BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A judge has sentenced a Mercer County man to three months in jail for denying animals water and feeding them moldy hay.

South Central Judge Cynthia Feland sentenced Shanan Weigum of Zap on Monday after he pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty. Prosecutors dismissed a misdemeanor charge of livestock running at large in exchange for the plea.

Feland suspended all but three months of a three-year prison sentence but ordered Weigum to pay more than $76,000 in restitution and fees and spend four years on probation.

According to court documents, sheriff’s deputies found 15 dead horses and 11 dead foals and fetuses on Weigum’s property in February. They also found a donkey and 39 horses in poor condition, along with four dead lambs.

Other animals in another corral were healthy and had food and water. Weigum owned those animals but was being paid by an out-of-state owner to care for the others, according to authorities.