A 73-year-old Kaikohe farmer has been sentenced to community work for failing to supply the physical and health needs of 18 cattle which became severely dehydrated in June 2007.
Gordon Howarth was sentenced in Kaikohe District Court to perform 250 hours of community work, and banned for 10 years from owning or having authority over any animals. He was ordered to pay a solicitor's fee of $750.
Howarth was not convicted on another charge of ill-treatment of the cattle.
Both charges carry a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment, and/or a $25,000 fine.
He had been convicted of the charge following a defended hearing earlier this year.
Judge Keith de Ridder characterised Howarth's offence as an omission rather than deliberate flouting of his responsibility.
Howarth - who kept the cattle in a paddock which had troughs but no water supply - failed to get the animals water at least every second day as needed when he became ill, as he did not make an arrangement for its provision in his absence.
When an animal welfare inspector managed to supply the cattle with water from a neighbour's property, they drank an estimated 1000 litres in an hour. Cattle require between 50 and 80 litres of water a day.
The conviction was Howarth's third under animal welfare legislation, which the judge noted was unprecedented, said SPCA lawyer Grant Anson.
At the time of the offence, Howarth was on bail awaiting sentence over charges laid in December 2006, relating to offending in February that year.
The judge considered that a sentence of community work was the least restrictive sentence that he could impose, Mr Anson said.
Howarth should have recognised his inability to look after his animals and moved on from farming a long time ago, said SPCA senior inspector Jim Boyd.
"With Mr Howarth's abysmal record of farming, we had to stop him from owning or having control over animals."
Mr Boyd said he was satisfied with the outcome of the case.
Farmers in serious difficulty with their animals could get advice and help from the SPCA and other organisations such as Federated Farmers, he said.
