Shoppers are pledging to ditch dairy after BBC Panorama on Monday (14 ) showed a documentary showing examples of poor welfare practice on an unidentified Welsh dairy farm and linked it to poor margins for primary producers.
In BBC’s documentary A Cows Life, reporters spoke to vets and farmers about the “controversial” way the milk is flowing. The documentary includes disturbing footage showing farmers constantly kicking and hitting an injured cow, with one even hitting it with a shovel. Another footage continues to show another worker aggressively pulling the cows tail.
Much of the programme was filmed by an undercover representative of animal rights group Animal Equality.
The programme also discussed the issue of calf separation – with experts explaining that this was better done sooner rather than later.
National Farmers Union (NFU) Cyrmru deputy president Abi Reader says in the documentary, “Even just one extra penny per litre will enable a farmer to upgrade or take advantage of new technology out there so the cows are getting the best care they can.”
Soon after the documentary was aired, people took to social media to express their anger at the industry, with some pledging to “stop drinking milk”.
“Just watched #ACowsLife the true cost of milk on #panorama anyone who wants to understand why the dairy industry is disgusting, inhumane & careless should watch it,” tweeted Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan.
https://twitter.com/ic_ca/status/1493414809630564354
Farmers too were quick to condemn the poor welfare practices shown, but have been adamant that it is not representative of the vast majority of dairy farmers in the UK.
A Pembrokeshire-based dairy farmer urged on Twitter to “not to tar all farmers with the same brush”.
The report comes as the the average daily yield for a dairy cow is 40 percent higher than it would have been about 30 years ago.