Company fined $48,750 for leaving cattle deep in mud

FFPM Grazing was ordered to pay fines and legal costs for grazing cattle in mud. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
FFPM Grazing was ordered to pay fines and legal costs for grazing cattle in mud. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
Hundreds of cattle were left belly-deep in mud and unsheltered in the freezing temperatures of a harsh Southland winter, a court has heard.

FFPM Grazing Ltd was this week fined $48,750 for failing to meet the behavioural needs of its animals.

The Invercargill District Court heard that in 2020 the newly incorporated company hired two inexperienced farmers to manage its livestock on leased land in Tuatapere.

The Ministry for Primary Industries summary said the large amount of cattle on a small amount of land created issues with mud which the company failed to address despite warnings from the two farm workers and the property owner.

By April the next year, before the bitter Southland winter, the mud in the paddocks was gumboot high, the summary said.

The firm was also warned about its use of a silage stack, which it kept fixed in one spot, despite warnings.

This meant cows trotted over the same ground to feed, creating more mud.

MPI said the area around the stack where the animals were meant to feed was up to their bellies in mud.

One of the cows died in and due to the mud next to the silage stack and, when notified by an employee, the directors made no change to how the animals were being managed.

By winter, 420 beef cattle, known as the "Wagyu calves", were contained in one paddock under slurry-like conditions, with their coats caked in mud.

The business was also charged with not providing "man-made nor natural shelter" for the Wagyu calves in a paddock which had up to 40kmh winds coming off the Southern Ocean at -6.175°C.

That winter, there were multiple consecutive days of rain leaving the muddy ground pooled with surface water.

A senior scientist and expert in animal behaviour quoted in the report said: "wet and muddy conditions as in the provided photos ... are likely to lead to lying deprivation, stress and fatigue".

FFPM Grazing did not alter its grazing practices even after one cattle beast died in the mud.
FFPM Grazing did not alter its grazing practices even after one cattle beast died in the mud.
In court, defence counsel Sean McIntyre noted that this prosecution was the first of its kind involving mud and providing animals adequate opportunity to display their normal behaviours.

He said that the animals, unlike in other cases of this nature, had no evidence of disease, infestation or malnutrition and that the negative effect of his client’s practices was to their "behavioural welfare".

In sentencing, Judge Russell Walker said: "This offending involves significant animal welfare issues of cattle left in paddocks and unable to perform their normal behaviour".

However, he acknowledged that none of the cows were "hungry, dehydrated or diseased" or needed to be euthanised.

The judge also said the cows had a low mortality rate, with only two out of 2000 dying in the conditions.

The 0.01% dead was "regrettable" but "well within industry norms", the judge said.

He fined the company $48,750 and ordered it to pay $15,000 to the prosecution.

ella.scott-fleming@odt.co.nz