Red Tractor re-certifies horrific Panorama dairy farm
A mother’s last touch. Image: Animal Equality
Red Tractor has recertified the Welsh dairy farm that was featured in an episode of BBC’s investigative program Panorama in February, which showed footage of workers horrifically and illegally abusing the cows.
The footage used by the BBC was taken by an undercover investigator from Animal Equality who captured workers on Madox Farm frequently kicking and hitting cows with their fists and with shovels as well as leaving a sick cow to suffer for at least 24 hours instead of paying for a vet to euthanise her immediately. The program caused uproar and sent the dairy industry into a frenzy of damage control. In the face of public outrage, Red Tractor swiftly withdrew the farm’s membership. “The undercover footage showed serious breaches of Red Tractor standards and the law, demonstrating a systematic disregard for animal welfare by those with a duty of care,” Red Tractor said in a statement at the time.
It has justified its recertification of Madox Farm by saying that it requires actions to be taken by suspended farms in order to reapply for approval, including “evidence of corrective behaviours, the delivery of specific conditions and the likelihood of more frequent audits or spot checks.” This would mean a complete transformation for a farm that demonstrated a systemic disregard for animal welfare, which would be hard enough to imagine even without ongoing staff shortages on dairy farms around the country, which will inevitably impact animal welfare. Red Tractor owes the public a much more detailed and transparent explanation of exactly how Madox Farm will ensure none of its cows are subjected to cruelty and violence (over and above that which is inherent to the industry, e.g. cow-calf separation and forced artificial insemination).
Before the Panorama episode aired, Madox Farm supplied milk from its 600 cows to major dairy distributor Freshways, which sells to Costa Coffee, British Airways, and supermarkets including Morrisons. Freshways suspended its contract with the farm in February, but it is unclear whether it has plans to reestablish the business relationship in light of Red Tractor’s decision and could not be reached for comment.
Despite all the dairy industry’s protestations that the abuse shown on Madox Farm was just an aberration, its representatives have made clear where its real priorities lie following the farm’s recertification. Dairy industry analyst and business advisor Chris Walkland told Farmers Guardian that Red Tractor should have made the move sooner. “For a farm producing 10,000 litres a day, it was a disaster for the business and it is not clear to me why the recertification process and procedures took that long,” he said. “The farmer is now down to 200 cows, and has ploughed up a lot of grass for cereals, but the situation has also had a devastating impact on the family farm.” Of course, it’s the farmer who is the real victim here, a farmer who claims not to have had any knowledge of the abuse filmed by Animal Equality. But if the farmer isn’t ultimately responsible for what happens to the animals on his farm and ensuring best practices, deficient as they may be, are followed, who is? One also has to wonder what happened to the rest of the farm’s herd, but it’s hardly surprising that their fate is not the top concern of people in the industry.
Abi Reader, the deputy president of the National Farmers Union Wales, who was featured in the Panorama episode, was also quoted by Farmers Guardian saying that "The chances of undercover footage happening again will be fairly high and farmers need to be aware the eyes of the world are watching them and even the simplest of things could be taken completely out of context.” This is a shocking statement to make in relation to the clear offences committed on Madox Farm, which were far from simply being taken out of context. Reader’s words also suggest that dairy’s public image is more of a concern than treating the animals well for their own sake, as well as that undercover investigations are indeed more effective in uncovering welfare violations on farms than Red Tractor.
The lesson from all this, as is so often the case, is that public scrutiny, enabled by undercover investigations and reporting by mainstream media, is the only real defence against the worst abuses of the dairy and other animal industries. But also that the whole rotten apparatus can keep ticking along regardless. Those who continue to consume dairy in the hope that a little label on the packaging can guarantee that at the very least the cow wasn’t kicked in the stomach are deluding themselves.
Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.
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