Where did my sheep go?
Farmer’s despair as rustlers (with sheepdog) steal entire flock of 600
HE had checked on his precious flock the previous evening. So farmer Jason Steeper could not believe his eyes when he drove past the next morning.
For instead of the sight of 600 sheep grazing contentedly, all he could see was an empty field.
Rustlers had struck in the dead of night and stolen his entire flock, which included 400 lambs.
Police believe the raiders even brought their own sheepdog so they could round up the sheep quietly and load them on to a massive multi-tiered transporter at the remote rural location. There were no witnesses. It is thought the flock was targeted by organised crime in what is believed to be one of Britain’s biggest sheep rustling operations.
Mr Steeper and his wife Natalie supplied top quality lamb for sale in major supermarkets. The couple built up their business over eight years so daughter Holly, nine, could enjoy the pleasures of rural life, but say they may now be forced to give up as a result of the theft. Their flock was insured for £50,000 but would probably have been worth £100,000 by the time the spring lambs matured.
All the animals were microchipped so without proper paperwork the rustlers could sell them only to a backstreet abattoir.
Humberside Police said the theft at Oaks Farm near the village of Melton Ross, Lincolnshire, happened on Tuesday after 7pm when they were last checked.
Mr Steeper said yesterday: ‘I drove past on Wednesday morning and there were no sheep in the field, and the gate was wide open.
‘At first I thought someone had just left the gate open and they had wandered off. I drove around and around but I could not see a single sheep anywhere.
‘Then I realised the chain and padlock had been cut. I could not believe t hey had t aken t he blooming lot. They must have been stolen to order.’
Mr and Mrs Steeper rent a number of fields and live in a nearby cottage. Daughter Holly doted on their flock, a mix of brown-faced mule cross, white-faced texel cross and 200 black-faced Suffolk cross.
The Steepers said strange events had been occurring at the farm, next to the A18, in recent months and they had been plagued by petty thefts of equipment.
The couple made repeated calls to the police but said that while officers did respond it was always too late catch their tormentors.
Mr Steeper fears the apparent nuisance offences may have been part of a pattern to test the farm’s defences and police response times ahead of the raid.
He said that he and his wife ‘have actually stood at our front window and watched ourselves being robbed’. He added: ‘We always rang the police – when they were stealing our water troughs she was on hold for one hour 40 minutes.’
Mr Steeper, a former welder, said: ‘The other night I was waking up every two to three hours and driving around the fields to make sure
‘They must have been stolen to order’ ‘It is not worth carrying on’
no one else was here. There is only so long you can carry on doing that. This has brought us to the point where it is not worth carrying on.
‘It is a waste of time. This was supposed to be our life but it has just become a nightmare.’
PC Tracey Teal of Humberside Police said: ‘This is the biggest livestock case I have ever come across. The family have been victims of organised crime. They are very upset they have been targeted in this way. It is a nice little village and everyone is shocked.’
Police said they were aware that the family had been victims of crime in the past but it was unclear if there was any link to the raid.