TESCO'S latest directive, designed to tackle loneliness amongst calves, has been given short shift by local farmers.

If only because they've long met this particular welfare standard anyway.

Under the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group's new policy, farmers will now have to rear calves in a pen with at least one companion from birth or a young age.

The supermarket has acted in response to calls from animal activists and veterinary experts, who claim that coupling calves from birth can promote better socialisation and performance in adulthood, and reduce the level of stress found in isolated calves.

Local North-East dairy farmers however are one step ahead of Tesco's new policy, and have always put animal welfare as their top concern. One such farmer is Richard Baynes at Marleycotes Farm near Slaley, who said he has always reared his calves in groups of twos and threes.

"I don't know any farmers who don't raise their calves in groups" Richard said,

"They're herd animals, and they should always have a pal beside them because they are sociable by nature."

But the policy has been met with adversity by some farmers, with claims that animal activists were wrongfully interfering with industry policy, and that coupling calves together would make monitoring appetite and health harder, as well as contribute to a quicker spreading of infectious diseases.