“It’s seen a lot of benefit,” said general manager Carson Callum, speaking at an Oct. 18 district meeting in Rosa.

“If our government could provide some support for that sort of position in the province, we’d see a lot of benefit to trying to deter any of the fraudulent cases that we’re seeing.”

Why it matters: Producers say lack of livestock knowledge among police often hinders them when there is a theft.

Saskatchewan added a dedicated RCMP livestock investigator in October of last year, the reported. The officer’s duties include investigating cases of missing or stolen livestock, as well as educating producers and other RCMP members.

MBP lobbied the former Progressive Conservative government on the issue, Callum said, and intends to continue those efforts with the new NDP government.

Dale Cazakoff, who ranches near Swan Lake, said he sees great value in having a dedicated livestock officer. About a year ago, he was short 15 calves during the fall roundup. Cazakoff, who is MBP director for District 14, said he contacted the CFIA and the RCMP after the disappearance.

The general police officer “doesn’t know the difference between a heifer or a steer,” he said. “It’s a real challenge.”

As well, RCMP are often busy with other matters.

“I’m very pro that we would have an individual, an RCMP individual that would deal with livestock crime,” Cazakoff said.

MBP is also considering some form of mandatory inspection, much like programs in the rest of the Prairies. That has been a polarizing topic over the years. In 2018, MBP members narrowly passed a resolution to lobby the government for a program. Previous efforts had been voted down.

Then-president Ben Fox spoke in favour of the resolution, suggesting that mandatory inspections would provide a solid paper trail and proof of possession for cattle. Detractors expressed concerns that inspection would bog down the sale process and raise costs.

Concerns over who would pay for inspection came up again at the Rosa meeting.

Not all Manitoba producers brand their cattle, Callum said, so a brand inspection agency wouldn’t benefit the whole province.

Livestock Services of Saskatchewan (LSS), which does brand inspection in that province, also has a unit in Manitoba, Callum said, but it doesn’t have jurisdiction. He suggested Manitoba could grant more jurisdictional powers to the LSS on sites where it already operates.

Callum is part of a national working group that is developing a traceability app for cattle. They’re looking at how they could use scanning technology, such as RFID tags, to track movement.

The post Beef producers lobby for dedicated RCMP livestock investigator appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Your safety matters above all else, and Keystone Agricultural Producers is here to address this head-on. Farmers from all corners of Manitoba have shared their concerns with KAP and we’re standing together to shield our farms and loved ones. 

Let’s take immediate action. 

Secure your vehicles and equipment. Lock your doors and vehicles at all times. Remove any valuables, both personal and farm-related, from your vehicles. Theft can be deterred by simple measures like these. 

Lock up shops and sheds. Ensure that your storage spaces are secured. Valuable tools, machinery and equipment should be stored safely to reduce the risk of theft or vandalism. 

Be vigilant and report suspicious activity. Trust your instincts. If you notice anything out of the ordinary or suspicious, don’t hesitate to call local authorities. Your watchful eyes can make a significant difference in maintaining our security. 

Keep in touch with your neighbours. Sharing information about recent incidents or concerns can help create a stronger support network and keep everyone informed. 

Install security measures. Consider putting motion sensor lights, security cameras and alarms on your property. These measures can act as deterrents and assist in identifying potential threats. 

Engage with law enforcement. If you ever feel unsafe or come across suspicious activity, do not hesitate to contact your local police. They are here to help and can respond promptly to address concerns. 

Remember, our strength lies in unity. By taking these precautions and fostering a sense of collective responsibility, we can create an environment where rural crime finds no footing. 

Let’s work together to ensure the safety and prosperity of our farms and communities. 

Thank you for being an integral part of our rural landscape. Your dedication and vigilance make all the difference.

The post Letters: Safeguarding our farms and communities from crime appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In a release Tuesday, RCMP at Bashaw — about 80 km northeast of Red Deer, in Camrose County — said they and members of the RCMP’s Central Alberta Crime Reduction Unit (CAD CRU) responded on the morning of Sept. 28 to a report of a “significant amount of canola” stolen from a farm in the county.

