Video footage released by an animal rights activist shows cows at a Shropshire dairy farm that supplies a large multinational company being hit, punched and kicked.

The shocking footage was shot at Heaths of Stockton at Stockton Grange Farm, near Newport, which supplies German-based international dairy firm Muller.

The secretly recorded video, which activists claim was shot earlier this year, shows workers at the dairy plant roughly handling the dairy cows at the site.

In one part of the video, which was recorded by hidden cameras, a worker can be seen dragging a calf across a floor and even through the bars of a metal gate, while kicking its anxious mother.

Video: Joey Carbstrong