A family who ran a dairy farm in Exbourne have been banned from keeping animals for ten years because of the chronic neglect of their cattle.

William Dunn, 50, of East Barton Farm, admitted to 22 food hygiene offences and 24 animal welfare charges.

His parents Rosamund Dunn, 76, and 79 year old Edmund Dunn admitted ten animal welfare charges at Exeter magistrates court.

District Judge Stuart Smith told the court that the animals were surrounded by rubbish including pipes, gas canisters, cables, metal sheets and old tyres as they tried to get to water and feed.

He said one carcass was buried in mud and had been there for days or weeks.

Another cow was left exposed in a field in wet and windy conditions with no shelter and was shivering and unable to move. It could not access food or water and had to be put down.

A dead cow was lying in a slurry channel risking contamination of the water courses.

Other animals had infections and obvious lameness and one animal did not receive treatment ten months after the Dunns had been told to get help for it.

The Dunn family were told that the ban would be “catastrophic” for the two farms they manage but the hygiene concerns at the milk parlour was a health risk for their customers.

The milk parlour had mouldy stale milk residue in it and was contaminated with dung.

The Food Standards Agency carried out 19 inspections between 2022 and 2024.

The judge said dairy farming was important to Devon but cases of neglect like this could damage the county's good reputation.

The judge told the court that he had “no confidence in the Dunns turning things around because they had repeatedly failed to do so in the past.”

Prosecutor Herc Ashworth said William Dunn was “overwhelmed” by the task and despite getting plenty of support, things just got worse.

Mr Ashworth said:"It was well-intentioned but incompetent care. It was prolonged ill treatment and neglect in a commercial context.”

The defence lawyer said these were 'distressing and serious offences' and claimed the family were struggling to recover from Covid when staff were laid off and costs increased by £25,000 a month.

The lawyer said:"William Dunn was a one-man band. It was a large farm operation with one person to manage the whole thing."

The Dunns admitted a raft of offences in the prosecutions brought by Trading Standards and the Food Standards Agency and have been banned from keeping cattle, sheep or pigs for the next ten years.

They have been given three months to sell their 170-strong herd which was owned by the Dunn parents, with their son William Dunn running the farms.

William Dunn was fined a total of £27,000, with £15,000 of that in fines for the Food Standards Agency offences.

Rosamund Dunn and Edmund Dunn were fined £3,053 each.

The Dunns began the business in 1966 with ten milking cows. In 1997 they expanded to process and distribute milk and other products including cream, butter and yoghurt.