New Mexico can track every cow that left Woodcrest Dairy. It can’t tell you which bottle their milk ended up in. That gap is your problem too.
Sometime in 2025, roughly 2,000 dairy cows left Woodcrest Dairy near Roswell, New Mexico — not to be confused with the New York breeding operation of the same name, known for Select Sires’ Woodcrest King DOC. Livestock records reviewed by KOB-TV show that those Roswell animals were sold to Harry Dewit of Westland Dairy in Clovis. KOB-TV reported that the sale occurred shortly before the release of an undercover video from the facility. There is no public evidence indicating Dewit was aware of the pending investigation at the time of the transaction. Federal business filings list Dewit — a past Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year honoree who milks 4,400 cows at High Plains Dairy in Texas — as CEO of Blue Sky Farms and as a director and treasurer of Select Milk Producers, the cooperative that helped launch the Fairlife milk brand before Coca-Cola acquired full ownership in 2020. Dewit has not been named as a defendant in the federal welfare lawsuit, and no public allegations of wrongdoing have been made against him personally.
Here’s the problem that should keep every co-op member awake tonight: New Mexico has no system for tracking which dairy’s milk ends up in which branded bottle on which store shelf. That’s not a welfare story. That’s a supply chain story. And it has direct implications for every producer whose milk moves through a cooperative network.
The $21 Million Promise
In 2022, Fairlife and Coca-Cola paid $21 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of misleading consumers with marketing that suggested cows received “extraordinary care and comfort.” The companies denied wrongdoing but agreed to implement animal welfare standards and third-party audits as part of the court-approved settlement.
Animal Recovery Mission says those reforms didn’t work. ARM alleges its operative — hired as a milker at Woodcrest and later promoted to the birthing and medical units — recorded footage from December 2024 through approximately March 2025 that ARM describes as showing workers striking cows with shovels and wrenches, forcing metal rods down animals’ throats, and dragging calves through dirt. These allegations, first reported publicly by ARM and subsequently by KOB-TV (February 22, 2026), are now part of a federal lawsuit proceeding in the Central District of California. The Bullvine has not independently verified them, and no criminal charges have been filed as of publication. ARM presented its findings to six agencies — the Chaves County Sheriff’s Department, the New Mexico Livestock Board, the FDA, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, the USDA, and the FSIS — in May 2025, before going public. ARM says it has investigated other dairies linked to Fairlife in the past.
Fairlife says Woodcrest was not a supplier during 2024 or 2025. ARM’s investigation claims Woodcrest was “directly tied to Coca-Cola’s bottling operations in Dexter, NM, with frequent raw milk pickups by Ruan Trucking.” Those two claims are difficult to reconcile — and the federal lawsuit will likely examine exactly how Fairlife defines “supplier” and whether the cooperative pooling structure creates connections the company’s statement doesn’t acknowledge.
Where Did the Cows Go?
This is where the welfare story becomes a supply chain story — and where The Bullvine’s angle diverges from every other outlet covering this.
KOB-TV’s investigation traced the roughly 2,000 cows from Woodcrest to Westland Dairy, which operates within the Select Milk Producers network. NM Livestock Board investigative records show that by early summer 2025, Woodcrest’s pens were empty, and remaining animals were set to be sold within weeks. Cows from that redistribution remain within the broader Select Milk cooperative framework. But here’s the gap: New Mexico doesn’t track milk from individual dairies to retail brands. The state can trace cows — livestock records document the transfers. What it can’t trace is the milk those cows produce once it enters the cooperative pipeline.
Translation: if a Fairlife bottle tests clean for safety, nobody is required to know whose cows produced it. That’s a food safety system, not a brand integrity system.
The FDA’s FSMA Food Traceability Rule, which took effect January 20, 2026, addresses traceability for high-risk foods — but fluid milk isn’t on the Food Traceability List. Ultra-filtered products like Fairlife’s fall into a regulatory gap: the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance addresses safety, but farm-to-brand sourcing remains voluntary and processor-controlled. The industry’s Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy has built traceability infrastructure, but it’s designed for processor-lot tracking and recall response — not for answering the question “which farm’s milk is in this bottle?”
New Mexico runs roughly 95 dairy operations milking approximately 240,000 cows as of 2024, down from 150 farms a decade ago — a 37% decline even as the state’s cow numbers fell 26% from 323,000 (USDA 2025). Average herd size exceeds 2,500 — among the largest in the nation. These are big operations where co-op relationships and brand supply chains matter enormously to the bottom line. And New Mexico’s mailbox milk prices already run roughly $2.00/cwt below the national average — among the lowest in the country, according to USDA data. When your base price is already that thin, the brand premium isn’t a bonus. It’s your margin.
| Metric | New Mexico | U.S. National Average |
| Mailbox Price Disadvantage | $2.00/cwt BELOW national avg | — |
| Operating Dairies (2014→2024) | 150 → 95 farms (−37%) | −26% nationally |
| Cow Inventory (2014→2024) | 323K → 240K (−26%) | Slight increase nationally |
| Average Herd Size | 2,500+ cows (among largest in U.S.) | ~350 cows |
Can Your Co-op Prove Your Milk Is Clean?