RELATED: Tips to prevent grain theft on your farm

RCMP said they then received a report at about 1:30 that afternoon of “suspicious individuals” attempting to sell canola to a Hutterite colony in the area. That report led the Mounties to locate both a grain truck and a second vehicle suspected in the theft.

The CRU, with Bashaw and Stettler RCMP, “attempted to do a traffic stop” on the grain truck, but its driver failed to stop, police said.

A spike belt was then used to stop the grain truck and its driver was arrested with help from RCMP helicopter and police dog services, police said.

A “significant amount” of canola and a grain auger were recovered in the investigation, RCMP said in their release.

RCMP couldn’t quantify Wednesday exactly how much canola was reported to have been taken at the affected farm or how much of it police recovered, but an RCMP spokesperson said the canola reported missing from the farm had an estimated value of between $7,000 and $8,000.

The driver of the second vehicle was arrested in Mirror, about 20 km southwest of Bashaw, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in a search of that vehicle, RCMP said.

Jesse MacDonald, 33, and Tristan Ruby, 36, both of Stettler, now face 14 and 16 charges respectively. Both were remanded into custody and have since appeared Tuesday in Provincial Court in Red Deer, RCMP said.

A court representative said both individuals’ cases have been adjourned to Oct. 13 in Provincial Court in Stettler.

Charges against both include trafficking in property obtained by crime and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, RCMP added, noting Ruby also faces nine counts of being unlawfully at large. All charges laid have yet to be proven in court. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Alberta RCMP spike grain truck to recover canola appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“I don’t think farmers realize how vulnerable they are,” said Les Wedderburn. “We didn’t.”

Wedderburn farms southwest of Rivers, growing grain and oilseeds with his brother. 

In early March, they opened up a bin to check on the canola ahead of marketing it, and realized between 1,500 and 1,600 bushels were gone.

Wedderburn said they’d rotated the canola in December and had left the auger in the bin overnight. He thinks someone came during the night and used the auger to load up and haul away an estimated B-train worth of oilseed.

No one lives on the farmyard, though it’s used for every day farming operations, Wedderburn said. His brother lives across the road. The site is also at the intersection of two roads.

Rivers police chief Lon Schwartz told the Co-operator they have little to go on. Wedderburn’s brother reported seeing a black truck enter, then quickly exit the yard on the day they turned the canola.

A Rivers police officer interviewed neighbours, but no one reported seeing anything. They also inquired with a nearby grain elevator, but this turned up nothing.

“It’s a huge theft, and I get it that it would be devastating,” Schwartz said. “I don’t know what we can do at this point.”

The canola wasn’t covered by his farm insurance, Wedderburn said. He’s since spoken with other farmers and said most say they either don’t have stored crops covered or don’t know if they’re covered.

The farm site didn’t have security cameras, nor were they using grain confetti – small bits of paper with registered serial numbers mixed into the grain.

That’s going to change, Wedderburn said. A surveillance company has already mapped out the yard for security camera installation. 

Both Wedderburn and Schwartz said theft like this isn’t common in Rivers and the surrounding RM of Riverdale. No grain thefts have been reported while he’s been in the service, Schwartz said. 

The most recent reported theft was “barn wood” from a dilapidated house, Schwartz added.

But Wedderburn said he expects thefts like this one will increase. Crop prices are high, as are gas and input prices. Farm yards can hold hundreds of thousands of dollars in stored crops alone, he said – never mind stored fuel and fertilizer.

“There’s a lot of guys with their back to the wall that didn’t get a crop last year, and I know there’s lots of contracts out there that didn’t get filled,” he said. 

If people can’t fill contracts and have to pay them out, they may get desperate, Wedderburn added.

“I think there’s lots of bad things out there that could happen,” he said.

In the past, Rivers police have urged residents, “if you see something, say something,” Schwartz said.

