UPDATE: The investigation has been closed into the Davie Dairy, according to the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office. It says no criminal activity was found on video, so no arrests will be made.
EARLIER:
The Animal Recovery Mission is alleging it found abusive practices at yet another Okeechobee County dairy farm.
The group released a video which it said documents cruelty at Davie Dairy.
ARM said during a two-month undercover investigation cows were beaten, whipped, kicked, prodded or dragged and that the animals were forced to live in unsanitary conditions.
WPTV has not independently verified the allegations. But, previous ARM investigations have led to arrests at other dairy farms.
The animal rights group is asking that action be taken against the people it documented in its investigation.
ARM said that milk at the dairy is collected by distribution trucks from Southeast Milk.
Southeast Milk issued this response:
Last week, Southeast Milk, Inc. (SMI) completed mandatory, remedial animal care trainings for all of its member owners and operators. This series of trainings, held in Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, represent the completion of the first of three commitments made by SMI immediately after learning of animal care and handling issues on several of its member farms in Okeechobee, FL.
Upon learning of these incidents in early November, SMI quickly pledged to first hold required training sessions on animal care and management best practices for all member farmers; second, to implement the newest version of the National Dairy FARM Program - the dairy industry’s animal care program that requires stricter adherence to training protocols and animal care best management practices -and third, working with membership to implement or strengthen video monitoring on their farms.
For the series of training sessions last week, SMI worked with industry experts to travel nearly 1900 miles, providing training to more than 300 SMI owners, operators and employees. These extensive, day- long trainings took place in Franklinton, LA; Montezuma, GA; Gainesville, FL and Okeechobee, FL and included presentations and discussion from representatives of the FARM Program, Merck Animal Health, and the University of Florida. These comprehensive trainings covered topics including employee management and supervision, calf care, humane euthanasia and emergency preparedness. The strong attendance indicates that our members understand the severity of the situation and are willing to take the steps necessary to care for their animals properly and humanely—which is in line with the expectations of our customers, our fellow Floridians, and the leadership of SMI.
These trainings were only the first step in our ongoing commitment to address this issue and demonstrate our commitment to the highest level of animal care. We are working to implement the steps in our plan and look forward to keeping our customers and the public abreast of our progress.
Also last week, the Okeechobee Sheriff released the names of all farms currently being investigated, including Davie Dairy. All four farms under investigation have since been placed on probationary status in the FARM program and have already begun implementing substantial corrective actions. It is our understanding that the video footage obtained by ARM on Davie Dairy, as with the other farms, was taken during the late summer or before. Though we did not learn of these allegations until recently, we have acted swiftly and decisively since that time, working with our member farms to take all corrective actions suggested by third-party auditors and have fully cooperated with national and local law enforcement. Specifically, the farms all worked to terminate and retrain employees, as appropriate, and have made changes to calf housing, reviewed protocols for euthanasia and the handling of sick or injured animals, and examined emergency preparedness measures. It is our hope that all footage has now been provided to the appropriate authorities so that, in the best interest of animals, steps can be taken to now address any and all issues discovered this summer.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
