Wendy Warren presents a very cheerful account of the lives of dairy cows ("Cows: Hard-worked but cosseted", Mailbox, June 30).

To keep a constant flow of milk dairy cows are inseminated two to three months after giving birth.

This means that they are both pregnant and being milked at the same time for most of each year.

Such a regime puts a tremendous strain on the cows, frequently resulting in infections.

Mastitis is an inflammation of the udder which occurs in 50 per cent of UK dairy cows.

It is excruciatingly painful and antibiotics have failed to control it.

An overweight udder puts enormous strain on a cow's legs and 50 per cent of dairy cows suffer crippling leg and foot disorders, including agonising foot ulcers.

Selective breeding, an unnatural diet and the constant cycle of pregnancy result in exhaustion.

Most dairy cows are killed at just four or five years, despite having a natural lifespan of 21 years or more.

Professor John Webster, of Bristol University's Veterinary Science Department, says "the dairy cow is exposed to more physiological demands than any other farm animal", and her life is, "the equivalent to a jogger who goes out for six to eight hours a day".

Wendy's description of a cow's life was "cared-for and cosseted" – it's more like overworked and exploited! Wendy didn't mention the fate of a dairy cow's offspring, removed from her after only one or two days, but that's a separate disturbing story.

Wendy's opinion of the spread of TB to cattle by badgers was also biased.

A recent investigation provided evidence that basic hygiene measures to help prevent the spread of diseases on and between farms were only followed by three per cent of those attending some livestock markets.

The Independent Science Group (ISG) spent 10 years studying evidence on options for bovine TB control.

It concluded: "We consider it likely that licensing farmers (or their appointees) to cull badgers would not only fail to achieve a beneficial effect, but would entail a substantial risk of increasing the incidence of cattle TB and spreading the disease."

It appears that this advice which cost taxpayers millions of pounds is being ignored by the Coalition Government.

Mrs Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.