Over the past weeks, we’ve been asking you to sign a new petition, calling on the Government to ban the caged keeping of farmed animals 

I come from many generations of farmers in Wiltshire and I’ve always been proud of that connection. But there are many aspects of modern farming practice that I take no pride in at all. That’s why this petition and your signature, are so important.  

I grew up in a little village where just about everyone worked on the farm. My grandparents were dairy farmers, and all my friends were farmer’s children. Just about everything in that small community revolved around the farming cycle. So, as the days begin to get a little longer, and we leave winter behind, I have a childhood memory which always returns to me.    

Even in such a small village, there were five dairy herds, each with around 30 cows. Every Spring, we counted down to a particular day when we all came to school in wellies, closed up our exercise books and excitedly walked to the meadow on the edge of the village.    

On this day, the cows were let out of the winter quarters into the fields.   

It’s hard to paint a picture in words of just what this looks like. We often have an image of dairy cows as quiet, gentle animals, chewing the cud and lazily flicking their tails, but on this particular day,  cows thundered around a grassy field, kicking up their heels and mooing with delight. Cows doing ‘zoomies’ can literally make the earth shake. This is the cow dance.    

As we head full speed into spring, this memory has been coming back to me, not least because those small dairy herds in the village have all gone, replaced by an intensive farm where cows are kept inside all year round.  

No-one in that little farming community could ever have imagined this would be the future. Farmed animals confined in cages for their entire lives, with greater likelihood of systemic illnesses, disease and reduced lifespan, and not to feel the sun on their backs or the grass beneath their feet. This means the animals confined all their lives, with no chance to feel the grass beneath their hooves or feel the sun on their backs. Not being able to express their natural grazing behaviours can cause stress, making them more susceptible to disease and shorter lifespans. This is no life for an animal. 

Today we see millions of farmed animals across the UK kept in cages, with laying hens afforded no more space than an A4 piece of paper, or sows confined to farrowing crates where for weeks on end they are unable to even turn around. 

That’s why a new petition to #CutTheCages from Dame Joanna Lumley is so important.  

I would defy anyone to watch the unconfined joy of those cows at being free and still believe that as sentient animals they are somehow better off, happier and healthier confined indoors.   

For too long, big decisions on farming practices have been weighed in favour of big business who pull the strings and submit the plans for intensive ‘mega farms’. It’s been about what makes money, not what is best for the farmed animals, our countryside or environment.  

The caged keeping of hens, solitary pens for dairy calves and the use of farrowing crates for pigs, are clear examples where profit has been considered more important than the welfare of animals.   

If we can secure the 100,000 signatures needed for the issue to be considered for a debate , it may be the start of some balance returning to a discussion that needs to look at what helps to protect animals and not just company profits.