Former Mangapai farm manager Michael Ian Luke, 62, was convicted and fined $3130 for failing to minimise pain and distress in dairy cattle after pleading guilty.
Five other charges against him were dropped after Judge Deidre Orchard ruled that hidden camera footage captured by animal rights group Farmwatch was obtained unlawfully and allowing it could encourage undercover filming.
The footage, filmed over a month in 2018, showed cows repeatedly being hit with an alkathene pipe and a metal bar during milking.
Animal rights group Safe said the sentence delivered in the Whāngārei District Court on Monday was a “slap on the wrist”.
Chief executive Debra Ashton said she was angry such an appalling example of animal abuse received such a lenient punishment.
“This man repeatedly beat the animals under his care and has walked away with one of the lightest sentences that we’ve seen in a while. It’s a shocking outcome.”
Federated Farmers diary chairman Wayne Langford said the size of the fine was surprising.
“Given that we don’t see these sorts of cases very often, I think we need to crack down on them pretty hard when they do come up.
“When you look at some of the fines handed out for effluent discharges, there’s no comparison.”
Between 1 April 1 and 18 May 2018, Luke handled dairy cows violently, including striking them with excessive force with an alkathene pipe and hitting them about the legs with a metal pipe, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
Luke hit one cow about the legs with a metal pipe so severely that both legs were badly swollen and she struggled to walk.
The ministry launched an investigation after receiving the Farmwatch footage in June 2018 and six charges were later laid against Luke.
However, all but one relied on the hidden camera footage.
Ashton said if MPI had done its job properly it wouldn’t have fallen on volunteers to gather evidence of animal abuse.”
“Unless MPI is stripped of their animal welfare responsibilities, animals will continue to be abused and fall through the cracks of the system.”
