VIDEO: Calves Kicked, Pulled at Merced County Calf Ranch Linked to Major Cheese Company
For immediate release
Contact: Cassie King, (510) 507-8075, cassie@directactioneverywhere.com
VIDEO: Calves Kicked, Pulled at Merced County Calf Ranch Linked to Major Cheese Company
Direct Action Everywhere drone pilots filmed the abuse at 140 Cattle Co in Livingston
VIDEO FROM THE INVESTIGATION
(Credit: Direct Action Everywhere)
July 27, 2026, Livingston, CA - Factory farm investigators with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) used drones to document cruel handling of calves at 140 Cattle Co., a calf-raising operation linked to Hilmar Cheese Company, one of the largest cheese producers in the U.S. On visits in April and May, investigators filmed workers kicking calves, including one worker repeatedly kicking a downed calf, and more than a dozen instances of workers pulling calves by their ears or tails. The footage was published today at FactoryFarmWatch.org, a map and database of California’s 1300+ large, industrial animal farms.
140 Cattle Co. was started by the Ahlem, Nyman, and Wickstrom families, who each own multiple dairies that supply milk to Hilmar Cheese Company. Charles Ahlem is a founding owner of Hilmar Cheese Company. Bradford Nyman is the current CFO and land owner of 140 Cattle Co. Michael Wickstrom is the CEO.
Hilmar Cheese Company sends cheese to Pacific Cheese Company, which distributes cheese to restaurants including Taco Bell.
The Hilmar Cheese plant located in Hilmar, CA processes more than 1 million gallons of milk every day. It produces more natural American style cheese and whey products than any other plant in the world. On its website, Hilmar says it is committed to animal care and its dairy suppliers share that commitment, but DxE’s footage shows that animals at 140 Cattle Co. are being mishandled in violation of industry guidelines for calf care. For example, the Calf Care & Quality Assurance (CCQA) program states, "Do not drag, pull, throw, or toss calves. Do not catch calves by the neck, ears, limbs, tail, or other extremities." It also states, “Remember, these are young animals and require extra patience as they learn to move.”
DxE asserts the cruel handling documented at 140 Cattle Co. also violates California’s animal cruelty statute. DxE reported the calf abuse footage to the Merced County Sheriff’s Office on May 1, 2026, but the office has provided no meaningful update in the months since.
The California dairy industry is incredibly powerful, as the state’s largest agricultural sector, contributing over $23 billion to the state GDP annually. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has multiple boards dedicated to boosting dairy consumption and shaping public perception of dairy. They have worked with the industry to run multi-million-dollar marketing programs, such as California’s iconic ‘Got Milk?’ campaign and “Happy Cows Come from California.”
This state-backed marketing misleads consumers with bucolic imagery of “family-run farms,” while DxE investigations are uncovering the reality of widespread cruelty behind California milk.
This is the fifth calf ranch that DxE drone investigators have exposed abusing calves this year. Most recently, in May, the Los Angeles Times reported on DxE’s footage of workers kicking and pulling calves at Agresti Calf Ranch in Ceres, after which one worker was fired. DxE says firing individual workers doesn't stop the problem because animal cruelty is a predictable outcome of how these operations are designed.
140 Cattle Co. confines over 18,000 calves, who would naturally be nursing from and cared for by their mothers, leaving a small workforce responsible for feeding, moving, and overseeing thousands of fragile animals. Under these conditions, workers are pushed to handle calves quickly rather than gently, and operators have no financial incentive to staff at levels that would allow patient, careful handling.
"Even if every worker we've filmed abusing calves were fired tomorrow, the abuse would continue, because it's engineered into the system," said DxE factory farm investigator Lewis Bernier, who obtained some of the footage at 140 Cattle Co. "When you take thousands of newborns from their mothers and give a small group of men the job of controlling them, brute force becomes the standard operating procedure. And when law enforcement refuses to prosecute factory farms, there's no consequence for running a facility where cruelty is routine. So it stays routine."
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) investigates farms, slaughterhouses, and other facilities to document abuses and rescue sick and injured animals. DxE’s investigatory work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED, and Vox. In 2022, DxE activists won the first-ever acquittal in an open rescue case. Visit DxE on Instagram, Facebook, X, Bluesky, and at directactioneverywhere.com.
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