‘Castrated’ cattle beast chief suspect in farmer’s growing herd; dies during desexing

A woman who bought a cattle beast online, believing it was desexed, was then faced with the prospect that her small herd of cows was about to multiply when she realised the castration hadn’t been successful.

Now she’s managed to get back some of the money she spent on vet bills for testing the small herd, which ended up costing close to what she paid for the “steer”.

The hundreds of dollars extra she then spent on having the animal properly desexed was in vain, as it died in surgery while having its remaining testicle removed.

The woman went to the Disputes Tribunal seeking costs to cover the vet bills, plus the extra it took to bury the animal, named in the decision as “MN”, all of which came to close to $2400.

A woman who bought what she thought was a steer soon discovered it was a bull and her small herd of cows was potentially about to expand. File photo / Bevan Conley

The woman bought the steer (a castrated bull) online for $600, but after it was delivered, it became apparent “the steer was not a steer” but a rig, which is a male bull where the castration had been unsuccessful, tribunal referee Carolyn Murphy said in her decision in May this year.

The woman alleged the animal likely caused her cows to become pregnant before she realised MN was a rig and claimed for associated vet costs.

She told the tribunal he needed to be a steer and she could not have a bull on her property because she had cows she did not want in calf.

Neither did she want the temperament of a bull on her property.

However, when she noticed MN’s behaviour around the cows changed she had a vet check him.

The vet confirmed the animal still had one testicle and, therefore, was not a steer.

The woman said she then phoned the person from whom she’d bought the animal and was simply told her “s*** happens”.

However, the previous owner denied making such a comment and told the tribunal she and her husband “absolutely believed” the bull had been fully castrated and was a steer.

She said if they knew otherwise they would have picked him up and returned the woman’s money.

But Murphy said the photos of MN and his testicle were “strong evidence that he was not fully castrated” and was not a steer.

Further, the applicant’s evidence that she only wanted to purchase a steer because of her other stock was logical and therefore accepted.

For those reasons the tribunal found the animal was misrepresented as a steer and it was this misrepresentation that induced the woman to purchase him.

Murphy said in hindsight, the respondent’s statement that she and her husband would have taken the animal back and refunded the money was likely the best option but that is not what occurred.

In December last year, as a vet attempted to desex the animal, at a cost of almost $900, he died during surgery.

The following day the woman engaged a specialist to bury him, which cost $431.

The vet returned twice over the next several weeks to check and treat the cows for pregnancy, for a total of $470.

Murphy said the bill for desexing was detailed but it was unclear how much time the vet spent trying to keep MN alive.

“For this reason, I find it is fair and reasonable to reduce the professional time by one-half being a reduction of $277.50.

“Therefore, I find the amount of $614.20 is reasonable.”

The first vet invoice for treating the cows included other work and therefore the tribunal dismissed the $85 callout fee and the mileage charge of $81.40 plus half of the vet’s time.

The second vet invoice for the cows was detailed and only related to the possible pregnancies, therefore the tribunal found the $229 claimed was reasonable.

The claim for the burial cost was dismissed because the woman had other options available to destroy MN that did not involve a cost to her.

All up, the tribunal ordered the person who sold the animal to pay $902 back to the woman who bought him, as a portion of the total in vet bills.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.