Stolen Tractors

 Sure these are tough economic times, no one needs to be reminded of that. But there is a situation going on in Heyburn, Idaho that’s akin to taking food out of people’s mouths. This tiny little farm community is under siege, by a tractor thief. On Jan. 27, a Massey Ferguson tractor valued at $4,300 was reported stolen from Steve Carson Equipment in Heyburn and then a John Deere tractor worth $7,000 was also missing. Agri-Service reported a Kubota L3400 with a front-end loader valued at a combined $20,300 had gone missing on Feb. 11.

Heyburn Police Chief Dan Bristol says there is a suspect but also has very good advice for all producers who have ag equipment, whether they live in Heyburn or Burley or Tim-Buck-Two.

(Bristol) “The problem we have as law enforcement is a lot of farmers don’t record their VIN numbers because you don’t have to have them licensed and you don’t have to worry too much about having the VIN checked on them but it would help us a lot if they would keep those VIN’s somewhere so that if those tractors are stolen we can put that in the National Crime Identification Center and they run that VIN and it will come back stolen and it makes our job a whole lot easier.”