That’s the question this story forces into the open. And the honest answer, for most co-op members, is probably not.
Select Milk Producers — a cooperative of 99 family dairy farm members based in Texas and New Mexico — said in a statement to KOB-TV: “Select Milk Producers is committed to the highest standards of animal care.” In court filings, Select argues that plaintiffs have not shown Woodcrest was supplying milk to Fairlife at the time of the alleged abuse. Fairlife has similarly stated that Woodcrest was not a supplier during 2024 or 2025 and said its supplying farms are subject to animal welfare standards and third-party audits.
The structural problem remains: when cows transfer between operations within the same cooperative network — as 2,000 did from Woodcrest — and when state regulators can’t trace milk to brands, the burden of proving supply chain integrity falls on the processor’s word. Not on verifiable records. Not on independent audit trails.
The owner of Woodcrest declined to comment on camera to KOB-TV and distanced himself from Fairlife, directing questions to his former co-op, Select Milk Producers. According to KOB-TV’s reporting, Select Milk did not respond to specific questions about Dewit’s business affiliations or the co-op’s role in the sale of the cows.
If you’re a co-op member — in New Mexico or anywhere — this matters to you even if your operation has never been within 1,000 miles of Roswell. The question isn’t whether you treat your cows right. The question is whether your co-op can prove, with documentation, that the milk carrying a premium brand label actually came from farms that met that brand’s welfare standards. The Woodcrest situation raises the question of whether most can.
Double Legal Exposure in the Same District
The welfare lawsuit isn’t the only legal problem facing Select Milk Producers in federal court in New Mexico.
In a separate case (Othart Dairy Farms LLC et al v. DFA Inc. et al, No. 2:22-cv-00251, filed April 2022), dairy farmers including Othart Dairy Farms of Veguita, New Mexico, along with Pareo Farm, Desertland Dairy of Vado, Del Oro Dairy of Mesquite, Bright Star Dairy, and Sunset Dairy alleged that DFA and Select Milk conspired through their Greater Southwest Agency to suppress milk prices paid to producers in New Mexico and portions of Texas, Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma from January 2015 through at least June 2025. Judge Margaret Strickland ruled the case could proceed in March 2024. A $34.4 million settlement — $24.5 million from DFA and $9.9 million from Select Milk — received preliminary judicial approval in the summer of 2025. Neither cooperative admitted liability. The complaint alleged that DFA and Select controlled at least 75% of all raw Grade A milk in the Southwest, and that more than 85% of the region’s milk moves through cooperatives.
Beyond the settlement payments, both co-ops agreed to dissolve Greater Southwest Agency — the joint marketing entity the lawsuit alleged was the main vehicle for the conspiracy — and to implement antitrust training for marketing staff and better pay transparency for members (August 2025). DFA has a history of antitrust litigation. The cooperative paid $140 million to settle a price-fixing suit in the Southeast in 2013 (without admitting liability) and $50 million in the Northeast in 2015 (also without admission). Combined with the Southwest settlement, DFA’s total antitrust settlement obligations across three regions now exceed $225 million.
Two federal lawsuits in the same district, involving the same cooperative network — one alleging welfare failures in the supply chain, the other alleging price suppression. Whether that’s a coincidence or something more structural is a question Select Milk’s members deserve to ask. The Bullvine explored the real math behind who controls your milk check in “The American Dairy Heist: Who Really Owns Your Milk Check.”
The Barn Math
Here’s where this gets personal for your operation. Brand-premium milk programs — Fairlife included — typically command $1.50 to $2.50/cwt above commodity pricing for qualifying farms (exact premiums vary by contract and aren’t publicly disclosed). On a 1,000-cow herd producing at New Mexico’s state average of 24,717 lbs/cow/year, a $2.00/cwt premium works out to roughly $494,000 per year.
