Animal Partisan and Mercy for Animals pursue criminal charges against family-run New York dairy farm for alleged cruelty to cows
March 12, 2026
In collaboration with Mercy for Animals, Animal Partisan has filed a criminal complaint with the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office and Ontario County Humane Society in New York alleging Vince DeBoover Farms, LLC, committed criminal animal cruelty against its dairy cows in October and November of 2024. Vince DeBoover Farms is a mid-size family-run dairy farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York that produces milk. Footage obtained during an undercover investigation documented patterns of cruelty, including wounds left untreated, extremely swollen joints, pervasive lameness and limping. The footage also showed slippery floors which led to cows dangerously slipping, sliding, and in several cases, falling hard to the concrete floor and being unable to get back up for some time.
The investigation documented numerous cows at Vince DeBoover Farms had infected hygromas, swollen areas under the skin from their joints repeatedly being rubbed and hit against concrete. Several cows had developed abscesses on these areas, which burst, leaving open holes in their skin. The farm had old, worn-out bedding materials and poorly designed bedded areas, which likely caused this chronic medical issue in many of its cows.
Animal Partisan and Mercy for Animals’ complaint alleges that the company committed criminal animal cruelty in violation of N.Y. Agric. and Mkts Law § 353 and asks local law enforcement to investigate and pursue class A misdemeanor charges against the company for each instance of cruelty. The complaint is supported by the affidavit of a veterinarian, who—based on his review of the footage—confirms the presence of chronic welfare-related issues at the facility.
Animal Partisan is committed to holding animal agriculture companies accountable for their everyday cruelty of the animals in their care, through poor facility management and failure to address chronic issues and injuries. Vince DeBoover Farms is a family-owned and managed farm. Many people believe that when a farm is family-run, the animals must be well taken care of, that they are not suffering day in and day out. The underlying investigation here demonstrates that dairy cows are constantly exposed to poor conditions that cause chronic medical issues, distress, pain and suffering, even on farms like these. For more evidence that cows on “family farms” routinely suffer while being exploited for dairy, see a recent investigation by Animal Outlook: Unpasteurized: The Raw Reality of America's Family Dairy Farms.
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