A farmer has been banned from keeping farm animals for life after lame, thin and 'dangerous' animals were found on his property.

Charles Geoffrey Rogers, 75 of Traboe Farm, St Martin, Helston pleaded guilty to three animal neglect charges when he appeared before Truro magistrates yesterday afternoon after the prosecution was bought by Cornwall Council.

He pleaded guilty to not treating three visibly severely lame cattle, failing to provide a suitable diet for his thin cattle and not keeping sexually mature but young cattle separate from entirely sexually mature males. Three other charges were withdrawn.

The court heard that concerns were raised by a neighbour of Rogers, a Mr Trewin, who became very concerned about the welfare of Roger's cattle.

A vet and animal health inspector was sent to the farm to observe the condition of the cattle on March 2, 2021.

It not possible for them to go into the field of about 70 cows, roaming cattle and at least one bull as it was deemed to dangerous for the vet as the animals were too aggressive.

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Mr Rogers provided the cattle with one bail which they readily ate but there was no evidence of them having been fed before said Cornwall Council's solicitor.

"The vet could see at least six of the cattle were too thin with their bones clearly visible through their thick coats," he said.

"One of the thin cows had an estimated three month calf which was clearly stunted as its head was too big for its body and was clearly very lame on its right rear leg. There were two other adult cattle which were clearly very thin."

Rogers was given a written warning by the council

On another visit on March 17, 2021, it was found that the conditions for animals had improved as they appeared to have been receiving more feed and they were more calm but there was still lameness in the herds and the bull was still there with sexually mature females.

"Mr Rogers had expressed interest in retiring and leaving farming and had been farming for 50 years,2 said the prosecution. "The farming life has been giving him a harder time each passing year and he wanted to reduce the stock to more manageable levels. Everyone involved in this case thinks he should give up farming. There have been reports on the decline of the the farm for a number of years."

All the animals have now been removed from the farm, he said.

Defending Rogers, his solicitor Mr Hazlewood said as the grandson of farmers and married to a farmer's daughter he knew the way farmer's worked and how difficult it was to come to the decision that they were no longer up to farming.

"I know of two or three people who have carried on farming longer than they should have done but felt unable to give it up. For them it is all they have known.

"It is sometimes very difficult for someone to make that big decision."

He said Roger's farm had not made a profit for three or four years and his last set of accounts showed he had made a loss of £13,000. He said Rogers was a man of severely limited income with around £4,000 in savings.

Banning Rogers from keeping, transporting or being involved in any farm animals for the rest of his life, magistrates told him this was an "extremely serious" matter.

He was also ordered to pay Cornwall Council's costs of £6,290.41 and a court surcharge of £22. He was given 128 months to pay at £350 a month. His guilty plea was taken into account