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A whistleblower provided PETA with a haunting video and some photographs that, according to the whistleblower, were captured at Lone Star Organic Dairy outside Wills Point, Texas, and show a cow floating in a 14-foot-deep pit of feces and urine, filthy water troughs, and dead cows and calves strewn across the ground in the farm’s “cemetery.” Horizon Organic, the largest supplier of organic milk in North America, has suspended sourcing milk from this farm after hearing from PETA.
According to the whistleblower, on this farm, which is certified organic and claims to be the “largest organic dairy in North Texas,” many if not most calves die from ailments that include scours and pneumonia. The whistleblower provided photos showing dead calves left to rot. Their allegations include that cows were injured and crippled by nails left inside bedding and that other bedding and living areas were saturated with waste.
PETA was also told that cows’ collars were not routinely loosened as the animals grew and that some collars had even become embedded in the animals’ necks, causing wounds and abscesses.
These Cows Need Your Help!
On its website, the farm boasts of “better animal welfare” than other dairies, and it sells these cows’ milk as “organic.” Although “organic” is just another meaningless buzzword when it comes to animal welfare, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is supposed to enforce some meager standards of animal care on organic farms. PETA has called on the USDA to immediately investigate the farm and take all appropriate enforcement action for any violations it finds, up to and including revoking the facility’s organic certificate.
We’ve also asked Organic Certifiers, the company that certified this farm as organic as part of the USDA’s National Organic Program, how such conditions could apparently have thus far been overlooked. We’ve also urged it to inspect the facility immediately and ensure that any such conditions are remedied without delay and to do its part as the certifying agent for the federal program.
Please join PETA in calling on Organic Certifiers to take immediate meaningful action.