MP’S son sentenced over lame dairy cows
The son of National MP Barbara Kuriger, who is also an awardwinning sharemilker, has failed to be discharged without conviction for the ill-treatment of dozens of cows.
However, his lawyer says nothing would have gone wrong if the farm owners had kept their end of the bargain.
Tony Michael Kuriger was convicted by Judge Lance Rowe in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday. He had applied for a discharge without conviction, which was declined. His only punishment besides conviction was an order to pay vet and report costs of $4060.
He was not disqualified from owning or controlling animals.
Tony Kuriger has worked in the dairy industry since his early teens. He won the sharemilker/equity farmer of the year award in 2014 from the Hawke’s Bay Wairarapa Dairy Industry Awards.
His father and another person, Louis Stephen Kuriger and Lloyd Timothy Harris, were also charged but those charges were dropped. During a January trial, Tony Kuriger pleaded guilty to amended charges.
A company the trio directed, Oxbow Dairies, was also guilty of wilful ill-treatment and fined $30,000.
Barbara Kuriger, National’s former spokesperson for rural communities, who holds the TaranakiKing Country seat, was in court for her son’s sentencing. She was not charged with any offending.
The ill-treatment took place on a farm at Hukanui, a settlement between Eketa¯huna and Pahı¯atua in northern Wairarapa, between October 2016 and April 2017, where Tony Kuriger ran a sharemilking operation. Veterinarians found widespread lameness among the herd, and gave Tony Kuriger instructions on how to care for the animals. Some animals needed amputations, which were bandaged.
Tony Kuriger was told when to remove the bandages, but did not follow instructions, with one cow getting a severe maggot infestation.
Seventy-four cows were treated for lameness – 54 were severe or chronic; 22 had to be euthanised.
Tony Kuriger’s lawyer Susan Hughes, QC, said the property had a history of lameness because the races were not kept up to scratch.
Previous sharemilkers had cows go lame, while Fonterra records showed the new sharemilkers had the same problem.
The milking contract required the farm owners to fix the races, which further deteriorated during the wet winters, Hughes said.
According to affidavits, the farm was owned by Peter and Bill Avery.
Tony Kuriger did not set out to harm the cattle, proven by the fact he sought help from vets, Dairynz’s early response service, Fonterra and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
He tried to get something done about the races, and the ministry could have forced the owners to act. ‘‘No-one came to Mr Kuriger’s aid,’’ Hughes said.
The farm had two managers resign shortly before the offending because of the stress of the lameness issues, while Tony Kuriger had poor health. ‘‘The farm was understaffed [and] the staff there were plainly overwhelmed,’’ Hughes said.
Tony Kuriger lived at and managed a different farm and, with hindsight, would have stayed away from the farm with poor tracks. He never meant to harm his cows, and believed getting vets involved meant the baton was ‘‘passed to others’’. He also did not get written care instructions, or remember vets telling him what to do.
He had since suffered a significant injury, ruling out dairying as a long-term prospect, Hughes said. ‘‘This case calls for compassion.’’
Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said wilful ill-treatment was the most serious kind of offending under the Animal Welfare Act.
It was not tenable for a farmer to get help only when things got so bad cattle were going lame and needing amputations, he said. It was a sharemilker’s responsibility to make sure cows got treatment when issues came up, , he said.
The judge said dairy was a key part of the country’s expert economy, and people expected it to be produced ethically. ‘‘[That] includes that they are produced in a way that provides an emphasis on the health and welfare of farmed animals.’’
If Tony Kuriger did not hear the care instructions and needed them written down, he should have asked , the judge said.
He was suffering from various stressors, had battled to get the races sorted and was not being callous or indifferent to the cows. ‘‘In short, he was overwhelmed,’’ the judge said.