Sadly, the visitor-friendly farms of which Michael Parker wrote (Letters, June 20) are just a fairy-tale pastiche of farming of yesteryear and have no bearing on life down on the farm today.

The "admiring visitors" should not forget the real face of farming. Most UK-farmed animals are intensively reared in filth and squalor, deformed through a cocktail of drugs and growth-enhancers, living a wretched existence before they face the slaughterhouse.

These farm museums are cute and teach children respect for animals. However, please do not fool yourself that they bear any resemblance to today's farms, where the meat on your plate really comes from.

-Emma Cartwright, ejcartwright1969@yahoo.co.uk