Now, surveillance cameras and grain confetti may be advisable, he said. It’s also a good idea to write down serial numbers from equipment, which can help identify property if it’s stolen.

The post Canola theft sees Rivers farmer warn others to secure farmyards appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Concrete data on theft in grocery stores is harder to get since incidents are typically under-reported. Managers tend to take matters into their own hands. But with the increasing number of reports on theft and security guards stationed in and out of grocery stores, things are likely more complicated out there than we’re aware of.

Speaking with various retailers in Montreal, Halifax, Toronto, and Vancouver, and even those located in the heart of neighbourhoods where crime rates are typically lower than average, thefts are now a new cause for concern.

According to some anecdotal estimates, the number of thefts has increased by 25 to 40 per cent in just the last six months. A mid-size grocery store can easily catch 10 to 12 shoplifters in a week these days. The cost of living and the price of food are enticing some citizens to find other ways to obtain supplies.

The most coveted items in supermarkets include meat such as ground beef, steaks, sausages, and roasts, cheeses, spices, and over-the-counter medicine. Energy drinks and alcohol are also a target in provinces where beer, wines and spirits are sold in grocery stores. Some people can steal up to $300 worth of products from multiple locations in a single day.

In addition, some employees may act as accomplices for internal thefts, either in the warehouse or at the back of the store even before the products are put on the shelves. On average in Canada, every grocery store is scooped up for $3,000 to $4,000 worth of groceries per week. In other words, for every 500 supermarkets that open their doors every morning in Canada, a total of nine stores will liquidate their food for free that day due to theft. That’s a lot of food, and the associated costs are a huge problem for our retailers.

Some merchants go to great lengths to prevent theft. Aside from the addition of security cameras and door people, hiring client-security guards also seems to be paying off. Plainclothes mystery shoppers roam the aisles to watch every single move of customers and catch them in the act. Although expensive, this strategy still works well.

These offenders are not associated with any typical profile, as they come from all age groups and backgrounds, which makes the task of catching them more difficult. In Canada, according to some crime experts, about half of all those charged have no criminal record. First-instance offenders are often well educated, come from well-off families, hold stable positions, and enjoy a good reputation. Many are just down on their luck.

Obviously, self-service checkouts can facilitate theft. It should therefore come as no surprise that more surveillance has been added around these areas. With profit margins approaching one per cent, the profitability of a store now depends a lot on increased surveillance to minimize theft of merchandise. And for those who do follow the rules, which is most of us, we must pay extra for our food due to shoplifting. For merchants to cover their costs, all consumers pay a premium of approximately two per cent for shoplifting and internal theft.

However, with online shopping, theft becomes impossible. Since the start of the pandemic, e-commerce in food has exploded. Canadians now buy more than $5 billion in food a year online. These sales are obviously safe from any temptation to take products and leave without paying. Grocers know this and will want to encourage online shopping from their customers to lower their risk.

Meanwhile, food inflation still has unpredictable shocks in store for us and some believe the situation could deteriorate in the coming months. The merchants will have to double their vigilance. It should come as no surprise that some retailers are using new methods to deter in-store delinquency.

The very first self-service grocery store opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, under the name Piggly Wiggly. Back in the day, customers presented their shopping lists to employees who then collected the merchandise from the store shelves. Then the founder had the revolutionary idea of allowing customers to serve themselves. Since then, we have been able to visit a store, see the different products and place them in our basket ourselves.

For the sake of our grocers, this is a privilege that should not be taken for granted.

The post Comment: Food prices are rising, but so is theft appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Police say the incident took place Tuesday, Oct. 26, and was reported to RCMP the following day.

Chris Moore, the animals’ owner, said he was hauling cattle from the pasture north of Gladstone—about an hour and 20 minutes away from his home in MacGregor—after penning them up that morning.

The cattle went missing from that corral while Moore was gone.

In total, 25 cows and 24 calves disappeared during the incident.

