WU Aiwei, a middle-aged man, is milking a cow with his hands. He rarely does that now. For years, machines have taken the place of manual work.

"The cow is to be injected in the udders with some medicine. I have to milk by hand to make sure there is no milk remaining," said Wu.

Beside him, black and white cows were busy chewing hay.

The farm workers had harvested the grass from uncultivated fields nearby. They had to collect six trucks of grass every day to satisfy the appetites of their cows. But it was not too hard to do this at this time of year when wild grass grew abundantly in the fields.

Situated in Tangzhen, a rural area within the Pudong District, the farm had a herd of 178 cows, including 30 calves which were kept separated in a small cowshed.

Ten immigrant workers from Southwest China's Guizhou Province had been employed to help Wu take care of the herd.

A truck with a refrigerated container came to the farm at 7:00pm each day to transport the milk to a factory belonging to Guangming Dairy & Food, a dairy giant in China.

Wu knew the cows well and could describe the particular characteristics of each one. Having raised cows for ten years, working with cows and taking care of them had become a way of life for him.

He planned to build another shed to house the calves as they matured.

But everything will change before the end of this year. The area where the cowsheds stand will become a forbidden area for poultry and livestock breeding.

Shanghai passed a livestock and poultry breeding administration measure this March, implemented since April 15.

According to the measures, breeding animals will be forbidden in the area within the outer ring road near the upper region of Huangpu River. The 264 animal raising farms in the area will be closed before the end of 2006.

Wu's farm was on the list of those to be closed.

Recycling problems

Chen Wei, an expert from the Shanghai Environment Protection Bureau, said: "The pollution generated by these farms has been the biggest source of agricultural pollution in recent years."

Statistics show that Shanghai boasts 3,971 animal breeding farms supporting 4.77 million pigs and 70,000 cows. Poultry numbers topped 150 million in 2000, but this figure has declined rapidly since the bird flu outbreak. Such farming activities produced large amounts of pollution every day, directly affecting the environment.

The waste produced by the farms cannot easily be recycled. To avoid the cost of recycling, most of the waste water and rubbish produced by the farms is directly poured into the rivers nearby.

"The cost of recycling the waste is very large. The cow dung can be used to produce power. We have to pay 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) every year to a factory belonging to the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau so it can recycle our cow dung," Wu said.

But a large number of animal raisers choose not to recycle the waste this way. Instead, they pile it up in uncultivated fields nearby or pour it into rivers.

Because the soil cannot tolerate the polluted residues, certain bacteria has come to exceed the safety level in various water sources in the neigbouring areas. The pollution also menaces the Yangtze River, the source of drinking water for Shanghai.

"Many farms were established along upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Although they did not pour pollutants such as waste water directly into the river, they still reach it," Chen said.

Wu's cowshed was next to a pool of water which was giving off a disgusting smell. The waste water from the cowshed and the cow's urine run straight into the pool, which used to branch off from a rivulet nearby. The connection with the river had been blocked by local villagers after became polluted.

"The local government agreed to help us set up a waste water recycling facility here two years ago. But nothing more was heard after that. Now they want us to leave," Wu said.

Shanghai's plan to control the increasingly serious pollution caused by the farms is to close them down.

According to Pu Shiliang, an expert from the Shanghai Animal Husbandry Office, the number of cows will be reduced to 70,000 by 2005.

Though measures

Shanghai is one of the seven largest milk sources in China and is famous for the high quality of its dairy production. Every cow in Shanghai yields 8 tons of milk each year.

"The cows can even produce 9 to 10 tons a year if they receive good care," Wu said.

"We will have fewer cows in Shanghai over the next five years. We hope to eliminate all the animal raising farms in the city during that period," Pu said.

The process has started, with 60 farms closed last year and another 81 at least to be eliminated this year.

The government encourages the owners of cow pastures to move their cows to the neighbouring areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province.

"Shanghai is making efforts to establish a dairy industry zone in the Yangtze River Delta. The zone will include sixteen cities and Shanghai will gradually transfer the animal husbandry industry to areas where labour costs and other expenses are lower than in Shanghai," Pu said.

For each cow to be moved, 1,000 yuan (US$120) will be paid by the municipal government as a transfer fee and to cover any losses that might occur during the long-distance transportation. Additional money will be provided by the local government of the destination cities.

Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces have shown great interest in the idea of accepting the cows, making considerable efforts to attract cow breeders to their own municipalities. Although the animals will bring pollution concerns, they have shown more interest in the economic benefits they will bring.

Wang Yongtai, the deputy mayor of Shangyu City in Zhejiang Province regarded it a good chance for Shangyu to update its agricultural structures and solve the increasingly acute unemployment issues in rural areas. Two animal breeders have relocated to Shangyu from the Pudong District.

But most of breeders expressed concerns about the move. Wu has visited Shangyu along with other breeders who will have to move their herds this year.

A local dairy factory which has promised to provide cowsheds for the breeders has been confronted by a shortage of milk for some time.

"They have only provided us with a contract for five years, but what will we do when the contract expires?" Wu asked.

Wu shared the typical Shanghai business trait of being reluctant to take risks before being very sure about the future. Most of the other breeders were also worried.

The other cities cannot promise them a stable economic situation and the local government in Shanghai's rural areas is determined they should move out.

The only option left for Wu is to sell the cows.

"It is not easy to sell all these cows in such a short time. I hope the government will offer some help if it comes to that," he said.

The ten working staff would lose their jobs as well as their houses near the cowshed. They find it hard to imagine leaving the farm where they have worked and lived for three years.

"It will really be tough for us. My family may have to return to Guizhou if we cannot get another job in Shanghai," said one of Wu's employees.