Video shows dairy farm workers kicking cows in the head and hitting them with metal rods

Disturbing footage shows workers at a Florida dairy farm kicking cows in the head and striking them with metal rods.

A Larson Dairy employee seen in the video has been fired, but the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office said Thursday it is launching an investigation.

"There will be a criminal investigation, and I believe there will be criminal charges filed upon completion of this investigation," Sheriff Noel Stephen said Thursday, according to the Palm Beach Post.

In addition, Publix supermarkets said it has stopped milk deliveries from Larson, and added that the company is "shocked" by the treatment of the cows.

The video was shot by an undercover investigator with Animal Recovery Mission who began working at the Okeechobee dairy in August.

"Dairy supervisors and milkers beat, stab and torment dairy cows with steel construction rebar," the narrator of the video says. "The sharp metal rods pierce and penetrate the cows' bodies. Kept hidden from tours and visitors to the dairy, the cows are brutalized."

Dairy owner Jacob Larson said the "unusual use of force is simply unacceptable on our dairy or on any other farm." However, Larson questioned the tactics of the animal rights group that shot the video.

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"We are equally concerned about the manner in which this video was brought to our attention," he said. "Had the 'undercover' employee brought this to our attention when it occurred, we may have been able to prevent it earlier."

The founder and lead investigator for the animal rights group said they didn't choose the dairy because of cruelty reports.

"We wanted to see what was happening in a typical, larger scale dairy setting in the state of Florida," Richard Couto said.

ARM found "strong sounds of animal abuse" within an hour of starting the probe and is calling for felony charges against the workers involved, according to the Palm Beach Post.

"The milking barns have teams. A shift could have three to five teammates," Couto told the newspaper. "Every single person including the manager and foreman were beating them to death. Our worker on a daily basis was verbally reprimanded for not picking up rebar and beating the animals."

Stephen said the video and other evidence indicated at least three workers were involved. He believes the Larson family would never condone the abusive behavior toward the animals.

"Had they known about it," Stephen said, "they would have fired them on the spot."

With News Wire Services