that's absolutely disgusting, and i hope that whoever was involved gets the same treatment in prison.
i highly doubt the things you described are EVER used on a regular basis on a normal farm, however. as far as i know, cows are transported through the plant and at some point their heads are smacked with a giant machine or something, which is supposed to kill them instantly.
this doesn't always kill them instantly, but it's much more civil than what these lowlife dirt bags have done. i wonder how they'd like to be smacked in the face with a crowbar 40 times?