Young farmer describes ‘torture’ of losing 31 sheep

A young Aberdeenshire farmer has described the theft of his 31 pregnant Beltex ewes as “torture”.

Rory Gregor, 23, has been selectively breeding and building up his flock since he was 10.

He discovered the theft from a field near Thainstone Mart at Inverurie on Monday evening (9 March).

Now he has turned to social media and the police to try to recover the animals. Anyone with information should contact the police on 101.

See also: Farmer speaks out after 50 in-lamb ewes stolen

The ewes were less than a week away from lambing and Mr Gregor is concerned that the stress of being handled will cause them to abort their lambs.

Rory Gregor

He believes that someone with local knowledge stole the animals.

“Somebody has been watching these sheep, they’ve seen how close they are to lambing, how tame they are, they’ve maybe even seen I feed them daily and they follow me with a bag of food,” he said.

“Anybody could have led them into a pen and loaded them on to a trailer and taken them away.”

Listen to our interview with Rory Gregor

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The sheep were not insured but they have distinctive blue identification numbers on their backs, ranging from 12 to 72.

Mr Gregor said that if the marks were clipped out they would leave a significant mark in the fleece.  

 “I’m looking at a massive loss. They’re all pedigree sheep and I sold lambs up to £2,200 last season,” he added.

“Every ewe is carrying twins and is in lamb to a ram I bought last year for 4,800gns so it’s going to have a massive financial impact on my business.

 “I’ve been up all through the night spreading the word through Facebook. I have contacts in the sheep world throughout Britain.

“I’m not just targeting the farming industry but anyone who hears of any suspicious movements of sheep. Please help spread the word.”