Kaikohe farmer fined $18k for not registering nearly 500 cattle

The Kaikohe farmer was sentenced in the Dargaville District Court last Thursday. Photo / Tania Whyte

A Kaikohe beef farmer has been fined $18,000 for not registering 496 cattle under the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme.

John Emile Schepens, 67, was sentenced in the Dargaville District Court last Thursday on two charges under the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act 2012.

The prosecution by Ministry for Primary Industries was in response to Schepens' failure to put into place a system to ensure his animals were both tagged and registered with NAIT.

According to MPI, Schepens has been the registered person in charge of animals (PICA) for the past decade. He had around 800 NAIT animals.

Between May 2019 and May 2021, Schepens received educational letters, reminders, and an infringement notice for moving 32 unregistered cattle off-farm.

Despite the warnings and action, the situation did not improve, MPI said.

Schepens was charged under the NAIT Act for moving 27 cattle off-farm between June 30 and July 3 last year, and again for a further 496 cattle still not registered on February 10 this year.

MPI Regional Manager Animal Welfare and NAIT Compliance, Brendon Mikkelsen, said the NAIT scheme, which maintains a national database of cattle and deer movements, is a critical part of New Zealand's ability to respond quickly to biosecurity threats.

"We take non-compliance seriously because of the potentially devastating effect to industry and communities if the tracing and containment of an outbreak such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease was hampered by poor NAIT information.

"We cannot afford complacency," he said.

Mikkelsen encouraged anyone unsure about what they need to do under the NAIT scheme to reach out.

"There is plenty of information, advice and support available."

He said more information was available on the OSPRI website.