Ramsgate International Film & TV Festival

A Dairy Story has been selected for Ramsgate International Film & TV Festival in late March.

If you followed the campaign against live exports in the UK, you’ll know why this one matters to us. For decades, Ramsgate was the port where unweaned dairy calves were loaded onto ships and exported to continental Europe. Calves just a few weeks old, sent on long journeys to be fattened for veal.

The calves being exported were a byproduct of conventional dairy farming. Male calves born to dairy cows have little economic value in a system designed only for milk production. They had to go somewhere – ‘ship or shoot’ was the mantra. For years, that somewhere was a truck to Ramsgate and a ship to Calais. The journey could take days.

People protested at Ramsgate Port for decades, and public and political opinion swung behind calls for a ban, which came into effect in 2024.

So, for lots of reasons, this film festival is an important one to us and David - the farmer who features in the film - will attend to take part in a Q&A. We are very much looking forward to bringing our film to this community that fought so hard for dairy calves.