Forest of Dean farmer failed to care for animals for 'long period'

A Forest of Dean farmer has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years for consistently failing to care for them.

Allen Hall, 53, was also given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Hall, of Bulley Lane in Churcham, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £8,000 in costs.

It came after he admitted 30 offences relating to animal welfare and disease control.

Councillor Dave Norman said the disqualification was a "significant decision and reflects the seriousness of this case".

He said that Hall "failed to care properly for his livestock over a long period of time and consistently ignored advice given to him".

Hall was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges brought by Gloucestershire County Council's trading standards service at a hearing on 7 September.

The authority investigated after receiving complaints from the public about the welfare of his animals.

Trading standards officers later visited his farm on numerous occasions and discovered he failed to follow any of the advice given and continued to keep animals in unclean conditions without sufficient access to clean bedding.

The animals were forced to wade through deep mud to access mouldy food and dirty water and were kept in inadequately fenced fields with numerous hazards to their health.

In one case, an extremely sick calf was found to have pneumonia but had not received veterinary treatment. Another cow had with painful eye problems which were not identified and treated promptly.

Vets from the Animal Plant Health Agency confirmed that some of these animals suffered unnecessarily, the council said.

Other offences included failure to test cattle for bovine tuberculosis before moving them off his land, failure to report animal deaths in a timely manner, failure to report the movement of sheep onto his land and failure to properly record the use of veterinary medicines, all of which are designed to restrict spread of animal disease.

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