Stephen Blair [pictured] must have really have upset some one in the powers that be.
Blair a 5th generation farmer grazier in the Holbrook (NSW) and Tallangatta (Vic) districts was prosecuted by the NSW & VIC Department of Primary Industries in June.
In that case Blair copped $17,300 in court fines for breaches of the Nation Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) on 77 head of cattle.
Back in the Albury court again this week Blair was this time prosecuted by the RSPCA and found guilty on 55 counts of failing to provide veterinary treatment to sheep and on two charges of failing to exercise care.
The magistrate fined Blair $35,000 and placed him on a 12 months good behaviour bond with stringent conditions.
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“Conditions of Blair’s bond include notifying the RSPCA in writing of the location, number and type of animals he is in charge of and advising in writing every three months of any change in animal particulars.
Blair must also allow RSPCA inspectors and veterinarians to inspect any animal he is in charge of upon reasonable notice and obey reasonable directions of the inspectors in relation to the care of any animal.”
(thanks to Agmates reader Peter)
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Agmates reader “Blow Fly” comments:
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“How disgraceful of a magistrate in Albury Court fining Stephen Blair $35000 or so for having fly blown sheep.
Every one has this problem in a fly wave and we all struggle to address the problem. Often flies in long woolled sheep when struck over the back are impossible to find, worse they hide in scrub etc and are found dead.
On one hand we have the parasite RSPCA funded by donations from yuppie city ite do gooders prosecuting struggling farmers and having massive fines imposed on them while on the other hand you have PETA and AWI trying to stop us taking precautionary measures to stop the high incidence of fly strike by banning mulesing.”
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Have Your say!
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When is the farming community going to admit that there are farmers out there who are not good farmers?
I do not know the specifics of the case but the magistrate (who would not be an unintelligent person) made a judgment based on what must have been very convincing evidence.
The fact a number of sheep had to be destroyed is disturbing and makes is case in point that neglect was happening.
There is always examples of dodgy lawyers, builders and even doctors yet when a farmer is shown to be unfit to farm other farmers jump to their defense accusing city people of not understanding their plight.
Not until the farming community starts to draw the line at bad farming practices will they ever get respect from the urban community they deserve.
The farming community will never have the respect it deserves from the urban sector for as long as the urban sector thinks that milk,meat and veggies all just appear on the Coles and Woolies shelves with a “hey presseto” and there it is.
And to top it all off, you most likely don’t give a hoot whether the product is Australian grown or not , as long as it is cheap.
As of the flyblown sheep, you summed it up in your first few words,“I do not know the specifics of the case”, so why don’t you shut your yap over something you know nothing about.
I doubt very much whether you or that magistrate would know which end of the sheep eats the grass and which end the manure comes out of.
What annoys me intensely is the high and mighty attitude that many in the urban community have and most likely the present lot running the RSPCA has.
They have ATTITUDE against country people, the bush and we peasants who they can’t understand why we stay living here.
They look down their corporate noses at us and think they know everything about running properties, they look at us and think those people are so simple and not ” WITH IT ” - they say you peasants have no idea we have the one right true way in the world.
I see this ARROGANT ATTITUDE as soon as I hit Brisbane. I don’t want to compete with them but a lot of them do.
They are the same people who force their version of democracy and free trade on the poor people of the world and it consists of forcing their corporations onto poor countries and getting rid of little farmers - THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES !
They are the current PROBLEM in the world.
Theres no doubt that some farmers are not up to scratch, just like there are normal greenies out there (see extremist version of Earth First).
However when the media sees a farmer thats not doing things absolutely correctly the attention is huge!
The main problem is that some farming practices are not fully understood to the general public and when they are “discovered” the result is usually dramatic and not fully researched. (I’m not saying having fly blown sheep are Normal practice!)
I don’t support people who do the wrong thing BUT I know that when this happens the laws put in place ALWAYS make it harder for law abiding citizens.
Take gun laws for example. A mad-man buys a gun on the black market and kills half a dozen people. So its in the media and people are afraid and so the urban pollies and voters vote to have tighter gun laws.
So now if you have less than 2000 acres to use a gun on you cant have a license or a gun. Yet small block owners and farmers who may breed horses or cattle or goats cannot use a gun to protect their stock, cannot control feral animals via humane shooting nor can they euthanasia stock humanely and quickly (ever wondered how you kill a cow with a broken leg when you have no gun and your 150km from the vet who charges about $700 just to come onto the property before they even see the cow).
This is the result of an quick fix to a problem, the good guys lose again.
As to Mr Blair’s predicament, It is a well known fact that under the current legal system you would get less of a fine or sentence for molesting a child or murdering someone! Just read the news to see that.
Yet he goes a row for having some sick sheep and some untraced eartags!
I agree that flyblown sheep are a terrible sight, Mr Blair probably doesn’t like to see his stock like that either. The farming stays together because the support doesn’t come from anywhere else!
This is the story of a real blowfly.
If you know this grubby little man, as I do,then the magistrate probably got it right.
Incidentally, Mr Blair was a recent Director and Treasurer of the Angus Society and self proclaimed policy maker. Little wonder the Angus camp has been through some turmoil lately.
Yes Monty,
The people that know Mr Blair or as you say “this grubby little man” know that he is nothing but an upstart and he has got what was coming to him and it is about time.
lets see what the slant will be when the bank takes the family farm of him, will it be an other poor little me again story, I am being picked on again.
Not to be too picky, but Rashida do you really think that you would get less than a $35k fine and a behaviour bond for murdering someone or molesting a child???
Matt -
I don’t know what kind of sheltered existence you lead but one only has to read the paper or watch the news to see the criminals walk right through our justice system.
A relation of mine was savagely beaten to death in a main street and the coroner said it was the most violent attack he had ever seen, yet the criminals who did it didn’t even get a slap on the wrist. No fine, no court appearance, no worries!
Slap on the wrist and I don’t think the men and boys were charged for the gang rape of a 4year old girl in a cape community. This was the point of the Intervention although the real purpose became clouded and it turned into a real mess. The cases that have been revealed through it are horrific! Most of the perpetrators have not been brought to justice (if indeed there is any).
In the NT in particular people have been murdered and bashed to the point where they are permanently disabled and yet no criminal has been jailed instead they are put on a good behavior bond and a fine of around $1000.
Or better yet the crims claim their parents abandoned them as a kid and they have issue so they beat up pensioners to feel better.
The justice system has allowed many many criminals to walk right through and I think in the case of the sheep the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
Ok - sorry - I was working under the assumption that you were referring to people actually found guilty of such charges in a court of law.