Dairy farmers ‘hit, drag and swear’ at cows on ‘gold standard’ farm

‘Horrific’ footage seemingly showing animal abuse at an award-nominated UK dairy farm has been uncovered.

More than 700 alleged instances were recorded in just four days at Two Pools Farm in Gloucestershire by the non-profit For All Animals.

In undercover clips seen by Metro, workers at the farm near Bristol appeared to shout: ‘F**k off, you f**k!’, ‘Stop being a f**king brat!’ and ‘You slow pr*ck!’, among other abusive terms.

Other videos appear to show workers striking calves with ropes, pitchforks, brooms, feeding tubes, mobile phones, wheelbarrows and pen gates as well as dragging cows by their ears, tails, heads and legs around dirty pens.

Video also appeared to show the calves being disbudded – removing their growing horns – using a hot iron without long-acting pain relief drugs.

Young cows were ‘kicked repeatedly’ (Picture: For All Animals) A farm worker pulls a calf’s tail (Picture: For All Animals)

At the time in November 2025, the farm was a member of RSPCA Assured, which vouches for farms that meet animal welfare standards.

Two Pools also supplied Marks & Spencer – though it is no longer a supplier – and the German company Müller.

M&S inspected the farm on November 18, 2025. Footage filmed hours before appeared to show workers kicking days-old calves, removing a dead calf using a loader and padding the rubber-floored pens with extra straw.

‘This could look really bad,’ one farmhand told another.

The inspection lasted 10 minutes. Less than a minute later, a worker allegedly struck a calf’s face with a feeding tube.

For All Animals captured further footage in February 2026, including a worker appearing to restrain a calf between another staff member’s legs.

For All Animals claims the calf was left for around 38 minutes in visible distress and choked.

Jenny Mace, an animal welfare expert who reviewed the footage, says how calves were being raised wasn’t safe.

‘I am no longer surprised by what I see,’ she says.

‘I saw widespread physiological and emotional stress, fear, pain, struggling, attempts to escape from restraint and frustrated natural behaviours.’

Mace adds that she has seen troubling bovine behaviour in other dairy farms, describing the issues as ‘systemic’.

‘What is happening elsewhere?’

The farm was secretly filmed (Picture: For All Animals)

A 2024 report by the campaign group Animal Rising found evidence of cruelty at RSCPA Assured abattoirs, prompting wildlife TV presenter Chris Packham to resign as the charity’s president in December 2024.

He told Metro the footage taken at Two Pools was ‘horrific’.

‘If this was happening at a farm held up as the gold standard, what is happening elsewhere?’ he says.

A subsequent independent review concluded the RSCPA Assured members were ‘operating effectively’. The charity now carries out frequent, unannounced and short-notice visits and has recruited more assessors.

Calves are separated from mums hours after birth (Picture: For All Animals)

Jane Tredgett, a former RSPCA Assured board member and now a For All Animals spokesperson, feels that farm assessments are ‘limited’, however,

‘It can only show what is visible during a very limited window,’ she says.

‘Farmed animals are the most exploited in the UK’

Farmers must legally ensure cattle welfare by, among other things, keeping herds in clean housing, feeding them twice a day and hiring competent staff.

But Ayesha Smart, co-founder of Lawyers for Animals, says the law doesn’t go far enough.

‘Farmed animals are the most numerous, most exploited and the least protected [animals] in the UK,’ she says.

‘The fact that RSPCA Assured has since withdrawn its approval from this farm doesn’t answer the wider question. How many other “assured” farms are being missed right now?’

Smart says she finds some long-accepted farming practices troubling.

Aerial shot of Two Pools Farm (Picture: For All Animals)

The UK has 1,800,000 dairy cows. While they can live for up to 30 years, most are slaughtered between the ages of five and seven.

Females are impregnated by artificial insemination at around 15 months and have their newborns taken away, which causes stress, unhealthy weight loss and can increase the risk of disease.

Female calves are taken into pens, while males are either killed or reared as beef cattle.

Farm owner ‘appalled the behaviour’

Two Pools owner Mike King said that the footage was recorded nearly a year ago and ‘fully addressed at the time’.

He told Metro: ‘We were appalled by the behaviour shown at that time by some of our employees, which fell well below the standards we expect and did not reflect the values of our family farming business.

‘We took immediate action: individuals involved left the farm at the time and we strengthened our training and oversight procedures to ensure this does not happen again.’

RSPCA Assured confirmed to Metro that Two Pools was a member farm from 2019 until December 2025.

Cattle are supposed to be protected by welfare laws (Picture: For All Animals)

‘Had it been reported to us when the farm was still a member, we would have immediately acted to protect the animals, suspended the farm and investigated,’ a spokesperson said of the footage.

‘The responsibility for caring for the animals, meeting the 700 dairy welfare standards and complying with the law ultimately lies with the farm.’

The charity reported Two Pools to the Animal and Plant Health Agency, which probes livestock welfare, in May.

They added: ‘One case of poor welfare is one too many and failure to meet the standards is always taken extremely seriously.

‘Thanks to the vast majority of our 4,000 members, more than 64million farmed animals have better lives each year.’

Müller has long said it has high dairy standards and is committed to ensuring animal welfare.

There are more than 1.8million dairy cows in the UK (Picture: For All Animals)

M&S was among the first major retailers to stock RSPCA Assured milk in 2017. It appeared to remove its milk from the scheme in February this year – RSPCA does not list milk as one of the Assured products M&S sells.

Since 1999, the supermarket has relied on a pool of progressive farmers who meet animal welfare requirements that ‘exceed standard industry practice and legislation’.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency have been approached for comment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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