As I Lay Dying

Worker #3: They’re using the dead cows in the compost for bedding.
Worker #8: The bedding for the cows is compost made up of recycled manure and ground up cows that died of disease. They claimed that they don’t use the ground up cows in bedding compost anymore, but they haven’t stopped.
Worker #7: They still use ground up cows for bedding—they never actually stopped using ground up carcasses in the compost they use for bedding.
Calf Buyer: They still mix the dead cows in the compost used for bedding in the dairy barns. They don’t want the public to know this. That’s their dirty little secret.

We’ve written briefly about the deadly intersection of immigrant labor, exploitation, and the US industrial animal production complex. United Farm Workers and the Humane Farming Association want to show you a bit more scenery, this time from inside a Boardman, Oregon dairy. The principals in this facility, Bos Family Oregon Farms, also operate a large dairy farm conglomerate based in Bakersfield, CA.

Threats to public health aside, the text and photo documentation in this report and the Humane Farming Association’s subsequent petition for enforcement to the Oregon Attorney General is one of the most horrific examples of torturous abuse and neglect endured by animals used for food that we have ever seen. And we’ve seen a lot. Fair warning: the images are sickening and the accompanying interviews with Threemile Canyon Farms workers are graphically detailed in support of them.

Deliberate starvation of newborn calves, target practice among supervisors using already bullet-wounded calves, and Guantanamo-style “managerial intervention” should any worker demonstrate concern or compassion for ill, injured, and dying calves. And for what—cheap, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, sharp Cheddar cheese, and the vague buttery flavor in trans-fat loaded margarine.

United Farm Workers’ Threemile Canyon Farms Image Gallery and a Campaign Action letter are available. Please take advantage of both.