Flooded UK dairy farm swaps milking for cow cuddling Dumble Farm reinvents itself with paid visits to pamper cattle20 June 2025 20 June 2025 2 minute read 2 minute read By: By: Global Ag Media EuropeYears of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them, reported Reuters. Dumble Farm started as a dairy farm in the 1970s, but in recent years flooding washed out crops and killed off the type of grass the cows like to eat, while milk prices below cost of production proved an insurmountable challenge. In 2022, Dumble Farm sold all but a few of its dairy cows and, in a scramble to reinvent itself, began offering "cow cuddling" experiences to fund a wildlife conservation scheme. The farm uses the proceeds to create habitats to protect wildlife and support declining species, such as lapwing birds. "It's great that we can fund the conservation scheme by having visitors to the farm, and that's really the bigger picture," Wilson said.