Farmer downplays neglect

A Bay farmer who left his herd of calves without food and water for months at his leased Papamoa farm property has been sentenced to 350 hours' community work and fined $750 plus court costs.

Walter Pererika Rika, 62, who pleaded guilty to 10 charges in Tauranga District Court yesterday, has also been disqualified from engaging in animal husbandry for five years.

The charges included reckless ill-treatment of an animal and failing to comply with a written notice from Animal Welfare inspector.

Prior to December 2012, Rika had been operating a dairy farm in the Mamaku region milking about 300 cows, later run by a farm manager, while he also leased a grazing block of about 100 acres of Te Tumu Kaituna Trust land at Papamoa.

In June, 2012 Rika brought a number of calves to the Papamoa property and on October 15 a Ministry of Primary Industry's animal welfare inspector visited the property.

The inspector found many of Rika's 73 calves were in very poor to critical condition, there were also dead carcasses on the property, and no water in the troughs.

There was also minimal grass cover, the gates to the paddocks were open and there were no cattle yards for drenching or other treatments.

Fifteen calves had already died on the property.

Rika was issued with a notice to attend to seven animals and told not transport them off the property without prior consent of a vet or animal welfare inspector.

He ignored the notice and took four calves by road to Mamaku, three of which died or had to be put down.

Defence lawyer Max Simpkins said Rika's offending occurred because he had turned his attention to the needs of his family of six children, particularly his sick wife and new baby, who was born prematurely.

Judge Ingram said it was not a case of "sheer neglect" or deliberate abuse towards the herd.

"It's fair to say this is one of the most unpleasant cases of its kind to reach the Tauranga court, but I have seen far worse cases ... and there are pretty substantial mitigating factors in Mr Rika's favour," the judge said.

Outside court, Rika said he would have defended the charges, but could not afford to so.

He said the summary of facts painted a far worse picture than was the case.

"It came down to two choices, the welfare of my sick wife and new baby and caring for our other children - or the cows, and in my mind there was no contest," he said.

Ministry of Primary Industries spokesperson Brendan Mikkelsen disputed Mr Rika's attempts to play down the charges. The summary of facts and the photographs of calves spoke volumes.