Cattle farmers battling thieves
August 19, 2009
Picture this: You toil night and day, through thick and thin, and just as you are about to reap the rewards, wham! The promising yield is reaped by persons who perhaps have never done a hard day's work.
Well that's how cattle farmer, Samuel Flemming, his son Patrick and their neighbours in Chudleigh, Manchester feel.
Tragically, the farmer sees no end to the pillaging of their property.
At daytime, the vast expanse of serene meadows on which cattle graze lazily, under sun and rain, belie its transformation to a hunting ground for rampaging thieves at night.
However, cattle farmers know this only too well.
Their painful experiences tell a heart-rending story of a struggle to keep going in the face of devastating loss, not at the whims of Mother Nature, but by the deeds of unscrupulous men.
Flemming Sr told The Gleaner that over the past three years, cattle thieves have stolen more than 20 head of mature cattle from him alone. He revealed that the value for one fully grown animal is $80,000. Multiply that by 20 and you get a $1.6-million loss for one small farmer.
Millions of dollars yanked from the grasp of the many cattle farmers in Chudleigh each year.
Flemming Sr said he had not been the target of the thieves in recent weeks but this was of little comfort as the hoodlums could strike at any time....
Author: Gary Spaulding
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
