THE Quinn family’s Mincha West dairy farm has become the latest business to fall victim to brazen thieves.
Thefts in the Cohuna, Gunbower and Leitchville districts appear to have become far more common over the past 24 months, and it seems criminals are now extending their reach.
“Where we’re located, we’ve probably had a protected neighbourhood because we’re out of the way but I guess that’s over now,” said an angry and frustrated Pat Quinn.
The farm was targeted for the second time in five weeks, but thieves only took small tools the first time in a suspected planning exercise for a larger crime.
This time, Mr Quinn estimated the value of stolen goods at $30,000, including two Honda four-wheel motorbikes, a tandem trailer, a variety of welders, angle grinders, drills, three chainsaws, spanners, sockets and other assorted workshop tools.
“One of the motorbikes was near new, the Gentech generator was near new and one of the chainsaws was brand new,” Mr Quinn said.
“The only things they left behind were the things they didn’t want.
“We feel very angry and upset and disappointed to have had this happen.”
To worsen the blow, the value of items exceed Pat and his wife Michelle’s insurance coverage, because their son Gregory – a boilermaker by trade – recently came home to the farm and brought his welding gear with him.
“They’ve stolen away all his hard work, including the trailer which he built in high school,” Mr Quinn said.
Mr Quinn said farm employees living in a house close to where the tools were taken heard a disturbance at about 2am on Thursday, but the crime wasn’t discovered until that morning.
“It was someone familiar with the property we believe and we heavily suspect it was the same people as five weeks ago,” he said.
“I don’t think you would be far of the mark if you said it was drugs-related.”
The family planned to install security cameras after the first break-in, and this time there was no delay, with cameras fitted yesterday morning.
Mr Quinn said other security measures, like locking all vehicles and sheds, weren’t practical in a dairy-farming setting.
“In a farming environment where there can be workers there between the hours of 4.30am and 8.30pm it is terribly inconvenient to lock and unlock everything every day,” he said.
Mr Quinn urged people to keep an eye out for the stolen tools, particularly the new items and the one-of-a-kind trailer.
Cohuna police are investigating, and can be contacted on 5456 4150.
Cohuna police officer, Senior Constable Dean Closter said farmers needed to be more security-conscious.
“Farms are becoming easy targets; most thefts we deal with are from farms that didn’t have their tools locked up,” he said.
“To use an analogy, businesses in town wouldn’t leave their sheds open, so there needs to be a change of mindset with farmers.
“We would also like to see a lot more of measures like sensor lighting and security cameras.”
