Providing the answers over the £50m dairy herd

The Nocton Dairies consortium is led by 45-year-old Peter Willes of North Devon, whose Parkham Farms business already runs more than 4,000 cows in partnership with David Barnes of Clitheroe. Mr Barnes is in the new project, too, along with Robert Howard, who farms in the Nocton area.

Chris Benfield got some questions answered ...

What is the timetable for all this?

A planning decision by North Kesteven Council is expected by May 3 and milking could start in late September. But it would take two years to build up the herd.

What will the economies of scale be?

The cows will be housed, most of the time, on deep gritty sand, which costs about 14 a tonne but can be washed and reused if there is enough to justify a recycling facility. The slurry will be piped to surrounding fields and the solids will go into an anaerobic digester and come out as odourless fertiliser. The cows can be organised so they are all on the same calving cycle in each of 16 herds.

What cows and what diet?

Holsteins, fed on locally-grown lucerne and maize and, probably, by-products from the sugar plant at Newark and the new bio-ethanol plant distilling from wheat on Teesside. Diet experiments will be conducted to try to reduce methane emissions, with an eye on future obligations on the industry.

Has anything similar been tried before?

It would be the biggest operation of its kind in Europe but there are bigger ones in the United States and Saudi Arabia.

What is the point?

A farmer scaling up to 500 cows often ends up over-stretched. But with 8,000 cows and 80 hands, he can have a specialist for every need. And with cost-efficiency in the top 10 per cent, it should be possible to make money even on current milk prices .

What about animal welfare?

Compassion In World Farming says it looks like a move in the wrong direction . But the farmers say they will have "the best cared-for cows in the UK, producing milk with the lowest carbon footprint". All of the cows will be free to roam in open-sided dairy sheds when in milk and will be allowed out to graze when "dry". The business is seeking Freedom Foods accreditation.

What about disease?

The farm will have its own vets and its own quarantine unit; the local badger population is low; and there are not many other cows in the vicinity.

See planning application at www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/

planningonline – reference 09/1040/FUL.

The consortium presents its case at http://noctondairies.co.uk

Mixed views from industry figures

Compassion In World Farming: "In view of public concern about the American practices being exposed in the film Food Inc, and the European Food Safety Authority's concerns about breeding for productivity and keeping cattle indoors, this looks like the opposite of the direction the dairy industry should be going."

Martin Burtt, a Yorkshire dairy spokesman in the NFU: "Personally I don't see why 8,000 cows is different from 10 herds of 800 in the same conditions and it's good to see not everyone has lost confidence. I wonder if the scale of this will be acceptable to planners and consumers. But I am fascinated to see how it all goes."

RSPCA: "A large farm does not automatically mean that welfare will be compromised. However, such a situation does raise questions about the way we view animals."