This is the bizarre moment a Chinese family speeds along a motorway in their car with a cow lying across people’s laps in the backseat.

The unusual scene was filmed in the city of Yinchuan in the Chinese region of Ningxia and the footage has been widely circulated on social networks.

According to local reports, the driver is a dairy farmer in the area and he bought the calf at another farm.

As the other farm did not have a truck to deliver the animal, the dairy farmer decided to take it home in his car instead.

In the clip, filmed by another motorist on the motorway, the dairy farmer is seen driving along the outside lane with another person in the passenger seat and at least one occupant in the back.

Meanwhile, stretched across the backseat, with its bemused face peeing out of the car window, is the young cow.

The backseat passenger, apparently a woman wearing a headscarf, is seen with her back pressed against the door while struggling with the size and weight of the stocky animal.

The cow appears claustrophobic in the tight space in the back of the car, and starts to recoil as the video comes to an end.