Gardaí are investigating the theft of a cattle trailer from a farm in the Annascaul area in Co. Kerry which its owner said “vanished” from a yard in the space of a few hours.

Martin Greaney, who is a dairy and sheep farmer, spoke of his shock to Agriland about the theft of the 14ft Nugent cattle trailer, which he said would be “badly missed”.

The trailer, which is approximately five years old and has been valued at around €7,000, is believed to have been stolen between Wednesday evening ( February, 1) and Thursday morning (February, 2).

Greaney said his family have never had any problems with “anything being stolen before” from the farm on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry.

Source: Martin Greaney

“We wouldn’t expect this kind of thing to happen and it’ll be badly missed, so I would ask people to look out for it, if they would, maybe they might notice it going through their village – we don’t want to be at the loss of it,” he added.

According to Greaney the trailer has a number of distinguishing features including one missing tyre from the middle on the right side and a back mud guard that is slightly dented.

Thefts

The Independent TD for Kerry, Michael Healy-Rae, said that he is “very worried” about what he described as a “trend of thefts” in the last three months in Co. Kerry.

“There have been farm machinery, farm animals and other unusual thefts and it is very upsetting because farming is difficult at the best of times.

“Whether it is machinery or animals it is very hurtful to the person because it is not just their possessions these are essential to their daily work and it is extremely upsetting,” Deputy Healy-Rae said.

The Kerry TD said he believes local communities have to “be vigilant for each other” because of the trend of rural thefts.

“We have to stand together, whether that means an official or an unofficial neighbourhood watch, we all have to look out for each because the Gardaí will do their duty but we know they can’t be on every road so we have to do a lot ourselves.

“We have to watch out for each other and if there is a van or a car you don’t recognise then we need to be vigilant these days,” Deputy Healy-Rae added.