A vocal Northland critic of farmers who mistreat animals is fending off a complaint about his own cattle.
Northland Federated Farmers operations director Bill Guest said an agricultural consultant had assessed cattle at his Te Kopuru farm last week.
"A vindictive little group in my area" had laid a complaint that
he was starving heifers.
Guest said the complaint was unfounded, but he was open to scrutiny like everyone else.
He once said that farmers were sick of hearing about cases where livestock had been abused, neglected or not fed or treated properly.
Earl Culham, senior animal welfare investigator at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, confirmed that a complaint had been received.
But he said it was about dehorning cattle, not starving them.
Guest agreed to "get the consultant in" and the ministry would receive a copy of the consultant's report, Culham said.
Meanwhile, Guest has run into trouble arranging an animal welfare pact between the federation and MAF. He implied that federation members would accompany inspectors onto properties, but Culham said "we do not take them on farms as routine and we never will".
- NZPA
