Insurance boost with Farm Guard (From Gazette & Herald)

Insurance boost with Farm Guard

FARMERS in North Yorkshire who have been repeatedly targeted by livestock rustlers and thieves could negotiate better terms with insurers if they install a new covert security system.

Assessors at NFU Mutual are impressed with the Farm Guard system, which the inventor claims could stamp out livestock theft in North Yorkshire.

Farm Guard has been successfully trialed in northern Ryedale and is the brainchild of communications and security expert Carl Meyer, of ERM Electrical, in Claxton.

The system uses a buried probe, a battery and sensors to detect when a gate has been opened or perimeter fencing disturbed. Within seconds, a 24-hour monitoring system is sent a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) signal of the location of the device and the address is given to the police.

Rob Hicks, of NFU Mutual, The Shambles, Malton, said: "If a farmer becomes targeted by thieves, like some have in Ryedale, we would want to work closely and carefully with the farmer to look at their circumstances and if their security system was improved we would look favourably on them and provide them with the best possible terms."

Updated: 12:27 Wednesday, January 05, 2005