My first speculation is that it is maybe in foreclosure and the former owner just abandoned the place and the bank wasn’t privvy to the information.
It could have been a feed lot. Someone was being paid to keep and feed them. But he took the money and ran and the owner had not felt a need to check on them.
That would make perfect sense I suppose. Your investment is underwater, so you walk away as so many former homeowners were forced to do, only in this case a part of that investment lives, breathes, and suffers miserably alone, in tiny pens, with no food, no water, no care whatsoever, and probably in the dark.
once a farm goes into foreclosure, its a legal matter. My son was foreclosed on and the sheriff was involved to serving the papers and the bank checked frequently to make sure the house was not destroyed as long as they were still living in it...over 4 acres in my state gives you a couple of years to live in the house before the owner can be evicted..