A Burren farmer whose cattle herd suffered 63 fatalities over a winter period has escaped a jail term for the animals’ neglect.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford said that he accepted that father of three, Ivan O’Driscoll (48) of Fanore More, Fanore, Co Clare, became "overwhelmed" by the circumstances he faced.

Judge Comerford said that he accepted that there was "no ill intent" on Mr O’Driscoll’s part or callous view that the animals should be treated in such a way because money could be made.

In October 2019, Mr O’Driscoll had 176 registered cattle on his lands after spending around €80,000, the proceeds of personal injury compensation from a 2014 road traffic accident, on new dairy calves.

'No experience'

Counsel for Mr O’Driscoll, Patrick Whyms BL said that the spend “proved to be the worst thing possible”, as Mr O’Driscoll became ‘overwhelmed’ and had no experience in rearing dairy calves.

Mr O’Driscoll had taken over the running of the farm after his brother had died in a farm accident and the O’Driscolls had cared for only suckler cattle before the €80,000 spend on the dairy calves.

Prosecution counsel Lorcan Connolly BL said that 63 on-farm cattle deaths were recorded on Mr O’Driscoll’s lands in the winter of 2019/2020 that included 27 carcases found on his lands on 1 April 2020.

It was a model of farming that this man should not have embarked upon relative to his experience

Photos were shown to the court of the carcases in various stages of decomposition.

Mr Connolly stated: “It was a model of farming that this man should not have embarked upon relative to his experience.”

In a report read out in court, Mr O’Driscoll’s vet Joseph O’Loughlin said that Mr O’Driscoll failed “to dispose of the dead animals in a timely manner and this is unforgivable”.

Build up of corpses

He said: “The build up of corpses was extremely unsightly and created a health hazard.”

Judge Comerford said that he accepted that Mr O’Driscoll had made a mistake in purchasing the calves that had the consequence of a large number of cattle suffering.

Judge Comerford said that due to the sheer number of cattle and levels of suffering, a suspended prison term was merited and imposed a one-year suspended prison term.

Mr Whyms said “this is a very sad and tragic story” and Mr O’Driscoll’s farm enterprise has since downscaled to just 18 animals.

Mr Whyms said Mr O’Driscoll is on the farm assist payment scheme, while the family has also had to rely on St Vincent de Paul support due to the financial difficulties brought about by the animal deaths and failure to manage the herd.

In a report read out by Mr Whyms, vet Joseph O’Loughlin said that Mr O’Driscoll had purchased approximately 150 dairy-bred calves in spring 2019.

He said that “deprived of their mother’s milk, they are susceptible to a large range of viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases".

He said: “Mr O’Driscoll, I believe, had little experience in the care of such animals and therefore a catastrophe was always a possibility.”

Horribly wrong

Mr O’Loughlin said that things “went horribly wrong” in the autumn of 2019 and the calves were overwhelmed with disease and despite Mr O’Driscoll’s and his best efforts, "a large number of calves" succumbed.

"Mr O’Driscoll purchased a large volume of veterinary medicines both parenterally and orally, but, unfortunately, these seemed to have little effect," he said.

“I believe that, at this stage, Mr O’Driscoll was doing his best for the animals, but quickly became overwhelmed by the deteriorating situation.

“He took my advice at all times, but, unfortunately, all his efforts proved futile."

He said: “In summary, I believe that Mr O’Driscoll in purchasing so many young animals in such a short period and from so many different sources created a problem which ultimately overwhelmed him."

“He had no experience in calf rearing and I think any of us would have faced huge difficulty dealing with the problems that faced him when confronted with such a difficult scenario."

“He took my advice in relation to the sick animals and we gave the best treatment I had available.”