By RNZ
An Auckland dairy farmer has been fined $3250 for illegally amputating the teats of seven cows.
Pieter Nicholaas Smit - who owns a property at Waiuku - was sentenced at the Morrinsville District Court for one representative animal welfare charge.
The 60-year-old admitted to using rubber rings as tourniquets on the animals when mastitis did not clear up after treatment with antibiotics.
An animal welfare inspector visited Smit's property at Waiuku in May 2020 after a complaint was made.