‘Unnecessary suffering’ on farm

A COUPLE have been ordered to pay more than £7,000 and had their dogbreeding licence taken away after “unnecessary suffering” to animals was discovered at their farm.

Ifan Dafydd Gerallt Evans and Elizabeth Eirianna Evans pleaded guilty to offences relating to animal welfare, animal by-products and bovine tuberculosis regulations following an investigation led by Ceredigion council which saw animal health officers visit Arthach, in Blaencelyn, Ceredigion, in November, 2019.

At the farm, officers found a pug dog which had been denied veterinary treatment for an eye condition, and two spaniels that were engaged in repetitive circular pacing – behaviour a vet said was caused by a “bland and poor environment” which led to “unnecessary mental suffering”.

An Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Animal Health Officer also found “gross overcrowding” of cattle during a previous visit to the farm in February, 2019, which came about after a complaint.

The officer found pens of a shed so overcrowded cattle did not have sufficient space to lie comfortably, while food and water supplies for the animals were limited.

Cows were also found with coats that were heavily soiled with slurry and muck, and a newborn calf and its mother were made to lie in a manure-soaked area, housed with adult cattle and therefore putting the calf at risk of injury.

Elsewhere on the farm, a sheep was discovered with a broken leg that it had sustained several months earlier, with no evidence that veterinary treatment was ever sought for the animal.

At Aberystwyth Justice Centre on October 1, Mr and Mrs Evans pleaded guilty to nine charges in all, including failing to dispose of animal by-products after four sheep carcasses were found in fields in various stages of decomposition.

They also admitted failing to comply with a notice which identified inconclusive tuberculosis (TB) test.

This notice required the couple to separate and isolate animals to prevent the risk of spreading TB, something which they failed to do.

Ceredigion council said it had been working with the farmers to improve the standards of their dogbreeding facility.

However, the facility is no longer licensed due to what the council described as “long standing failures to meet the minimum standards expected”.

In sentencing, the District Judge took into account the previous clean history of Mr and Mrs Evans, but they were fined a total of £7,336, which included the legal costs incurred by Ceredigion council. reactors in a recent