The County Court has heard a West Gippsland livestock agent who falsified export cattle documents, was not motivated by greed or an extravagant lifestyle.

Nathan Gibbon, 50, of Lardner, pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception to the value of $234,705, which the prosecution argued put Australia's cattle industry at risk.
But Mr Gibbon's defence barrister argued the offending was to assist with financial distress.
The two charges related to receiving funds for export cattle from two separate companies after falsely declaring the cattle were vendor bred on properties at Longwarry and Drouin West.
Mr Gibbon also pleaded guilty to a third charge of handling stolen goods, which related to retaining and using a bobcat, valued at $78,000 on his property in 2022.
The matter was heard in the County Court, Melbourne last Tuesday before Judge Justin Lewis.
Director of Public Prosecutions barrister Michael Keks outlined the charges which related to obtaining financial advantage by deception through the sale of 185 cattle to Australian Global Exports (AGE) between December 2018 and July 2019, to the value of $209,955; and, the sale of 25 cattle in September 2019 to Yarra Corporation (Yarra Corp) to the value of $24,750.
As a registered livestock agent, Mr Keks said Mr Gibbon exported cattle to China through companies including AGE and Yarra Corp.
Mr Keks said Mr Gibbon falsely represented cattle had been bred by other parties on properties at Longwarry and Drouin West to ensure they met export requirements for disease and tracking using the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS).
"Cattle cleared for live export to China attract substantially higher prices than that sold on the domestic market. Offending that involves the falsification of records pertaining to live cattle exported to China has the potential to cause damage to Australia's live animal export market," Mr Keks said.
The court heard Mr Gibbon sold cattle - dairy heifers - to AGE on three occasions between November 2018 and July 2019 for export consignments subject to "strict Chinese protocol" by falsely claiming the cattle were vendor bred and falsifying the National Vendor Declaration (NVD) forms.
The cattle sold to Yarra Corp were among an export consignment sold in September 2019.
The charges resulted from an investigation launched by Agriculture Victoria in 2019 in which several properties linked to Mr Gibbon were searched and several items were seized, including NVD books and bags containing ear tags that appeared to have been removed from cattle, as well as notes detailing Property Identification Code (PIC) numbers, company names and dates.
The matter was referred to police in 2021 and part of the investigation included interception of Mr Gibbon's mobile phone.
Mr Keks said the handling stolen goods charge related to the theft of a bobcat from Laverton and found during a police search of Mr Gibbon's Lardner property in July 2022.
The court heard Mr Gibbon told police a person not known to him had a flat tyre outside his property and asked to put the Caterpillar bobcat in his shed. He admitted to using it for six months.
Defence barrister Anthony Lewis conceded the offending was serious and the amount of money involved was substantial.
However, he said Mr Gibbon's offending was not "motivated by greed or to fund an extravagant lifestyle but to assist with financial distress" caused by domestic cattle market pressures and property settlement following separation from his second wife.
Mr Lewis said at the time of offending there was downward pressure on the domestic livestock market which resulted in lower prices.
He said his client had also spoken of a "complex financial settlement" with his ex-wife and he was not confident his business would survive.
"Mr Gibbon accepts what he did was wrong and unacceptable. He accepts it was short sighted in the hope it would relieve some financial pressures," he said.
Mr Lewis said while the total sale value of the subject cattle to Mr Gibbon was $234,000, they had a domestic market value of $140,000 - "so the practical benefit to Mr Gibbon was $94,000."
Mr Lewis said the offending gave rise to a risk that a diseased animal might be exported, but this risk was low and was not realised.
"It is our submission that the risk was low given the testing that takes places," Mr Lewis said, adding repeated tests of cattle were undertaken at the original farm and in quarantine.
He said there was no loss to AGE or Yarra Corp who both received their cattle.
The court heard Mr Gibbon was one of the best livestock agents in the business.
Mr Lewis said Mr Gibbon started his business Nathan Gibbon Livestock in 2007 after his father, also a livestock agent, became ill and ended his business.
"He worked long hours and extremely hard to establish his livestock business.
"As time went on he expanded both his breeding cattle and his work as an agent," Mr Lewis said.
Character references were presented to court. Mr Lewis read out a reference from lawyer Richard Wilcox who described Mr Gibbon as "scrupulously honest" in their dealings with cattle and had an "enormous work ethic."
Mr Wilcox said Mr Gibbon was "regarded as one of the best judges of cattle in the district."
Both the prosecution and defence presented their cases for sentencing, with Mr Keks calling for a sentence that would "deter others who are tempted to engage in this conduct."
Judge Lewis adjourned the matter until July 14 for sentencing.