#CheeseADayChallenge: another Februdairy, another hashtag

Veganism explained
Written By Andrew Gough
 

Enthusiasts of coagulated bovine breast milk and questionable ethics came out fighting yesterday with a new challenge to mark the start of so-called ‘Februdairy’. We take a look at the #CheeseADayChallenge, where it came from and our thoughts on how we as vegans and animal rights campaigners can get involved.

Februdairy, the UK dairy industry’s painfully awkward response to Veganuary, is back and this time they have a new challenge and the obligatory hashtag: #CheeseADayChallenge. The idea is very simple - eat cheese from a different UK producer every day of the month, and there’s even a box you can order so everyone participating can try the same cheese on the same day.

In all fairness, this is probably the challenge with the most potential to raise the profile of dairy yet, but then 2018’s #MilkPintChallenge did set the bar pretty low. Off to a good start yesterday on Twitter, the cheese challenge hashtag was awash with plenty of pictures from people enjoying their favourite curdled lactations - somatic pus cells, faecal matter and all.

The cheese challenge lacks the vulgarity and gaudiness of the milk pint challenge, and whereas previous Februdairy efforts have come from the AHDB and other industry bodies out of touch with reality, the cheese challenge appears to have been started by an everyday farmer, albeit one with some charisma and a flair for presenting to social media.

Going by the internet moniker ‘Farmer Tom’, Tom Hadden, an arable and sheep farmer from Cambridgeshire, has amassed a modest following on Twitter and Facebook and generally provides a less overtly anti-vegan perspective on the issue of animal rights and UK farming. In his YouTube video answering questions posed to him by a journalism student, Hadden refuted the ‘vegan vs. farmer’ narrative and attributed it to mainstream media, which we wouldn’t disagree with - after all, we need arable farming for the crops that we eat, and we ourselves at Surge have appealed to dairy farmers to transition away from an unsustainable industry for their own good as well as that of the cows. 

Hadden skips over the bit about horrendous images from farm investigations caught on camera and released to the press by activists, conveniently dismissing this minefield for a later video. Although the very telling, very pained micro-expressions he displays at this point betray the difficulty he faces in addressing this issue. Presumably the argument that he and other ‘balanced’ farmers would put forward in response is that these are very isolated incidences and that the UK has some of the best welfare standards in the world, for which we are apparently the envy of everyone.

Firstly, even one incident of animal abuse is one too many, and can’t simply be dismissed. The truth is, that one time a cow was beaten, punched or kicked, would never have happened if animal farming wasn’t a thing. Farmers have also been quick to explain away such incidences with empathy, relating to the stresses and challenges faced by workers as if it excuses them for lashing out at the nearest sentient being. It does not. It only tells us that there is a deeper problem with farming if a worker who they would like us to think is usually well adjusted and non-violent can become suddenly abusive. Making allowances for animal abuse when we can get by perfectly well without exploiting animals is inexcusable.

As for the UK’s enviable welfare standards, even if we do have greater regulation compared to other nations, subjectively speaking that doesn’t mean squat to the animals themselves. When we forcibly impregnate a dairy mother and then take her baby away, perhaps she’d feel better if she knew cows in other countries have it worse. Is it she who is supposed to feel better about that, or us humans? With every new cheese being tasted every day this month, do we tell ourselves that it’s ok where it came from because it’s far worse elsewhere? Can moral relativism really erase responsibility - if the answer is yes, that is truly terrifying.

“With every new cheese being tasted every day this month, do we tell ourselves that it’s ok where it came from because it’s far worse elsewhere? Can moral relativism really erase responsibility - if the answer is yes, that is truly terrifying.”

Further, with Brexit comes a great deal of uncertainty and confusion regarding farming standards including welfare. Last year, some months into the Covid-19 pandemic at a time when dairy farmers were pouring milk down the drain due to lack of demand, there were calls to deregulate farming to allow producers to remain more competitive with less red tape and oversight. New post-Brexit trade deals with the US pave the way for the importation of chlorinated chicken flesh and questions about our “restrictive” standards regarding permitted levels of somatic cells, the same white cells that constitute pus, although in fairness deals with the US seem to be universally disliked by vegans and UK farmers alike.

So what can we as animal rights campaigners and vegan advocates do in response to the cheese challenge and Februdairy? The same thing we’ve always done - take over the hashtag. However, rather than simply provoke and antagonise farmers and the cheese-loving everyday consumers, this is as ever an opportunity to inform and engage in balanced discussion. Absolutely we should be expressing our anger at the treatment of cows and other farmed animals that so-called welfare standards allow, but we can use that as motivation rather than a weapon.

Share articles such as this one on Twitter and use the #CheeseADayChallenge, point out the known health concerns associated with dairy such as heart attacks and stroke, or engage and raise the tricky ethical issues. There is no one single knock-out reason to be vegan that will work 100 per cent of the time on every person, but rather a multitude of reasons that will resonate with nuance. Farmers such as Hadden and Charlie Beaty, writing yesterday in Farmers Weekly, are presenting themselves as more balanced and reasonable - intentionally or not, it is a good tactic to make all vegans seem dogmatic by comparison. With this in mind, be every bit as thoughtful as you are resolute.

Here are some recommended resources for sharing and tagging:

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.

LATEST ARTICLES

Andrew Gough
Previous

Germany’s chick cull ban is no cause for celebration
Next

We need to talk about the rise of veganism