A St Ives man has been banned from keeping livestock after investigators found he was keeping pigs in squalid conditions.

Dominic Flitney, 28, of Meadow How, admitted a number of offences under the Animal Welfare Act at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court.

In March, Trading Standards investigators visited his livestock in Wyton and found an emaciated sow, who was suckling eight piglets, and another sow who was underweight. Neither sow had access to food or water. A vet, who was part of the team, said the pigs were suffering from “chronic malnutrition”.

The investigators also found animal carcasses, decomposing poultry remains and other animal by-products, which had been there for three months.

Flitney had been monitored by Trading Standards since November 2012 and was given words of advice on a number of occasions to provide food, water and bedding for his animals.

He was also advised to dispose of animal carcasses in accordance with animal by-product rules and to keep accurate records.

Flitney also pleaded guilty to failing to dispose of animal by-products, failing to notify the authorities about a dead farm animal and failing to comply with essential record keeping requirements that enable animals to be traced in the event of an animal disease outbreak. He also was found to have failed to ensure animals didn’t have medicines in their system at the time of slaughter.

The magistrates gave Flitney a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and banned him from keeping livestock for 10 years. Flitney was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

Councillor Mathew Shuter, county council cabinet member for Enterprise and Skills, said: “This case again reaffirms that we will not tolerate animal cruelty on farms and small holdings in Cambridgeshire, being the second such case we have brought before the courts in the last month.

“It also demonstrates that we will take decisive action if our officers persistently find record keeping requirements have not been met, with such requirements being vital to reducing the impact of an animal disease outbreak – an occurrence that would be devastating for our rural economy and wider communities.”