The 11 rams reported stolen were located near Cootehill, Co. Cavan last week in Oram, Co. Monaghan.
The rams’ owner, farmer Frank McGovern, told Northern Sound “they were in a field owned by a completely innocent farmer.”
Details of the missing rams were shared on social media.
“Clearly someone passed the information on to someone who saw the post on social media,” McGovern said.
“If we had been told they were in a field in Kerry, we would have gone looking for him,” he added.
“We went on Saturday, and I was amazed, they were there,” McGovern said.
The theft occurred in the Tolevin area. The rams were made up of “six Charolais, four Texans and one Lin.” According to a Garda spokesman.
Despite the location of the rams, Frank McGovern remains vigilant when it comes to cattle rustling: “This is still an ongoing incident.”
Regarding the theft of his rams, he said: “This was a two-person mission, and there was someone from this side who had local knowledge who knew about the existence of the rams and there had to be someone from the other side to find a field to put them in.”
Gardaí confirmed that their investigations into the theft of pedigree sheep are continuing.
Recent thefts
This is unfortunately the latest in a series of thefts in which livestock have been stolen from farms in the north and south.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed earlier this week that it was investigating the suspected theft of cattle from a field in the South Co. Armagh area.
The PSNI has appealed for information to assist with this investigation.
The 47 cattle were reportedly last seen in a field on McCulla Road in Newtownhamilton between 6:00pm and 8:00pm on Friday 23 May.
The farmer discovered his flock was missing on Monday, May 25, according to the PSNI.
Police noted that the cattle were a mix of colors and all had identification tags.
