Western District farmer faces large fine and 10-year ban for animal welfare charges

Nalangil farmer and well-known local sporting identity Joseph Dare is facing a large fine and 10-year ban from owning cattle. He faced court on Monday.

Western District farmer Joseph Dare will have to pay $75,000 and faces a 10-year ban for his mistreatment of cattle spanning 19 months.

The well-known Dreeite farmer pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Colac Magistrates’ Court on Monday, with the magistrate citing his case “one of the worst” he’d seen.

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action prosecutor Scott Ward presented photographs and a “lengthy” summary to the court on 72 charges spanning from July 2022 to January 2024.

Mr Dare first faced 33 charges in September related to animal cruelty, and 10 related to allegations from 2022. He was then charged in April with a further 13 aggravated animal cruelty offences and 16 animal cruelty charges for alleged offending.

The charges included unreasonably failing to provide veterinary or other appropriate attention or treatment for the animal and failing to provide a confined animal with proper and sufficient food.

Mr Ward said several cattle were found with body score conditions of 0-1 with cases of high egg worm counts, pink eye, lung disease, pneumonia, muscle damage, trauma, starvation and dehydration. He said a veterinarian described some cattle as “like skeletons”.

The court heard Mr Dare told police he purchased poorer cattle to fatten and “make money out of”, and the business had grown from 200 milking cows to 2000. He had one farmhand after losing three staff in 2023.

He had been interviewed multiple times, and DEECA issued several notices to comply and Dairy Australia information packets.

Mr Dare’s legal representative said Mr Dare shown co-operation with authorities and a series of events had led to a “perfect storm”.

“It just became an impossible task in managing what was occurring,” he said.

“There was an attempt to start offloading, downsizing and minimising, he was doing it all on his own.”

Magistrate Franz Holzer said if the matter had reached a contest mention, he would have imposed a jail sentence.

“This is the one of the worst examples of animal neglect and cruelty I’ve seen, and that’s not a thing of pride, it’s a thing of great shame for Mr Dare,” Magistrate Holzer said.

“His property could be described as an animal killing field.

“Let’s be frank about it, Mr Dare is not a fit and proper person on the evidence I’ve seen.”

He noted however a number of references were supplied to the court that were prosocial and supportive of his community roles in the Geelong and Hampden football leagues.

Magistrate Holzer imposed a $75,000 fine and a 10-year ban from owning or caring for cattle, starting in late August.

“He was growing his business too quickly, he didn’t have the financial capacity … It seems to me he was out of his depth, well and truly,” he said.

Mr Dare farmed on about 1000ha in the Nalangil district, about 15km west of Colac, and was formerly a player on Carlton’s AFL list. He is also premiership coach at the Alvie Football Club. It is understood his properties are advertised for sale.