Haulier caused harm with ‘cramped’ trailer

By Chris Tindall

A livestock haulier in Dorset has been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to 35 calves after transporting them in a trailer designed for sheep.

Weymouth Magistrates’ Court heard how haulier John Pritchard collected the group of calves from a farm near Sherborne in his double-deck livestock trailer, which had insufficient headroom on the lower deck for the animals to stand.

Pritchard then drove the calves for two hours to a slaughterhouse in Wiltshire.

When he arrived the calves were unloaded and a member of staff noticed that the animals on the lower deck had injuries on their backs where they had bumped against the roof supports of the upper deck.

The court heard that some of these injuries were up to 10cm long and an examination of the carcasses after slaughter revealed deep bruising.