Gardaí in Meath have confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that they are investigating the theft of a tractor and trailer from a field in Julianstown, Co Meath, which occurred between 3 and 4 of October.

The owner of the tractor and topper, Shane Thorne, told the Irish Farmers Journal that he locked up the tractor on Saturday (2 October) around 12pm after doing a bit of work.

The tractor is a 2007 John Deere 6320 and had an ASA-LIFT topper on the back.

It was stolen from a field of parsnips in Julianstown Co Meath on Monday morning between 3am and 4am, the owner believes.

The stolen machinery was seen near Meath Farm Machinery in Kilberry at 5am, by a passer by.

Thorne said: “When I went to the field Monday morning it was gone. I could see the tracks where they had parked the trailer and the marks where the tractor was driven up on to the trailer”.

He made immediate contact with Gardaí in Ashbourne.

“I noticed the tractor was gone at 7:30am and I had someone [a garda] out with me at 8am.

“We had a tractor robbed a year ago in the same field,” he explained.

Thorne commended the power of social media in helping to recover items in such situations. “Facebook is brilliant and a lot of people shared it,” he said.