Inverurie young farmer Rory Gregor has been left counting the cost of the theft of his in-lamb pedigree Beltex ewes from Aberdeenshire.
The incident took place between 10pm on Sunday and first light the following morning three miles from Cairnton Farm at a field adjacent to the B993 Inverurie to Kemnay Road.
Electric fencing at the entrance to the park, which contained 31 pedigree and pure-bred Beltex sheep all due to lamb in less than a week’s time, had been cut and the field was empty.
Mr Gregor, 23, who works full-time as a structural designer but who has built up the flock since he was 10, believes someone with local knowledge stole the animals.
“The flock has taken me my whole life to build and to have these ewes stolen is torture,” he said.
“Somebody has been watching these sheep, they’ve seen how close they are to lambing, how tame they are, they’ve maybe even seen I feed them daily and they follow me with a bag of food.”
Tracks have been discovered leading to and from a pen, which Rory had set up within the field, although the gates of the pen were set up differently to how he had left them.
“It’s obvious the sheep had been taken into the pen, loaded into a trailer and taken away.
“Somebody knew what they were doing.”
Mr Gregor did not have insurance cover for the sheep, but estimates the value of the ewes at around £30,000, without taking their lambs into consideration.
“This is a massive financial loss for my business,” he said.
Mr Gregor has previously sold lambs from his pedigree flock for £2,200.
“Every sheep that was stolen was in lamb to a ram that I bought last year for 4,800gns, so I can’t even begin to think what the cumulative financial impact will be on my business,” he said.
The sheep are all double EID tagged and each have a distinctive blue identification number marked on to their backs ranging from 12 to 72.
Officers from Police Scotland said they are keen to trace a 4×4 vehicle and trailer, believed to have been used to rustle the sheep.
It is understood the tyre tracking distance recorded within the field match those of a 14ft TA510 Ifor Williams galvanised livestock trailer.
Investigating officer PC Sam Goldie said: “This incident will be of great concern to local farmers and as such they are asked to be extra vigilant with their livestock.
“It’s believed the theft would have occurred sometime during the hours of darkness on Sunday.
“Anyone who may have been in the area and seen any activity should contact the police immediately.”
According to Mr Gregor one potential witness has already come forward.
He said the witness apparently spotted a Warrior-type or similar “dark coloured pickup style vehicle” sitting at the entrance to the field at 11.45pm on Saturday evening in the same location where the fence was cut the following night.
Anyone with information in relation to the incident or who has been offered any Beltex ewes for sale without the appropriate paperwork is asked to call police on 101.
Alternatively they can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if they wish to remain anonymous.