Coroner & Legal
Charlie’s cows: To whom it may concern …
• To whom it may concern,
On the 6/6/2014, I attended the McIntyre Sale Yards sale where 205 head of Charlie’s cattle were being sold by Landmark Goondiwindi. Charlie was also at the sale with the intention of purchasing the cow portion of his own cattle for their genetics, their temperament and all the other attributes which have a high dollar value especially to Charlie.
In addition to that, Charlie had an emotional connection to those cows and I witnessed this with my own eyes. Charlie climbed in to the pen with the cows and they knew it was him. He spoke to them and patted them, he was a broken man to see his cows sick, miserable and as poor as they could possibly be and still be alive.
After this the agents got to the pens of Charlie’s cows where he put himself front and centre standing up on the 3rd rail in direct sight of the agent. The bidding started and bids were being taken by other cattle meat buyers. Charlie was trying everything in his power to get the agents to take his bids but they kept ignoring him. Other people at the sale were yelling out to the agents telling them Charlie was trying to bid and they ignored them.
Charlie called out to the agent again and they finally acknowledged him. Charlie said to the agents I’m trying to bid on these cows, they said to him that he was not a recognised buyer and if he wanted to bid he had to go to the office and fill out an application form.
Charlie was gutted, crushed and he stepped down off the rail and walked over to another pen out of the way and broke down. I then walked to where some of his cattle were being sold and started to bid. The agent called out to me and said these cattle will be knocked down to you.
I hadn’t even looked at those cows but when I did there were only four and they were in the worst condition with cancer eyes and they were lame so I didn’t buy them. I walked over to Charlie and tried to console him and after a good while he settled enough to go over to the bloke who bought the cows and was a meat buyer.
Charlie asked him if he would sell them to him and he said no so Charlie asked him for just one of the cows, a cow that was Charlie’s pet since a calf and now a stud cow, the buyer said no again.
At this point Charlie just walked away and left the sale. I stayed at the sale and bought 71 Angus Heifers of Charlies from Landmark and I did not have an account with them and still do not have one with them.
After the sale I went to the Landmark office in Goondiwindi to pay for the cows and I spoke to an agent at Landmark who said they were under instructions from head office not to let Charlie buy the cattle.
Regards,
Jason Missen
• To Whom It May Concern
This is to certify that I examined 35 cows, 2 bulls and 175 weaner calves for Paul Fearnley at the McIntyre saleyards, Goondiwindi at 8.30am 06/06/2014. The cattle were in the sale pens and had arrived the previous night for sale by auction later today. The cattle were predominantly Angus & Angus cross & Murray Grey cross. The calves were extremely poor and stunted in growth. The majority of the calves were in the lowest body condition score (BCS) of 1/5- with prominent backbones, hips & shoulder bones, visible ribs, skeletal outline with recessed tail head. Many had evidence of skin conditions and previous “pinkeye” (infection bovine keratoconjunctivitis), some were partially blinded. The calves were very small and hairy for their apparent age. The 2 bulls, a Hereford and bally-faced Murray grey were also BCS 1 condition score. The hereford had bilateral pinkeye scarring. The cows were also BCS 1, they were cachectic with many only just strong enough to stand.
These cattle are in desperately poor condition, they appear to have been starved. In my opinion they should not be transported on welfare grounds. They should be rested and hand fed immediately or many will die shortly. Any queries please contact me.
Any queries please contact me,
Mac Kneipp BVSc
Border Veterinary Surgery
Goondiwindi
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