UK farm swaps milk for cow cuddles as floods and food prices take their toll

By Marissa Davison

ARRAM, England (Reuters) -Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.

Dumble Farm started as a dairy farm in the 1970s, but in recent years flooding washed out crops and killed off the type of grass the cows like to eat, while milk prices below cost of production proved an insurmountable challenge.

"The amount of flooding and the pressures on our land were just making it unsustainable for us to carry on," said Fiona Wilson, co-owner of the farm.

Agriculture is one of the sectors worst-affected by climate change, with farmers in Europe and elsewhere suffering under increasing heat, drought and flooding. 

In 2022, Dumble Farm sold all but a few of its dairy cows and, in a scramble to reinvent itself, began offering "cow cuddling" experiences to fund a wildlife conservation scheme. 

For 95 pounds ($127.80), visitors can cuddle, brush and stroke the cows as they lie down on a straw-covered enclosure inside a barn. The experience includes a safari to see Highland cattle. 

"It's been so worth it, just to get so close to the cows, and they are so loving and gentle," guest Emma Hutton, 25, said after she spent some time cuddling one of the cows. 

It took over a year to train the cows to feel comfortable with cuddling, but now the animals have fully adjusted, farmer James McCune said. 

"They like being pampered. They are like big dogs... It's more of a spa day for the cows," McCune said.

The farm uses the proceeds to create habitats to protect wildlife and support declining species, such as lapwing birds.

"It's great that we can fund the conservation scheme by having visitors to the farm, and that's really the bigger picture," Wilson said.

($1 = 0.7433 pounds)

(Reporting by Marisa Davison; Writing by Catarina Demony; Editing by William James and Nia Williams)