UK: Rising price of hay drives rise in theft

[phantom power]

Around the country bales have been stolen from the side of the road, barns, outhouses and even from occupied stables.

Farmers said cost of hay has risen from the usual £2.50 per bale to £4.50 or even £6 in some parts of the country.

The hike in prices has been driven by a shortage of hay because of a bad harvest following the cold winter and dry spring. The amount of hay harvested in June is down 20 per cent.

...

Farmers, horse owners and even zoos and animal sanctuaries are concerned animals may go hungry or have to be sold on as prices rise further to £8.50 per bale, especially as grain prices are also hitting a record high.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/7948299/Rising-price-of-hay-drives-rise-in-theft.html

[Boudica the Lyoness]

1. How much does a bale weigh?

We sell our hay by the ton. Our bales are 100lbs but you can get some big round bales or square ones. Some people put up little sissy bales. This story is silly as hell. How can you leave your hay loose to avoid theft?

BTW. A lot of the hay from around here (Washington State) goes to Japan. I heard timothy hay is going there for over $300/ton.

[tularetom]

3. The bales around here weigh 115 lbs.

I can get domestic cattle alfalfa hay for $10 a bale if I haul it myself. I think that's below market but the guy I buy it from gives me a good deal because he was good friends with my dad.

I actually haven't had to buy any this year as we had way above average rainfall last winter and we still have some grass.

[damntexdem]

2. Now that's the last straw!

hadda be said

[Dead_Parrot]

4. Obligatory fish slap

[jailthecrooks]

5. What makes a person steal? Anonymity

The ease with which a thief can turn stolen property into anonymous currency, which could have come from any legitimate or non-legit source, this is what enables all theft in the world. It enables crooked lawyers and contractors to steal from little old ladies and live the high life with impunity. Once a person has currency in their possession, the crimes committed to obtain that cash vanish into thin air, as if they never happened.

It seems clear to me that we need to do away with currency in all its forms. Replace it with an electronic system of credits. Each credit transaction must be accompanied by a biometric data tracer that contains the biometric markers of each person that credit passed through since it left the bank most recently.

So, I work for a week sweeping the floors and I get credits. I buy a coat and shoes, transferring the credits to Joe who owns the clothes store. He gets hungry and gets a salad for lunch and transfers some credits to the restaurant. The restaurant now owns credits that they will turn back into the bank and the bank knows by the bio markers contained in the digital file that it left the bank's account, went to me, then Joe and then to the restaurant before returning to the bank.

No theft possible. And bio markers are of such detail that they cannot be forged, such as iris scan plus dna scan of the 14th chromosome and the 20th plus finger print plus protein markers found in either saliva or the oils in your skin. Try to forge that.

No money, no theft.