Reported cases of livestock theft have trended down for five years

Reports of livestock theft from farmers across Victoria have been steadily declining for five years. See the rates in your area.

Reports of livestock theft from farmers across Victoria have been steadily declining for five years.

This is according to the latest data released by the Crime Statistics Agency, tracking the trends on the number of incidents of theft reports across Victoria’s Local Government Areas.

It comes as last week a man from southern NSW was granted conditional bail in the Wagga Wagga Local Court after being charged with stealing 18 Angus heifers.

Five years ago, in the 2019-20 financial year, Victorian police took 266 reports of livestock theft from Victorian properties.

In the years that followed, the number of recorded reports have fallen away gradually, down to 256, then 231, 179 and in the 2023-24 financial year, 163 incidents were reported and recorded, the CSA data shows.

This includes cases of stolen sheep – which number the most regularly reported stolen – cattle, goats, horses, pigs, poultry, camels and deer.

There was even one stolen ostrich and one llama in the data.

Taking the gong for the region with the most active sheep and cattle duffers was the Southern Grampians, which centres on the town of Hamilton, in the state’s Western District.

The district had 54 reports of theft during the five years – 20 cases five years ago and four last year.

Equal in second place were the LGAs of Strathbogie, East Gippsland and Corangamite on 42 reports and in third was Ararat, Loddon and Pyrennes on 39.

A police source said while suspected livestock should always be reported, officers were actually more concerned about rising rates of stealing of vehicles, side-by-sides, motorbikes, tools, and fuel from farms across the state.

The source urged anyone who had anything suspected to be stolen to report it without delay.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Scott Young said any property theft was a concern.

He said it appeared cases of reported stolen stock had declined as prices dropped.

“I would still encourage farmers to report, even if they don’t get any results, it helps the police and crime statistics to build a bigger picture and identify areas of concern,” Mr Young said.

Theft impacted producers in many ways, he said, not just financially.

“Its no good complaining about it without reporting it; it is not something we should accept happening.”