POLICE are calling on the public’s assistance after sheep, tools and a large amount of grain were stolen from a drought-affected farmer in Trundle.
The incident occurred at a property on Yarrabandi Road in Trundle and included the theft of 20 fat lambs.
NSW Police state rural crime co-ordinator Detective Inspector Cameron Whiteside said the theft occurred during the past few weeks.
"The lambs are tagged with ‘K Park’," he said.
Det Insp Whiteside said the theft would have been well planned and would have required a heavy vehicle.
"The theft of this grain would more than likely have required a large truck to transport from the property," he said.
"A quantity of tools were also stolen."
Det Insp has urged any members of the public with information or who may have seen any suspicious vehicles in that area during the past few weeks to contact police.
Call Tullamore Police Station on 6892 5000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

The leader of Slow Food Hunter Valley and regional councillor of Slow Food International shares this revelation as she paces the floor of her East Maitland business, Reader’s Cafe and Larder.
“The poor sheep had had nothing to eat for quite some time, having only inhaled dust during its last few days and it had starved like the others.” As far as agricultural horror stories go, the sheep story is up there – but Dempster is far from finished discussing some of the more distressing scenes she has witnessed or heard first-hand from local farmers in recent times.
Some of its key projects includes ‘Feeding the Community’, a project that converts excess produce and food from farms into nutritious meals for the disadvantaged and hungry, and ‘Fresh Food in Remote Communities’, which works with local Indigenous leaders and schools to grow fresh food.
But the group is perhaps best known for assisting the region’s farmers, who are doing it tough.
Dempster tells the story of one farmer who was devastated to find his entire harvest destroyed by bugs.
“So I told him to wait and that we were sending some of our team to help.” The Slow Food Hunter Valley volunteers helped the farmer wash the leaves and sort what they could salvage and they sold the produce at market.
How can you look after your family on $185?” “He would have made an average of $1800, but that day he made $185 from what we could salvage.” One farmer who has benefitted from the work of Slow Food Hunter Valley is Austin Breiner, who specialises in heirloom vegetables – most notably pumpkins, having grown 40 different varieties last year from seeds around the world.
With affection, he recounts how Dempster worked to ensure water was delivered to farmers within the region last year.
“And I spent most of last summer carting 1000-litre drums of water around and hand-watering what I could, just to keep things alive until that rain comes … The trouble is, it’s not coming and now the sub-soil is drying out, too, so we’re predicting an even tougher year next year.” Slow Food Hunter Valley is doing what it can, but what can the everyday Australian do to help?
“Seek out farmers’ markets in your area and support your local growers who have struggled to get that fresh produce to your table.” Secondly, you can back the Buy a Bale Campaign, which raises money to support our farmers.

For losses due to drought, qualifying drought ratings are determined using the U.S. Drought Monitor located at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
Qualifying fires are those occurring on rangeland managed by a federal agency and the producer is prohibited by the federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to the fire.
Eligible livestock include alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo, beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, reindeer or sheep that have been or would have been grazing the eligible grazing land or pastureland during the normal grazing period.
Applications are required for 2017 losses. To expedite applications, producers who experienced losses in 2017 are encouraged to collect records documenting their losses. Supporting documents may include information related to grazing leases or federal grazing permits, contract grower agreements and more.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Carol Nicholson in Cullman County today announced that ranchers and livestock producers may be eligible for assistance from the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) for grazing losses incurred in 2017.
Qualifying fires are those occurring on rangeland managed by a federal agency and the producer is prohibited by the federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to the fire.
Eligible livestock include alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo, beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, reindeer or sheep that have been or would have been grazing the eligible grazing land or pastureland during the normal grazing period.
Applications are required for 2017 losses. To expedite applications, producers who experienced losses in 2017 are encouraged to collect records documenting their losses. Supporting documents may include information related to grazing leases or federal grazing permits, contract grower agreements and more.
“We encourage producers to contact our office for an appointment and to learn what records are required to apply for assistance,” said CED Nicholson.

Ads by Kiosked Anantapur: With the month of April experiencing high temperature, livestock-cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats- are questing for drinking water to just wet their throats.
Highlights: New scheme of constructing water tubs for the cattle launched on April 3 in Anantapur district The scheme is jointly executed by DWMA and Animal Husbandry department To offset drinking water shortage, District Collector Kona Sasidhar devised a new scheme to cater to water requirements of 48 lakh sheep and cattle in the district.
The purpose of the scheme is to provide drinking water tubs for the cattle in all villages in the district.
The scheme was launched by the Collector on April 3, 2017 to supply water to livestock especially during the on-going summer months.
These are community water tubs and all the cattle can quench its thirst from the tubs.
The construction of each tub costs Rs 25,000 with 17 per cent of it as wage component and 83 percent for materials.
In case of water scarcity, tankers will supply water to the water tubs and ensure availability of water for livestock throughout the day.
All the water tubs’ construction has been completed and proving to be a great boon to the cattle even as mercury levels are rising.
To effectively tackle thirst of livestock, the scheme is being executed on a war footing to prevent animal deaths and distress sales.
By Ravi P Benjamin