Our undercover investigator captured shocking scenes of violence at Lowfields Farm.

Cows were ruthlessly beaten by the Arla workers, who used pipes, ropes, pliers, and their bare hands in blatant and repeated acts of abuse. We caught up with our investigator to hear more about their experience directly. You can watch the video or read the full interview below.

Firstly, can you summarise your experience on the farm in five words?

Investigator: Brutal. Shocking. Overwhelming. Violent. Uncompassionate. 

What made you decide to do this vital work?

Investigator: I decided to undertake this investigation because I knew it would be the best way to view the treatment of these animals and to show that an industry that is often advertised with nice cows in grassy fields is not at all what it's portrayed to be. 

The investigation highlights so much violence directed towards the cows, why do you think the farm staff were like this?

Investigator: Day to day the cows were just met with violence or cruel treatment as a way to speed them along, to make sure that the job was done on time and the workers could get home when they wanted to. People are told that there is a right way to hit a cow and a wrong way to hit a cow. So, hitting cows is all part of the job.

What was the culture like amongst staff, with respect to the cows?

Investigator: The animals weren't treated with respect. They were just treated as commodities or even sort of inconveniences. I think sometimes one of the saddest parts is when calves would be taken from the mothers, put straight into small single housing next to other new calves. Most of them were barely able to stand. They just come into the world, maybe had a few hours at best with their mother, and then they're off into a pen on their own and waiting for some worker to come round and force feed them colostrum.

Reviewing the footage is a harrowing experience, but it must have been so much harder to be there in person capturing it all. Which part did you struggle the most with?

Investigator: Reflecting back on it after, I've found some of this footage really difficult to watch just the shere brutal treatment that the animals got because they're not behaving in the way the workers want, just being kicked and hit. There was a cow who had gone lame. There was an issue with her hip. She was just sort of left, going about it quite slowly because the cow was still milking, so they still wanted to take the milk from her. Well, the day eventually came when they decided that she was too lame to be bothered with milking, so she was sold on to slaughter.

Out of all the terrible things you witnessed happening to the cows and calves, did this individual really stand out to you? 

Investigator: She did. She could only walk on three legs properly because of this issue in her hip. And when they were putting her on the lorry to move her, she couldn't get off the ramp. So just the that she endured, prodded with an electric goad and, hit by workers, slapped by workers just to get her to move. This is an animal that can't walk properly.

What can we do to change this? 

Investigator: I feel like the most basic thing people who are affected by this footage can do is to just stop supporting this industry in every way.

Finally, we at Animal Justice Project want to thank you for taking on this work for us. The content you captured has exposed the reality of the dairy industry. 

As always,

for the animals! 

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