BARRHEAD — A Barrhead area farmer is warning other producers that thieves may be targeting hay bales after he discovered a number of his bales missing from a field south of town.
Stan Dezaeyer visited the Barrhead Leader office last week to talk about the theft, which he had also reported to the RCMP.
Dezaeyer said he hopes that perhaps someone saw something and could relay that information to the police, but at the very least, he also felt that other farms in the area should be on alert.
“I just want to make everybody else aware of it more than anything,” he said. “If I got hit, somebody else is going to be too.”
Dezaeyer said he farms approximately 16 kilometres (or 10 miles) south of Barrhead, right on the junction of Highways 33 and 651.
The field where the bales were taken is right off of Highway 651, he said, noting that he had stacked them in a row so that they could be transported in the fall.
Dezaeyer said he had been driving by when he noticed the alfalfa in the field packed down more than usual, so he drove in with his truck to see what was going on.
That’s when he noticed the missing bales, along with tracks indicating that a self-loading truck had also driven into the field to load up bales.
“He came back for more than one load,” Dezaeyer said, noting his gate was open because he also works back there.
Because of the heavy rain that fell Aug. 23, it’s unlikely that the thief made off with the bales that night, so Dezaeyer figures the theft could have occurred at any time over the preceding 24 hours.
He was not sure exactly how many bales were taken, but the current value would be under $5,000.
In any case, if anyone has information regarding this theft, they should get in touch with the Barrhead RCMP detachment by calling (780) 674-4848.
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