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After PETA shared a whistleblower’s report of a cow weakly treading in a 14-foot-deep pit of feces and urine, filthy water troughs, and dead cows and calves strewn across the ground in a “cemetery” at Lone Star Organic Dairy in Van Zandt County, Texas, a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program certifier inspected the farm and corroborated many of the damning allegations—including that it had failed to provide veterinary care to numerous calves and heifers before they died and confined them to filthy pens overflowing with their waste.
After hearing from PETA, Horizon Organic, North America’s largest organic milk supplier, suspended sourcing milk from this farm.
Despite Weeks of Warning, Inspectors Caught Workers Brown-Handed
According to records just released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Organic Certifiers visited Lone Star Organic Dairy on December 6, 2023—weeks after PETA submitted evidence and apparently after notifying farm management that they would be conducting an inspection. Upon arrival, inspectors found a hired company attempting to remove mounds of manure piled over 4 feet high from inside cow pens.
Cows Denied Veterinary Care, Left to Fall into Pit of Fecal Sludge at Lone Star Organic Dairy
The report and subsequent notice of noncompliance confirmed that the farm had a “high rate of mortality in its calves and heifers,” including from “illnesses which can originate and/or be exacerbated by poor living conditions,” and that many of the animals who died at the dairy had never received any treatment for their illnesses. They also found that:
- The farm had no pain relief medication on hand for the calves it subjected to painful dehorning at just one month old.
- Cows were being shipped off to slaughter in large numbers “due to low repro and milk production.”
- A 14-foot-deep pit of liquid waste—which the whistleblower reported multiple cows had fallen into—was previously left unenclosed and fully accessible to animals.
The whistleblower’s report also included photos showing dead calves strewn throughout the property, allegedly often left to rot for days before being buried.
‘Organic’ Labels Are Meaningless to Cows
Lone Star Organic Dairy boasted of “better animal welfare” than other dairies on its website. Yet, Organic Certifiers concluded that the farm “systemically failed to comply with the requirements of the National Organic Program Standards”—but later agreed to a settlement agreement that withdrew the proposed suspension of its certification and commenced “increased oversight” of the farm for two years.
This isn’t the first time that dairy, meat, or egg companies used misleading marketing like this and duped consumers into thinking that animals didn’t suffer. When humans use animals for profit, it always causes suffering, regardless of the label slapped on animals’ flesh and bodily fluids sold in stores. Cows are repeatedly and forcibly impregnated to produce milk. They make milk for the same reason humans do—to feed their babies. Workers separate calves from their mothers shortly after birth—and often confine them alone—on dairy farms to steal their milk and sell it. No matter if the cows’ milk is labeled “organic,” “raw,” “antibiotic-free,” or “humane,” mother and baby cows suffer so that it can reach store shelves.
As part of PETA’s initiative against humane-washing ploys, we are campaigning against the Whole Foods–backed Global Animal Partnership and urging the three “animal protection” organizations that have representatives sitting on its board of directors to step down: the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Compassion in World Farming. Sign our petition, and remind these organizations through polite social media comments that “humane” labels are a misleading sham.
