This devastating footage, filmed by Animal Equality, shows the tragic lives of baby calves at Tuls Dairies in Nebraska. Tuls Dairies supplies some of the cows' milk that is used to make the famous cheese brands of Babybel and Laughing Cow. 

Unlike the cow cartoon of the Laughing Cow, the real-life cows behind these dairy products are utterly miserable. In this important investigation, we get a rare look inside the first months of life of these cows.

First months of life

Once the calves are born, they are separated from their loving mothers and shipped to a facility that goes by the name of “Summit Calf Ranch”. There, the confused babies are locked in individual enclosures that contain a thin plastic hutch for shelter. 

According to Tuls Dairies' website, the newly born babies are kept isolated for two months. Once the calves are able to eat solid food, they are moved to a pen with other calves for another three months, before the females are transported to different dairy farms and the poor males are slaughtered.

Violence and isolation

Sadly, keeping newly born calves in small enclosures where they can barely walk is very common in the dairy industry. The other violent practices that were recorded, such as burning off the calve’s horns and castrating the baby males with no anesthesia, are also by no means exclusive to Tuls Dairies.

No protection from extreme weather

But perhaps the most heartbreaking discovery of this investigation relates to what happens to all of the unlucky babies who are born during extreme weather. Not just in Tuls Dairies, but all over the world. 

With hardly any body mass or life experience, away from their mothers and herd, and unable to escape their small enclosures to find a decent shelter, these poor newly born babies are left to face extreme temperatures on their own. 

In this heartbreaking video, we can see how some babies froze to death, while others had their gentle hooves detach from their legs due to the extreme cold.