Award-winning farmer shamed

Russell Kilvington, who was introduced to the Queen at the 2006 Royal Windsor Food and Drink Festival, must pay more than £20,000 in fines and costs after being convicted of a range of animal welfare and trading standards offences.
District Judge Andrew Vickers was told how West Berkshire Council animal welfare inspectors found uncovered pig carcasses, bedding covered in faeces and contaminated animal water and food supplies during a raid at Winterbourne Outdoor Pigs and Royal Berkshire Pork in Beedon.
At the sentencing hearing in Reading, Mr Vickers said Mr Kilvington had failed to comply with an improvement notice and had been guilty of “substantial neglect” of his animals and “damaging the public trust” in locally produced meat.
The inspections were prompted in part by whistle-blowing staff members and Mr Vickers acknowleged that father-of-three Mr Kilvington felt “betrayed” by them.
At a previous hearing Mr Kilvington, who used to own a Hungerford butcher’s business, denied 16 charges - 12 involving animal welfare, two involving food safety and two involving feed hygiene - but was convicted of all but four animal welfare charges.
He had previously admitted four charges relating to animal by products and one of false representation on a website.
He was cleared of four counts of causing unnecessary suffering.
All the offences happened between April 2010 and January last year and the court heard that Mr Kilvington had suffered heavy flooding before the inspection, which he blamed for some of the contamination problems.
He had passed off the Essex meat as local after thieves stole some of his flock, threatening his hard-won business, the judge was told, and had advertised it as being from “free range pigs from the beautiful Berkshire Downs.”
Andrew Pote, for Mr Kilvington, said his client had enjoyed a “high standing in his local community” but would now have to resign his position as a local school governor.
He added that Mr Kilvington had lost his contract as a Waitrose supplier and went on: “My client has suffered a dramatic drop in sales.....reputation counts for a lot in this industry.
“He is now having to sell animals live rather than as meat and, as any pig farmer will tell you, it’s very difficult to make money selling pigs that way. Mr Kilvington is not a cowboy abnd he is not cavalier in his approach to animal welfare. He is not careless but is serious about his business.”
Mr Kilvington was fined a total of £10,250 and ordered to contribute £15,000 towards West Berkshire Council’s costs.
Mr Vickers said he made no order to prevent Mr Kilvington raising animals in future, adding: “I’ve decided that a deprivation or disqualification order won’t be necessary. I know he has imnproved conditions to the satisfaction from the local authority.”
Mr Kilvington said after the hearing: “I’m fiercely proud of how I look after my pigs and the business I’ve developed to the high standards of a demanding assurance scheme.
“There was no evidence of malpractice or abuse of animals. Farming is at the mercy of the elements and, sometimes, despite everybody’s best efforts, torrential downpours of rain will impact on the appearance of a farm - no different from floods that sadly some people experience in their own homes.
“I’m disappointed the case had to come to court as the issues could have been resolved at a much earlier date by negotiation among those involved.”