A Ntabozuko farmer is in shock after discovering that almost his entire herd of cattle has gone missing.
Wimpie van Heerden, who is the owner of Palmerston Farm, said he discovered on Sunday afternoon that 144 of his cattle had gone missing.
He suspects that stock thieves made off with the cattle the night before. He is now left with four bulls and one calf.
Van Heerden has take to social media to ask for people to help him find the cattle.
He suspects the thieves gained access through the neighbouring farm and went to all three of the farm’s camps where the cattle were kept.
“The fence was messed up, and it seems that whoever did this was familiar with the layout of the farm. They had cut the fence and took all the cattle together.”
He said there had been incidents of stock theft in the area occasionally, but this was the first time such a large number of cattle were stolen at once.
“There are a lot of loose ends and things we do not understand at the moment, the police are busy investigating, and we [hope] the investigations lead us somewhere,” Van Heerden said.
A police source confirmed a case of stock theft was opened on Monday, which is under investigation.
Van Heerden said, ever since Monday, they had spent hours looking for clues as to where they went.
“At this point in time, we do not know if they have been loaded, as the quantity involved would need two big trucks,” he said.
“We had not seen any evidence of where they have gone to. We can more or less see which direction the cattle were directed, but that was the only thing.”
He said he had lived in Ntabozuko since 1989 and took over the farm from his father-in-law after he passed away in 2012.
“We are not a large commercial-scale farm, and some of cattle are in partnership with someone else, he had 36 of the cattle.
“To fulfil or try to generate income, we buy and sell sheep and goats, and we sustained seven local families, now some of them are going to lose their jobs due to the loss of the cattle.
“We cannot replace those cattle, we do not have the money to do that.
“We have lost everything except for the goats and sheep,” he said.
Van Heerden had different types of cattle, but the main breed was Brahman bulls.
All the cattle were tagged and branded.
“Some were branded ONF with yellow ear numbered tags and others were branded P KF. P turned clockwise once and KF below that on the left back hip with white ear tags with a digital number printed on.”
Van Heerden said there were also heifers missing with pink, blue and yellow tags with handwritten numbers on the tags. They were not branded and were between 12 and 18 to 24 months old.
“There are also 10 cows with youngish calves. One cow gave birth 10 days ago. And the calf is still very small,” he said.
He said a case was opened at the Ntabozuko police station on Monday morning.
“I feel defeated and confused on how I lost the livestock. It is heartbreaking as we have been running the farm for years.”
The distraught farmer was grateful for the overwhelming support he received, even from Dutywa.
He has made numerous appeals on social media platforms.
“We have had tremendous community support from everywhere. On Wednesday morning, I received a phone call from a gentleman in Dutywa who saw cattle roaming around and informed me.
“We have had people offering us the use of their aircraft for a few hours to search for the livestock.”
Sports coach and resident Leo Mbini said the incident was shocking and heartbreaking.
Mbini said it was rare to come across such a heinous crime in Ntabozuko.
“We hope justice is served for Wimpie, as he is a known and respected famer and businessman.”
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli had not responded to written questions by the time of publication.
Daily Dispatch
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.