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Dairy farmers across the country – including the South West – have united this week as part of a campaign to promote the industry amidst a wave of anti-dairy activism.

The ‘Proud of Dairy’ campaign, created by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), aims to showcase the health benefits of dairy products and high standards of animal welfare undertaken on British dairy farms.

The union’s drive, which is encouraging farmers to take to social media and share video clips explaining why they are proud to work in the dairy industry – using the hashtag #proudofdairy - has been launched to counteract ‘Dairy Week of Action’, a coinciding anti-dairy campaign by vegan groups and animal rights activists.

“The NFU are proud of the hard work and high standards of British dairy farmers,” says a statement from NFU Dairy. “Not only do they produce a wholesome, nutritious product but they do so to very high standards.

“In the UK 95% of dairy farmers are Red Tractor assured which ensures high standards of animal welfare, milk quality, environmental care and traceability.”

It adds: “Frustratingly, inaccurate and misleading negative media is becoming increasingly common with ill-informed anti-dairy rhetoric harmfully targeting both the industry as whole and individual farmers.

“Promoting positive messages and stories about the sector is therefore vital to ensure the 98% of consumers in the UK who drink milk fully understand the industry producing their food and the conscientious work of our dairy farmers.”

Somerset farmer Neil Darwent, founder of the Free Range Dairy initiative and Pasture Promise label, wrote as part of the campaign: “I am privileged to have shared so much of my life with the cows that enrich so many lives with their healthy, nutritious milk.”

Award-winning Somerset cheese makers, Wyke Farms, added: “Our cows produce quality milk so we can craft the finest cheddar, to be enjoyed by many all over the world.”

(Image: Steve Roberts)

The NFU-led week of action, which started on Monday and runs until Sunday, runs alongside ‘Dairy Week of Action’, a joint initiative by campaigners from Animal Aid, Viva!, Veganuary and ProVegUK designed to highlight “the plight of cows in the dairy industry” and promote plant-based alternatives to milk.

During the week, which incorporated the first World Plant Milk Day on Tuesday, campaigners will be offering free samples of different plant milks for people to try, and urging consumers to “ditch dairy” for “cruelty-free” alternatives.

“The dairy cow must be one of the most exploited and abused animals in the modern farming system,” said Ben Martin, campaign manager for Animal Aid.

“Before being slaughtered, like every other farmed animal, they must first endure years of repeated forced impregnation and distressing separation from their newborn calves, all so that milk for their young can be bottled for human consumption.

"Abused, tormented, betrayed and killed – that is the life of a dairy cow in modern Britain.”

The campaign follows a recent ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), in which an advert stating that “humane milk is a myth” was cleared after complaints from members of the dairy industry that it was inaccurate and misleading.

(Image: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire)

The national newspaper advert for Go Vegan World, a vegan campaign group, in February featured a photo of a cow behind a piece of barbed wire and the headline “Humane milk is a myth. Don’t buy it.”

The advert, which shows photo of a cow behind a piece of barbed wire, describes how cows “still bloody from birth, searched and called frantically for their babies”.

Seven people, some with dairy industry experience, complained to the ASA, but the regulator ruled the advert was “unlikely to materially mislead readers”.

Clearing the ad, the ASA said it understood the complainants were concerned the ad implied a significant number of dairy farms did not comply with animal welfare standards in place in the UK, and milk production was therefore “inhumane” in that sense.

But it concluded: “Although the language used to express the claims was emotional and hard-hitting, we understood it was the case that calves were generally separated from their mothers very soon after birth, and we therefore concluded that the ad was unlikely to materially mislead readers.”