Grassroots Campaigns Aotearoa

07/09/2026

We know that many people will see the footage we’re sharing of slink animals and assume it must have been created or edited using AI or Photoshop.

We understand how confronting these images are, and how difficult it may be to believe that what you’re seeing is real. But this is the unfortunate reality of the slink skin industry in Aotearoa.

Every image and video we will be sharing was captured this year, here in Aotearoa New Zealand. What you’re seeing represents just a small glimpse into a much larger 'Slink' industry that most people never see.

If you’re still struggling to believe what you’re seeing, we encourage you to look into the slink skin industry for yourself. Ask questions. Do your own research. Look beyond the polished images and marketing that usually accompany leather and sheep-skins products.

The brutal reality is there - if you’re willing to look.

05/09/2026

Yesterday, we showed you a photo of slink lambs.

Today, we’re posting about slink calves - calves who didn’t even make it to become “bobby calves.”

Slink calves are young calves who die on-farm, including those who are stillborn or die shortly after birth. They may die from illness, poor conditions, complications during birth, or other causes.

Unlike bobby calves, who are typically kept alive for several days before being sent away to be ‘processed’, these calves are simply disposed of as another unwanted consequence of the DairyNZ industry.

Their skins are then sent overseas to countries including France, Italy and China, where they are turned into products such as handbags and shoes.

This photo was taken in Aotearoa New Zealand this season. These calves are just a few hundred of the nearly two million who will become casualties of our dairy industry.

This is the reality of industrial dairy: countless lives brought into existence only to become unwanted by-products of a system designed around production.

These deaths are needless. We don’t need to consume dairy to nourish ourselves, and we don’t need calves to pay the price for what we put on our plates.

03/09/2026

Every year millions of lambs never make it though their first day of life. These lambs are known as slink lambs in the farming industry. Slink lambs are newborn or unborn lambs that did not survive birth, and their hides are often collected for leather products. They are left at the farm gate in piles where they are picked up by trucks. Over spring lambing truck loads day after day are taken to the slink lamb processors.

29/08/2026

New Zealand

Silver Fern Farms Bobby calves, Just a waste product to the DairyNZ industry.

Join us tomorrow for bobby calf awareness day. A 24hr fast in solidarity with the bobbies.

Over 1.9 million disposed of so we can drink their milk.

When you buy dairy you set an ex*****on date for the calf.

28/08/2026

New Zealand

On a stock truck right next to roadworks, a truck packed with bobby calves.
The bobbies are only days old, to farmers and the DairyNZ industry they are an unwanted by-product.

This is the dairy industry!
Taking calves from their mothers so we can drink their milk.

Officially every year New Zealand has nearly 1.9 million calves that are casualties of dairy farms.

These are the conditions the dairy industry says are acceptable.

Does this look acceptable to you?

25/08/2026

When the dairy industry tells you they promote best practice this is what it looks like.

Both videos show workers stressing out a mother who had just given birth on mud.

The top video, a farmer at Lincoln University Dairy Farm also shows that compared to the worker in the bottom video they are not wearing a helmet and are without a "Halo' rollbar on their quad bike.

One year later a worker is seen doing the same practice, (chasing a new mother) on a separate farm.

From LUDF's website:
' The primary aim of LUDF is to develop and demonstrate world-best practice in pastoral dairy farm systems for transfer and adoption on farm. Implementing research, technology and practices to protect our people, our cows and our environment'

DairyNZ 's logo is on the farms sign, Is this the standard dairy teaching facility?

What are your thoughts on chasing a new mother on a quad bike? Is this the best practice NZ dairy can come up with?

20/08/2026

Calf season is officially underway in

Officially around 1.9 million calves will be separated from their mothers so that we can drink their milk.

Is this footage captured this week an acceptable way to treat a newborn?

What do you think?

12/08/2026

ANZCO’s Five Star Beef Feedlot near Ashburton is described on its website as “stress-free” and having “exceptional health and well-being standards.”

These photos, all taken throughout July 2026, show the reality experienced by the animals living there - young steer standing and lying in mud and manure, their coats caked in filth, with little opportunity to do anything other than endure the conditions around them.

Look at these photos. Then decide for yourself: do these conditions match the claims of “stress-free” and “exceptional” well-being?

11/08/2026

Thanks to 7NEWS Australia for reporting on this 🙌

‘After everything they have endured, these dogs deserve safety. They deserve peace.’ Link below.

09/08/2026

ANZCO declined Stuff’s requests for an interview. In a written response to questions, Five Star Beef spokesperson Grant Bunting said animal welfare was a core priority for the company.