[Victorian Farmer]

landowner who left more than 350 sheep and cows to starve to death on his Perthshire farm has been barred from keeping animals for life.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the remains of the animals were found at John Ferguson's farm in Alyth.
[Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said Ferguson's guilty plea meant he could only serve a maximum of two months in prison.
Instead, he sentenced the 50-year-old to 300 hours unpaid work and banned him from keeping animals.
The court had heard Ferguson simply left the animals to starve to death on the 700-acre farm.  should be shot and left on the floor  Numerous skeletons  Following a tip-off, SSPCA inspectors found a scene of unparalleled carnage on his land.
They discovered the skeletal remains of 340 sheep and 14 cows.
The court was told that two thirds of the surviving herd of cattle were "extremely emaciated.
One cow had died giving birth and had simply been left with her dead calf's leg protruding.[
Fiscal depute Catherine Fraser said: "On 23 February 2012, the SSPCA received an anonymous letter of complaint in respect of the farm.
"The farm inspection went ahead on 28 and 29 February, during which time the extent of mismanagement at the farm was discovered.
"The farm had over 1,120 sheep and a herd of 150 cattle. Many were emaciated. In some of the fields there was no access for the animals to shelter from adverse conditions.Visible remains She added: "There was little to no grazing across the farm. Across the farm, there were numerous animal carcasses in various states of decomposition.
Those animals that had recently died were emaciated. Rings of wool were observed on fields where sheep carcasses had lain.
In total, 340 sheep and 14 cow carcasses were removed to the knacker's yard. In a number of fields cattle in very poor condition were observed. The skeletons of the beasts were clearly visible."
]The 50-year-old farmer and businessman left the dead animals on land at Welton of Creuchies farm in Alyth over a five month spell last winter.
He admitted two charges relating to the unnecessary suffering of beasts on his farm estate.
]The farmer, who has a herd of 1120 sheep, failed to provide a suitable environment for his livestock between 1 October 2011 and 23 February last year.
He failed to remove 354 animal carcasses, having failed to provide adequate nutrition, a suitable diet or appropriate sheltered accommodation for his herd of cattle and flock of sheep.
]Ferguson also admitted failing to protect the animals from injury, suffering or disease by failing to get them treatment for liver fluke and failing to monitor their welfare.

[mojocafa]

I saw this on the local news tonight, only one comment to make...ba****d, he'll get his comeuppance
Mojo

[in the hills]

 

[Rosemary]

Appalling. I've never understood anything less than a life ban for cruelty or neglect. If you've done it once, you can do it again.

[Fleecewife]

You wonder though how, with so many corpses lying around, it took so long for someone to bring it to the attention of the authorities 

[Chris H]

Surely this was known locally, why did no one report it sooner. As to the farmer.................shove him in a room with no food for a few months.

[lachlanandmarcus]

well done to whoever did report it in the end - otherwise there could have been even more 

[Rosemary]

When I had Smokey in livery, the YO rented grazing to a sheep grazier. Oh my, what a state the sheep were in. One local farmer took the ones with fly srike home and treated them at her own expense. The YO, a former farmer, shop the ones in most distress (nine, I think). Local people were carrying water to the weakest ones. Dan and I walked through the field (I was in tears) and about half were grazing on their knees.

We reported it, YO reported it, local folk reported it - the SSPCA told us they were "building a case".

[Womble]

 
I'm sure there must be more than meets the eye on this story. The poor chap must have been suffering himself in some way to allow that to happen to his animals.

[Brucklay]

I read somewhere the man in question has serious depression - although not an excuse by any means - I do believe this is the route cause for this horrendous situation. My OH's family live in that rough area and everyone knows everyone's business (work and private) so personally I think someone if not several people would have know what was going on - surely the man needed help - was there absolutely nobody there to give a hand - or maybe he refused it - who knows


"There but for the grace of God, go I"

[Marches Farmer]

If you're feeling suicidal then you're not seeing the world the same way most people do and if no-one else is aware of the condition of your stock .....  Not condoning what he did, just saying there's probably more going on than  attention-grabbing media coverage might suggest.

[Backinwellies]

150 cattle and over 1000 sheep is hardly a one man job.... some thing had gone seriously wrong here.  As horrendous as this sounds I'm sure there is a lot more to the story ...  No real farmer would allow his animals to suffer like this unless he was seriously ill himself. God bless him he has to live with what happened.

[plumseverywhere]

He must have been going through hell to let this happen. THis was once his livelihood  - depression is an awful, lifestopping illness, as many of us discussed in another thread    Sounds like this poor man had no family or friends anywhere to ensure he got the help he needed - at the cost of all these poor animals. It must go beyond that feeling of "no matter how low I feel, my animals need me..." to just utter dispair and inability to do anything.