Former Carlton recruit charged with cattle-stealing after owner chased allegedly stolen herd

A former AFL-listed footballer has been charged with cattle-stealing after a farmer allegedly spotted his stolen herd and gave chase, saving the animals from being slaughtered.

Detectives charged 34-year-old Colac district farmer Joseph Dare on Monday with theft, obtaining property by deception and offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

The charges come amid surging beef prices and a major police investigation into a string of cattle thefts that also implicate livestock agents and abattoirs across Victoria.

The alleged offences stem from February, when about 40 cattle worth about $80,000 were stolen from a Pirron Yallock property in south-west Victoria.

Police allege the owner had seen his cattle being transported by an unfamiliar B-double truck and chased the vehicle. The owner also found a trail of feed leading out of the animals’ paddock into an adjoining property linked to Dare.

Detectives later intercepted the missing cattle at an abattoir in Tongala in the state’s north, more than 300 kilometres away. Police recovered the animals shortly before they were scheduled for slaughter. They allege the seized load contained cattle from the February theft along with other unidentified animals, which police are attempting to identify.

Colac Crime Investigation Unit investigators arrested and interviewed Dare over the theft last month, and he has since been charged on summons to appear at court in August.

“The cows are safe and will be returned to their owner,” a police spokesperson said.

The February theft was the second similar incident at Pirron Yallock in three months. In December last year, 36 cattle of mixed breeds worth about $60,000 went missing from a farm on the same road. The investigation into that theft remains ongoing.

Dare was selected by Carlton in the 2010 Rookie Draft but did not play an AFL game. He returned to local leagues in south-west Victoria, playing for Cobden and Colac, before coaching at Alvie.

He owned and managed about 1300 cattle on multiple properties in the south-west region between 2022 and 2024.

During this time, Agriculture Victoria officers raided the properties following complaints from neighbours about dead and starving cattle in barren paddocks.

In July last year, Dare pleaded guilty to 23 animal cruelty charges over what a magistrate described as “killing fields”, where hundreds of animals were found dead or slowly dying from emaciation and dehydration.

His lawyer said managing the cattle had become too difficult amid drought conditions and a slump in beef prices. Dare was fined $75,000 and banned from owning or overseeing cattle for a decade. He was given 28 days to de-stock.

Now, investigators will examine whether Dare breached the court’s order, with an ongoing investigation also probing how the sale of the allegedly stolen cattle was facilitated.

The alleged cattle theft coincides with a sharp rebound in beef prices across the nation.

Prices collapsed as Dare was being investigated in 2023, slumping 50 per cent lower than the 10-year average, according to Meat and Livestock Australia. At the time, challenging weather forced farmers to sell stock and send herds to slaughterhouses amid skyrocketing feed costs.

But the arrival of desperately needed rain last year helped the market to buoy, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that retail prices for beef have risen 13.5 per cent in the 12 months to February 2026 “due to strong overseas demand for Australian red meat”.

Penalties for livestock theft in Victoria can include imprisonment, but the offence remains difficult to investigate and prosecute.

There were 168 recorded livestock thefts across the state in 2025, the latest Crime Statistics Agency data shows. Of these, 138 remained unsolved – about 82 per cent.

Agriculture Victoria and the manager of the abattoir, Greenhams, were contacted for comment.

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