Farmers train police in new bid to tackle £6.6m livestock thefts

Findings from NFU Mutual's Rural Crime Survey. Graphic: Graeme Bandeira

A MULTI-MILLION pound rural crimewave is seeing thousands of livestock being stolen as thieves switch from “easy” targets such as vehicles and tools to take advantage of higher meat prices.

During the decade to 2010, livestock rustling took place at historically low levels, while rural thieves concentrated on stealing quad bikes, tractors and expensive power tools from farms, rural insurer NFU Mutual said.

And last year the most targeted items from farms and rural properties in Yorkshire were all-terrain vehicles such as quad bikes, as well as tools and fuels; both domestic heating oil and farmers’ supplies of ‘red’ diesel, the insurer’s Rural Crime Survey found.

But, based partly on claims it has handled itself over the last year, NFU Mutual believe the cost of rustling to agriculture was over £6.6m last year, with improved security on farm vehicles cited as another reason why criminals were instead targeting animals.

Northern Ireland was worst hit by rustlers, followed by the North East of England including Yorkshire, the crime survey found.

‘Fall in rural crime does not tell the whole story’

Based on insurance claims, 89,237 sheep were stolen across Britain in 2014, and in the latest incident in North Yorkshire, some 41 lambs were stolen from fields at Monk Stray in Malton Road, York over the weekend.

In The Yorkshire Post today, North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said different approaches were now needed to combat rural crime. In that vein, the force has forged a new partnership with the National Farmers’ Union and other government agencies to tackle livestock rustling.