Unfortunately, one part of business is security. Recently we had a farm robbery in Moorooduc.
Over the last month or so, we had a duck coop at Vidamour Farm in Moorooduc. I had planned on selling the coop, but there weren’t buyers that were willing to pay anything near what it cost to make. After not selling the coop, it had fallen off my list of things to do and this just meant that the coop languished at the farm.
Clearly someone saw this as an opportunity to take off the automatic chicken door from the coop. These doors are worth about $150 new, and take a little bit of setting up as well.
Farm robbery seems to be a relatively common occurrence. I’ve read and heard quite a few stories of those who have had possessions stolen from rural and semi-rural properties. I’m not sure whether it happens more often than urban properties, but I would certainly feel significantly more violated if I was in the country and someone had trespassed and taken my possessions. Far away from others, it’s more difficult to call for help and receive any support if it’s required.
I’ve also heard stories of people selling animals online (especially Facebook groups) to people who will buy the animals simply to have a look at what else is available on the property, and determine the routines of those that live there. After a few days, they will come back and take anything of value (some people have had dozens of high-value chickens stolen). In Spring 2015, there seemed to be quite a spate of this sort of thing, and rural police even advertised the dangers for those selling animals and letting other people on their property.
Personally, the loss of the automatic door isn’t a big deal on the money side of things. But it certainly is annoying because it means I feel less willing to trust those either involved at the farm or locals. Ultimately this betrayal will have a knock-on effect with me which will ultimately impact others. While I’d like to hope that I’m mature enough to “just get over it”, it’s not something that I feel I can let go just yet.
We have essentially finished up at Vidamour Farm now. Sometimes we’ll pop our head in and say hello to Eric and Mabel – but our farming there is done. It’s a really sour note to finish up there considering Vidamour was a big part of our life for over a year. For us, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things!
