A bolt gun is normally used to kill a cow.

The cow is pushed into the head so that it becomes unconscious, then the carotid artery is cut open so that the animal will bleed out and die.  

That's the way to go.

But a farmer on a dairy farm in southern Sweden did not do that.  

- I thought I had done the right thing, says the farmer who is elected to the trust within LRF, with a leading position where he lives. 

You thought you did the right thing? 

- Yes, I checked her and then there were many circumstances around it all.

Then I was absent as well and the employee did not do the right thing.  

It was the employee?

But it's still your responsibility, right? 

- It is definitely my responsibility.  

"Very sorry for this whole story"

It was when the caravan came the next day to retrieve the animal's body for destruction that the driver discovered that the cow was still alive.

He picked up his mobile phone to document what he saw and shortly afterwards killed the cow himself to stop the suffering.

He was subsequently charged with animal cruelty, but was convicted a year later in the district court instead of violating the Animal Welfare Act and received a daily fine of SEK 3,000.

- I'm so sorry for this whole story.

I'm so embarrassed and I took it on.

It was my fault and my responsibility, says the farmer.

Part of Arla's animal care program

He also holds positions of trust within Arla and is part of their new animal care program "A better coli". 

Can you be that and still be convicted of violating the Animal Welfare Act?

It's about animal care, right?  

- There was no such question.  

Arla writes in an email to Assignment review that if you have been sentenced to a fine or similar, you can continue to deliver if you have taken your punishment and "made it very clear to us that similar can not happen again".

Regarding his positions of trust, the farmer says:

- It did not make it easier.

But I'm going to settle this, of course it's a lot of work. 

Assignment review has revealed that 70 elected representatives within LRF have violated the Animal Welfare Act.

Chairman Palle Borgström says that those convicted of serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act do not live up to the trust and that elected representatives should set a good example.