RURAL safety officer Collette Corley said crime tends to increase around Moving Day each year, but rural communities can prepare to keep themselves and their properties safe. PHOTO BRIANNA STEWART
THE roads will be awash with people, stock and personal goods on the move in just a few weeks for one of the busiest days on the dairy farming calendar.
Crime has increased at the turn of the dairy season in previous years, according to police rural safety officer Collette Corley, but she said there are things people can do to keep themselves and their property safe on Moving Day.
“In the new season, new contract milkers and share milkers will move their stock, their families and their equipment to their new farms,” she said.
“But it is also a time for opportunistic thieves to prey on rural communities because they know that people are moving out.”
For farm owners who will see a change in staff around June 1, they can start by making a checklist of all tools and equipment that will be leaving the property.
Make sure to secure anything that is staying.
Collette recommends farmers put their driver’s licence number on their equipment somewhere, so if it ends up stolen it can be returned when found.
Another pertinent piece of advice is to move keys from where they have always been kept.
“Remove the keys from the usual locations.
“If you’ve always hung them up in one spot, then everybody who has ever worked on that farm knows where the keys are to your quad.
“Don’t leave your keys in obvious places – like in your quad bike.”
Many contract and sharemilkers will be moving into new communities, and Collette said employers could help by providing them a list of key contacts including schools, sports clubs and local community groups.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback at our community meetings about people saying they don’t know anyone in the district anymore,” Collette said.
Cooked breakfasts are always popular, and if a community has a few new faces around, a collective breakfast will give them an opportunity to rub shoulders with the locals.
For those moving next month, Collette reminds firearms licence holders that they must notify police when they change address, either by dropping into their local police station or by heading to the police website.
“And ensure your firearms and ammunition are safely secured during travel and at your new residence, that’s a really important one.”
When you’re moving your things around, sometimes you need to admit your trailer really is just at capacity and you need to make a second trip instead of cramming it all into one.
And for all other road users: be prepared for an increase in stock trucks and trailers that will be on the road in the course of the next month.
