Cork farmer given 'one more chance' after 17 rotting calf corpses discovered on his land

A Cork farmer who was convicted of neglect under the Animal Health and Welfare Act following the discovery of 17 rotting calf carcasses on his land has been given “one more chance” to get his affairs in order by a District Court judge before his five-month suspended prison sentence is activated.

Ger Canty, 67, of Farnalough, Newcestown, Bandon, Co. Cork appeared before Judge Monika Leech at Clonakilty District Court.

Meg Burke BL, acting for the Department of Agriculture, told the court that Mr Canty had previously been handed three concurrent five-month prison sentences in November 2023 after pleading guilty to three charges relating to the neglect of cattle at his farm.

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She said that Mr Canty’s sentences had been suspended for two years on strict conditions and that he had agreed to no longer keep female animals and had signed an undertaking to that effect, albeit “reluctantly”. He also agreed to comply with any and all directions and instructions from the Department of Agriculture.

Ms Burke said that the primary concern of the prosecution was that no breeding animals would be kept on the farm. She said that subsequent inspections, however, indicated that Mr Canty was not abiding by the terms of the farm plan he had agreed to. She said: “He was given very strict conditions and it would appear he has paid no heed and the message doesn’t seem to be landing with Mr Canty.”

Ms Burke said the Department would be satisfied if Mr Canty “just followed through” on what he had agreed to. She said that on a visit to the farm on November 4, 2024 there were 76 cows and 23 calves observed. Ms Burke said that typically, the rate of off-farm movements to the knackery were between 1 per cent and 5 per cent for the average farm but in the defendant’s case, it had been far higher. She told the court that in 2021, 38 per cent of off-farm movements from Mr Canty’s farm went to the knackery, in 2022 it was 68 per cent, in 2023, 23 per cent and in 2024, 24 per cent.

Giving evidence, Edward Myers, senior veterinary inspector for Cork South, told the court that he had been dealing with Mr Canty since 2017. He said that he initially visited the farm at Newcestown on April 28, 2022 because there had been no new births of calves registered with the department that year, which was highly unusual.

He said that when he visited the farm, he found a total of 17 dead calves in various stages of decomposition, some of which had been scavenged by dogs. He said that the sheds were dirty and in poor condition and there was no clean bedding available for the live calves, which were untagged and “running around”. Mr Canty was instructed to dispose of the animals and to sell the remainder at the earliest opportunity, but on a subsequent visit in February 2023, Mr Myers found another six dead and decomposing animals at the farm.

Mr Myers said that Mr Canty had a “long history of failure to comply” and his primary concern was for animal welfare at the farm. He said that on his most recent visit on November 4, 2024, he observed 76 cows, including 21 heifers under 12 months and two calves under six months. He told the court that it was “concerning” that Mr Canty had so many replacement females at the farm and it would be a fair supposition to guess that most of the cows were in calf. Mr Myers said that, in his opinion, it was likely that “one third of calves born on that farm will die based on his track record and the current cleanliness of the calving shed”.

Mr Myers told the court it was his opinion that the high death rate among calves at Mr Canty’s farm was “down to poor animal husbandry and care for the animals”. He said that department computer systems identified herds with high mortality rates and Mr Canty’s farm had been consistently showing up on that list for the last number of years.

He said that there appeared to be “an unwillingness to change”, but there were other options open to Mr Canty, such as renting his land, selling silage, keeping dry cattle, tillage or farm sharing. Mr Myers said that, in January 2024, he asked Mr Canty if he would comply with the farm plan, to which he replied “the plan was not his and he was not going to abide by it”.

Defence solicitor David O’Meara said that Mr Canty lived on the farm with his partner and he was asking the court to give his client “one more chance” as farming is “all he knows”. He said that Mr Canty’s herd had suffered from an outbreak of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), which had contributed to the high number of calves going to the knackery. He said that the numbers “had dipped” but had since improved. He said that Mr Canty had undertaken a vaccine programme for his cattle and was willing to engage with an agricultural consultant and was confident he could “get the figures down within proper limits”.

Judge Leech said that the defence was effectively asking the court to ignore the previous order “and let him do what he wants”. She said that the terms and conditions of the suspension were very clear and Mr Canty had “completely failed to comply with it and, from what you are saying, he has no intention to comply with it”.

The judge said that there was “nothing to be gained” by sending Mr Canty to prison. She asked Mr Myers to write “a very specific letter” to Mr Canty at the earliest opportunity to ask him to focus very seriously on the options open to him. She said that at the next hearing she expected to see “concrete evidence that realistic efforts are being made” by Mr Canty to remove the female animals from his farm and investigate alternatives. The case was adjourned until December 19.

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