That premium exists because consumers pay more for a brand that promises higher welfare standards. A welfare investigation — at your farm, your co-op partner’s farm, or anywhere in your cooperative’s supply chain — puts the brand at risk. And when that happens, the premium is what evaporates. Not the base milk price. The premium. In a state where mailbox prices already sit $2.00/cwt below the national average, that premium isn’t extra income — it’s the difference between positive margins and red ink. The question isn’t whether you can afford traceability — it’s whether you can afford not to have it. (For more on how management alone can’t close the gap when structural economics shift, read “Exposing Dairy’s Biggest Lie: Management Can’t Save You.”)
| Herd Size | Annual Production (lbs) | Premium Value ($2.00/cwt) | Potential Loss |
| 500 Cows | 12,358,500 | $247,170 | A New Tractor |
| 1,000 Cows | 24,717,000 | $494,340 | A New Parlor Wing |
| 2,500 Cows | 61,792,500 | $1,235,850 | The Entire Margin |
And here’s the other number worth sitting with: that $34.4 million price-fixing settlement — in which, again, neither cooperative admitted liability — covers roughly 8,000 producers who marketed milk during the affected timeframe (per the settlement class definition). That works out to approximately $4,300 per farm before legal fees. The potential brand-premium loss from a welfare scandal dwarfs that. Unlike a one-time settlement, premium erosion compounds every month the brand stays damaged.
What Corporate Statements Actually Tell You
Fairlife’s position, stated to KOB-TV and multiple other outlets: “Woodcrest Dairy in New Mexico is not a supplier to fairlife” during the period in question, and the company has “zero tolerance for animal abuse.” Select Milk Producers maintains it is “committed to the highest standards of animal care.”
These are the corporate statements as provided. But note what they don’t address: the structural traceability gap. Saying Woodcrest “is not a supplier” is a claim about a business relationship. And in an industry where “not a supplier” can have multiple contractual meanings — not a direct supplier, not during a specific period, not under a particular agreement — the precision of the language deserves closer scrutiny than the reassurance it may offer. That traceability gap isn’t Fairlife’s creation — it’s a structural feature of how cooperative milk marketing works in most states. But it does mean that corporate assurances about supply chain integrity rest on voluntary self-reporting rather than on independently verifiable records.
The judge overseeing the welfare case recently dismissed certain claims against Coca-Cola and Select Milk but allowed others tied to Fairlife’s branding and consumer assurances to proceed. Plaintiffs have been given time to amend their complaint. On the state level, KOB-TV confirmed the Livestock Board has an active investigation — spokesperson Belinda Garland told the station, “The Woodcrest Dairy is an ongoing investigation in this agency,” adding, “We’ll hold them accountable if we feel that we have probable cause and the evidence to support it.” Garland noted that proving extreme animal cruelty can be difficult, particularly when allegations surface after the fact. The Chaves County Sheriff’s Office referred the matter to the NM Livestock Board. Woodcrest Dairy itself has since shut down — pens empty, cows dispersed across the network.
For a deeper look at how the dairy industry’s darkest moments expose structural weak spots, read “Locked From the Inside: Dairy’s Darkest Crimes and the Weak Spots They Exploited.”
Options and Trade-Offs for Your Operation
Within 30 days: Audit your own audit. Call your cooperative and ask three questions: Who selects your third-party welfare auditor? How often are audits conducted? Can you get the most recent audit summary for every farm in your pool? Get the answers in writing. If your co-op can’t or won’t answer, that tells you something.
| Audit Question | Why This Matters | Red Flag Answer |
| Who selects your third-party welfare auditor? | If the co-op picks its own auditor, independence is compromised. Best practice: member-elected oversight board selects auditor. | “Management handles that” or “We don’t know” |
| How often are member farms audited? | Annual audits are industry standard for premium brands. Less frequent = gaps where problems can develop undetected. | “Every 2-3 years” or “Only problem farms get audited” |
| Can you access audit summaries for every farm in your pool? | If you can’t see audit results, you can’t verify supply chain integrity. Transparency = accountability. | “That’s confidential” or “Only management sees those” |
| Does your marketing agreement address brand-contamination risk from other member farms? | Without explicit clauses, you carry exposure from other farms’ welfare failures but have no legal recourse for lost premiums. | “We don’t have specific language on that” or “Never thought about it” |
Within 90 days: Review your marketing agreement. Look for brand-contamination clauses — language that addresses what happens to your premiums if another member farm in your supply chain gets investigated. If that language doesn’t exist, you’re carrying risk you haven’t priced. Talk to your ag attorney.
Within 12 months: Push for traceability infrastructure. This is the harder conversation, and it costs money. Canada’s DairyTrace program, launched in 2021, tracks individual animals from birth to disposal — it’s a livestock traceability system, not a milk-to-brand system — and it’s further than what most U.S. cooperatives have built. The real gap is at the processor level: can your co-op’s system document which farms’ milk went into which branded product on which date? The Woodcrest situation raises that question for every cooperative in the country. That gap is a business risk that will only grow as consumers, regulators, and plaintiffs’ attorneys get more sophisticated about dairy supply chain questions. If you’re rethinking your operation’s positioning in that environment, “Transform Your Dairy Before Consolidation Decides for You” maps out the decision framework.
