A Dairy Story: OCC’s partnership with compelling new documentary

 

OCC is delighted to announce its official partnership with A Dairy Story, a powerful documentary about a Rainton Farm’s pioneering cow-with-calf dairy system.

The film addresses one of the most divisive questions in dairy farming – should a newborn calf be separated from its mother? A Dairy Story follows David and Wilma Finlay, at their farm in Dumfries and Galloway, as they abandon conventional methods and build the first farm in Europe to make a cow-with-calf dairy system commercially viable. What begins as a question of animal welfare opens into climate, environment, and ultimately something far more personal: a story about change, about trusting nature and about the time we have together. Sadly, Wilma Finlay passed away before filming was complete.

 

 

OCC’s partnership reflects its wider commitment to food system transition as a catalyst for place-based regeneration, evident in numerous collaborative projects, including the Stranraer Oyster Festival, also in Dumfries and Galloway, and now firmly established as one of Scotland’s most effective food-focused regeneration initiatives.

In addition to promoting A Dairy Story within its various networks, OCC will host screenings and associated panel discussions at various locations across the UK. The documentary’s other official partner is Compassion in World Farming.

Don Sloan of OCC said: “A Dairy Story does more than showcase Rainton Farm’s truly pioneering achievements. It is helping to build an international movement for progressive change in farming practice, in the face of considerable resistance.

“For those committed to ethical transformation of the food system, A Dairy Story will serve as a powerful source of inspiration. It is a real privilege for the Oxford Cultural Collective to be able to offer our support, to ensure the film reaches the widest possible audience.”

The film’s producer Lorna Young said: “The Oxford Cultural Collective brings together people who care about food and where it comes from, and that’s an important audience for a film like ours because the impact of farming methods reaches well beyond the farm gate. We are delighted to have the OCC’s support, and the reach of their network, as we take the documentary to audiences this summer and autumn.”

A Dairy Story will be on general release from early August 2026.