Guess what people are stealing from farms now.......

[Fitter Roger]

Well the yellow lab was barking his head off the other night while I was at work. My wife checked to see what he was haven a fit about but didn't see anything from the house. We can't see the back side of the barn from the house. Turns out somebody opened the hay loft door and stole a pickup load of small square bales of hay. We figure around 20 to 30 bales. They parked the truck up the road around a corner a walked back and forth through the hay field to load the truck.

Too bad we didn't leave the trap door to the goat feed bunk open.

Turns out that the neighbor's farm was getting its fuel and oil drums ripped off when we started looking around. That thief was digging in his shed, which was closed up and found the key to the fuel barrel.

We are located on the state line between Illinois and Wisconsin. The Sheriff figures that they sneak into Wisconsin and run back into Illinois to fence the items, sell hay to the horse people and hide out. Its hard to get the Illinois Sheriff to patrol along the state line.

Roger
 

[Charles (in GA)]

Heard a story on Public Radio about the stolen hay problem. Pretty big in places. One farmer hid a GPS transmitter in a big roll of hay and tracked it down. Sheriff got several people who were involved.

Charles
 

[730 virgil]

i was talking to a friend last night who told me someone stole their pasture gate then went to their neighbors and stole their gate also
 

[da.bees]

I don't support thieves of any sort but can't help but feel a liittle relieved they didn't come to the house and harm the family. As for where they came from,it's not making sense that a complete stranger would make multiple trips across the field while a large dog barked. How would they know you would not bring a two row skatter gun to investigate or that somone wasn't about to set the large barking dog on them while they crossed the field. Seems they knew the dog wouldn't jump them and your wife wouldn't get out and look around the place.
 

[da.bees]

[kly]

People have been stealing hay here for years. Know a guy that left a full truck of corn in the field. it was empty in the morning.At least they brought the truck back! I haven't heard about diesel being stolen. Know they steal gasoline, tractor batteries, and copper wire from pivots.Heard one guy had his copper radiators stolen from his irrigation engines
 

[Mark - IN.]

Gates. Thats a new one on me. Scrap metal.

This past Saturday some neighbors down the road got their place broken into sometime after Noon and before 4:00 PM. Kicked the door in, stole a TV and some stuff. That's pretty close to me I figure. This weekend will take the family out target practicing on the property again since most everyone will be over. Gives practice, and what sounds like OK Corral echoing across the plowed fields isn't bad advertisement to those that might be eyeballing the place.

Mark
 

[George Marsh]

I put a safety chain around my gate. Only slows them down if someone really wanted it.
 

[Spook]

Somebody stole the garage doors off a house that had been repoed down the road. Friend of mine that lives across the road thought that somebody had forgotten to close the doors. The 2nd day, he walked over, the houses are about 1000ft apart, and saw that the doors were gone. 3 doors, insulated, looked like wood. The whole house had been gutted for the copper plumbing, and all the fixtures and appliances had been torn out. It had been appraised at 380K. The bank ended up selling it for 53K. But it needed a lot of work.
 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

Hi Roger,

I've often wondered what I'd do if I caught someone in the act of stealing from my property. Legally, I'd have more freedom of action if they were in my house---Washington State law doesn’t give homeowners as much latitude in that regard as some states, but enough. The sticky issue is when a thief is not inside your house and is not threatening you, just stealing your stuff. All they really have to do is turn their back on you and walk (or run, or drive) away. Even a police officer would be in serious trouble for shooting a fleeing person in the back for a crime against property. As a civilian---forget it. It sure would be bitter, though, to have your good sense prevail and have to watch someone who had just been stealing from you walk away. In general, I’ve found reality to be less satisfying and more complicated than fiction in many interesting situations.

Stan
 

[Steve A W]

Teach Them to dance!
 

[Tom from Buckeye Lake]

When my Daughter was looking for 1st home, we looked at two that were gutted IE copper, wire, fixtures ect. Bank rep said the owners were in default and THEY (owners) gutted it and ran.
 

[Mark6005]

Couple weeks back our fence was cut and catalytic converter cut right off new super duty 450. heard last week a ford dealer was hit and several of them stolen the same way. A matter of time until farms targeted also since large trucks are used. Guess something in the converters is worth big bucks
 

[charlie n]

It's been a problem in Southern Illinois and Missouri for a while.Mostly rounds and big squares.Heard thru the grapevine Missouri Highway Patrol has a task force working on it.

You want to see what the item of choice here is?

http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/local/article_52b58bba-3dbd-11e2-8a00-0019bb30f31a.html
 

[john *.?-!.* cub owner]