Dairy Council says “being honest matters” in response to our anti-dairy TV and cinema advert

No industry has managed to brand itself quite like dairy. Thanks to its big budgets and far-reaching influence, the fairytale facade of happy, healthy cows grazing freely in lush, green pasture has become a mainstay of rural culture. We see this echoed in the Farming Life article, written by the Chief Executive of Dairy Council Northern Ireland, Ian Stevenson. Stevenson laments how hard dairy farmers work and claims our latest campaign “conveniently overlooks the deep commitment [of] dairy farmers”.  

Naturally, as an animal rights group, our focus will always be on the animals who, without consent and hidden from public view, suffer the greatest sacrifice of all. 

Stevenson goes on to say that “it is not in the dairy farmers’ nature to be cruel to their animals”. Making such a bold statement mere weeks after Animal Justice Project’s investigation of UK mega-dairy, Lowfields Farm – where cows were ruthlessly beaten with pipes, kicked while giving birth, and even died – is brave to say the least. Lowfields Farm is not an anomaly either, with countless investigations revealing shocking levels of abuse and poor conditions on dairy farms the length and breadth of the UK – some of which was included in our TV and cinema advert. 

Moreover, Stevenson writes that dairy producers are happy to be “audited as part of accredited assurance programmes” but fails to explain how these schemes work. In most cases, farmers pay to belong to accreditation schemes and so it is in their best interest to keep farmers happy. This constitutes a major conflict of interest in an article where “being honest matters”. 

Far from being honest, there are many standard, routine practices specific to the dairy industry that consumers are never told about or shown. Recent polling revealed that more than half of Brits didn’t even know that a dairy cow must be made pregnant in order to produce milk and 83% didn’t realise that calves are taken away from their mothers – a process that is fundamental to all dairy production, regardless of so-called higher welfare labels. And it gets worse: zero-grazing units where cows are confined all year round are increasing, yet the government doesn’t require farmers to report on numbers. Meanwhile, the industry continues to use rolling, green fields in their marketing.  

This doesn’t sound very “honest” to us. 

Finally, the Farming Life article misses a fundamental part of our messaging: animal rights. Animal rights tell us that regardless of how dairy cows are treated, their milk is simply not ours to take, sell, or consume at all. Their value – as individuals, as mothers, as family members – is routinely ignored by the industry who sees them instead as stock or produce. This is plain to see in Stevenson’s article, in which he refers to cows as “livestock” and talks of them being “managed” or bred to be “genetically superior”.  

The reason for this is to deceive the public and to maintain the facade of traditional farming. But times are changing: more and more people are growing disillusioned with big corporations and are holding them accountable for their failings. One way we can all do this is by making choices that are kinder, healthier, and more sustainable. It doesn’t get more honest than that. 

The campaign in question, Terror on Our Tables, launched earlier in 2025 and addresses the dishonesty of the dairy industry head-on. With primetime TV adverts, cinema coverage, plus nationwide billboards, we’ve already  reached millions of people across the UK with one crucial message: the terror being served on our tables is far from the story we’re fed.

We believe that cows deserve to live free from the threat of harm, and that consumers deserve to know the truth.