The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Mel on September 08, 2011, 11:16:10 pm

Title: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 08, 2011, 11:16:10 pm
I cannot be sure of the breed until tomorrow,but I have just been told a keeper near Islip Northants and one other near Woodford Northants have had all their pigs stolen within the last 3 days.

I do know,one was had chains and padlocks on the gate,these were cut off.All the sheep were left from one field just the pigs taken.

Please please double up your security!!
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 09, 2011, 04:49:03 am
I cannot be sure of the breed until tomorrow,but I have just been told a keeper near Islip Northants and one other near Woodford Northants have had all their pigs stolen within the last 3 days.

I do know,one was had chains and padlocks on the gate,these were cut off.All the sheep were left from one field just the pigs taken.

Please please double up your security!!

The first lot stolen were GOS!
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: robert waddell on September 09, 2011, 08:59:21 am
well that will be the stuffing for the xmas turkeys  :o :farmer:
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Sylvia on September 09, 2011, 09:31:48 am
Bad luck to whoever stole them >:( I suppose they will be killed by them as someone could circulate the ear tag numbers to abbatoirs.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Fowgill Farm on September 09, 2011, 09:49:13 am
Leghorn. hope you don't mind but have copied this to GOS forum too. We too in North Yorkshire have had a fair bit of rustling mainly horses & sheep.  The sheer quantity of sheep stolen, suggests the thieves must have an abbattoir and butcher in on this somewhere. The meat must end up on markets or thro back doors.
Mandy  :pig:
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: feldar on September 09, 2011, 10:14:55 am
This is very worrying a friend of ours near Ringwood had her two orphan lambs stolen earlier in the year and they were killed by the thieves. they were then dumped at the side of the road, the police think it was because they were disturbed whilst trying to butcher them into manageable pieces to be parceled out to other people. They were killed by multiple blows to the head and neck absolutely horrific. my friend a seasoned farmer with a sustantial herd of cattle was devestated by the sheer brutality of it all.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Barrett on September 09, 2011, 12:03:02 pm
That is really bad news, thieving little sods, I live down south you do hear of it from time to time one guy I new had the pigs, electric fence and the electrifier also took his bins of pig food, I did tell him he needs to sleep a bit lighter he didn't find it funny ::).  The lamb story is terrible there some evil git's in the world, I fear though that as the economy gets worse those of us that have livestock may continue to be targeted as it is a means of food and income.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: violet on September 09, 2011, 12:37:14 pm
That is really awful. >:(  :'(

Food and Fuel - we're having thefts up here in the highlands.
It's awful. Having to lock everything, when this use to be the sort of place where you could leave your doors and cars open.

Nothing living yet. Pork out of my freezer & friends household fuel.



Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 09, 2011, 02:37:23 pm
It is a pain I have to say,you have to go through three field gates all now securely shackled with tamper proof padlocks and padlocks on the latches as well,all my runs are padlocked up,it took me ages to get to feed mine this morning,but I am not taking any chances!

My local gamekeeper is coming over this afternoon,he shall update me on everything.-I know one of the owners is in a murderous rage at the moment...uhoh! :o
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 09, 2011, 02:38:34 pm
Leghorn. hope you don't mind but have copied this to GOS forum too. We too in North Yorkshire have had a fair bit of rustling mainly horses & sheep.  The sheer quantity of sheep stolen, suggests the thieves must have an abbattoir and butcher in on this somewhere. The meat must end up on markets or thro back doors.
Mandy  :pig:
That is perfectly fine Mandy,spread the word,hopefully it may help some owners!
Mel
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Roxy on September 10, 2011, 12:01:24 am
Times are hard, and nothing is safe any more.

If they want to take my Kune kunes they will have to get them past the llama ....and there is no chance.  He will run into the burglars and knock them over.  Even if they got the pigs, the racket they would make, would waken the neighbour across the lane!!
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: ambriel on September 10, 2011, 08:54:20 am

It is a worrying trend, this resurgence of rustling. Definitely time I got that application for a shotgun license sent off, I think.

As with some of you others, we live in a very remote area where locked doors are by far the exception rather than the rule. It'd be a shame to see that chance.

I was listening to a program on the wireless the other morning and they were talking about food prices and how the cost of meat is expected to sky-rocket over the next decade or so, turning meat back into the luxury food it once was.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 10, 2011, 12:01:09 pm
To update. :'(

One owner has had 7 GOS stolen,another has had 11 Tamworths and now one other has had 6 middle whites taken,all within 7 days and all in the Northamptonshire area!All were marked one way or the other.

What I have heard from one owner is that they took the main gate off of it's hinges and cut through the locks with a petrol disc cutter! took another gate down some 500 yards further up the field-this field is also adjacent to a main rod!

