Matt Baker has come under fire from Countryfile viewers over what they dubbed a 'cruel' dairy farming segment on Sunday's show.
The County Durham born presenter has been on the long running BBC show for a decade now and, while a big fan favourite, he was at the centre of some controversy after the latest episode aired at the weekend.
For one of the items on Sunday's programme, former Blue Peter and The One Show host Matt visited dairy farmer Richard Liburn and his wife Pamela about their new "zero grazing system" that they use on their farm.
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The technique adopts the unorthodox approach of bringing the grass to the cows rather than them being in the open air.
Matt, 43, explained: "He swapped their whole way of farming to a model known as ‘zero grazing’ with their cattle spending most of their year indoors in two 210 foot barns filled with all the latest gadgets.
"Rather than grazing outdoors, they now have fresh grass brought to them."
And, while Richard claimed the radical approach made a huge difference to their operation, viewers weren't keen to share in his success.
Raging at what they saw, one Countryfile viewer tweeted: "people must STOP buying from these farmers. Buy from your local butcher who knows where the meat is raised."
While not a regular viewer, having seen the segment, another reacted: "Dont usually watch countryfile but caught 2 minutes of it as I was switching my tv to the dvd player.
"Presenter was saying the dairy farm was a ‘no grazing’ concern where the cows were indoors all the time. How extremely unnatural and cruel."
As others claimed a 'line had been crossed' by the dairy farm's technique, a third posted: "I have just watched the most appalling episode of Countryfile in which you present from a dairy farm in Ireland. This programme presents a fairytale picture of farming in this country.
"Shame on you and the BBC for perpetuating this obscene treatment of animals.
Matt tasted great success earlier this year as he and his family appeared in their own More4 series Our Farm in the Dales, which saw him, wife Nicola and their children head back to County Durham to help his parents on their farm.
After being gutted by the series come to an end, viewers begged for a second one.
