Police appeal after cows worth £7000 stolen from Dorset farm

Limousin cows (Stock photo)
Limousin cows (Stock photo)

Police are hunting thieves who stole eight cows from a farm in Wareham, Dorset in a night-time raid.

The offenders broke into the farm by cutting through padlocks and removing the security system in the early hours of 8th January and stole eight brown-coated Limousin cows worth around £7000.

Steve Harrison, the farmer on Philliols Farm, in Bere Heath, has around 170 beef cattle on his 300-acre farm and 37 of them were being kept in an open barn, which has a roof but an open front.

He said: "The thieves must have had a very big trailer but I didn't hear a thing. A man who lives down the road said he was woken by the sound of a vehicle at 3am so that must be when they were taken.

"They all have passports and ear tags so they could be identified if they were taken to slaughter.

"It feels like you have been hit in the stomach."

Reassurance patrols

Police constable Mark Wooldridge of Wareham police said they are appealing to anyone who saw the use of a tractor and trailer or 4x4 vehicle with a trailer to remove the cows from the farm.

“I am appealing to anyone who saw such a vehicle in suspicious circumstances in the area at the relevant time to please contact Dorset Police.

“I am also keen to hear from anyone who has become aware of someone trying to sell this breed of cows.

"Officers from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team will be carrying out additional reassurance patrols in the area over the coming days."