Most farm families are concerned about rural crime. Farming on quiet roads in remote areas is no guarantee against opportunistic theft. For the elderly, there is a real sense of vulnerability. However, a bit of common-sense planning can reduce risk. In these pages we outline simple steps – and they won’t force you to live in a steel fortress. As a first step, review the security of your farmhouse, yard and fields.

  • Are boundary fences and all gates secure and intact?
  • Are trees and bushes trimmed back to reduce cover around gates, the yard and farmhouse?
  • Have you appropriate exterior lighting around your sheds and farmhouse?
  • Have you robust locks on your sheds?
  • On your house, are doors and windows fitted with robust locks, in working order?
  • Is an alarm fitted to your house and/or sheds?
  • Do you store keys in a secure location – or an obvious one?
  • Is your home farm easily identified and located, if required, by the gardaí – or other emergency services?

    • It’s up to you to follow through.

    Benefits for all in healthy animals

    Small animals, whether it be cats or dogs, are a mainstay on most Irish farms and rural dwellings. Some serve as a companion while a high percentage are active in many ways such as herding/flocking animals, providing an element of security or in rodent and pest control.

    Health treatments can sometimes be put at the lower end of our things to do list, but it is in everyone’s interest to ensure small animals receive the necessary attention they require from the perspective of keeping them healthy, but also from ensuring some diseases that pose a risk to humans are safeguarded against.

    Read more

    Simple steps to help make your farm theft-proof

    GPS tracking to deter sheep thieves

    Full coverage: rural crime