An irrigation branch manager says thieves are stripping copper cable from Canterbury pivot irrigators, often from part-circle machines parked along fence lines.

Andrew Panasiuk, Branch Manager of Waterforce Rangiora, says some thieves snip the wiring to each motor, while others climb onto the span to remove the main feed cable, putting themselves in increasingly dangerous situations.

“These machines are now live; they’re running,” he says.

He says the anti-theft system in the AgSense unit sends repeated alerts to up to 10 people as soon as a cable is cut, whether the pivot is running or not.

Panasiuk says police are working with Waterforce and its customers and talking to the merchants buying scrap copper.

“If you take away that market, you’ll see this problem stop overnight.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

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