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Each year I spend holidays in southern Devon, always goes to the shopping bus from Kingsbridge to Plymouth. on a bus route there is a farm - if I remember correctly is called Harraton Farm is located just behind Aveton Gifford never seen such skinny and dirty cows, all around are bags of waste.I'm looking for a person, organization, which deals with the protection of animal rights and want to see what's happening on the farm.I'm not from uk, so I do not know where to write, but since 2007 I see the cows and I saw no animals in such bad shape, as on this farm! Please help!

Let me get this right - you are really affected by the state of the animals, but you don't even know the name of the farm? And this has been going on for years? Please... even if you are just on holiday there, what stops you from talking about this to locals, especially local police? or a phone call to the RSPCA?

I see that the Farm every year from the window of the bus, I am from Poland and in England I am a few days in a hotel in Salcombe, you can see this by typing the name of the Farm in google maps. in poland I knew what to do, but in England I do not know who is dealing with it. I have no idea what is the RSPCA, will see in google, I can not call from Poland to English institutions, because it costs too much. just wanted to help.

Hello Alectra: If you are going again to the same place, why not ask one of people in the hotel about whom to approach? Explain why you are concerned - there may be local people who can help. Otherwise, you can write to the RSPCA - give as much detail as you can. if you can somehow get photos, even better.

I wrote to the RSPCA, here's the answer:
"Thank you for contacting the RSPCA with your concerns.

The best course of action in this matter would be to contact your local council, which is Devon County Council on 0845 155 1015 and speak to their Animal Health department .
They are responsible for monitoring establishments that keep animals in this manner and ensuring that they meet the needs of the animals. They will certainly be able to investigate this matter."

I wrote message to Devon County Council but got no response.

it seems to me that nobody is interested :(

I do not have pictures of this place, but enough enter on google maps and see that the Farm is very well seen! I saw Farm only from the window of the bus.
I found a farm address in google:
Harraton Farm
Modbury, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0SU
you can see here what I wrote about,
just paste this address in google maps.
anyway thanks for your help.
regards,
Alicja

Hi Alectra. Cobie's advice is good and I hope you take it. There is something you can do.

For instance, check out this government website for animal welfare in Devon: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/animal_welfare

and on it, you will find Defra which may be the most helpful for you: http://www.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/animals/welfare/

and on Defra's site, you will find this one: http://www.defra.gov.uk/fawc/ which won't be very helpful in itself but may lead you in your search for suitable people to contact .

Good luck and please let us know if you make contact and what has happened.
Stay in touch. I'm sure many here are concerned.

Hi Alectra:

I had a look at Google pix but they show mostly the farm buildings and cottages and only one shot of cattle in a field. And they look quite happy and healthy.... so what exactly did you see? I note these are Friesian/Holstein dairy cattle - these can often show bony "points" especially around the hips, but this is not a sign of starvation - you would expect to see the ribs clearly and deep hollows along the spine (a slight dip along the spine is often seen in this breed but not a sign of starvation. Note that in many photographs on Google of this breed you are looking at fattened up show animals. As well, depending on when you saw the animals, a little "ribbiness" is not necessarily starvation - cows that suckle calves or produce lots of milk and are only on grass can lose some weight. As for mud on the animals, in a country where it rains often and long, cows can have very muddy legs and bodies (because they lie down to chew the cud) and need a good hose-down before milking. And what about the bags you saw? Were these like feedbags ( not uncommon around a farm), or clearly rubbish? Or plastic-wrapped silage (hay)?
PS I note that the cattle in the photograph are said to belong to Harraton Farm, and were photographed from a bend in the A379, the road that you would have come by.

I gave up. I know how cows look like, which give plenty of milk, we have a lot of them in Poland. I maybe oversensitive, I wanted to check it out. I do not see sense continue this. simply for years on this farm, cows produce a lot of milk, so they look odd, (they look better in these photos than "live"), which claimed all of my Polish friends but none of the Englishman does not notice. and this barn is in such bad condition, because cows in England like fresh air even in winter. dirty cows stand on concrete all around is a lot of bags, loft tires, garbage. if there are no animals that I'd thought of no one lived there for years. everything is in bad condition and does not look like all the rest in Devon - nicely and richly. is why I was so puzzled and asked for this attention. Thanks for your time. Greetings!