Farm Transparency Project launch attack on dairying

Farm Transparency Project activists have launched an End Dairy Slaughter campaign, using distressing video footage.

The Farm Transparency Project’s animal activists have launched a national End Dairy Slaughter campaign, releasing a series of videos taken over the past year that show what they call “the dark reality” of dairy farming, as they push consumers towards plant-based alternatives.

The footage uses emotive music and powerful images of newborn calves being dragged from their mothers, and cows running after trailers of their calves.

Farm Transparency Project activists’ drone footage of cows following a trailer containing their calves.

Other footage shows bobby calves being slaughtered, alleging some had their throats slit while fully conscious, while others were hung upside down on a shackle line, where hidden cameras captured them thrashing, kicking and lifting their heads, while others were recorded falling off onto the floor below.

Cows are depicted as enduring “endless pain and discomfort of having milk, intended for their missing babies, sucked from their bodies by machines”.

Project members are calling on supporters to join them in a day of activism in Melbourne on Wednesday March 20, 2024, where they will be talking to the public about their End Dairy Slaughter campaign, as well as “directly confronting those who profit from the suffering of millions of cows” – such as Dairy Australia’s Southbank office.

A calf that has had its throat cut thrashes around after being hung on the shackle line at a Tasmanian abattoir.

Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett said the FTP activists had every right to express their views.

“(But) we can’t have a meaningful discussion with these people,” Mr Bennett said. “It doesn’t matter what we do, they have no respect for us at all, because they believe we shouldn’t exist.”

Mr Bennett said ultimately farmers treated their livestock with respect and compassion.

“A happy animal is a productive animal, which as farmers we see as a given and I think the public appreciates that also.”

FTP has also called on the public to write to their state education ministers, demanding a ban on schools using Dairy Australia’s curriculum material, which it says is the “manipulation and misinformation of school children”.

Dairy Australia defended the teacher and student resource material, issuing a statement saying “in terms of education to school children we have an important story to tell”.

“The Dairy Australia Discover Dairy education initiative and curriculum linked resources focuses on increasing student awareness of the role of dairy foods in a healthy, sustainable diet, creating awareness of where dairy foods come from and the way we farm, while also showcasing the variety of dairy careers available in the industry,” DA said.

“Each year dairy farmers across the country welcome schools on their farm, to further experience what happens on a dairy farm.”

As for FTP’s video footage and campaign, Dairy Australia backed Mr Bennett’s argument that “caring for animals is a daily commitment for dairy farmers and their livelihood depends on it”.

“There are stringent regulations in place across the industry to ensure animal welfare standards are adhered to. If there are instances where this is not the case, we support the relevant authorities and farmers to work through this,” DA said.

FTP activists have told consumers “the best thing you can do to protect dairy cows and stop them being slaughtered, is to make the switch to the many plant-based alternatives to milk, cheese, yoghurt and other dairy products”.

The project’s campaign material states: “The commercial breeding, confinement and slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of cows and calves in the dairy industry, is completely unnecessary, especially given the vast array of easily accessible plant-based alternatives.”

The FTP even calls for “a mandatory retirement plan for all cows and calves currently used in dairying, allowing them to “live out their full lives, surrounded by their family”.