More cows kept in UK ‘megafarms’, animal welfare campaigners warn

One farmer, who continuously houses up to 1,000 dairy cattle on one site, told the BBC he believed the current estimate of the number of farms using such ‘no-graze’ systems was “too low”.

Fraser Jones, a third-generation farmer in Powys, Wales, who has 5,000 cattle in total across seven sites, said: “A lot of people are doing it but they don’t always say it because they know it causes a backlash.”

Mr Jones said more and more farmers were turning to such indoor systems because they protected cattle from the impacts of extreme weather and allowed greater monitoring and control of their health and nutritional intake, producing a better milk yield.

Mr Jones said the key to ensuring high animal welfare standards centred on the staff a farm employed, the training they received and how livestock was managed.

“If you are not treating your animals right they are not going to perform. They are not going to produce enough milk. It’s as simple as that,” he said.