A SOUTH Lakeland farmer has been left devastated the by the loss of almost all his lambs after rustlers targeted his field less than a year after the he took over the farm.

Andrew Page, of Lincoln's Inn Bridge Farm at Firbank, Sedbergh, had 24 Texel Mule lambs stolen from his land.

"I went up the next morning and could see there was some missing and I could see where they had been loaded up and taken away," he said.

"They've driven into the field and they've sorted the ewes from the lambs and then loaded them up – it's obviously somebody that's used to working with sheep."

Mr Page said the theft was a huge blow to him as he had only recently began farming for himself. He had previously worked for other farmers.

He said: "It's a quarter of this year's stock which has now gone. It's only my first year of farming so it's really hit us quite hard.

"It's like having a car and you walk out to find someone has nicked it, it really knocks you down."

Mr Page, 62, who runs the farm with his wife and son, condemned the actions of the rustlers.

"They're just wrong-uns," he said. "They're lazy people that take something that someone else has worked hard to produce.

"It's easy money if they know what they're doing, but they don't care about the way they treat the livestock.

"You could tell the other sheep were spooked by it because they wouldn't come up to my like they normally would the next morning."

Mr Page said he wanted anyone who has been offered lambs, or is offered them in the next weeks, to contact the police.

Police are asking for anyone with information to contact them on 101, referencing incident number 66 of Thursday, August 17.