By Debbie James

SHEEP rustlers have struck in Pembrokeshire – stealing around £4,000 worth of stock from a field near Wolfscastle.

Police say 37 Suffolk ewes together with a ram and a Hereford steer were stolen.

PC Gerwyn Davies, of Pembrokeshire Farm Watch, says the stock were taken from a field but no suspicious activity had been noted.

Rural crime cost Welsh farmers £1.7m last year and a total of £637,000 of that was sheep thefts – up from £525,000 the year before. That is about 8,000 animals. In 2013 the total was about 6,500.

In Pembrokeshire, police and farmers are fighting back. The Farm Watch scheme was launched earlier this year to help protect farmers against rural crime.

Crime levels are low in rural Pembrokeshire but Farm Watch aims to reduce these further by helping to help prevent the theft of livestock, machinery and equipment.

PC Davies says a number of thefts have already been reported, specifically in the north of the county. A hydraulic loader ram was stolen from a 1980s David Brown 1490 from Porthiddi farm, near Abereiddy.

A thief made off with a starter motor, battery and battery cover from a 1967 International B434 tractor parked in a field on the edge of Llanrhian.

A new box of tools was stolen from Llanoy Farm near Croesgoch and a PTO shaft taken from a farm near Mathry.

PC Davies appealed to the rural community and the public to report suspicious behaviour or thefts. He can be contacted

Although rural crime in Wales is down overall - from £2m in 2013 to £1.7m last year, thieves continue to exploit weaknesses.

PC Davies urged those living and working in rural communities to be vigilant to suspicious activity.