DEAR SIR: I see that the Environmental Protection Agency is suggesting licences for intensive dairy units. That does not surprise me because with the success of the dairy industry, dairy cow numbers will keep rising. Dairy units with hundreds of cows are popping up around the country with all the gadgets to allow one or two people to manage these large dairy herds.

Obviously, farmers can do what they want with their own land but continuing to push large herds will more than likely lead to new layers of red tape being introduced. It will be interesting to see how the farm advisory service handles this situation.

After years of telling farmers to drive on milk output, new regulations suggested could interrupt dairy growth. Dairy farmers also need to think more about what they are doing, for example if a farmer already has a few hundred cows do they really need to establish a satellite dairy herd with one or two employees looking after a large number of cows?