Rakaia farmer sentenced to home detention after more than 600 calves die of starvation

A number of dead calves were discovered scattered around Lisa-Jane Claire Miller's farm. Photo / File

A farmer’s “she’ll be right” attitude is what caused more than 600 calves to die of starvation in less than five months, leaving dead calves and skeletal remains scattered across the farm.

Lisa-Jane Claire Miller, 53, appeared in the Ashburton District Court on Monday facing five charges relating to the ill-treatment of the calves.

According to the summary of facts, between August 7 and October 17, 2020, Miller purchased 687 of the animals to rear at her Rakaia farm.

But within three weeks they started to die and, by mid-September that year, about 15 to 30 were dying daily.

Towards the end of September, Miller went to the vet clinic and said she had a “minor” outbreak of scour on her farm and that only “a small number” of calves had died.

The vet gave her antibiotics and offered to visit her farm and perform a disease investigation, but Miller declined, saying she was experienced enough to handle the situation.

A few days later, Miller returned to the clinic and said the treated animals had improved but requested more antibiotics for further cases.

The vet provided enough medication to treat six calves but told Miller he wouldn’t give further treatment without visiting the farm and suggested changes in management to control the disease spread.

A week later Miller visited a different clinic and said she had three calves that were coughing due to a respiratory infection.

She was sentenced to seven months of home detention and disqualified from caring for calves and cattle for five years. Photo / Nick Reed

She was given antibiotics to treat at least 16 to 20 calves. But this was “grossly insufficient” given the number that were ill, the summary of facts stated.

The vet contacted Miller three days later and she told him the calves had improved, despite the huge number that had actually died.

The discovery

On December 1 and 2, 2020, the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) animal welfare inspectors and a vet visited Miller’s farm, following a complaint from a member of the public.

Of the 687 calves purchased by Miller, 610 died or had to be euthanised.

The inspectors noticed an obvious smell of decay and found dead calves and skeletal remains scattered around several of her paddocks.

Miller had made pits around the farm to toss them into, some of which were found by the inspectors.

Only 103 calves were alive but all were in “extremely poor condition”. Many were severely emaciated, unable to stand, and had an “extremely poor prognosis of survival”, even with intensive treatment and hospitalisation. A number of these calves were euthanised.

The paddocks had insufficient grass length, no alternative feed and some calves did not have access to water.

The vet said the paddocks resembled a “patchy bowling green”. Some paddocks had suitable pasture for grazing, but this was shut off to the calves.

It was found the calves had been “wasting and dying” due to insufficient feeding and starvation for a period of at least several weeks.

When asked why Miller didn’t allow a vet to help her, she said: “I didn’t think they’d actually tell me anything different to what I was already doing.”

When asked about the lack of grass available to the calves, she said she had run out of grass and was about to move them to her father’s property where the pasture was better.

A ‘serious error of judgment’

Miller’s lawyer, Grant Fletcher, told the court his client had been “overwhelmed with the situation” and made a serious error of judgment while trying to care for the calves.

Fletcher said while she had maintained a “she’ll be right” attitude, things soon began spiralling out of control and she felt “paralysed” when deciding what to do.

He suggested Miller would be “vilified” by the public when her offending came to light.

“You go to someone’s house and steal some stuff and no one bats an eyelid, you illtreat an animal and you’re everyone’s enemy.”

Fletcher said Miller was “dropped in it” when she wasn’t informed by the suppliers of the kind of responsibility she was taking on when purchasing the calves. He asked the judge to consider a sentence of community detention.

Leandra Fiennes for MPI told the court it would not be correct to characterise Miller as having little experience with calf rearing as she had been involved in the industry in 2014 and then again in 2019.

Miller was offered help when she sought advice from the vets but did not accept this, Fiennes said, highlighting the number of calves that were dying each day in September.

Judge Raoul Neave said it appeared Miller had been looking for advice “that best suited her”.

While there was no evidence that Miller was deliberately mistreating the calves, she didn’t do anything to prevent the situation from getting worse, he said.

“They have essentially been starved to the point of death. It must have been blindingly obvious to you that you were in trouble,” the judge told Miller.

However, he acknowledged her decision-making may have been impaired by personal issues, and as the calf situation grew out of control she underestimated her own ability to cope.

Judge Neave gave Miller credit for her early guilty pleas, previous good character and her personal circumstances.

She was then sentenced to seven months of home detention and disqualified from caring for calves and cattle for five years. Miller was also ordered to pay a reparation of $3975 to the vet.