Hamilton District Court got the balance right in sentencing a former dairy farm worker to home detention rather than jail for breaking the tails of more than 40 cows, farming representatives say.
Saul Beaumont, 23, was on Monday sentenced to four months' home detention and disqualified from working with dairy cattle for five years after pleading guilty to 46 animal cruelty charges laid by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
He admitted twisting and breaking the tails of more than 40 cows on the Taranaki dairy farm where he worked.
The SPCA was seeking to have him banned from owning or working with animals for at least 20 years.
However, Federated Farmers dairy spokesperson Willy Leferink says home detention and a five-year ban still sends a strong message from the courts that animal cruelty won't be tolerated.
"That means he can't further his dairy career," Mr Leferink says.
"But I also think it sends a loud and clear message ... that if you want to be in dairying, don't be an abuser."
Mr Leferink says Beaumont should have sought help rather than lashing out at the animals. However, it also needs to be easier for such people to get help.
"I think we've got to make it easier for these people to get to the right sources of help so that they don't take it out on the animals but can talk to somebody (instead)," he says.
Federated Farmers has been surveying its members with the aim of providing advice on dealing with animal cruelty issues.
