Couple still deny any neglect of farm stock

Far North farmers Bruce and Jan Jonson have already spent $35,000 trying to clear their name after being found guilty of failing to look after their animals properly.
The couple, from Rangiahua, 14km west of Okaihau, have just lost their High Court appeal against that conviction and are considering whether to take the matter to the Court of Appeal.
In April, Bruce Riddell Jonson, 54, and Jan Dorothy Jonson, then 50, were sentenced in the Kaikohe District Court after being found guilty of breaching the Animal Welfare Act.
Judge Russell Johnson found the pair had failed to meet acceptable standards of animal husbandry by "failing to use good practice and science to foresee a flood risk which would endanger animals and therefore to take any steps to reduce or eliminate it". They were fined $2000 each and ordered to pay a total of $1900 in prosecution and SPCA costs.
The charge was laid after a flood on the Jonsons' property at Rangiahua, in the Waihau Valley, in 2003. The MetService had issued a heavy-rain warning and the Judge found the Jonsons did not try to move the cattle until the next morning, by which time the land was almost completely submerged. The animals survived but had to swim for their lives.
In his decision on the appeal, Justice Patrick Keane upheld the conviction, but reduced Mrs Jonson's fine to $1000 on the basis that she was taking her sick mother to Whangarei Hospital.
Justice Keane said: "Mr and Mrs Jonson's stock, as the Judge held, were particularly vulnerable on the run-off and ought to have been moved sooner rather than later. The fact that the flood behaved atypically and cut off the usual line of retreat simply illustrates that nature never behaves completely predictably and that extremes must be anticipated and catered for."
He said the Judge was justified in concluding that their cattle and calves were left needlessly exposed.
Bay of Islands SPCA Inspector Jim Boyd, who took the prosecution, was pleased with the result.
Mr Boyd said it was important that farmers - professional, part-time and lifestyle - took seriously their duties to their animals.
But Mr Jonson is unhappy with the failure of the appeal and maintains they did all they could on the day to protect their stock.
He said the case had so far cost $35,000 to defend and appeal and he would have to talk to his lawyer before deciding whether to take the matter to the Court of Appeal.
"We did everything we possibly could. The only thing we did wrong was leaving them to the (following) morning, but I was worried that it would be a problem getting the calves out (that evening)," Mr Jonson said.
"I've never lost an animal on this property to a flood. It would be silly to leave $20,000 worth of stock on land knowing it was going to flood. I can't afford to lose $20,000."
The flood entered the front of his property rather than from the back, which was where flooding normally occurred. He blamed the flooding on the collapse of the roading stopbank which let the floodwaters flow over the front of his property.
Mr Jonson said that could not have been predicted. Since the roading stopbank had been repaired there had been no flooding on the property.
* Ruling has `far wider' implications
A failed appeal for two Far North farmers will have wider implications for all farmers, an industry leader says.
Denis Anderson, the president of the Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara Districts province of Federated Farmers of New Zealand, which backed Bruce and Jan Jonson's appeal, said the decision would have wide-ranging implications for all farmers who might get caught out by unpredictable weather.
"It means farmers will have to be aware that there are others watching their stock and making judgements on the farm's operations that they are not qualified to make. Those people are often not aware of the steps farmers have taken to ensure their stock are safe."
Mr Anderson said animals were a farmer's livelihood and they would not risk their stock.
"Farmers do everything possible to ensure their animals are safe at all times, but anybody can get caught out, it's inevitable. You have to have a bit of faith in the system, but this time Bruce and Jan have been unlucky and that's hard on them."
* North's list of neglect
Bruce and Jan Jonson are not the first Northland farmers to be convicted for animal neglect.
• In February this year, Far North farmer Alan Summers pleaded guilty in the Whangarei District Court to two charges of ill-treating an animal and a representative charge of ill-treating an animal.
Summers was charged after a July 2002 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry investigation at his 161-hectare farm at Motutangi.
MAF officials took 386 of his cattle to a neighbouring farm, where 68 were shot immediately in what was believed to have been one of the biggest official slaughters in New Zealand. The remaining cattle were seized.
Summers was sentenced to 350 hours' community service, banned from owning cattle for two years and ordered to pay $4000 in costs.
• In May, 2003, Lester Donald Reuben Johnstone, 70, of Maungatapere, was banned from dairy farming for five years and fined $34,000 for animal cruelty.
Johnstone was charged with four counts relating to stock on two properties at Maungatapere and Oakleigh for a failure to provide for the physical, health and behavioural needs of cattle. He pleaded guilty to all charges.
In May 1993 he was ordered to pay fines and costs of $1906 on one count of aggravated cruelty to a cow, three counts of neglecting an animal, two of keeping an animal alive when it was cruel to do so and one of cruelly ill-treating an animal.
In April 1997 Johnstone was fined $12,000 and disqualified from farming on his McLeod Bay property for two years.