Bikinis in cowshed
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
A Waikato lifestyle block owner has been fined $2,500 for failing to adequately feed 26 cattle and $1,000 for not complying with the requirements of a notice issued by an MPI animal welfare inspector.
He was also ordered to pay vet costs of $1,442.22.
Alastair Robert Kane Hughes, 59, appeared in Morrinsville District Court yesterday for sentencing on two animal welfare charges after the case was brought to court by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The charges relate to a visit to Hughes’s property, a 4 hectare lifestyle property in Morrinsville, by an animal welfare inspector on 23 July 2020 following a complaint from a member of the public.
At the time of the MPI inspection, Hughes was responsible for 26 cattle.
MPI animal welfare and NAIT compliance regional manager Brendon Mikkelsen says that where MPI identifies that people in charge of animals are failing to meet their legal requirements, they will apply the intervention most appropriate to the circumstances.
“After the inspection Mr Hughes was instructed to provide his cattle sufficient feed to meet their nutritional demands.
“People in charge of animals have an obligation to the welfare of those animals. The animals were Mr Hughes’s primary responsibility and he failed them.”
On 13 August 2020, an animal welfare inspector and veterinarian returned to the property.
After the first visit, Hughes continued to underfeed his cattle, providing them approximately half of their daily feed requirements resulting in the cattle continuing to lose weight.
Four of those cattle required urgent attention to improve their body condition.
Mikkelsen says, “All cases of animal abuse are unacceptable, people in charge of animals have an obligation to the welfare of those animals. The cattle in Mr Hughes’s care were suffering from severe malnutrition.
“In New Zealand, everyone must take responsibility for animal welfare.”
He says that MPI strongly encourages any member of the public who is aware of animal ill-treatment or cruelty to report it to the MPI animal welfare complaints freephone.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
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