pen. MAF's inspectors were called in to this farm many times yet it was allowed to keep operating. Days after this video was taken MAF inspectors visited the property and destroyed many of the calves, yet has said this was just a management issue and not worthy of prosecution. Farm owner Allan Crafar was on the Fonterra Shareholders council for 6 years, while Westpac, Rabobank and PGG Wrightson Finance lent Crafar Farms around NZ$200 million to buy more than 20 such factory farms despite numerous prosecutions for dirty dairying. Crafar Farms is now trying to sell its farms because it cannot service its debts, which are now worth more than the land. Questions arising from this case include: Why did MAF allow this farm to continue operating despite repeated warnings? Why has MAF not prosecuted Crafar Farms for animal neglect? Why did Fonterra continue to accept milk from these farms despite dirty dairying prosecutions and industry talk about bad management? Why was Allan Crafar allowed to stay on Fonterra's most senior representative body for 6 years? What controls were in place at Westpac, Rabobank and PGG Wrightson Finance to investigate the financial and environmental sustainability of this farming operation, which is New Zealand's biggest privately-owned dairying group and produces 0.5% of Fonterra's total output. How can New Zealand continue to advertise itself as 100% pure after the dairying boom has created so many factory farms that poison the land and harm animals.