KEY POINTS:
A Northland farmer has been fined $53,000 for keeping hundreds of starving cattle - some described as "walking skeletons" - on a property north of Wellsford.
SPCA inspectors were called to the Topunui property run by Keith Thomas in August 2006 by a concerned member of the public.
They found some of Mr Thomas's 622 cattle were so malnourished they were skeletal and staggering about.
"Chronic underfeeding" and "severe malnutrition" meant 56 of them had to be killed.
Thomas admitted five charges of wilfully ill-treating animals under the Animal Welfare Act.
Inspectors said they initially found the property run down, with no water, no pasture for grazing and no supplementary feed. Thomas was told to turn on the farm's water supply and feed the stock within 24 hours.
When Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry staff and veterinarians visited two other properties they found more sick cattle and evidence others had died.
Thomas was told to feed the cattle and get veterinary assistance if any of the animals deteriorated.
But he failed to do so, so MAF seized the remaining cattle for veterinary inspections and had to euthanise some of them.
"Post-mortem examinations conducted on some of the cattle found signs consistent with extreme starvation," a MAF spokesman said yesterday.
Thomas said he had been unwell and could only spend three to four hours at a time on the three properties.
He knew the stock was "light" but believed they were "in not bad nick".
In the Warkworth District Court on Wednesday, Judge Barbara Morris said a deterrent sentence was appropriate to let the farming community know the wider community regarded such conduct as abhorrent.
It was acknowledged the offending occurred during a time that Thomas was "immobilised with despair" due to a horrible window of personal circumstances.
Judge Morris ordered the fine and enforced a supervision order on Thomas's farm for two years.
When contacted by the Herald yesterday, Thomas said he did not want to talk about the charges because he was trying to move on with his life. He had sold the cattle.
Asked how he expected to pay the fine, Thomas said he had five years to pay it.
MAF investigations manager Greg Reid said he was surprised a farmer of Thomas's experience and knowledge had ended up in such a dire predicament.
A MAF spokesman says the ministry urges farmers, particularly those who may be suffering with the ongoing impact of the recent drought, to be proactive, not to leave their decision-making too late, and to remember management of supplementary feed or reduction in stocking rate is pivotal.
Assistance and advice to farmers in difficulty is available through agencies such as the Rural Support Trusts, Federated Farmers, Inland Revenue, Work and Income and Lifeline.
