Another Voice on the Stink

Neil Schneider, the Director of Marketing for Farm Bureau, sent an editorial to the AZ Republic replying to Kathi Borque's question (see yesterday's post "Yes, Virginia, There is no Conspiracy") about whether the local dairies shut down the smell during Ty Pennington's stay in Gilbert. I don't see it reprinted in the paper yet, but Mr. Schneider gave me permission to reprint it here:

Response: Was Gilbert Aired Out? (Feb. 15, 2005)

Kathi Borque of Gilbert asked for an answer to the Great Gilbert Cow Stink in her Feb. 15 submission.

We spoke to a representative at the nearest dairy to the “Extreme Home Makeover” location. She assured me that the cows were happily chewing their cud and giving milk as Ty Pennington handed the keys over to the Okvath family. The cows were not moved.

Producing affordable and fresh food, in this case milk, for children and adults in Arizona and other nearby states, requires certain economies of scale. We have larger dairies on Arizona than you would find in the Midwest, and yes, they do omit smells normally associated with cows. In addition, if the cows are closer to the grocery store, the cost of transporting the milk to you is less. That means cheaper milk, cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese.

I assure you that Arizona dairy families are at the forefront of odor, dust and pest controls and they spend thousands and thousands of dollars annually mitigating these issues so their new neighbors who have chosen to move into the area, can maintain a good quality of life.

The Mister reminded me that the dairies do try, as Mr. Schneider says, to fight the odor. They do things such as using large corrals for the stock, which causes the manure to spread out and dry faster, and also makes for healthier cows. So that's two of us that think there was no smell-conspiracy in Gilbert last week.