A retired farmer has been banned from keeping animals after he admitted exposing pigs and cattle to unsanitary conditions at two tumbledown farms in Perthshire.
Landowner Iain Grindlay kept his livestock in horrific conditions, surrounded by dead animals, commercial waste and broken down vehicles.
The 79-year-old appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted two charges of failing to ensure the welfare of his pigs and cattle at land near Aberfeldy in March 2022.
He had previously admitted a similar charge of exposing pigs to machinery and scrap metal in 2016.
The farmer made headlines in 2012 when he lost a bitter £100,000 legal battle with neighbours.
Pigs ‘now deceased’
Grindlay pled guilty to failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of his animals were met at his home Tomdarroch Farm, near Fearnan, and at Lower Duallin Farms, Lawers.
Court papers state that between March 1 and 22, 2022, he failed to provide adequate care and treatment for his pigs.
He did not provide them with a suitable environment and the pigs – “now deceased, ” according to the charge – were exposed to items of domestic and commercial waste, as well as the carcasses of dead pigs and cattle.
Grindlay further didn’t give his pigs adequate shelter, sanitary conditions and proper nutrition.
He admitted that he failed to protect them from suffering, injury or disease.
The court heard that Grindlay also failed to give cows at Lower Duallin Farm proper care and treatment – by failing to provide them with with adequate nutrition – during the same time period.
Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton said that Grindlay lives in a static caravan on his 35-acre pig farm at Tomdarroch.
“The land is described as being strewn with vast amounts of scrap, alongside derelict caravans and vehicles,” he said.
“The farm is made up of the metal frame of a shed.
“There is no shelter to provide any form of housing for his animals.”
He added the units on the farm are in a state of “extreme disrepair”.
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, confirmed that Grindlay retired from farming in March 2022.
“He does not care for any animals at the moment,” she said.
Sheriff Eric Brown deferred sentence for background reports.
Full details of the offence will be read out at the next hearing.
The sheriff imposed an interim ban, disqualifying Grindlay from keeping, owning or taking charge of animals for any purpose.
Land row
Grindlay was admonished for the analogous 2016 offence, after the court heard he had agreed to hand over his firearms licence to Police Scotland.
In 2012, Grindlay lost a £100,000 legal battle with his neighbour and was ordered to get off land belonging to Margaretha Verkaik, who ran an eco-cult and called herself the Reverend Mother.
The dispute, which ran for almost a decade, began shortly after Ms Verkaik and her husband bought Boreland Farm near Aberfeldy in 2001.
She agreed to let Grindlay’s cattle graze on part of her land and in return, he carried out odd jobs.
But when the cattle began grazing on other parts of the land, Grindlay refused to remove them.
The court was told that several clashes took place between the pig farmer and visitors who arrived for alternative lifestyle holidays at the eco-centre.
At one point, Grindlay was said to have driven a herd of rampaging cattle towards members of the eco-cult.
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