Moore later took to Twitter to raise the alarm on the theft and ask anyone with information on the incident to come forward.

All animals are Black Angus aged between three and six years old, he posted, while he estimated that calves weighed in at around 700 pounds. 

“(C)ows have yellow or white tags and calves have yellow or blue tags,” he posted.

Anyone with information on this incident are asked to contact the Minnedosa RCMP at 204-867-2916. Anonymous calls can also be placed to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or manitobacrimestoppers.com.

The post Cattle theft reported near Gladstone appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Kalvin Kreshewski came upon the grisly scene July 4, finding two cows dead from dehydration after rustlers left a gate tied and the two animals locked in a corral without food or water.

“That was the worst part,” he said. “It’s one thing to have the cattle stolen. It’s another that they left two in the corral and they died.”

The cattle were stolen from pasture on Provincial Road 577 near the village of Olha.

A gate leading from a holding pen to the pasture had been tied with twine, leaving the cattle herded from the pasture only one route — evidently to a waiting vehicle.

There were 68 cattle in the pasture at the time.

Kreshewski says the financial impact from this loss is anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000, plus he’s now left with mismatched cows and calves because the thieves didn’t take pairs.

“They just got whatever they caught in the corral and loaded them,” he said. “They just took what they wanted.”

He has offered a $10,000 reward for information on who stole his Black Angus and Black Angus-Simmental cattle. Late last week he said social media was providing very helpful tips, including when the theft occurred.

“Everybody knows something,” he said. “You just don’t know who to ask. That was a big help to figure out what people have seen.”

Ben Fox, president of Mani­toba Beef Producers said this latest incident is one more in a troubling upward trend. MBP is hearing more reported cases of stolen cattle, he said.

“Manitoba Beef Producers is extremely concerned,” he said.

“It’s shocking and gut wrenching when a producer has to go through that. And that fellow in Rossburn is taking a $60,000 to $80,000 hit on his bottom line. That’s hard to recover from.”

As for who the perpetrators are “it could run such a wide gamut as to who it could be,” he added.

“Cattle producers are left with more questions than answers right now.

“Unfortunately I think it’s a crime of opportunity. I think its primarily due to the fact cattle are fairly valuable again.”

Kreshewski said the way to put a stop to this is for producers to start watching the countryside more closely and looking out for their neighbours too.

“If you see something strange happening in the area pay attention to what’s going on,” he said. “Watch the vehicles. It doesn’t hurt to ask people what they’re doing there. If someone is on the road, just ask.”

Fox said at one time a range patrol was organized in the Dauphin area.

“There was something called the Cameron Range Patrol, a group of landowners that organized and travelled the back roads and kept an eye on property and livestock,” he said.

“I think that’s something we may have to revisit again in parts of the province.”

Anyone with information on the Rossburn theft is asked to contact RCMP at 204-859-2057 or call Manitoba Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

The post Two cattle left for dead by rustlers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Carberry RCMP are investigating the theft, which took place in the RM of Glenboro-South Cypress, about 10 kilometres west of Glenboro.

Police report that an unknown number of suspects removed the canola with an auger they, themselves, had transported to the farmyard and then abandoned.

Tara Seel, RCMP media relations officer, said the investigation is focusing on the canola, although police are exploring whether the auger may have also been stolen.

“It doesn’t belong to the property, so we’re assuming that it’s stolen,” she said.

Sara Smith, a family member, posted a message to Facebook warning residents to watch for suspicious activity the following day.

“Needless to say that is a considerable amount of money that someone has stolen from us,” she posted in part. “Please be vigilant for any vehicles driving back roads, etc., that look suspicious as they may be scouting out farmyards to hit.”

RCMP have described the theft as “unusual,” while Seel added that neither she nor local officers she has spoken to have seen cases of grain theft before.

“That’s why it’s so unusual, that and the fact that the auger was brought to the property and left there. That’s unusual in itself, that you bring such a big tool of the trade,” she said.

