18 Months OF Surge Investigations Exposes Dairy Industry Across the UK
INVESTIGATION/CAMPAIGN RELEASE: NOVEMBER 19TH 2019
Surge have launched a brand new campaign Dismantle Dairy, featuring 18 months of undercover footage obtained from inside UK dairy farms. Independent investigators placed hidden cameras in dairy farms around the UK, as well as obtaining HD footage during visits. The footage revealed widespread incidences of physical and emotional abuse of mothers and calves.
Surge found repeated incidences of punching, kicking, excessive tail twisting, swearing/shouting, beating with sticks, separation of calves from their mothers, force-feeding of calves and the disposal of calves. Investigators also recorded HD footage during visits, capturing harrowing scenes such as dead cows and calves left to rot outside for days.
However, rather than draw attention to individual farms and create the impression that these are isolated cases or “bad eggs”, the campaign seeks to expose the dairy industry as a whole, revealing how even standard practices such as separation at birth and removal of calves is abuse. Violence on dairy farms is ubiquitous and occurs in all farms, including those associated with high ranking officials within the industry.
This is not about one “bad farm”, or one “bad farmer”, Dismantle Dairy is about the foundations the dairy industry is built upon. Standard, legal dairy industry practice involves (but is not limited to):
- Artificially inseminating dairy cows.
- Separating babies from their mothers (usually within 24 - 72 hours of birth).
- Killing ‘useless’ male calves soon after they are born (this is known as the “dirty secret” within the industry).
- Keeping newborn calves in solitary confinement pens.
- Sending dairy cows to slaughter when they can no longer produce milk for the farmer.
Prior to the campaign release, the authorities including the RSPCA and APHA have been notified of the farms and footage where necessary.
