HARD TO DETECT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 74, 6 March 1931, Page 5

HARD TO DETECT.

THEFT OF SHEEP. SPECIAL BRANDS DESIRED. , Southland is by no means free from sheep-stealing, according to a statement made by Mr Walter Clark, of Woodlands, at a meeting of directors of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association on Saturday, to the effect that he had had 350 good wethers and hoggets stolen from his property this season. He stated that the great difficulty in detecting thefts of this nature was that no farmer could adopt an exclusive brand for branding his sheep and prevent his neighbours or any other farmers in the district from adopting the same brand. He had consulted the police concerning the thefts but in view of the fact that the sheep had been purchased by him from several quarters and had borne the earbrands of the farmers who had bred them, identification of the sheep would be Impossible. Another factor was that he had not discovered the theft until after shearing, by which time the stolen sheep would probably have been shorn and there would be no means of tracing them. It had been suggested that he should adopt a special brand, but he had discovered that the regulations did not permit him to register any exclusive brand, and there was nothing to prevent every farmer in the district, or the province, from adopting the same brand. Several of the directors expressed the opinion that some alteration should be made to the regulations to prevent stealing, or, at least, to make detection of the thefts simpler. It was generally conceded that a good deal of sheep-stealing was being carried on in Southland, but the risk of detection appeared to be slight. Removing sheep under eover of darkness and conveyed them to other districts was considered to be largely responsible for the losses sustained by farmers of late.