A farmer from Freemount, near the Charleville area of Cork, had seven weanling cattle stolen from his farm in the early hours of last Thursday morning.

“We have two yards that are a few miles from the house. When I landed down to one of them on Thursday morning, I noticed there were cattle missing in a field around the other yard. I drove over and saw that there were four Friesian bullocks, two Angus bulls and one Angus heifer taken. They had moved the first pen of cattle out of the shed to get access to the weanlings. It’s a desperate, low act,” the farmer said.

It is understood that a car and trailer were used in the theft and the thieves were not from the county.

This case of cattle theft is the second in a week in Co Cork. On Monday morning last week, a farmer had eight of her Angus weanlings stolen from her farm near Ballyclough, Mallow. Gardaí are not ruling out that the two cases are linked.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that gardaí in Cork are stepping up efforts, with the superintendent in the area understood to be extremely concerned by the developing trend.

Anyone moving cattle between midnight and 6am is being warned that if they are stopped by the gardaí, they will be required to provide proof of ownership.

The gardaí have issued a note to all marts and processors with descriptions of the cattle, in an attempt to try to catch the animals before they are sold or slaughtered.

Anyone with information on either case should make contact with either the Charleville garda station on 063-21770 or Mallow garda station on 021-4301429.

Cattle theft, or rustling, is unusual in Cork. There were no reported thefts in the county in 2014.