More farmers' cows in Taranaki grazier's care go missing

Fair Go is back in Taranaki — talking to a new bunch of farmers about the same problem. Cows. Missing cows.

Last year, we joined the hunt for around 25 cows which had disappeared while in the care of grazier Miles Waite.

The deal was, Waites had the cows for a year, they were fed and mated in the hope they would come back in calf, with a cost to the farmer of $11 a day per cow.

In 2023, we heard that, of 62 cows sent to Waite, only 37 returned.

Waite said they’d fallen down tomo holes and gulleys — but we couldn’t unearth evidence of any large tomos on his land, or evidence of dead cows.

Now, three more farmers have come forward, to report more mystery disappearances.

Back in 2013, Nathan Saunders sent 14 beef cows to Waites for grazing for just three months — he ended up three cows short.

Waite said they’d died, Nathan says, “I wouldn't think healthy animals of around 500 kilos, would just drop dead”.

It was a loss of a few thousand dollars but, when Nathan asked for some money back, there was no compensation.

The contract was with PGG Wrightson but, as Nathan’s wife worked there, she didn’t want to make a fuss.

And PGG said it’s hard to investigate now because some key staff have left since 2013.

Nathan says he’s not now seeking refunds, he just wants to point out how far back this was happening.

Let’s leap forward to 2015, when Tracey Burnell was farming. She’d seen our recent story and had also lost cows to Miles Waite.

“I was shocked. Ten years later — couldn't believe it — the same person, the same thing.”

She’d lost four cows out of 10 grazed with Waite.

“I said 'where are the rest?'. The truckee said ‘that's all I was told to bring’.“

So Tracey got in touch with Miles.

“And he said ‘oh, that’s strange, they were all there this morning when I yarded them, the gate must have come open on the yard’.”

Tracey was then told by Miles that he hadn’t been able to find them and that they must have died.

Then, he found two and sent them back, saying the other two really must be dead.

Tracey’s Mum though, who’d been a grazier herself, told Tracey, "the grazier will always let you know if an animal is lost. I’ve never heard anyone paying for 52 weeks and then being told that the animal must have died."

Then Tracey got a call alerting her to the sale of two of those missing cows (all cows are identified by ear tags) to another young farmer.

She said that she didn't sell those cows because they were meant to be dead.

“I said they're actually stolen, they're mine, they should have been returned.”

Tracey engaged a lawyer to seek compensation, and also tried police — who said it was a civil matter.

Tracey says other farmers had told her that this was nothing new — it had been going on for years.

So, the matter ended up at the Disputes Tribunal which ordered both Miles Waite and the stock agent, NZ Farmers Livestock, to pay $1000 each in compensation.

Miles Waite also had to refund to Tracey the proceeds from selling a cow with calf.

NZ Farmers – who organised the grazing with Waite — said: "We note the tribunal's record of its appreciation to the parties for the constructive manner in which the unfortunate dispute has been resolved."

So why did this all happen? NZ Farmers said: "We did not see the property as inherently unsuited to carry-over grazing," but also noted that it had not been involved with Miles Waite since.

Tracey says she thought Miles Waite would have learnt his lesson.

Now we move forward to 2022, and another farmer, Allan Marx, and the grazier is – Miles Waite.

He’d expected 23 cows back that year — but was eight short.

“It’s a very high percentage when you consider they were all present and correct at pregnancy testing in March," Allan said.

Miles Waite had been recommended by the same agent as our previous story, Progressive Livestock’s Kim Harrison.

Kim Harrison says Miles Waite had put the loss down to extreme flooding, but Allan said, “I didn’t actually think that that farm was badly affected out there”.

Kim Harrision told us Miles Waite also said, “in his words ‘I’ve f**ked up, I’ve lost some cattle, I’m so sorry, my life’s shit at the moment, my father's died’.

"[We] showed him empathy [and he] made an absolute fool out of us all.”

We asked Kim if he thought the cows fell down and died?

"I'm absolutely 100% certain they did not fall down a tomo ... that's fairytale land."

In total, 15 cows were missing in 2022. Miles Waite did compensate one farmer for seven, but not Allan for his eight.

Allan says he and Kim arranged a meeting on the farm with Miles, but he was a no-show.

Allan sent off an invoice for the amount he believed the missing cows were worth.

Kim Harrison said the valuation was too high, and they were revalued at $14,000.

“I've handed that valuation or that invoice that Allan gave us, to Miles. Miles said he’d deal with it from there. In fact, that was the last thing I heard about it until this week," Kim said.

That invoice was not paid. But almost a year later Allan got a surprise.

“One of my animals appeared in a sale yard with the NAIT tag still in [its] ear.”

The sale was of Miles Waite’s own stock. The NAIT tag is part of a national animal tracking system which identified the cow as from Allan’s herd.

He was alerted because the transfer of any animal is flagged on this system.

So the question is – why is this happening and is it poor management?

"It would have to be gross mismanagement," says Allan.

“Anyone can lose the odd animal, but not the sort of numbers we’re talking about”.

And that’s 15 in 2022, and then another 25 in 2023.

Kim Harrison says he’d have stopped that intake but was only aware of the issues with Miles after it was too late.

“If I wasn't on the receiving end of this, I’d be going to Fair Go about exactly the same thing, Gill, because we're all victims here,” Kim said.

"My reputation has been tarnished by him and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

But he can help with compensation and supports Allan pursuing it again.

“Look, Allan’s a good bugger."

Allan’s invoice was sent again to Progressive Livestock who says it's been passed on to Miles Waite and that he’s been asked to pay up straight away.

The company’s also distanced itself from Miles saying in an email to him it doesn't appreciate being blindsided by his nonsense.

And we've contacted Miles again with lots of questions. All he’s said is that he's never stolen anything and that he will take us to the police.

Well, we haven’t been hauled in for questioning yet.

But a different investigation’s now underway with the Ministry of Primary Industries taking a hard look at Miles Waites’ use — or lack of use — of the NAIT tracking system.

As for the future, Tracey says, “I understand he's sold his farm now and so that's a silver lining for me is that I know that he can't do that ... to any other Taranaki young farmers”.

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