Charges have been laid after a covert operation that captured a Northland farmer allegedly beating cows in a milking shed earlier this year.
The hidden cameras caught a sharemilker hitting his dairy herd in their legs and head, Newsroom reported.
Video taken by monitoring group Farmwatch allegedly showed the man smashing cows in their legs with the stick in retaliation for being 'difficult'.
Afterwards their legs were left horribly deformed as a result of the injuries they suffered.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said it has now filed charges against an individual after receiving the footage from June this year.
MPI's Manager of Compliance Investigations, Gary Orr, said MPI has conducted a thorough investigation.
"Six charges have been filed against an individual under the Animal Welfare Act," he said.
"As the matter is now before the courts, we will be making no further comment at this time," said Mr Orr.
In a statement at the time the video was released, the farm's owners said they were shocked and saddened by the treatment they saw in the video.
They said the farmer responsible for the abuse had been dismissed from his duties, and they were cooperating fully with MPI investigators.
Newshub.
