Good Morning Britain viewers issued complaints about an “unbearable” interview.
GMB interview with woman aiming to milk 10,000 cows in a week
Good Morning Britain viewers were left unimpressed during Friday’s episode of the ITV programme as presenters Adil Ray and Kate Garraway returned to screens. The duo were joined by agricultural professional, Marie Stephenson, who is undertaking a major challenge for charity by milking 10,000 cows across the UK. Supported by the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), Marie hopes to raise mental health awareness in the farming community.
GMB went live to Lancaster, where the farmer was “making some beautiful glasses and bottles of milk to go in people’s breakfasts.” After Kate requested a new angle, the cameras panned to a row of cows lined up with their udders being milked by machines. The unexpected viewer left some fans taken aback as one complained: “@GMB unbearable, turned off.” Another warned: “GMB, there’s going to be a nasty accident in a min with these cows.”
Another questioned: “Is it really necessary to have this camera angle at 7.40 in the blessed AM?”
“Sometimes I have to check if it’s April Fools Day …. #gmb,” remarked a fourth.
As one issued animal welfare concerns and penned: “But it’s striking how the conversation almost never includes the welfare of the cows themselves: the constant cycle of pregnancy and lactation, calves taken from mothers within hours, male calves treated as surplus, and the physical toll high-yield farming takes. #GMB.”
This was echoed, as one fumed: “You know what else could relieve the cows of their milk? Their calves, but they’ve been taken away #GMB.”
GMB viewers shared animal welfare concerns (Image: ITV)
Marie showed Kate and Adil how she would attach the machines to 10,000 cows over 10 days, explaining: “I am doing it by machine like this.”
A relieved Kate responded: “I’m glad it’s that because I had a vision of you doing it all by hand and was worrying about the amount of blisters you’d have by the end of the week.”
The farmer shared: “Nobody milks cows really by hand anymore, its generally all by machine.”
Speaking more on her motivations, Marie has shared: “After a series of losses close to my family and local farming community, I saw the impact left behind on families, schools and whole communities,” said Stephenson.
“Mental health in agriculture is starting to impact younger and younger people and so I just felt like I needed to do something about it.”
She added that farming could be “a lonely, lonely job”, so she wanted to raise awareness and “bring some light to the farms I milk at and help open conversations about mental health in farming”.