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A dairy calf stares out intently from an individual wooden calf hutch on a massive calf farm. These enclosures impede the calves' natural behaviour and movement, and artificially raised, bucket-fed calves may develop non-nutritive oral behaviours such as licking objects or each other. This facility has more than 1,000 hutches at this site alone, all directly exposed to the summer heat. Temperatures on the day of the visit exceeded 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Heat, Confinement and Disease: The Reality Behind California’s Dairy Farms

by | Nov 11, 2024

A dairy calf stares out intently from an individual wooden calf hutch on a massive calf farm. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Exposing the animals within Global Health Issues | Our Food Systems

[Content warning: Contains confronting images and/or video footage]

California is home to over 1.7 million dairy cows and produces 18% of the United States’ dairy supply. In July 2023, We Animals photojournalist Aitor Garmendia accompanied Animal Outlook to document industrial dairy farms across the state.

These visuals, alongside photojournalist Ram Daya’s drone footage of the farms, highlight the stark reality of life for California’s dairy animals, who endure stifling summer heat in cramped enclosures. Photos and video show thousands of animals at multiple farms confined in tightly packed, sweltering conditions. With a surge of avian flu outbreaks now connected to California dairy operations, these visuals urgently underscore the serious public health risks posed by industrial animal farming.

Photographer: Ram Daya, Aitor Garmendia

Videographer: Ram Daya, Aitor Garmendia, Dr. Crystal Heath

Written by: We Animals

No Protection From Staggering Heat

During this assignment, our photojournalists witnessed cows gasping for air, visibly struggling against brutal summer conditions as temperatures soared to 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius). Research shows that cow mortality rates can increase by up to 27% during such extreme heat.

Multiple rows of individual wooden hutches, directly exposed to the summer sun, house Holstein dairy calves on a massive calf farm. This site has more than 1,000 hutches. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Ram Daya / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Dairy calves live in a long row of individual wooden calf hutches on a massive dairy calf farm. These enclosures impede the calves' natural behaviour and movement, and artificially raised, bucket-fed calves may develop non-nutritive oral behaviours such as licking objects or each other. This facility has more than 1,000 hutches at this site alone, all directly exposed to the summer heat. Temperatures on the day of the visit exceeded 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Dairy calves live in a long row of individual wooden calf hutches on a massive dairy calf farm. These enclosures impede the calves’ natural behaviour and movement, and artificially raised, bucket-fed calves may develop non-nutritive oral behaviours such as licking objects or each other. This facility has more than 1,000 hutches at this site alone, all directly exposed to the summer heat. Temperatures on the day of the visit exceeded 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

An Animal Outlook researcher uses a temperature gun to measure the temperature at ground level next to a massive dairy calf farm containing more than 1,000 individual wooden calf hutches at this site alone. The facility artificially raises dairy calves inside these hutches, and the enclosures are directly exposed to the summer heat. The temperature reading on the device is 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

An Animal Outlook researcher uses a temperature gun to measure the temperature at ground level next to a massive dairy calf farm containing more than 1,000 individual wooden calf hutches at this site alone. The facility artificially raises dairy calves inside these hutches, and the enclosures are directly exposed to the summer heat. The temperature reading on the device is 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Cruel Beginnings

This investigation also documented a dead cow discarded in front of a dairy farm and injured calves, as well as thousands of calves separated from their mothers and individually confined to hutches with barely enough room to stand or turn around. One calf had an infected, decaying mass of flesh hanging from their chest. Another lay wheezing on the ground with their neck caught in a gate, with other calves standing beside them. The calf’s nose leaked thick liquid while flies swarmed in their eyes. On some farms, upwards of 3,600 calves were confined in these cramped spaces, forced to begin life in conditions that stifle movement and deny the chance for natural behaviours.

