A Keady based farmer has been found guilty of multiple animal welfare offences.
23 year old Tiernan McMullen of Granary Drive, Keady, Armagh was convicted today at Newry Court of five charges under the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. Mr McMullen was convicted on three charges of failure to ensure the needs of an animal were met. Two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and one charge of failure to dispose of an animal carcase. Mr McMullen was convicted in his absence and fined £1,200 plus £15 offender levy. The case arose following a welfare inspection carried out by DAERA Welfare and Enforcement Officers on the 23 February 2024. On inspection, a large number of animals were found to be in poor condition with no access to feed. Some animals had no access to dry lying and one bovine carcase was found among living animals. In addition four sick animals, one of which was euthanised by a DAERA veterinary officer as in their opinion it was suffering unnecessarily, had not been isolated for appropriate treatment. The only feed identified on the premises was a pile of grass silage in an open yard which the animals were lying and defecating on. This silage was contaminated and was unsuitable both in quality and quantity to be a feed supply for the almost 100 animals present in the yard at that time.
The animals in this yard had access to unsuitable shelter that was deep with slurry and had defective roofing near the entrance which had the potential to injure the animals.
