The Worth Farm cows have returned to the fields after one of the fastest Glastonbury clean-ups in history!
Less than two weeks ago, over 200,000 people were having the time of their lives at the biggest party on earth at Glastonbury Festival.
With the Worthy Farm-held event coming to a close last week and as most Festival-goers return home to civilisation – with some leaving behind what can only be referred to as the Glasto-aftermath – for award-winning farmer and Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis the work is far from over.
Following the Festival’s finale, the unsung heroes of the Recycling Crew stay on the grounds with the sole mission of returning Worthy Farm to its natural clean and rubbish-free status.
2022 has been one of the fastest Glastonbury clean-ups of the event’s history, with the first of the cows being spotted back in the fields (as shown in the image below) on Monday, the 4th of July – which is just over a mere week since the Festival ended this year on the 26th of June.
Some previous dates of the cows returning to the farm include;
- 6 July in 2017
- 20 July in 2010
- 4 August in 2011
- 21 August in 2013
- 29 August in 2014
- 25 September in 2009
The cows are back… 🐄🌿#Glastonbury #WorthyFarm #Cows
📷 Picture taken yesterday (Monday, 4th July) by Nev Normal. pic.twitter.com/Io1N1RWqLR
— Glasto Fest Feed (@GlastoFestFeed) July 5, 2022
During the Festival the cows go into the Glastonbury “Moo-tel” for a short stay. The food is put in front of them so it’s like being on an all-inclusive holiday, explains herd manager John Taylor, in the video below.
Previously speaking about the cows and post-festival cleaning process, Eavis said: “We have 500 milking cows and 500 young stock,”
“The dry cows graze away from the festival site, but we have to keep the milking cows in to avoid any E. coli issues for our visitors.
“We have 400 people who clean up after the festival, with magnets to pick up any metal, and then we can turn the cows back out.
Adding that: “We’re now producing 16,000 litres of milk a day, so it’s a big operation.
“There is a huge demand for milk in the UK, and for cheese and milk powder worldwide.
“It’s a massive industry and we should be proud of what we’re doing – our food is needed worldwide and the climate and grassland in Somerset are just right for milk production.”
“The grass comes back pretty quickly after reseeding, and on a year off from the festival, the cows will graze all summer – it’s lovely to see them out.”
Recap
Glastonbury 2022 was brought to a close on Sunday (26 June) by headliner Kendrick Lamar who closed the Pyramid Stage that night.
Lamar’s performance came after the Festival made history with both the youngest-ever headliner in Gen-Z, icon Billie Eilish, and the oldest-ever headline in Sir Paul McCartney, both playing a pandemic-delayed 50th birthday bash for the greatest music festival in the world – three years after the last instalment took place in 2019.
During his historic headline performance, Macca wowed the crowds with a show-stopping setlist which included surprise guest appearances from both Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as well as American-born star Bruce Springsteen.
Other highlights included Diana Ross commanding a mammoth crowd at her Sunday teatime Legends Slot.
The Motown soul singer treated the crowd to a selection of classics including ‘I’m Coming Out’, ‘Baby Love’, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, ‘Stop! In The Name Of Love’ and at the conclusion of ‘Chain Reaction’ pink confetti was launched from the Pyramid Stage.
Elsewhere, on the Saturday of the Festival, we found out Lily Allen was making her way to the Glastonbury site, thanks to an Instagram story she shared that afternoon, for what turned out to be a surprise secret guest appearance with Olivia Rodrigo on the Other Stage.
Other secret sets included performances from Jack White, who played The Park Stage on the Sunday, and George Ezra, who took to the John Peel Stage, earlier that day.
Fast forward to Monday (27 June) the rain started to descend – following defied ominous forecasts of thunderstorms and a yellow weather warning from the Met Office.
Campers started packing up their belongings and leaving the Festival site on a chilly morning. as the Glastonbury clean-up litter picking army was already deep-dug down into work on returning Worthy Farm to its natural clean and rubbish-free status in preparation for the next edition of the Festival.
The five-day event was watched by a record number of people on the BBC’s digital platforms – as streams on iPlayer more than doubled compared to 2019.
You can still catch over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages available to watch on BBC iPlayer – including Pyramid Stage performances in Ultra High Definition.
For a full (A-Z) list of sets, and individual track performances (as well as Glastonbury-related content prior to 2022), currently available on the iPlayer, click on the + buttons below.
Glastonbury 2023 will take place at its natural home in Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, from Wednesday the 21st to Sunday the 25th of June.
To learn more about registration, the sale process and how you can maximise your chances of getting Glastonbury 2023 tickets, click here.
Don’t be fooled:
Glastonbury Festival would very much like fans to be aware that there are people out there who will try and sell fake Glastonbury tickets to unsuspecting, willing and innocent potential purchasers.
Although Glasto-veterans who have been going to the Festival for quite some time may recognise these scams for what they are, newcomers to the Festival might not know that tickets are only sold on one site which is: glastonbury.seetickets.com – and any other site claiming to sell tickets for the Festival are not authentic.
