A Perthshire farmer is due in court accused of failing to keep animal carcasses away from other animals and obstructing inspectors from visiting his croft.
69-year-old Robert Young is facing a 14-charge complaint, which outlines a string of alleged failures at his farm between November 2021 and February this year.
Young, a farmer at Friarton Farm at St Martins, near Balbeggie, was not present when his case called at Perth Sheriff Court on Friday.
He faces allegations that on November 22, he obstructed Willie Johnstone, an animal health and welfare officer at Perth and Kinross Council by denying him entry to his farm for the purposes of an inspection.
Court papers allege Mr Johnstone returned to the farm with colleague Ashley Farquharson on various occasions between December 2021 and February 2022 to request information and documents and Young failed to provide these.
It is also alleged he acted threateningly on one occasion they visited by approaching Ms Farquharson in an aggressive manner, which led Mr Johnstone to believe he was going to assault her.
Carcass charges
Young faces further charges of obstructing Scottish Rural Payments Payments and Inspections Division in their attempts to inspect his farm.
He is charged with denying officer Neil Carmichael access to the farm on December 1 and then failing to provide him and colleague Marjorie Grant with documents and information when they returned on various occasions between December and February.
Further charges allege in December, Young failed to comply with requirements to ensure cattle and sheep carcasses were kept away from areas other animals or birds could find them.
He is also accused of repeating this misconduct with more sheep carcasses in February this year.
The farmer faces further allegations that, also that month, he failed to seek veterinary treatment for lameness among sheep he kept.
A separate charge of causing an animal unnecessary suffering alleges that in December, he failed to seek veterinary treatment for a sheep he knew was unwell and the animal had to be euthanised as a result.
He faces a further allegation that he did not check on one of his sheep with “suitable frequency” in February.
Historical allegations
More historical accusations of administrative mismanagement are also listed in court papers.
Young faces a charge that between the beginning of 2019 and the end of 2021, he failed to notify Scottish Ministers of the death of cattle he kept.
Another charge claims that in December 2021, he failed to record the death of a quantity of sheep in his holding register, as well as failing to do so on a second occasion in February.
At the end of January this year, Young is accused of moving six sheep, in breach of livestock legislation.
Sheriff Derek Hamilton continued his case without plea and fixed a hearing to take place on August 5.
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