Rocker Turned Rancher Now Has a Record

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - Steve Banch is the guy who had dead animals littering his Holly farm. It was disturbing enough when I first saw the photos his neighbors took. In real life, it was the stuff of nightmares.

The raunchy rancher protested charges he wasn't taking care of his animals, but Thursday he threw in the towel.

After vowing for months he would let a jury decide his fate, on the day his trial was to begin Banch changed his mind. He pleaded no contest to charges of allowing his animals to run at-large and failure to bury a dead animal.

I first told you about rocking-rancher Steve Banch in the spring. His neighbors had complained the animals on his Holly farm were dropping dead.

Neighbors provided me with gory photos of Banch's hogs feeding on the remains of dead cattle. The images were shocking. However, when I spoke to Banch, he didn't seem to agree.

I showed him a picture and asked him whether it was pigs eating the carcasses.

"Probably yeah," he said. "It's good protein source, and it's good to compost and recycle anything on the farm."

I also showed him photos and video of dead cow heads I saw on his property.

Banch was charged with failure to bury a dead animal and spent the summer racking up more charges related to his animals escaping his farm. He was in court a lot.

A jury had been selected in Judge Kelley Kostin's court room, but at the last minute Banch decided the odds were against him and pled no contest to seven misdemeanors. He will be sentenced next month.

Oakland County Animal Control has spent a lot of time monitoring Banch's farm. It certainly looks a lot better out there now than it did when I first started watching him in the spring. Let's just hope that his animals fare better this winter than last.