None of the sheep culled by the Veterinary Services Department a year ago at a farm in Għarb were sick, according to the results of samples taken, a Gozo court heard yesterday.

Veterinary surgeon Frank Galea testified that he and his team had taken 152 samples from the brain stems of the culled sheep and none tested positive for Mad Cow Disease, which is the main disease they are tested for.

He was testifying in the case that Gozitan farmer Gianni Attard has instituted against the department in an attempt to stop it from culling the rest of his flock.

Mr Attard was recently fined €1.7 million for failing to register the sheep, and has appealed. Unregistered animals are automatically presumed sick but Mr Attard insists his sheep are healthy.

The court temporarily ordered the department to halt the culling last November. The remaining sheep on the farm are under a 24-hour police watch, which has so far cost taxpayers more than €80,000.

According to Mr Attard, the culled sheep, pregnant and in their prime, were worth up to €520,000.

He claims he had been telling the authorities since July 2010 to register the animals and tag them but Dr Galea yesterday insisted he had never been told about them. A driver with the Public Works Department, George Piscopo, was on site during the cull on November 3, 2012.

He told Magistrate Josette Demicoli that he witnessed sheep being shot in the head. “I could not take watching them kill those poor animals.”

Police Inspector Frank Tabone said he went to Mr Attard’s farm that morning to inform him what was about to happen. Officers accompanied him to the Rabat police station where he managed to contact a lawyer, Anton Refalo, now Gozo Minister.

Sometime later Inspector Tabone received a call that they were about to start the culling and Mr Attard “went hysterical”, saying he wanted to pay back the people on site.

The inspector arrested him for a while to prevent him from committing any crime.

Lawyers Joe Mifsud and Kevin Mompalao appeared for Mr Attard.