[Small Farmer]

There has been a spate of equipment thefts around here so we thought we'd look at getting some of the kit tagged.  The police are very keen on the Cesar scheme.  Apparently the big manufacturers have woken up to the fact that having one ignition key for all their tractors is stupid.  So we went to the website which is very fussy and difficult to follow and refers a lot to Datatag who seem to make all the products.

But they don't seem to sell them.  The dealer finder on the Datatag site is under construction but after they ignored my email I phoned and got the three nearest installers.  None could quote over the phone, and only two rang back.  One did ring back but knew nothing about the products.  The second also knew nothing about the products but was nevertheless able to quote the same price (£120) for quite different types plus £50 travel.  Since all the products seem to be stickers, passive transponders and other things to glue on I don't see why I should call a mechanic out to do it.

Looking on the web it seems you can get trailer and motorcycle kits for around £60 which if it really does permanently mark your stuff and make it less saleable when stolen sounds like a good thing.  But the whole thing looks like a complete amateurish mess.

Has anyone got any experience of this or other ways of securing farm kit?  Do they work?

[Sylvia]

Perhaps I shouldn't say this (I've had a difficult night's work) but a 12 bore shotgun fits all

[Rosemary]

Our police have signed up to Smartwater - it's a secure maring system that gives your hlding a unique code. It can't be overwritten or scored out by crims. I suppose technically it doesn't stop stuff being stolen but it's easily traced. I think you get a sign to put up that says everything is doused in Smartwater, as a deterrent.

Just waiting on our local bobby coming to do our stuff.

[doganjo]

We had something similar on the kids bikes - 25 years ago!

[Small Farmer]

Thirty years ago I had my postcode stamped on my bike by the old Bill for nothing.  Now they say that none of the manufacturers VIN numbers etc on cars are reliable because they're the first to be erased.  Hence the development of these "DNA" solutions you dab onto the vehicle in lots of places

I had Smartwater on a bike about a decade ago, but Datatag is supposed to go a lot further.  In addition to a DNA paint they provide some button sized chip transponders which you glue somewhere in the vehicle, a UV etching kit and a couple of big tough-to-remove stickers with the registration number to go on a trailer hitch. 

It looks really well thought through - apart from the selling of it which is abysmal.  Of the two dealers who responded one has phoned back to recommend the other because it's not really a business they're in. 

[robert waddell]

the best one is a tracker   but you rent it         you used to buy them if you have it fitted they pay out if the tracker does not switch on
up in Scotland  gap plant used to have a mini digger that was stolen every weekend and recovered the next week it had some tag system fitted   if you ask at a depot they might tell you which system they have
usually the cost of these systems are shown in reduced premiums

[Small Farmer]

Hadn't thought of tracker.  I think some calculations around the insurance savings are needed