Farmers warned over animal welfare standards

Shropshire farmers are being warned the courts will take a "serious view" of those among them who let standards of animal welfare fall.

The warning follows a prosecution brought by Shropshire Council trading standards service resulting in a farmer last week getting a nine-month jail sentence for animal welfare offences.

The sentence was suspended for two years by Shrewsbury Crown Court but Malcolm Trow of Lower Hill Farm, Marton, near Welshpool, was also fined £2,000, told to pay £1,000 prosecution costs, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of compulsory unpaid work after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

He admitted at an earlier hearing at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court that he had caused unnecessary suffering to calves under the Animal Welfare Act, and had committed animal by-products offences.

Mike Owen, the council's cabinet member responsible for trading standards, said: "Animal health and welfare officers are advising farmers on their legal responsibilities on a daily basis.

"Farmers in Shropshire give a high priority to animal welfare, and standards are generally high.

Serious view

"The punishment handed out in this case demonstrates that courts take a serious view of farmers who let their standards fall."

The crown court heard that when animal health and welfare officers visited Lower Hill Farm last summer, 27 dead calves were discovered in and around a large barn where live calves were being housed.

Pens within the barn contained live calves, some were dying and others were dead, in the dirty straw bedding.

Trow admitted he had not sought the advice of a vet when the calves began to die.

A vet from the Defra animal health team in Shrewsbury, who attended the incident, said several calves had been dead for a number of days and some for several weeks.

Ten live calves in the building had to be humanely destroyed by the vet to avoid any further suffering.

A number of references were submitted on behalf of Trow, supporting his generally good standards of husbandry and representations were made that he had successfully raised 50 calves since the incident without further problems.

Judge Robin Onions took into account the references in deciding not to ban Trow from keeping animals but noted that he had been prosecuted before for a similar matter, including as recently as 2009.

By Dave Morris