British cow first to moo on Twitter

A dairy cow from Lancashire is thought to be the first in Britain to have her own Twitter page, using the social media site to spread gossip from the farmyard.

It was after receiving a ’black&whiteberry’ for Christmas that Lefty the cow started tweeting @oldhollyfarmcow from the farm near Preston.

Lefty may not be your average teenager but like many young girls her Twitter is full of food talk ("yummy lunch today- silage") and complaints about the cold ("chilly this morning- farmer P’s cold hands weren’t appreciated at milking time"). She even throws in cheeky remarks aimed at others in the herd ("210 and angus the bull... get a room").

"Farmer P" is 29 year-old farmer Ian Pye, who looks after the herd of about 120 cows at Old Holly Farm in Preston, Lancashire. He says: "Lefty’s tweets are a fun way of telling people about a cow’s day to day life. Visitors to the farm have lots of questions about cows’ likes and dislikes and we know there is a real hunger for information. Lefty’s followers will get it first-hand, gossip column style."

Ian Pye promises tweets about visits from the vet and nutritionist and updates straight from the milking parlour. "So much goes into dairy farming that many people may not think about - whether it’s caring for newborn calves, trimming feet or getting the feed just right. Seeing this from a cow’s point of view is what our job is all about – and what makes it interesting for the public," Ian says.

The Twitter page is one of many ways that dairy farmers are reaching out to the public online. A new website, thisisdairyfarming.com, features a state-of-the-art interactive farm as well as a range of ’moovies’ showcasing dairy farming practices from robotic milking to more conventional farming methods.

Amanda Ball, head of marketing communications at DairyCo says: "Tweeting cows are primarily a fun way for people to connect with farming, but there is a serious message here too. We know people want to know more about where the food they buy actually comes from, so it’s exciting to see farmers using innovative ways to relate to them."