EXPOSED: With the suffering of cows receiving so much attention, it’s easy to forget about the other animals whose milk we steal. But thanks to the work of campaign NGO Animal Justice Project, abuse and neglect of goats has been uncovered at a farm supplying the UK’s leading ‘high welfare’ supermarkets.

In a story broken by the Independent on Saturday (July 10), Animal Justice Project released shocking undercover footage of violence and neglect at Pasture House Farm, a North Yorkshire farm that supplies the UK’s largest goat dairy producer, Delamere Dairy, whose products can be found on the shelves of M&S, Ocado, Asda and Morrisons.

It was also revealed that Pasture House Farm in Skipton is run by Phil Ormerod, none other than the director of the Milking Goat Association, and who was once hailed as “one of the most progressive farmers in the industry” by the Innovation for Agriculture consortium. But as Animal Justice Project would attest to, this is anything but true, with goats under Ormerod’s care subjected to ‘unregulated killing’, rough handling and filthy pens.

Other findings included the dangerous yet routine ‘dumping’ of more than 100 dead goats across the farm over just two months, their bodies rotting in piles for as long as two weeks before being collected; and severely lame goats who were not afforded the veterinary care they so desperately needed.

Farm animal veterinarian Molly Vasanthakumar cited welfare concerns and poor practice upon reviewing the footage, with an “excessive number of lame goats”. Vasanthakumar also drew attention to Pasture House Farm’s ‘zero-grazing’ system, in which the goats spend all their lives inside dark and cramped sheds, “a stark contrast to the image portrayed on social media by Delamere Dairy,” added Animal Justice Project.

“Goats differ from cattle and sheep in their evolution and have developed advanced cognitive abilities that have made them successful in harsh and hostile environments. Having evolved in rocky and mountainous areas, they are good at climbing and are proficient diggers, so will seek out elevation and areas to hide,” said Vasanthakumar. “Zero-graze systems inherently deny goats access to elevation and spaces to hide, the ability to selectively browse, and the space to form dynamic groups. Farms like Pasture House necessitates disbudding, subsequently denying them the use of their horns. Therefore it is impossible for farms like this to provide these highly inquisitive and intelligent animals a 'life worth living'.”

According to Animal Justice Project, Pasture House Farm keeps around 2,000 goats in multiple sheds, making it one of the UK’s largest intensive goat dairies, able to milk more than 700 goats every hour and producing around one million litres of goat milk a year.

Pasture House Farm supplies one of the largest - if not the largest - goat dairy brands in the UK, Delamere Dairy, responsible for one-third of the goat cheese, milk, butter and yoghurt products currently seen on the shelves of Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Holland & Barratt and Tesco. 

Perhaps most disturbing of all, the footage it was claimed by Animal Justice Project showed both male and female goat kids killed violently at just a day old by Ormorod and his staff in full view of mothers and other kids, by a ‘technique’ called pithing in which a metal rod is used to scramble the young goats’ brain.

“Pithing appeared to be done incorrectly and had to be repeated on one kid, and no kids killed were checked for signs of life despite them writhing and kicking out for several minutes after. This is at odds with both DEFRA and Humane Slaughter Association guidelines and the farm’s claim that females enter the milking herd and males go for meat,” said Animal Justice Project in a statement.

“Delamere Dairy positions itself as the leader in its field yet our undercover work at a farm representative of commercial goat farming in the UK reveals the permanent confinement in sheds, painful neglect, mental anguish, and violent killing of young kids in front of other goats,” said Ayrton Cooper, Campaigns Manager of Animal Justice Project.

“Even more poignantly, on a Delamere farm owned by the director of a body that was set up to represent and be a voice for the industry. The accumulation of poor living conditions, mental health concerns and denial of basic natural behaviours cancel out Delamere’s claim that goats need to be housed in zero-grazing systems. Convenience and profit are what drives this industry, and we urge people to make their choices count by opting for plant-based foods as the only ethical alternative to dairy.”

What can you do?

Visit Animal Justice Project’s campaign website at www.respectalllife.org. Tweet and share the video with everyone you know and let them know that goats’ milk really isn’t the more ethical option, as so many believe.

In 2020, Surge Media exposed similar levels of abuse and neglect at another of the UK’s top goats’ milk brand, St Helen’s Farm, as part of its Dismantle Dairy media campaign. The resulting international scandal - which drew the support of celebrity campaigners including Joaquin Phoenix and Moby - resulted in supermarkets taking St Helen’s products off their shelves, costing the company £500,000 as financial documents revealed.

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager at Surge Media.

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