20 Jul 2013

No charges over cattle deaths

5:00 pm on 20 July 2013

No charges will be laid over the deaths of 46 cows on a state government research facility in north Queensland.

AAP reports the heifers were left without water in a holding paddock at an agri-science research station in Ayr, south of Townsville, in May.

State agriculture minister John McVeigh said on Friday that disciplinary actions have been taken for negligence and there have been changes to management procedures.

"A full inquiry was undertaken by the police stock squad and no criminal charges will be laid," he told a budget estimates hearing in Brisbane. "It was an enormous disappointment to me as minister that we lost a number of cattle at the Swans Lagoon research property earlier this year."