A south Waikato dairy farmer has been sentenced to community work and fined for neglecting his stock, which led to 12 cows starving to death.
Tony Clayton, from Atiamuri, is disqualified from owning or being in charge of animals for two years and was fined $3400 in the Rotorua District Court, on Friday.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of neglecting animals in his care, and reckless ill-treatment of animals which caused their death.
Ministry for Primary Industries said 12 cows starved to death in two separate instances last winter, because they were kept in paddocks with insufficient feed.
And the neglect charge involved 14 malnourished calves which were left severely underweight and with diseases as a result of too much competition at the calf feeder and nothing else significant in the paddock for them to eat.
