Stolen heifers and bullocks worth €30k traceable.

BY MARTIN STEINMETZ AND KIERAN O’MAHONY

A FARMER whose 18 cattle worth €30,000 were stolen under cover of darkness has vowed to track down the thieves.

Brian Lawlor told how brazen rustlers broke into a holding pen at his farm in the Lakelands area, near Skibbereen, and made off with 12 Friesian heifers and six Friesian bullocks, all around one year old.

He had fed the cattle twice on Sunday but discovered they had been taken at around 10.30am on Monday morning.

He told The Southern Star: ‘At first we didn’t realise they were missing because they had moved the cows around from one holding pen to another, so it didn’t look empty. We only realised they were missing when we counted them.’

Mr Lawlor said he had heard of cattle thefts in the area before, but had never been targeted. ‘It’s a massive loss and I’m not going to stop until I find them,’ he said.

‘We have used the outside farm for nine years, it’s only around two miles from my house. I have young children and they were afraid going to bed last night in case someone would come into the yard.’

Mr Lawlor said the cattle that were stolen made up the farm’s breeding stock, and their DNA had been recorded for future reference.

‘If they were going to use them as replacement dairy stock, it would be easy to find out that they are the daughters of one of my mine,’ he added.

He said he was planning to have CCTV cameras installed. Support from neighbours, who had supplied CCTV footage, had been superb, he added.

Gardaí investigating the cattle theft have appealed for witnesses.

A garda spokesman said: ‘Gardaí are appealing for anyone who may have information to contact them.

Any persons, including road users who were travelling between the R637 road and the R593 road in the Lakelands, Skibbereen area overnight and may have camera footage are asked to make this available to investigating gardaí.

‘Investigating gardaí can be contacted at Skibbereen Garda Station on 028-23088.’

In 2022 gardaí investigated two separate instances of cattle rustling, the first from a remote farm in Aughadown, Skibbereen where five Friesian heifers in calf and three Aberdeen Angus bullocks were stolen.

A second brazen theft on Christmas Eve 2022 saw livestock from a farm at Direenauling in Ballyvourney taken.

President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association Dennis Drennan described it as unusual given that the cattle were too young for slaughter and not yet ready for the food chain.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland: ‘If somebody came to me this morning and offered me those animals for free, I wouldn’t be able to take them. The Department of Agriculture has a very efficient and fool-proof animal identification system.’

He said the theft required a well-organised operation. Rustlers had to load and transport the animals, use an illegal abattoir to slaughter them,  then hang the meat for three to four weeks.