With a title like A Cow’s Life: The True Cost of Milk? this week’s Panorama investigation into the dairy sector was never likely to evoke bucolic visions of happy cattle chewing the cud. Nonetheless, it was still hugely shocking to see the wanton examples of bad animal husbandry shown on the BBC’s flagship documentary series’ latest episode (BBC One, 14 February, 7.30pm).

Undercover filming on a Carmarthenshire dairy farm by campaign group Animal Equality revealed a litany of what appeared to be serious breaches of animal welfare regulations – including several examples of workers inflicting violence on the helpless animals.

The response to this footage – which depicted a cow being struck on the head by a shovel, and fallen cows being kicked – was for many dairy farmers to criticise Panorama for tarring everyone with the same brush.

But while the programme obviously highlighted some understandable welfare concerns, this was no Cowspiracy. It raised some serious points – highlighted extensively in The Grocer in recent years – about many dairy products being simply too cheap and farmer returns too low.

The film-makers also drew attention to examples of good welfare outcomes on lower-yielding dairy farms and asked whether the relentless drive for value in the dairy supply chain was behind the behaviour seen on the offending farm, and perhaps others too.

Far from the ‘sensationalist’ take on the sector portrayed by some of its critics, the documentary and its payoff – which suggested only customers can drive change – shone a light on whether we should (against a backdrop of soaring inflation) pay more for our food to guarantee better animal welfare.

Topics