There is an ad banner on the top of my front page at Daily Kos which states that 99% of California diary farms are family owned. When you click in you have the feeling that you are in Old McDonalds farm with happy cows out in pasture eating and sunning themselves.
The ad is run by the California Milk Advisory board who in 2009 had to be asked by The Federal Trade Commission to stop false advertizing for it's "Happy Cow" ads.
Large farms dominate in California, the Nation’s largest milk-producing
State. Farms with at least 500 cows accounted for 88 percent of
California’s production in 2006, and production there grew by more than
half between 1994 and 2006, as the State’s share of national production
rose from 16 to 21 percent (table 2). Other States in the West and
Southwest show similar patterns—substantial growth in production and a
concentration in large dairy farms.
Here is the truth about where dairy factory farms are located in the US. The Factory Farm Map
Some Facts from the Factory Farm Map related to California
The nearly 240,000 dairy cows on factory-farm dairies in Merced County, California produce ten times more waste than the sewage from the Atlanta metro area.
The 1.7 million dairy cows, 563,000 beef cattle, 131,000 hogs, 49.6 million broiler chickens, and 19.7 million egg-laying hens on factory farms in California produce as much untreated manure as 456 million people -- more than the entire U.S. population.
California fined the owner of three dairies in Stanislaus County $147,000 for 8 violations of clean water rules between 1999 and 2006 for allowing manure-tainted wastewater to leak into waterways, irrigation canals, and local rivers.
The more than 464,000 dairy cows on factory-farm dairies in Tulare County, California produce five times more waste than the sewage from the New York City metro area.
And it seems that California regulators are Turning a Blind Eye to Massive Groundwater Pollution
Though it produces more California is not alone.
Large farms’ share of milk production is increasing in every major dairy State. According to newspaper reports, over 40 large farms, each with 1,000-
5,000 cows, were built in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana between 1998
and 2006. Farms with upwards of 1,000 head are also appearing in other
traditional dairy States in the East and Midwest, either through the expansion
of longstanding family operations or through new construction with
investor financing.3
Industrial agriculture (factory farms) is one of the leading causes of water pollution in the US today
Water pollution from industrial farms not only damages the environment and kills wildlife, but it can also sicken and kill people. And since these farms exercise little restraint when it comes to water usage, they tend to waste large quantities of water, even when neighboring communities are experiencing water shortages.
By polluting the nation’s waterways, a single factory farm has the ability to negatively affect whole regions, as was the case when manure spilled from a ruptured tank on a 3,000-head dairy farm in upstate New York in August 2005. Three million gallons of cow manure poured into the Black River, polluting an area one-fourth the size of the Exxon Valdez spill.vii The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation cited the farm for numerous environmental and permit violations, and estimated that this spill killed around 200,000 to 250,000 fish.viii
So you can be misled even on Daily Kos. The best way to be sure you are not contributing to the problem is to have some soy or other plant based milk like products.
By having plant based instead of animal based food you also significantly reduce your carbon footprint.