Lloyd Nuttall, who pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to his 17 cattle, has a history of fines due to neglect.

"Mr. Nuttall clearly ought not to have animals in his possession," said Ontario Court Justice Charles Anderson in imposing the ban, reported The Brockville Recorder and Times.

Nuttall was charged last November, after an investigation by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that lasted most of last summer. SPCA Agent Hillary Brown visited his Gananoque-area farm numerous times.

"The first time we went out we found the body of a cow that had been there for approximately three months, according to the vet," she says. "Other cows had access to this cow in the barn."

During a visit in August another dead cow was found and a veterinarian was called to examine the rest of the herd. On all but one of six visits, says Brown, the cattle were out of water and hay bales were out of reach.

The veterinarian "determined that it was in the cattle’s best interest to be removed from the herd," says Brown. "So we did remove them. Three more cattle died in the three days after they were removed and a number of them were very weak."

The 55-year-old welder inherited the farm, which had been in the family for 160 years, from his father. He hasn’t milked since 2000.

Part of the problem, says Brown, is that until the conviction Nuttall has always replaced the dead cattle, inserting them into the same poor conditions.