A FARMER is to increase security on his property after repeated attacks on his land, culminating in the death of a pregnant cow.

Vandals have cut through Jeff Horn's fence 15 times in different stretches, allowing some of his 250 cows, which are all carrying calves, to stray on to the busy Seal Sands Road, skirting his land at Cowpen, near Billingham.

Last month, a chemical tanker crashed into a pregnant cow that had strayed on to the road through a gap deliberately cut in the fence.

PC Ian Sirs, of Cleveland Police, said: "Had this been a family car, the results for the occupants could have been fatal.

"Whoever is responsible for the wanton destruction of the fence, clearly has no regard for the safety of not only animals, but members of the public, travelling in vehicles along the highway.

"What for them might be a short cut, could turn out to have disastrous consequences for people using the road.''

Mr Horn, 60, is hiring a security guard to mount a 24-hour watch on his land, at Manor Farm, backed by closed-circuit television cameras.

Mr Horn, who now arms himself with a stick when patrolling his farm, said: "If it means someone having to sit in that field 24 hours a day, that is what will happen. I will employ a security guard to sit there."

He added: "This has been done 15 times, since we put a new fence up. We have been out four and five times a during a single night, to get the cattle in.

"We don't know why this is happening. It could be people poaching with lurchers, vandals or someone with a grievance, although we have not fallen out with anybody.

"All I am concerned about is the welfare of the cattle, that's the thing that gets me, and the inconvenience to us.''

The vandalism is the second setback for Mr Horn in recent years. His last herd was destroyed at the height of the foot-and-mouth epidemic in 2001.