Something Doesn't Look Right

Have you ever had that feeling when something doesn't look right? Farmer John felt that way last night. Our family went out for supper and as we arrived back home, Farmer John noticed lights about 1/2 mile down the road from our house. He dismissed the something doesn't look right feeling after he was convinced it was probably just a car coming down the road. This morning when John was taking one of the daily loads of manure to the field, that not right feeling came over him again, and it was justified when he noticed a water line hanging down from one of our irrigators. It seems the lights we saw down the road from our house the night before was someone stealing the copper wiring from our irrigator.   

So why take the copper? Perhaps you have heard of copper pipes being stolen from abandoned houses, and the pipes being sold to recyclers. This is what is happening to the irrigators also. Sad to say this is not the first time this has happened. Last summer our neighbor had his irrigators wiring stolen, and after reporting the theft, our local sheriffs canvassed the farmers in our area to alert us of this robbery. When we checked our irrigation, it had been hit too, and 13 other farms as well. So besides the frustration, there is the financial lose too. Last summers  irrigator  damage totaled $8,000 and our recent lose is yet to be determined.

What can be done to stop these thefts? Unlike most machinery we use on the farm, the irrigator cannot be kept in a shed for safe keeping or be dismantled until needed in dry weather. The best defense we have is what I'll call our "neighborhood crime watch." Our neighbors and fellow farmers look out for each other. We support each other when tragedy strikes. We help each other when someone is sick or hurt. And we celebrate the good times. It's a community that now-days can be rare. 

Irrigation- A necessary part of our farm