GANGS are targeting Cumbria on an unprecedented scale.

Already this year many hundreds of ewes and lambs have been stolen in 19 separate incidents.

Police have now stepped up patrols to stop and search livestock trucks and trailers in rural areas after dark.

Officers say they have not seen rustling on such an organised or extensive scale before.

The most recent raids included:

* 100 breeding sheep worth £10,000 were taken from Hoad Hill, Ulverston on September 2.

* 45 were stolen from a farm at Winster near Windermere last week.

* 145 animals worth £26,000 went from a farm at Cockermouth on September 10.

* 72 sheep of mixed breeds stolen from Foxfield, Broughton-in-Furness on September 8

* 19 sheep were taken from Black Bull Farm, Millside, Witherslack in January

* 10 sheep were rustled from Greenmount Farm, Crooklands, in February

The National Farmers’ Union believes the main incentive is the price of lamb which nearly doubled over just a few months from £2.70 per kilogram to £4.80.

Officials fear the situation will only get worse as the recession bites.

Ulverston-based rural community officer Pc John Baldwin, who is south Cumbria’s dedicated wildlife crime and poaching expert, said: “Sheep are stolen from an average of 20 farms a year in Cumbria, but the number of animals taken has dramatically increased this year.

“Before you would get thieves stealing small number of sheep – ten or fifteen or so, which could be slaughtered in a back street garage and the meat sold to friends or work colleagues. But now it is many more.

“On this scale it must be being done by well organised gangs who have a working knowledge of animal husbandry.”

Winster farmer Andrew Allen who had 45 Swaledale ewes stolen last week - the second theft of sheep from the farm in six years - said he was left feeling ‘angry and gutted’ by the raid.

“Those responsible must have been watching my movements and known when I wasn’t about,” he said.

“Whoever took the sheep must have had a decent dog and be used to handling stock.

"I reckon they must have gathered them during the day - it would have been impossible at night.

“The thing is people are used to seeing livestock being loaded into trailers.

"This time of year, with all the sheep sales going on, it isn’t unusual to see a lot of animals being moved around.”

Derek Lomax, Kendal-based group secretary at NFU Mutual, the specialist farm insurer, said there had been a ‘huge increase’ in insurance claims for sheep thefts in South Lakeland.

He said he planned to raise the sheep rustling problem at a forthcoming meeting with Cumbria Police’s deputy chief constable Stuart Hyde.

“The rustlers must be experienced in handling livestock because they seem to know what they are doing,” said Mr Lomax.

“They are not targeting sheep on the fells, which are difficult to get to, but from lowland fields where access is easier and they can load the animals up quickly and get away.”