A HAMPSHIRE farmer has been fined more than £5,000 after supplying cattle too old for human consumption to an abattoir, a court heard.

Ryan Hunt breached regulations brought in to protect the public from CJD, the human form of mad cow disease, a court heard.

Hampshire Trading Standards officer Nigel Snape said Hunt, from the New Forest, has also broken the Trade Descriptions Act.

He explained that the offences were spotted when Hunt, 30, of Lynwood Grange at Winsor, near Cadnam, supplied three animals to P J King and Sons at their abattoir at Whaddon, Gloucestershire, on March 8, last year.

The dates of birth of all the cattle had been falsified to make them younger and bring them inside the age limit for entry into the food chain, New Forest magistrates heard.

Hunt pleaded guilty to those three charges under the Trade Descriptions Act and to a further seven charges of providing false information to the British Cattle Movement Service regarding the dates of birth of his cattle.

In addition, he admitted failing to keep proper records.

In imposing fines totalling £5,050 as well as costs of £531, bench chairman Colin Bell told Hunt: "We accept that you work long hours, often single-handed and that as a result your paperwork fell behind.

"But you sent animals for slaughter when you knew they were too old to enter the food chain and in our view you disobeyed the government's control that is put in place to protect the public."

Mr Snape explained that a series of regulations were introduced in 1996 to stop cattle that were more than 30 months old from entering the food chain because of the risk of CJD.

The measures also included ear tagging which gave every calf its own unique identity and recorded its date of birth, he said, adding that the animal passports and records at Hunt's farm also contained inaccuracies.

Defending solicitor Peter Cusick explained that Hunt had initially worked with his late grandfather and had taken over the running of the farm following his grandfather's death in 1994.

Problems arose, Mr Cusick said, after his one farm worker left suddenly and that left him with all the farm work and he fell behind with the paperwork.

"We are here because of something that happened two-and-a-half years ago. Since 2000, all his records have been properly kept."