An exhausted dairy calf at a what appears to be a feedlot lies dying on the ground. Thick yellow-green mucus discharges from their nostrils as they struggle to breathe and droop their head through a set of stanchions. The day’s temperatures reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and the farm has no infrastructure to protect the animals from the heat. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

An exhausted dairy calf at a what appears to be a feedlot lies dying on the ground between several other calves. Thick yellow-green mucus discharges from their nostrils as they struggle to breathe and droop their head through a set of stanchions. The day's temperatures reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and the farm has no infrastructure to protect the animals from the heat. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals
An exhausted dairy calf at a what appears to be a feedlot lies dying on the ground between several other calves. Thick yellow-green mucus discharges from their nostrils as they struggle to breathe and droop their head through a set of stanchions. The day’s temperatures reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and the farm has no infrastructure to protect the animals from the heat. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

A curious dairy calf looks out from a row of wooden hutches on a calf farm with more than 1,000 of these enclosures. The hutches severely restrict the movements of the animals and impede their natural behaviour. During the visit, temperatures exceeded 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals
A curious dairy calf looks out from a row of wooden hutches on a calf farm with more than 1,000 of these enclosures. The hutches severely restrict the movements of the animals and impede their natural behaviour. During the visit, temperatures exceeded 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Dairy Linked to Human Bird Flu Cases In California

Dairy farms like these provide fertile conditions for disease to develop and spread, heightening the risk of zoonotic outbreaks that endanger both animal and human health.

On October 9, the CDC reported a third human case of bird flu in California. All three cases were linked to infected dairy cows. Each case involved a worker from a separate farm with no known contact between cases, suggesting possible cow-to-human transmission. Since then, the number of reported human cases of H5N1 in the state has increased to over 20.

Veterinarian Dr. Crystal Heath recently came across the bodies of dead dairy cows outside Mendonsa farms, just south of Tulare. These cows had been infected with avian influenza and were left to decompose alongside a public road.

“What was so shocking was that there was so little signage around anywhere telling the public about avian influenza and warning them of the biosecurity risks. I’m worried that wildlife could come into contact with them. We know that cats are susceptible to avian influenza; the first sign that a farm has an infection is often when cats end up dying after they’ve drunk raw milk.” — Dr. Crystal Heath via Newsweek

Flies swarm the bodies of dead dairy cows left decomposing along a public road at a dairy farm affected by an avian influenza outbreak. Live cows occupy a nearby pen. Mendonsa Farms, Tulare County, California, USA, 2024.

Crystal Heath, DVM / We Animals

A dairy calf stares out intently from an individual wooden calf hutch on a massive calf farm. These enclosures impede the calves' natural behaviour and movement, and artificially raised, bucket-fed calves may develop non-nutritive oral behaviours such as licking objects or each other. This facility has more than 1,000 hutches at this site alone, all directly exposed to the summer heat. Temperatures on the day of the visit exceeded 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals
A dairy calf stares out intently from an individual wooden calf hutch on a massive calf farm. These enclosures impede the calves’ natural behaviour and movement, and artificially raised, bucket-fed calves may develop non-nutritive oral behaviours such as licking objects or each other. This facility has more than 1,000 hutches at this site alone, all directly exposed to the summer heat. Temperatures on the day of the visit exceeded 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Rows of dairy calves live inside wooden hutches on a calf farm with more than 1,000 of these enclosures. The hutches severely restrict the movements of the animals and impede their natural behaviour. During the visit, temperatures exceeded 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023. Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

Rows of dairy calves live inside wooden hutches on a calf farm with more than 1,000 of these enclosures. The hutches severely restrict the movements of the animals and impede their natural behaviour. During the visit, temperatures exceeded 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Aitor Garmendia / Animal Outlook / We Animals

According to Newsweek, the bird flu outbreak in California shows no signs of slowing, and further infections are expected as the virus continues to spread.

The story behind dairy is the story of countless individuals enduring lives of hardship, heat, and confinement. It’s also the story of how intensive farming increasingly threatens our shared global health.

Multiple rows of individual wooden hutches, directly exposed to the summer sun, house dairy calves on a massive calf farm. This site has more than 1,000 hutches. Tulare County, California, USA, 2023.

Ram Daya / Animal Outlook / We Animals

These visuals build on Ram Daya’s viral dairy farm drone footage captured last year, which shows the scale of the dairy industry from above and the dangers of extreme heat.

Earlier this year, our visuals were featured in a comprehensive report by Harvard Law School and New York University that illustrated the far-reaching impacts of industrialized farming on animals, public health, and the environment.

To learn more about these urgent issues and join the global call to end factory farming, visit END.IT.

Data sources: Statista / CNN / BMC Veterinary Research / CDC Newsroom / Newsweek 

Photographer: Ram Daya, Aitor Garmendia

Videographer: Ram Daya, Aitor Garmendia, Dr. Crystal Heath

Written by: We Animals

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