Dairy couple, sharemilker convicted, quit farming

A Northland couple found guilty of animal welfare charges have quit dairy farming after 40 years.

Murray and Sandra Gentil owned a 275-hectare dairy farm with about 420 cows on Whatatiri Rd, Poroti, where Graeme Smith was contracted as a sharemilker for nine years.

Earlier this year, all three were found guilty on four charges each under the Animal Welfare Act for failing to ensure cattle on the farm were provided with proper and sufficient food, to which they pleaded not guilty.

The Gentils and Smith appeared before Judge Taryn Bayley in the Whangārei District Court for sentencing on Thursday, seeking a discharge without conviction.

The Gentils’ lawyer Hugo Farmer said a discharge without conviction was warranted in this case. He said the stress, financial costs of the prolonged case and the likelihood that the bank would place financial limitations and want supervision if they continued farming, was too much to face.

Farmer said the many delays were primarily caused by MPI, which brought the charges in 2019.

This had placed enormous stress on the Gentils who had faced extra financial costs to fight the case, and the charges at trial were far different from what they initially faced.

Farmer said the Gentils were of good character, as highlighted in letters of support, and a conviction would be out of proportion to the gravity of the offence.

He said poor weather at the time of the offending was behind the situation, along with calving issues. He said it was not a case of deliberate neglect as the couple had contracted an experienced sharemilker in Smith to look after the animals and implement the feeding plan.

Farmer said the couple had sold their farm and their 40-year farming career was over.

For Smith, lawyer Matthew Ridgley endorsed Farmer’s comments, saying Smith had also given up farming after many years and he deserved a discharge without conviction.

Judge Bayley rejected the applications and instead convicted and discharged all three without any fines, but imposed reparations of $815.93 each for the vet costs associated with the case.

Judge Bayley ruled the Gentils’ actions as moderate to serious in the scale of offending, while Smith’s was deemed minor to moderate and a conviction was appropriate.

She said the Gentils and Smith had received a penalty serious enough by the guilty verdicts and convictions.

She said the Gentils, as the farm and animals owners, did not abdicate their responsibilities to check on the animals, despite having a sharemilker.

All three were charged in 2019 with five charges each under the Animal Welfare Act for failing to ensure that cattle on the farm were provided with proper and sufficient food, to which they pleaded not guilty.

During their trial, dairy farm consultant Kim Robinson said she noticed from the roadside that the cows were in “very poor condition” and alerted the ministry, which visited the Gentils on August 8, 2019.

MPI inspector Helen Doughty and vet Brian Lowe inspected a range of herds being kept in paddocks that were noted as low in feed, patchy or swampy after recent weather events.

Body condition scores (BCS) were conducted, with 83 of the animals scoring 3.0 and overall 14 were below the code minimum standard of 3.0.