LONDON, Ont. -- Andrew Campbell started the new year by sharing the day-to-day events on his Middlesex, Ont., dairy farm with his 13,000 followers on Twitter.

Then the hijackers moved in.

Outraged at Campbell's project to share the positive news from his agricultural operation and teach what life is like in agriculture, vegan groups from around the globe and individuals opposed to the livestock industry moved to swamp his Twitter postings that used the hashtag "#Farm365."

(For those not familiar with Twitter, hashtags are keywords preceded by # in Twitter messages, allowing people to easily search a topic or follow a particular issue.)

Along with Twitter messages decrying the use of animals for food, there was a steady stream of photos of dead livestock and animals being put down.

In some postings, farmers were called murderers for sending animals to slaughter and rapists for having their livestock artificially inseminated.

Many suggested it was immoral for farmers to use "non-human animals."

Farmers and supporters of Campbell fired back on Twitter, defending agricultural practices and the compassion of producers.

Campbell said he was surprised by both the extent of the global attacks and the reaction from producers in other countries who took to Twitter to post photos from their own farm operations.

"What we have seen is there are activists concerned about animal care and thousands of farmers who are concerned about animal care. There is just maybe a little bit of a gap there," Campbell said Monday.

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Vegan groups attack Ont. dairy farmer on Twitter