Sheep snatched: The ‘real challenge’ in the fight to stop livestock rustling

Ninety Merino sheep have been snatched from a farm in Moriac while the gates were unlocked for NBN works.

Vice-president of the National Farmers Federation, David Jochinke, says sheep rustling is a bigger problem than most realise.

“It’s actually more common than what people probably believe,” he told Ross and Russel.

“Livestock are worth so much, especially sheep.

“They’re very easy to rustle if you’ve got a good trailer and a dog, and a bit of know-how.”

But Mr Jochinke says farmers can do more to stamp out livestock rustling.

“The real challenge is getting farmers to speak up and actually identify that they’ve lost the sheep early enough,” he said.

“We have got this thing called electronic identification in all sheep in Victoria … however that can be removed and the animal can get reidentified, so the quicker you can identify that here is an issue … the more likely you can get it back.”

Press PLAY below to hear how farmers can increase their chances of getting stolen livestock back