Feeling stressed? Cuddle a cow, says UK dairy farm
Morag, an imposing Highland cow with a caramel coat, ambles out of the main shed at Dumble Farm in northern England and stands ready to meet her guests.
Visitors have travelled from far and wide to the farm near Beverley in east Yorkshire, not to buy milk, yoghurt or cheese, but to enjoy a cuddle with Morag and her companions.
Fiona Wilson and her co-farmers at Dumble Farm started offering the cuddling sessions in February when it became obvious that economic difficulties of modern dairy farming had become untenable.
«Some people like to engage with dogs or cats or horses and other people find that cows are the animals they want to be with,» Wilson told AFP.
«People are coming for a wellbeing point of view.
That anxiety relieving-ness of being with animals is almost like a therapy.»
— Horn of a dilemma -
Dumble Farm's owners looked to diversify because a sharp fall in the price of milk and high inflation was crippling their dairy farming business.
Economic hardship has forced farmers to leave the industry in their droves for decades.
According to a House of Commons Library research brief, the UK had 196,000 dairy farms in 1950. By 1995 there were just 35,700.
Lower milk prices and rising energy, fuel, feed and fertiliser costs since the outbreak of war in Ukraine 20 months ago has been a nail in the coffin for many more.
In its latest survey of major milk buyers, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which represents farmers, estimated that there were 7,500 dairy producers in Britain in October 2023.
