David Hall’s young daughter still asks when the cattle are coming back.
Cattle rustlers stole 17 animals from his field in Newbliss, Co Monaghan last July. “It really affected the whole family,” he said.
“The other day the wee lassie said she wished we get could our cattle back. She knows it affected us. She senses it. It had a huge impact on me and our family.”
He says the cattle were worth up to €8,000 when they were stolen but they were not ready for the factory. Today they would be worth almost three times that.
He was one of 159 vicimts of livestock theft last year. One farmer had 17 of his 18 calves stolen. The year before was even worse, when 319 animals were stolen and already this year 35 animals have been taken.
In a bid to clamp down on the practice the Irish Farmers Association has offered a €10,000 reward for significant information that leads to the arrest and charging of the criminals. The farm group is working with Crimestoppers and An Garda Síochána on the campaign.
Crimestoppers chairman Tim Dalton said people did not need to give their names when passing information to the Crimestoppers service (1800 25 00 25).
“Confidentiality is key. The calls go directly to a dedicated garda unit and it’s for the gardaí then to decide what action, if any is appropriate.”
IFA has estimated that about €2.5 million worth of livestock and machinery is stolen every year.
Its president Eddie Downey said the anxiety it caused must not be overlooked. "The stress level associated with that is creating angst on farms and trauma for farm families," he said.
“These criminals are not just ordinary criminals. They are experienced with livestock. They know how to handle cattle.... Someone knows who these people are.”
Assistant Garda Commissioner Derek Byrne said this was a key period for the theft of livestock so farmers should be watchful.
He encouraged rural communities to join text alert schemes and lock their gates. While the thefts were a national issue, he said they appeared to involve a small number of gangs and the highest number of incidents were in Border areas.
“We’ve had a large number of investigations cross border and we’ve had some success in recovering cattle and sheep,” he said.
Thieves stole 40 sheep from Paudie Treacy's farm two weeks ago. The farmer from Tuam, Co Galway said the sheep were on an outfarm, about six miles from his home.
“You’d never expect something like this to happen in a rural community. You never realise how it affects you until it actually does happen to you.”
Apart from the financial loss of about €5,000, he said it had taken an indescribable toll on the whole family.
“Trying to make a living from farming is difficult enough.”
John Casey from Meelick, Co Clare still hasn't figured out how thieves took two cows and six calves from his farm, about a mile from his home.
“We had 12 cows and 12 calves and a bull in 20 acres of ground. They took them across a field of three acres of fresh grass into the yard and then picked out what they wanted. They took the best ones. They left the rest in the yard which covered up their tracks and shut the gate on their way out.”
Mr Byrne said no one knew what happened to the stolen animals. Asked if they ended up in the food chain, via back street abattoirs, he said: “The hope today is to get as much intelligence, as much information as we can using the Crimestoppers number or indeed contacting any garda station.”
Mr Downey said Ireland’s food safety reputation was very important and “no criminal should be allowed the opportunity to damage it”.
