Livestock and diesel thefts rise

On March 23, Crime Stoppers Victoria and Victoria Police launched a new campaign — ‘Shut Out Farm Crime’ — to bring attention to the escalating figures.

Warrak sheep farmer Daniel Buckingham told Crime Stoppers Victoria the rise of fuel theft was particularly concerning to him given the surging cost, and said the crime was often carried out without the victim realising.

“When someone's taken 30 or 60 litres out of a 400-litre tank you’re probably not going to take too much notice of it. I think it's going to be an increasing problem,” Mr Buckingham said.

Inspector Karl Curran from Victoria Police’s Farm Crime Coordination Unit said rural crime was historically under-reported.

The Crime Statistics Agency, which releases data collected by Victoria Police, said the more reporting farmers did, the better the police could identify crime trends and put resources in their area.

Improving security includes anything that makes it harder for a stranger to access your property.

As part of the police campaign, farmers will be offered free farm gate security signs at agricultural events throughout 2022.

Other methods include tagging livestock, locking gates and sheds, securing tools and equipment and, where possible, locking fuel bowsers and storage tanks.

Sensor lights are another winner and are recommended, along with doing regular stock head counts so theft can be identified as soon as possible.

If you plan to put security cameras up, make them obvious. They will go a long way to discouraging unwanted visitors and will stop a crime before it happens.

What are people stealing?

Livestock, machinery (particularly vehicles), tools and diesel are the big four in farm crime.

In 2021, Victorian residents lost $13 million in power tools, $2.9 million in livestock and $31,386 in diesel fuel.

Some particularly costly thefts in 2021 include: $91,400 in livestock from Thoona; $41,847 in power tools from Mooroopna; $66,000 in livestock from Karramomus; $40,000 in jewellery from Katandra West; $40,000 in timber and building materials from Seymour; $50,000 in ‘garden items’ from Rutherglen; and $45,000 in tools from Wandong.

Keep in mind these dollar values represent items stolen from a single owner or family.

What animals are being stolen?

Sheep are far and away the most popular for Victorian thieves.

In 2012, 139 sheep were taken; that same year 48 cattle were taken, two steers, five goats, six horses and one pig.

In 2015 the statistics saw a bit of diversity, with three deer and five poultry being lost to foul play, but sheep remained on top of the numbers (81 went missing) compared to 63 cattle, two steers and 10 horses.

In 2017, a whopping 147 sheep vanished while cattle farmers only lost 45 cows/bulls and four steers. Ten horses, five goats, two pigs and one llama were also stolen.

One llama was also stolen in 2018 alongside one camel, one poultry, two pigs, five goats, 14 horses, 49 cattle, three steers and 177 sheep.

It should also be noted that in 2020, 10 ‘domestic pets’ were stolen with a combined value of $50,350 — the highest in the decade.

The most expensive year for livestock theft was 2021.

More than half of the year’s $2.7 million worth of stolen livestock was sheep (158 missing to the tune of $1.8 million), followed by 75 cattle, five steers, 12 goats, six horses, two deer and one poultry.

Crimes committed on farms

Arson, property damage, burglaries and thefts were the main crimes committed on northern Victorian farms in 2021.

The only crime outside these four that appeared in the 2021 Victoria Police data was deception (obtain benefit by deception), which was recorded in Greater Shepparton (one offence), Moira (two offences), Strathbogie (one offence) and Gannawarra (one offence).

In terms of arson, Campaspe had the highest rate with seven counts.

Campaspe also had the highest rate of general thefts — the shire recorded 15 thefts from cars, three theft offences from receiving stolen goods and 42 counts of general thefts.

The Alpine Shire and Mansfield were tied for the least amount of thefts, both only recording two general theft offences on farm properties in 2021.

Both High Country locations also recorded only one burglary and one stolen vehicle.

Greater Shepparton farms suffered from the highest number of vehicle thefts in Country News’ readership, with 21 stolen vehicles and one bicycle theft.