However,the owner whom had the GOS stolen has been told that around a fortnight ago some people we asking questions to a local about whom owned the field-he did not seem to see it as a problem then,not until the pigs went missing.He has said they were three men in a large white van whom spoke in what he believes as Polish.-or most certainly European. :-\
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Eve on September 10, 2011, 09:00:13 pm
So the brains behind it all get someone else to do their dirty work, so that they can hide behind 'language issues' when found out. Or the claim of "people who spoke European"  ??? is a decoy. Hadn't thought of putting a chain around the hinges of a gate, might just do that, anything to hold thieves up. I like the idea of a llama as a guard dog  :)

There's been a lot of theft of machinery around here. But two weeks ago, some &*!% broke into sheds on an allotment and used the garden tools they found to go on a killing spree, slaughtering 20-odd chickens. 
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Mel on September 10, 2011, 10:25:21 pm
That is sick mindedness! Why would they do such a thing........killing the chickens.sick and twisted..

We have had a lot of machinery and metal thefts here,it is rife,some 3 weeks ago they cut all the heavy duty electric cables from the post office in Barnwell! Nothing is safe anymore!
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Rich/Jan on September 11, 2011, 08:06:03 am
We are also aware of the problems here in rural France.  Had our electric fence solar panel stolen a few months ago - have replaced it with another but this time have sited it IN the pig pen.  He who dares ... and all that.  We have seen quite a few 'white van' drivers around here looking for scrap etc.  We are in a small hamlet of six houses - each of whom have a dog of some sort so we know when they are about - day and night.  Most of the white-van brigade around here have departed to spain for the winter now so perhaps it will be a bit easier for a while - until the spring come around again.  All the supermarkets have security guards in their store - usually big and burly.!! :wave:
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: violet on September 11, 2011, 08:59:41 am
Definitely time I got that application for a shotgun license sent off, I think.

The law isn't on your side. It's practically illegal to defend yourself and your property these days.
Against the thiefs human rights or something like that.
And at the end of the day it's your word against theirs.

BE CAREFUL  :o
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: suziequeue on September 11, 2011, 09:05:26 am
We got CCTV fitted - although I understand that unless you have signs stating such - the evidence is inadmissible in a court of law!!!

However, didn't stop us from bringing shame on our local Yodel (ex-Home Delivery Network) van driver when he tried to do this:

http://youtu.be/DpWpzIsvdmg (http://youtu.be/DpWpzIsvdmg)


We had head office round the next day being very apologietic.  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Eve on September 11, 2011, 09:24:36 am
Excellent, Suzieque, glad you had it on camera!

After what happened to those chickens in our suburban area, I really start to fear for our animals, both with regards of theft and being attacked by cruel maniacs (who need flogging, imo). And the weaners of this summer are just about ready to go, so at their most valuable.

Anybody who knows what the law currently says about barbed wire along the top of fences? It's not to stop organised crime, mind, it's for the odd imbecile who thinks of climbing the fence to hurt the pigs or poison them or anything like that.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: SallyintNorth on September 11, 2011, 09:34:25 am
Disgraceful behaviour, well done with the CCTV footage - and circulation of same  :D suzieQ!

Re: barbed wire, well of course it would be your fault if a crim hurt him or herself.  But don't you have horses or cattle or something that you need to stop from reaching over / scratching on the fence?  ;)

I've a family friend with a small factory in the Midlands.  The factory was near a railway line, and every Bank Holiday kids would get onto the roof from the railway line, smash and climb in through the skylights and cause damage, sometimes nicking stuff and sometimes just smashing a few things up.  The works manager rolled up some barbed wire and stuffed it inside the skylights, so that even if they smashed the glass they'd have to negotiate the barbed wire.  The insurance company told them they had to remove it, as a thief would be able to make a claim for damage.  So, after the thief had trespassed and caused criminal damage, broken in and was now illegally on private property, the law would still protect him if he were to be scratched by the barbed wire.  I don't get it.

Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: ambriel on September 11, 2011, 08:56:03 pm

Blimey! And he didn't even leave a 'Called but you were out' card :)

Great video. Being a technophile I've got cameras all over our place. There's even an infra-red one in the henhouse.
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: suziequeue on September 11, 2011, 09:06:54 pm
Oh cool Ambriel..... what interesting happenings have you seen going on in the hen house?
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: ambriel on September 11, 2011, 10:40:39 pm

It's interesting watching them all settling down for the night, and of course there's no more wasted trips out to collect eggs when there aren't any there :)
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Penninehillbilly on September 11, 2011, 11:35:53 pm
They're also quite useful when complaining about a delivery that didn't arrive - company 'checks records' says no-one home - - - we say 'driver is lying - come and check thru the security footage covering the yard' apologies and delivery next day. ;D
Title: Re: Emergency Warning to all Pig keepers!
Post by: Barrett on September 13, 2011, 12:57:04 pm
All the rustling going on is frightening really, in city's they steel dogs and cats, I have a Chihuahua and I won't leave her in the car if I go out for the fear of someone steeling her, were I live there are Gypsy's about 5 miles away and I am only about 4 fields away from the A38 they came one night thank god didn't take any of my pigs or chickens but cleared out my whole shed again unscrewed the lock from the main door both my boys quads and scramblers went, lawnmower, petrol strimmer the only thing they couldn't take was a sit down mower with a puncture they never got caught even though they left foot prints in the mud and track marks in the fields, my husband caught a father and daughter teem steeling from our yard red handed and they still got off where is the justice in that.