New footage showing apparent mistreatment of cow on Waikato farm

WARNING: Graphic content

Distressing footage of a cow being suspended from a tractor by hip clamps has been released by Farmwatch.

The video was filmed at a Waikato farm last year, and shows the cow being suspended from the hip clamps until its front legs collapse with its dead calf lying metres away.

A man then arrives at the tractor and drags the cow along the ground with the tractor.

In a statement Farmwatch spokesman John Darroch said the footage has been reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries but "they have done nothing to reprimand the farmer".

Use of hip clamps to support a cow that is unable to stand is legal, but in a media release SAFE said the treatment of the cow "clearly fails to meet the minimum standards of the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare".

Last month, Farmwatch released footage that was filmed in August showing apparent mistreatment of bobby calves.

The SPCA condemned the treatment revealed in the hidden camera footage as deeply disturbing and inhumane.

An investigation has been launched into the footage, taken on dairy farms in the Waikato and Taranaki in August by animal activist group Farmwatch.

It comes after the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) introduced new regulations to improve how calves were treated, following previous hidden camera footage released in September last year.

SPCA New Zealand said the handling of the calves for transport to slaughterhouses, including throwing, dropping and dragging, as shown in the footage was not acceptable.