A farmer in Great Southern, Australia, is devastated after 65 young pigs were stolen from his property. Colin Ford, owner of Frankland River Pork, operates his farm in Cranbrook, located 330 kilometers southeast of Perth. He discovered the theft this week but is uncertain about when the pigs were taken from their shelter.

"We put them in at four weeks of age when we wean them, and they're there for six weeks, so we know exactly how many pigs we put into the pens," Ford explained. "Then when we moved them out, there were 65 missing. They'd be 11 weeks old today."

Ford estimates the stolen pigs are worth around $12,000. He believes the theft occurred in a single night. "It would have to have been someone come with a small truck or a car and trailer, and then just reversed up to the pen and run them in," he said.

He suspects the thieves had some knowledge of livestock handling. "You're in the agricultural industry, you're battling against the elements and everything that goes with primary production and then you've got someone that goes and does this," Ford said. "It's pretty disappointing, really. We're not a big organization; we've got a really small, dedicated team who are invested in our business, then someone does this and it just knocks the stuffing out of you."

The theft comes at a challenging time for Ford, who has been working to expand his business. "We've just increased our pig numbers, and these were actually the first of the increase coming through," he noted. He mentioned the financial pressures associated with the investment made over the past ten months, including increased feed, medications, and purchasing pigs. "We were sorting getting towards the pointy end of being able to realize some of that financial input and then this knocks you back."

In response to the theft, Ford has enhanced security measures on his property and remains hopeful about recovering the stolen pigs. "We can trace [the pigs] because of the genetics that we use," he said. "We can do genetic testing just to clarify, and there are tell-tale signs of the pigs that we do quite differently, which makes them stand out from other intensive producers. So we can get confirmation that they're our pigs if we do find them."

The incident highlights a broader issue of farm crime in rural communities. A recent survey revealed that nearly 90 percent of farmers in New South Wales have reported being victims of crime, underscoring the challenges faced by those in the agricultural sector.