A WHITLAND farmer has been jailed for eighteen weeks after being convicted of a string of serious animal welfare and cattle-identification offences at Penycraig Farm.

Ten-year ban from keeping animals

Thomas Raymond Jones, aged 70, of St John Street, Whitland, appeared before Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Nov 27), where he was handed an immediate custodial sentence and banned from owning or keeping animals for ten years.

The court also ordered that no application to lift the ban can be made for at least five years.

Jones was convicted following a series of prosecutions brought by Carmarthenshire County Council, relating to the condition and treatment of cattle and a dog kept at the farm between February and March 2024.

Dog left without suitable food, environment or vet care

Magistrates found Jones guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal—a dog—by failing to provide a suitable environment, diet, or veterinary treatment. He had pleaded not guilty but was convicted after trial on 21 October.

For this offence alone, the court said the matter crossed the custody threshold because of the seriousness, Jones’s lack of remorse, and his failure to engage with probation.

Cattle left lame, exposed to carcasses and inadequate shelters

Jones was also found guilty of failing to meet the needs of multiple bovine animals by not providing dry lying areas, allowing cattle access to a cow carcass, and failing to provide feed or water to various animals. One charge relating to failing to feed a cow and calf was dismissed at a later hearing.

In another case, he was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to nine lame bovines by failing to obtain treatment.

Magistrates imposed a concurrent eight-week sentence for these welfare-needs offences, leaving the overall prison term at eighteen weeks.

Major breaches of cattle ID and veterinary medicine rules

Jones was additionally convicted of:

• failing to keep purchase records for veterinary medicines
• failing to record the acquisition and use of Closamectin
• failing to retain documentation for at least five years
• failing to notify the deaths of two cows without passports
• failing to register two bulls
• failing to tag bison within the required time
• failing to report missing or destroyed passports
• failing to supply cattle-tracking information to Welsh Ministers
• failing to notify movements of cattle
• intentionally obstructing an inspector during a Veterinary Medicines Regulations investigation
• failing to collect and secure animal by-products, including carcasses, on two separate occasions

Many of these matters carried no separate penalty but contributed to the overall disqualification and deprivation orders.

Animals seized and removed from Jones’s control

Under Section 33 of the Animal Welfare Act, magistrates ordered that Jones be deprived of ownership of all remaining cattle and calves on the holding, identified by their official tag numbers in the court register. The animals are to be removed and disposed of as directed.

More than £26,000 in costs

Jones was ordered to pay £26,805.10 in prosecution costs, along with a £154 victim services surcharge.
A collection order was made, with the full balance due by 28 May 2026.

Sentence

• 18 weeks’ immediate custody
• Eight weeks concurrent on secondary welfare charges (overall term remains 18 weeks)
• £26,805.10 costs
• £154 surcharge
• Disqualified from owning or keeping animals for ten years
• Deprivation order removing all animals from his control

The court emphasised that the offences were “so serious” that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.