Dorset farmer fined £2,000 for heifer death (From Dorset Echo)

Dorset farmer fined £2,000 for heifer death

1:00pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

A DAIRY farmer has been ordered to pay more than £2,000 after being prosecuted for causing unnecessary suffering to one of his cows.

William Rowland, aged 45, of Shillingstone, near Blandford, was found guilty at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court of one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to a young heifer that was allowed to get into calf when she was too young. This resulted in complications during birth, which led to the death of both the calf and the heifer, the court heard.

Rowland was also found guilty of three offences under the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations including failing to separate the calving cow from other livestock, keeping two calves tethered in a barn for two to three weeks and failing to have sufficient staff to run the farm effectively.

Rowland was fined £870 and ordered to pay £1,276 costs plus a £15 victim surcharge.

The case was brought by Dorset County Council after intervention by officers from Trading Stan-dards last March.

A routine visit to the 220-acre farm was carried out and a young heifer was found in a pen with 35 other cattle of varying sizes.

Rowland admitted that he knew the cow was about to calve but had nowhere else to put her.

When officers returned the following day they found the calf had been still born and the young heifer had to be destroyed.