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Part-time farmers in Northland have been told by the SPCA that if they cannot give their animals the attention and feed they require, they should not be farming.
"If you have animals you are responsible for them," Bay of Islands SPCA inspector and prosecutor Jim Boyd says.
His comment comes after the society successfully prosecuted a second part-time farmer under an Animal Welfare Act charge of failing to ensure the needs of cattle were properly met.
In the latest case, heard in the Kaikohe District Court, quarry worker and part-time farmer Michael Keith Hilton, 37, of Hikurangi, was convicted and fined $1500 and ordered to pay SPCA expenses of $232.
The court was told that Hilton kept cattle on a family property at Tapuhi, which was distant from where he lived.
An SPCA inspector found a dead cow and 17 emaciated and starving cattle on the property in August last year. Later, four more dead cattle were found plus a calf too weak to get out of a drain. Hilton said he worked during the week. He had seen the cattle on his home property and assumed their condition was much the same as those at Tapuhi.
Judge John McDonald said people raising animals for profit should be aware of their feed requirements. He ordered that the whole fine should be paid to the SPCA.
Mr Boyd said later it was another example of a part-time farmer not having enough time to attend to stock properly. "If you can't give your animals the time, attention and feed they require, you should not be farming. Out of sight on a remote run-off was obviously out of mind in this case."
Last month, part-time Okaihau farmer and former meat inspector Bruce Jonson was convicted and sentenced to 350 hours' community service after the Kaikohe court was told the SPCA found eight dead cattle and starving stock on his run-off property at Otaua, near Kaikohe, in 2005.
