Arlarming is a strategic campaign designed to expose the reality of the UK dairy industry.

Our mission is to change hearts and minds by highlighting the horrific practices inherent in farming cows for milk.

We will be contrasting the reality with the welfare-washed and greenwashed imagery the industry uses to dupe the public into consuming dairy products.

The animal agricultural industry survives because of marketing lies; it survives because people are being told that they are purchasing ethically sourced products. The truth is very different. This campaign will expose systemic cruelty in the dairy industry, staging multiple investigation releases to highlight the reality of what cows and their calves experience. 

The industry works hard to conceal its practices behind marketing and welfare claims, but Arlarming will debunk this and highlight how cows are intelligent, emotional and sensitive individuals who deserve to be free. Arlarming will inspire change by exposing the reality of farming cows for their milk, using versatile campaigning approaches to increase the reach of our message.

The public know Arlarmingly little about dairy

Farming cows for their milk is marketed in such a way that most consumers don’t know the processes involved, as the results from our YouGov survey demonstrate.

Arla is the largest milk producer in the UK and is representative of the entire dairy industry, supplying around 30% of all cows’ milk to the UK. They cleverly hide the reality of their farms behind glossy marketing tactics.

We commissioned YouGov to survey 2000 people, and 52% were not aware that cows are impregnated every year to enable milk production, while 83% of people were unaware that cows and calves are separated within 24 hours of birth. 82% of people were unaware that dairy cows are typically slaughtered at 5-7 years old, and only 17% of people agree that dairy companies provide consumers with enough information about how milk and dairy products are produced. 

Although they know little about the dairy industry, one-third (32%) of Brits are still willing to have oat milk as the default milk. As we educate them about the Arlarming reality, this percentage will increase. The results of our YouGov survey have been featured in Plant Based News and Vegconomist, and you can also read more about our results over on our blog post.

Lowfields Farm Investigation

We went undercover on an Arla farm. What we discovered was horrifying, cruel and typical of the dairy industry.

Lowfields Farm, an award-winning 24-hour mega dairy, is a site of relentless violence. Our undercover investigator, working on this Arla-contracted farm, documented countless scenes of shocking abuse. Cows were ruthlessly beaten by Arla workers using pipes, ropes, pliers, and even their bare hands. Mother cows were kicked moments after giving birth, while workers used electric goads on their faces, necks, and sides. Filthy, slippery conditions led to multiple injuries, and beaten cows were so distressed they attempted to escape. Dead calves were discarded like trash in full view of their grieving mothers.

These findings expose the grim reality behind Lowfields Farm, revealing the reality of dairy. Cows are not commodities; they are individuals who deserve to live free from violence and on their own terms. The dairy industry profits from their oppression, and it is time to challenge the system that allows this to continue.

You can read our full investigative findings here.

For this campaign to be successful we need your support

Your participation is vital. Whether you're backing us by joining our protests, signing our petition, or sharing our undercover exposés, achieving real change will depend on a collective effort.

Together, we will: 

• Help raise awareness about the systematic cruelty in the dairy industry, and expose their welfare-washing tactics
• Inspire people to boycott this cruel industry and make ethical choices
• Drive action in support of our business transformation campaign, which we will be launching later this week!

We will launch powerful social media campaigns that debunk the lies surrounding the dairy industry’s marketing, and show the reality, juxtaposing it with the welfare-washed imagery they produce in their marketing materials. 

Our new BROKEN leaflets will be made available for activists, along with our soon-to-be-released report The Emotional Impact of Dairy Production Upon the Lives of Cows and Their Calves, written by animal welfare scientist Dr. Helen Lambert, to complement the campaign and to aid activists with their outreach.

The current state of the dairy industry 

The number of individuals that were victims of the dairy industry in 2024 is staggering.

It is estimated that approximately 20% of farms in the UK dairy industry are zero-grazing, meaning cows never go outside to eat grass. This means that on 1,420 farms in the UK, cows are confined in barns their entire lives, subjected to an intensive agricultural system that prioritises efficiency over their well-being.

Naturally, cows can live up to 25 years, but those in the dairy industry are never allowed to reach such an age. In 2024 alone, 364,646 adult cows aged around five years were slaughtered. This is around the time cows stop producing a ’sufficient’ quantity of milk to remain ‘profitable’, at which point the industry kills them.

Just as shockingly, 36,517 calves (all less than a month old) were slaughtered in the UK last year. As our investigations have revealed, many never even make it to the slaughterhouse, as they die shortly after being separated from their mothers. Others are farmed for ‘meat’ or enter the dairy industry themselves, continuing the cycle of suffering.

Despite these staggering numbers, the number of dairy farmers is in decline. Around 6% of dairy farmers left the industry in the UK in 2024. However, this is not necessarily a positive thing because the average milk production per farm has increased as cows are put under even more strain. Our new investigation demonstrates the reality of this.

What can you do to help cows? 

There are many ways we can help our fellow animals. The first is by changing your diet.

Recent research by the Vegan Society indicates that there is a growing shift towards a plant-based diet, with 10% of the population reducing or eliminating ‘animal products’ in some way. As this shift continues to grow, more and more people are choosing vegan and leaving cruel products off their plate. You can help the cows by doing the same.