A PURBECK farmer has been banned from keeping livestock for 10 years after being found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to cattle.

Richard Cox, a farmer from Winfrith Newburgh, was found guilty of three charges of causing unnecessary suffering to cattle and he pleaded guilty to a fourth charge in a prosecution brought by Dorset County Council.

Wimborne magistrates heard that for more than three years Cox kept a mixture of cattle on land at West Burton.

A nearby smallholder concerned over the condition of the animals alerted the county council's trading standards service.

Trading standards officers had previously visited the farm on a number of occasions, the court was told, and advised Cox to take better care of these animals and ensure that all received a proper diet.

The court heard that on visiting the land in September 2001 and January 2002 officers found the condition of the cattle had deteriorated to such a state that three of them had to be put down. A fourth died before the vet could attend to it.

During these visits they found little evidence of any food or shelter being provided for the cattle.

In his defence Cox maintained that he was feeding the cattle, and that their condition was due to some other cause that he was investigating and had yet to discover.

District Judge Roger House sentenced Cox to a three-year conditional discharge for each offence.

He also banned him from keeping cattle, pigs, sheep or goats for 10 years and ordered him to pay £1,320 towards the county council's prosecution costs.

Paul Carter, divisional Trading Standards manager for Dorset County Council, said after the hearing: "Over some considerable time, Cox had been given extensive advice on how to look after his cattle from both trading standards staff and Defra vets.

"He chose to ignore this advice, caused the animals in his care to suffer and now has paid the price for doing so. The length of the ban reflects the severity of this problem."