Give your farm security a high-tech boost

Rural crime, including stock theft, can be fought or prevented by working together as a community and employing high-tech security systems. Willie Clack, vice-chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, and Francois van Zyl, marketing manager at Etse Electronics, spoke to Susan Marais.

Give your farm security a high-tech boost
The majority of stock-theft crimes occur in communal areas, according to Willie Clack of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation.
Photo: FW Archive
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A criminal act boils down to three basic ingredients: an offender, an object, and the absence of a protector. So says Willie Clack, vice-chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation and head of the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum

“The importance of a protector is often undervalued, but it’s incredibly important when it comes to crime prevention,” he adds.

The protector, Clack explains, is any individual who is the potential victim of crime. In short, he stresses, you are your protector! Nobody will take as much responsibility for the safety and security of your person and possessions than you will yourself.

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The South African Police Service (SAPS) certainly won’t; they are the second line of defence. The actions of the SAPS tend to be reactive rather than proactive.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that farmers have to be left to their own devices, because communities should combat crime together.

“Crime is a social issue and it’s therefore the concern of the entire community. Crime statistics say far more about the functionality of the surrounding community than they do about the police. We should measure the police’s effectiveness through measures such as the number of successful convictions.”

Besides being a farmer himself, Clack is a criminologist who specialises in rural safety matters. He notes that one interesting way in which South Africa’s criminal statistics differ from those elsewhere is the fact that there is no clear correlation between violent and economic crimes.

“Globally, economic crime usually declines as violent crimes decline, and vice versa. This was clearly seen in California in 2020, when a drop in violent crime went hand in hand with a drop in economic crime.”

However, South Africa’s crime figures between 2017/18 and 2021/22 indicated that the total crimes against people, and the number of sexual offences and incidences of contact-related crime remained relatively unchanged, while there was a significant drop in property-related crimes, other serious crime, and total crime detected as a result of police action (see graphs).

“The only explanation for the decline in property crime is the fact that people are beefing up their security systems with the use of technology,” says Clack.

While he believes that farmers should continually look for ways to improve their security systems, he says there is no single plan that would work for all farmers in the country.
“Something that works in the Western Cape will probably not work in KwaZulu-Natal or the Northern Cape, simply due to the differences between these provinces.”

Some of the elements that farmers should consider when implementing a new security system are the following:

  • The travelling distance between farms and the distances between dwellings;
  • The topography of the region, whether it is mountainous or flat, for example;
  • How far the farm is from the nearest national, provincial or secondary road.

Advice for communal farmers
“While commercial farmers might feel victimised, most incidences of stock theft occur in communal areas,” says Clack. He supports this claim by pointing to the 28% rise in stock theft over the past year in Limpopo.

“The 30 biggest hotspots for stock theft are all in communal areas.”

He bases this comment on the 30 police stations where the most incidents of stock theft were reported over the 2021/22 financial year. Examples are Maleboho (400% increase), Mashashane (375% increase), Malamulele (300% increase), Jane Furse and Tubatse (267% each), and Apel (200% increase).

Those farming in communal areas need to consider implementing a community watch group, says Clack.

“There might be reasons why this isn’t feasible, but communal farmers need to find ways to get the community involved in protecting their animals, because thriving farms are beneficial to the entire community.”

However, if community members are stealing animals from each other, the problem might not be solved as easily as this, cautions Clack.

Never too small for tech
Small-scale or subsistence farmers should not be under the illusion that security technology is reserved for large-scale commercial farmers, says Francois van Zyl, marketing manager at Etse Electronics.

Many of these products, he explains, can be tailored to the needs of the farmer. For example, Etse Electronics’ FarmRanger collars are sold individually, and up to 30 animals can be tracked with each collar. This enables the technology to be used by the smallest subsistence farmer or the largest mega-farmer.

A medium-sized farmer, Mientjie Rajchrt, who runs Tuli cattle in Mpumalanga’s Lothair district, can attest to the difference the FarmRanger collars made to the security on her farm.

Rajchrt has between 150 and 200 cows and calves on her farm. Her family previously farmed cattle and sheep near Chrissiesmeer, Mpumalanga. About 10 years ago, they lost 500 sheep in one year from stock theft.

“We decided to buy a FarmRanger security collar for the sheep. At the time, it was one of the older models that wasn’t equipped with GPS functionality,” recalls Rajchrt.

Despite having older technology, it immediately led to a reduction in the number of stock theft incidents. In addition, the family did not lose any animals due to bad weather conditions.

“Over the years, we purchased more security collars and started using them on our cattle as well. We also replaced all the old collars with new models equipped with GPS tracking devices.

“We’ve since moved to the Lothair area and now exclusively farm cattle, where we use one collar for each herd of 30 cows,” she says.

While the technology works remarkably well, it is still important for the farmer to investigate the reason for each alarm, cautions Rajchrt.

“It won’t go off unnecessarily. When the alarm goes off on my mobile phone, I activate the extended tracking function to keep an eye on the movement of the herd in question for the next 30 minutes.”

“When the animals are chased, the direction they move is displayed by a long yellow line on Google Maps. As soon as we see this pattern, we immediately go to their location to avoid losses.”

She has found that it is better to place the collar on the neck of an older cow with a calm disposition, rather than on younger animals. This results in fewer unnecessary alarms.

The security system also enables Rajchrt to track her animals on a mobile app.

“We sometimes experience foggy conditions that hinder animal detection. The app is great for finding the cattle quickly.”

She says that the security collars remain switched on 24/7. “I only change the collars’
status to ‘sensitive’ every night at 8pm.

A location report is generated each night so that I can see where each herd is preparing to sleep that night.”

A cost-effective solution
“Another advantage of the app is that I know whether or not my workers have counted the cattle. As soon as the workers enter the camp, the cattle respond,” Rajchrt says.
According to her, an electronic security system might seem expensive at first, but it’s worth it.

“Farmers should not let the price deter them. Consider the financial losses you could potentially suffer with a single incident of stock theft, not to mention the breeding value of lost calves.”

Email Willie Clack at [email protected], or Francois van Zyl at [email protected].