Three farmers are counting thousands of dollars in losses as thieves have hit their St George farm, stealing five mature cows over the past year and causing the death of another in recent weeks.
Andre Marshall, Emerson Jones and Mark Straker told the Nation team their pockets cannot handle any more losses and they are appealing to the Ministry of Agriculture to help them invest in microchipping the animals.
Marshall, who said he has now been forced to spend his nights under a dunks tree watching his herd, estimated he and his partners had lost more than $20 000 worth of the cattle from the thefts.
He said one mature cow was valued between $3 000 and $4 000, while a calf could be sold for $1 500.
Marshall is so frustrated that he has suggested to his partners they explore the possibility of selling off what cows they have left.
“Five of our cows were stolen. I don’t know where the thieves coming from, but right now when the nights come, I got to be up here watching my cows. I under this dunks tree when the nights come watching my cows. Sometimes I got my dog and my sword with me watching my cows and that ain’t good.
“Suppose the guys come with guns and I only got a sword? Then I got to run and leave my cows. I don’t even know how they carry away these cows because I going through the back roads and I ain’t seeing no trace of these cows,” he said.
Marshall recalled that two weeks ago, one of his treasured cows was struck by a car after it ran across the road to escape from a thief. It was later discovered that the cow, which had given birth 19 times, was pregnant.
“The thief cut the chain and the cow ran across the road trying to get away and a vehicle hit the cow. The police come and shout me and tell me that the cow in the middle of the road. That is one of the first cows that I had. Next six weeks, that calf was going to be born,” Marshall said.
He said farmers in Barbados could benefit from the Ministry of Agriculture helping them to get microchips implanted under their animals’ skin.
He added he contacted the ministry regarding assistance with microchipping the cows, but was yet to receive a response.
“We need some help because, to be honest, I don’t feel whoever doing this here done. I feel the trackers could help the ministry find out whoever is doing this and stop them from carrying away other people’s cows too. Right now, all of these cows out here will drop calf soon and we frightened for the thieves. You don’t know who is watching you or watching your animals. This is a very sad situation.”
Jones, who, too, was fed up with the animals being stolen, also appealed for help. He said the incidents have been reported to the police, but acknowledged that there was only so much the officers could do with limited evidence.
“All we need is some help securing the animals instead of running back and forth to the police station laying a complaint because nothing ain’t really happening,” he lamented.
Chief Agricultural Officer Keeley Holder said she was not aware of the farmers’ plight, but would look into the matter.
However, she explained that microchip technology was not the same as the Global Positioning System (GPS).
“The microchip allows that when you get to the animal you can scan it. If somebody brings in an animal to be slaughtered and it has a microchip, it can be scanned and then you know who the animal belongs to. The microchip is an identifier that is injected into the animal skin; it is not GPS technology.
“Say it is injected into the neck of the animal and the people who steal the cow cut off the head and butcher it right in the field, then we wouldn’t be able to identify the animal because the microchip was in the neck. We would have to explore GPS technology,” Holder added.
When contacted, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir said he was unaware of the cows being stolen from the farm, but committed to investigating the matter. He said he had not formally received any request from the farmers for assistance with microchipping the cows.