Agriculture minister Andrew Muir, in a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly ahead of an extraordinary meeting of a Stormont committee on Monday, has outlined the events around the recent cull of 51 cattle.

The cull took place outside Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone at the end of June.

The farmer in the case had been convicted of various offences, including offences relating to animal welfare and a failure to dispose of dead cattle, with the judge handing down a deprivation order, effectively meaning the farmer had to dispose of assets (cattle).

According to the ministerial statement, officials within the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) gave the farmer three weeks to sell or dispose of the cattle.

However, only “a small number of animals” were removed over the period, leaving 51 cattle on the farm.

Lack of facilities

Among the options was to take the cattle off farm to be culled. However, it was concluded this was not possible due to the lack of suitable handling facilities, the temperament of the cattle and the suitability of the animals for transport, as some were horned.

“The department was unfortunately left with no reasonable alternative to comply with the court order, other than to euthanise the animals,” the Muir statement read.

On 29 June, 50 cattle were culled, with one animal shot the following morning.

Minister Muir insisted that “no animal was chased around fields by DAERA”, nor shot multiple times and there was no loud gunfire as silencers were used.

Collected

It was the legal responsibility of the farmer to dispose of any dead cattle, but in this case, the department decided to arrange collection the following morning.

The minister added that the culling was done in the “most suitable areas available” to minimise exposure to public view.

The cattle were across three sites and on two of these, culling was completed by 1.30pm.

However, on a third site, a local farmer approached DAERA staff indicating his interest in buying the cattle. Operations were halted and attempts were made to get the cattle from the field and onto a lorry.

“They chased the animals for a significant period of time and released them on to a public road which created further health and safety risks. While those actions delayed the completion of operations, ultimately, DAERA staff had to intervene as the individuals were unable to detain the animals, which by that stage were stressed,” the statement said.

Some protestors had also arrived on site and operations to cull the remaining cattle did not recommence until they had left.

Complex

Describing the case as “complex and distressing”, Minister Muir said his chief vet, Brian Dooher had identified the need for a “lessons learned exercise”, but this would now be done by an external person and be completed by early autumn.

He finished his statement by taking aim at some “highly irresponsible and very misleading” political and public commentary, as well as content on social media which had led to “disgraceful and unacceptable reactions”.

“That commentary has led to threats being made against some DAERA staff and multiple other staff being subjected to significant abuse online, in person and through written correspondence. That is not acceptable in any scenario,” said the minister.

He and his officials are due to brief the Stormont Agriculture committee at 10am on Monday.