Calf cruelty cases revealed

Two Waikato farmers have been sentenced in court for abusing calves in their care.

One, who failed to treat dozens of ailing calves – leaving some to die – was fined $4000 and banned for a year from owning any more.

Te Kowhai man Wayne Lyall Henry, 47, was also ordered to pay veterinarian costs of $527 when he appeared before Judge Sharyn Otene in the Hamilton District Court yesterday on charges of failing to provide the calves with treatment for unnecessary pain and distress, failing to protect and diagnose their disease, failing to provide adequate shelter and failing to provide sufficient water.

The summary of facts reveals that, following a complaint, a Ministry for Primary Industries inspector was dispatched to Henry’s property on Ngaruawahia Road, where 32 calves – six of them already dead – were found in a fenced-off enclosure.

Calves were showing signs of severe scouring (enteritis, or inflammation of the intestine). They were emaciated, dehydrated, lethargic and dull.

Faecal samples revealed they were suffering from a combination of rotavirus and cryptosporidium (gastric parasites).

One two-week-old calf was unable to move and was assessed as 10 per cent dehydrated and on the verge of death.

The calf was euthanased on the spot by a veterinarian who was with the inspector. The six dead calves were determined to have died as a direct result of scouring.

In explanation, Henry said he was reluctant to seek the help of a vet because of the cost involved.

The situation was ‘‘absolutely inexcusable’’, Judge Otene said.

‘‘Your failure has been significant.’’

Henry’s counsel, Lyn Walkington, urged the judge not to impose a large financial penalty. His main employment was as a heavy machine operator – an income that fluctuated depending on demand for his services.

‘‘He relies on the income from the calves. More than a year [of disqualification from owning calves] will break his situation.’’

Henry had only been the calves’ owner for a week and the calves were already unwell when they came into his possession, she said.

In the second case, Newstead man Norman Arthur Baker, 71, was fined $750 for an incident on his Marshmeadow Rd farm on August 5 last year in which he supervised another man who dragged a newborn calf by its hind leg along the ground for 40 metres, from one paddock to another.

The situation was observed and recorded on video by members of the Farmwatch animal rights group, who subsequently sent that video to the ministry.

An independent vet viewed the footage and determined the dragging would have caused the calf significant distress and pain.

Baker had been farming for 55 years and, as his counsel Thomas Sutcliffe pointed out, this was his first altercation with the law.