The trade-off is real. Better traceability protects premiums but adds cost. Voluntary industry programs are cheaper to implement but harder to defend in court. And waiting for regulators to mandate traceability means you’re letting someone else set the terms.
Key Takeaways
- If your co-op can’t tell you who audits its member farms or when, your premium is built on trust, not verification. That’s fine until it isn’t.
- If your milk marketing agreement doesn’t address brand-contamination risk from other member farms, you’re exposed. The Woodcrest situation shows how one operation’s investigation can call into question the entire cooperative network’s brand relationships.
- The traceability gap is real and unregulated. Most states — including New Mexico — can’t trace milk from individual farms to retail brands. That means the burden of proving “clean” supply chains rests entirely on processor self-reporting. Ask yourself: Is that enough?
- Two federal lawsuits in the same cooperative network raise questions that Select Milk’s members deserve to ask. When your co-op is simultaneously settling antitrust claims and facing welfare allegations, governance isn’t optional — it’s fiduciary.
The Gap Nobody’s Closing
The dairy industry spent decades building a system optimized for food safety and efficient pooling. That system works — it moves milk safely from farm to shelf on an enormous scale. But it wasn’t built to answer the question premium branding now requires: whose milk is this, and can you prove the cows that produced it were treated as the label promises?
Woodcrest Dairy is shut down. The cows are dispersed across the Select Milk network. The lawsuits are proceeding in narrowed form after some claims were dismissed and others allowed to continue. And somewhere between Roswell and a Fairlife bottle on a grocery store shelf, there’s a traceability gap that no settlement check, no third-party audit, and no corporate press statement has closed.
Your operation might never make national news. But your co-op’s ability to prove where your milk went — and that it came from farms meeting the standards your brand premiums depend on — is now a question with a dollar sign attached. Can yours?
Executive Summary:
A New Mexico welfare investigation at Woodcrest Dairy has exposed a deeper problem: once 2,000 cows were sold out of that herd, nobody could clearly trace which branded products their milk now supplies. Fairlife and Coca-Cola previously paid $21 million to settle animal welfare marketing claims and now say Woodcrest wasn’t a supplier in 2024–25, while ARM’s undercover footage and new federal filings paint a murkier picture of what “supplier” actually means in this system. At the same time, Select Milk Producers is dealing with a separate $34.4 million price-fixing settlement it reached with DFA in the Southwest, without admitting liability, after farmers accused it of using a joint agency to hold down milk checks. For you, the real risk isn’t the courtroom drama — it’s what happens to brand premiums that can be worth around $494,000 a year on a 1,000-cow New Mexico herd if a welfare scandal hits your co-op’s supply chain. Because New Mexico can trace cattle movements but not milk from farm to brand, most co-op members still can’t independently prove where their milk went or whether every supplying farm actually met a premium label’s welfare standards. This piece breaks down that traceability gap and gives you concrete moves — from grilling your co-op on audit practices in the next 30 days to stress-testing your marketing agreement for brand-contamination clauses — so you’re not finding out about your exposure when the premium disappears.
Update, 25/02/2026: Fairlife responded to The Bullvine’s request for comment. A Fairlife spokesperson stated: “Woodcrest Dairy is not a supplier to fairlife, which means no milk from this dairy is received by fairlife for fairlife products.” Fairlife did not address questions regarding the transfer of approximately 2,000 Woodcrest cows to Westland Dairy, milk-to-brand traceability within cooperative pools, Harry Dewit’s role within Select Milk Producers, or the company’s welfare verification process.
This article is based on published reporting by KOB-TV (February 22, 2026), federal court filings, USDA data, and other public sources cited throughout. Fairlife’s and Select Milk Producers’ positions are presented as stated to KOB-TV and in court filings. Harry Dewit has not been named as a defendant in the federal welfare lawsuit.
Learn More
- Exposing Dairy’s Biggest Lie: Management Can’t Save You – Stop chasing marginal efficiencies while your foundation crumbles. This breakdown reveals why “perfect” management fails when structural economics shift—and arms you with the strategy to pivot before the market forces the move for you.
- The American Dairy Heist: Who Really Owns Your Milk Check? – How much of your check is lost to cooperative “pooling” and marketing fees you never approved? This deep dive exposes opacity in your payout and delivers the leverage needed to challenge your board’s status quo.
- The 143-Hour Week at Clark Farms: The Real Math of On-Farm Creamery ROI and Your Time – Owning the brand solves the traceability gap, but at what cost? This case study delivers the brutal labor and capital math required to cut out the middleman and reclaim your farm’s identity and premiums.
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