The activists who entered the Westmeath farm wore T-shirts from the organisation “Meat the Victims” with the slogan: “One has a responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

They displayed placards reading “Stop killing, choose life/love” and “They were born, not produced”.

The group has been associated with similar protests on farms in Australia, Britain and the Netherlands.

The protesters had an office set up in a van on the roadside, where some worked on laptops to edit and publish pictures taken by their colleagues inside the farm.

They directed all questions from journalists to academic and vegan advocate Roger Yates.

“This is for people to see inside the units,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal, adding that trespassing was necessary because requests for access were denied or farms “cleaned up” before activists visit lawfully.

He asserted that animals have a right to life, freedom, bodily integrity and not to be treated like property.

The protest was peaceful, no arrests were made

The incident in Killucan marked the culmination of a week of co-ordinated protests by animal rights activists outside meat factories and Yates said he didn’t know whether repeats were planned elsewhere.

Gardaí in several vehicles monitored the scene.

“The protest was peaceful, no arrests were made,” said a representative for the force.

The IFA is to meet the Department and gardaí in the coming days to discuss the implications of the break-in.

President Joe Healy described the action as criminal, contemptible and reckless, adding “for an individual farmer to be confronted with this type of intimidating activity is very distressing.”

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson said that a veterinary inspector and a private vet attended at the farmer’s request, but no Department investigation is ongoing following the incident.