Kevin Swidnicki, insurance broker with MIG Insurance in Portage la Prairie, said most producers are insured for grain theft, although he has not seen a claim in his eight years with the company. The company does not instruct farmers on minimizing risk of theft, he said.

“Because it’s such a low risk, it’s never really something we go over,” he said. “The only thing we discuss in grain is that you have to insure the value.”

Theft insurance must be provided by private brokers, as the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation insures only against natural crop and production losses.

While unable to disclose exact details of the case, Seel said the investigation is active.

There have been no updates in the case thus far and the RCMP are actively seeking the public’s help in finding the thieves. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Carberry RCMP at 204-834-2905 or contact the Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, online at Manitoba Crimestoppers or text “TIPMAN” and their message to 274637.

While rare, southern Manitoba has seen cases of grain theft before, with canola often the target. In 2011, 2,200 bushels of the oilseed worth about $26,400 were stolen near Rathwell, while a Somerset producer lost 5,000 bushels worth $45,000 in 2004, part of a rash of grain thefts in the area at the time.

Securing bins, adding tracking mechanisms such as crop confetti and removing or disabling unloading systems near any bins have been among the common strategies suggested by experts to mitigate the risk of theft.

The post No answers on $20K canola theft near Glenboro appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The bill approved by the Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday and already approved in the House increases fines for cattle theft and the number of felony counts that can be brought.

State law currently says the penalty for livestock theft is jail or a fine, but the legislation would allow for both penalties in a single case. It also allows prosecutors to assign a felony charge for each animal stolen.

“If a thief steals eight head of cattle, in the past he was charged with one felony count,” said Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association executive vice-president Michael Kelsey.

The crime has evolved from rustlers on horseback driving their plunder across the range, often portrayed in the early 1960s U.S. TV program Rawhide, to modern-day cowboys using pickup trucks and trailers to make off with cattle.

The recent rise in rustling is driven by the spread of heroin and methamphetamines to rural areas, an issue that has dogged states across the nation. In Oklahoma and neighbouring Texas, lonesome cattle grazing on thousand-acre ranches that can fetch about $1,000 to $3,000 at market are proving to be easy targets for rustlers on the down and out (all figures US$).

Jail time for the theft of livestock remains at three to 10 years. Those convicted of livestock theft would be fined in an amount that is three times the value of animals and machinery stolen, capping out at $500,000.

The bill now heads to Governor Mary Fallin, a Republican.

“Now, district attorneys have the option to seek eight felony counts. If the district attorney is faced with a hardened criminal, he can really throw the book at him,” Kelsey said.

Among Oklahoma cattle thieves, about 75 per cent are doing so to feed drug addictions, most often to methamphetamines, according to Jerry Flowers, chief agent for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture’s Investigative Services, a specialized units farm crimes.

Cattle theft data from the department showed that reported cattle thefts more than doubled in 2014 from the previous year, due in large part to rampant methamphetamine use and addiction in rural areas.

— Reporting for Reuters by Heide Brandes; writing by Jon Herskovitz.

The post Oklahoma senators seek tougher cattle rustling penalties appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The Taber Police Service said Friday it had completed a “lengthy investigation” into allegations of fraud in which hay was obtained “under false pretenses” from a local company that wasn’t reimbursed for the product.

The Taber-area business is alleged to have been defrauded of over $800,000 between March and July 2013, the police service said in a release on its Facebook page.

The police service said it has arrested and charged Scott Piggott, 33, with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and false pretenses over $5,000.

Piggott is now out on bail and due to appear in Provincial Court in Taber on June 23, the police service said.

“The culmination of an arrest and charges in this matter is a great example of working through a large amount of information, liaising with special prosecutions, and helping our local business community,” Inspector Graham Abela said in the police service release.

The investigation involved “reviewing a massive amount of data and obtaining information from several companies in Canada and the U.S.,” the police service said. — AGCanada.com Network

The post Arrest made in alleged Alberta hay fraud appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.