Niall Blair: 'My response to a vegan advert got me a barrage of abuse'

In an attempt to reduce winter housing costs I have moved the cows on to an area of hill ground, so hopefully they can remain outside for a month or two yet.

Watching cattle grazing the natural vegetation made me wonder how a food production system could be any more sustainable.

With that in mind, I posted a photograph of them on social media to counter Tesco latest advert.

My social media post proposed that some vegan food is highly processed and has travelled thousands of miles from the countries in which it originated, countries where it is grown to the detriment of ecosystems and communities.

Perhaps if people are concerned about the environment it is better to concentrate on food produced on their ‘doorstep’, for example beef reared naturally on a hill.

Of course, writing the above in a farming magazine is largely preaching to the choir. But, what surprised me was the backlash from the vegan community.

I wrote the post when I was in a slightly flippant mood, so constructive criticism of it did not bother me.

The barrage of abuse I received and the volumes of misinformation sent to me did.

However, with well over 10,000 positive comments and likes I think the message was well received. I would like to think certain supermarkets would reconsider their irregular advertising tactics.

That said, I am sure vegan sausages have seen unprecedented demand on the back of the uproar.

Another reason for putting cattle up onto the hill is to help with wildlife management.

We have numerous habitats on our farm but it does appear that lack of grazing pressure is allowing heather to dominate certain areas to the detriment of biodiversity.