Farmer Graham Anstey fined for kicking cow in Bridport Published duration 1 May 2018

image copyright Dorset Police image caption Graham Anstey was captured attacking a cow on CCTV at a slaughterhouse in Bridport

A farmer who kicked a cow before pushing its head into a concrete floor and pulling on its tail has been fined.

Graham Anstey, 43, was seen on CCTV spending 30 minutes trying to "violently" move the collapsed animal at an abattoir in Bridport, Dorset, before abandoning it on a ramp.

He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a cow, failing to record livestock movements and breaching TB disease controls.

Poole magistrates fined him £850.

Anstey, of Trackside Farm near Yeovil in Somerset, was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards prosecution costs during the hearing on Friday.

image copyright Dorset County Council image caption The cow was found abandoned on the delivery ramp at SJ Norman and Sons in Bridport

Dorset County Council said Anstey arrived at SJ Norman and Sons slaughterhouse at 04:00 BST on 14 April 2016 to drop off 17 cattle.

One of the cows was only able to walk as far as the delivery ramp which prompted Anstey to start attacking it, the authority said.

"Anstey was seen on recovered CCTV footage kicking, vigorously pushing and violently pulling the tail of this cow to get it to move," a statement from the council's trading standards department said.

The council said the injured cow was still on the ramp two hours later when it was discovered by slaughterhouse staff after Anstey had driven away.

It was later humanely euthanised.

'Unacceptable'

Anstey claimed it was an "isolated incident" of which he was "ashamed", the council said.

It added that further inquiries revealed Anstey had risked introducing TB to "his farm and surrounding farms" by failing to follow correct procedure before delivering the animals to the slaughterhouse.

Neil Martin, principal trading standards officer at Dorset County Council, said: "Causing unnecessary suffering to livestock is unacceptable and incidents like this would always lead to investigation."