The pair were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court last month (May 2025) after both pleaded guilty to causing harm to animals between January 2022 and April 2023.
Richard Scarfe, who had previous convictions under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, was given an 11-month sentence (suspended for 12 months) and a lifetime ban from keeping animals, while his daughter Brogan Scarfe was handed a 12-month community order.
Officers from Pembrokeshire County Council gathered evidence which showed pigs, sheep, dogs and birds subjected to poor and unsafe living conditions, while also being deprived of regular food and water.
Footage shown in court included pigs screaming in pain due to their cramped conditions, as well as one pig that appeared to have had part of its ear chewed off. Meanwhile, videos showed pigs held in a small enclosure with deep mud, nearby to two pig carcasses and a lamb that was unable to stand up.
After their initial advice was ignored, veterinary officers ordered the removal of the animals, with one cow, 26 sheep, 43 pigs, 23 farmed birds and five dogs seized in April 2023.
Richard Scarfe has owned the farm since 2019 and was disqualified from keeping some animals in February 2022 after a separate case. He subsequently handed over the care of the animals to his daughter, who the court heard was unable to carry out the role due to her lack of experience.
Commenting on the case, Councillor Jacob Williams, cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said: “The lack of care shown to animals in this case was evident to both officers and veterinary experts and will unfortunately have resulted in needless suffering.
“Officers initially sought to offer guidance to secure improvements in welfare conditions however this wasn’t acted upon appropriately so the council had no alternative but to seek veterinary input and, ultimately, legal powers were used to take control of the animals to prevent further suffering.
“The fact that Mr Scarfe continued to keep animals, despite being disqualified from undertaking any activity of this sort, is clearly unacceptable and this was a clear factor in the poor standards of animal husbandry witnessed in this sad case.”
