Livestock theft is big business for rustlers with some farmers losing dozens of animals in a single raid.

In Flintshire, 50 shearling ewes worth around £10,000 were stolen from the same field thieves targeted three years ago.

Sheep farmer Robin Ellis rents the field near Northop as grazing for his flock of 1,000 White Faced Mules and Texel x Mules.

The gate was secured with a chain and padlock but when Mr Ellis visited the field to check on the sheep he found it wide open.

The theft this autumn was almost three years to the day that 40 of his sheep were taken from that field; he is convinced that it is the same thieves involved.

Even the lock that the chain was attached to was taken. “What is the use of that lock without a key?” Mr Ellis questioned.

Although he is insured it won’t cover his loss fully due to the price uplift in sheep since he renewed his premium.

“Prices have rocketed since then so I am under-insured, I reckon most livestock farmers in the UK are under-insured,’’ he said.

Mr Ellis rents the field and admits that he will in future be very wary of how he uses it.

“There is a footpath running through it and it comes out next to a main road, that’s why we always locked the gate, to stop walkers leaving it open.’’

Mr Ellis said he appreciates the work that police rural crime teams do around livestock rustling but that criminals rarely seemed to be caught.

“I remember reading not so long ago about someone who had been prosecuted but there seem to be very few convictions.’’

His shearlings were double tagged and he is hoping that the distinctive markings on their fleeces – a large blue ‘E’ on their right hand side – will help him to trace them.

“It is not the season for shearing so these animals will either still have that letter on their fleeces or they will have be shorn which should set alarm bells ringing,’’ he said.

In 2020, animals worth an estimated £2.3m were stolen from UK farms.

The scale of thefts has increased in the last couple of years, said NFU Mutual’s Matt Uren.

“We have seen thefts of up to 50 animals taken in one go, those are crimes that run into tens of thousands of pounds.

“So much time and energy is invested in those animals, so to see them stolen, potentially butchered in the field, not treated properly and put into food markets in ways that they shouldn’t be, it is not only a challenge for the farmer but it impacts on the wider food chain.’’

NFU Mutual says it regularly receives reports of 30-100 sheep being taken in a single raid.

Aside from the financial loss, rustling has a psychological impact, Mr Uren added.

“To have someone come to your farm, where you are living with your children, and take animals that you have been rearing and breeding, I don’t think words can explain just how serious a thing this is to a farming family that are living in an isolated area and already feel vulnerable.’’

Some thefts take place during the hours of darkness but others happen in broad daylight.

Each time farmers up their security systems, criminals come up with new ways to circumvent these.

A ‘once and done’ approach to security is no longer appropriate, said Mr Uren.

“You can’t just put up a camera and think ‘problem solved’, the criminals are evolving and we have to evolve with them.’’

Encouraging the public to report suspected livestock theft is an approach being taken in some areas to tackle this crime.