Warning: what you are about to see is truly horrific as workers at a calf ranch near the Central California town of Modesto are caught on camera punching an kicking animals.
In the drone video posted by the animal rights activists group Direct Action Everywhere, cattle at Agresti Calf Ranch in Ceres are attacked by workers who kick the animals in the face and head over and over again. The workers are also seen in the footage grabbing onto the calf’s tail and yanking them and using pliers to pull on a calf’s nose, per the group.
The hardest part to watch is probably the inhuman way the workers used hot-irons to burn off horn buds from the young calf.
In the video, the animals try to buck and get away from the pain being inflicted on them while another worker holds their head down with their foot. At one point, we see one of the calves just collapse from the pain after the horrific experience.
According to the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), when removing horns from calves the animals are to be “restrained for dehorning in a way that minimizes stress and the risk of injury to the animal and the operator.”
“Chemical restraint (sedation) may be used to minimize stress and increase ease of handling.”
The group said in a press release that during the hour they watched the workers, at no time were the animals given any kind of anesthesia to deal with the procedure.
“No workers were seen giving anesthetics to the calves before they were disbudded.”
Temple Grandin-an industry expert-told the group that the calves’ “reaction indicates pain medication was not applied before the procedure.”
The Stanislaus County ranch-which is certified by the American Humane Society-raises calves for Double D Dairy, both owned by the Agresti family, per the group. Double D Dairy is a supplier of milk to Clover Sonoma.
“Clover has long advertised the humane treatment of animals at their facilities, striving to even create the false impression that they don’t use factory farms at all,” the group said.
Clover Sonoma has since put out a statement that it condemned the attacks on the animals and said it has nothing to do with the ranch.
“Agresti Calf Ranch, which began operations in May 2025, has NEVER been part of the Clover Sonoma milk supply and does not supply cows to Double D Dairy that we contract with,” CEO John Coletta said.
“We take pride in the humane treatment of all the herds at our supplying farms and will always hold our partners to the highest animal welfare standards.”
“We absolutely condemn the treatment that happened in these calf ranch videos, and we’ll never hesitate to make the difficult decisions necessary to uphold our values, whether in our own operations or across our entire supply chain.”
The owner of Double D Dairy, Dominic Assali, sent an email to the Los Angeles Times about having “zero tolerance” for any mistreatment of animals.
“We’ll always take immediate, thorough action to address any operational issues, as we have in this instance,” the email said.
Clover also told the Times that it “suspended” business with the dairy once it learned of the footage and the dairy underwent an audit.
“Clover and the American Humane Society have concluded that the mistreatment was an isolated issue, not systemic or reflective of Agresti Calf Ranch’s personnel,” the statement to the outlet read.
“Corrections have been made, including the termination of the employee in the video. As such, we are comfortable reinstating the milk from Double D Dairy.”
The Post has reached out to the humane society and Clover Sonoma for further comment.
