Farmers across the country are enjoying the spoils of a buoyant beef and sheep market, but they are not the only ones taking advantage of the high prices.

Thieves are increasingly targeting properties for some of their most valuable possessions — their livestock.

New South Wales police said livestock theft was getting worse.

Between January and May this year, it estimates farmers lost nearly $2 million worth of sheep and cattle to theft.

Goats, now worth as much as lambs, are also being targeted.

Cattle have been fetching red hot prices, making them more of a target for thieves. ( ABC News: Laurissa Smith )

Western NSW farmer Ross Harvey and his two sons said they were fed up with trespassers and illegal hunters.

"Goats are making around $5.80 a kilo," Mr Harvey said.

"Now you can imagine you don't have to catch many if you're a local thief to make a few dollars."

The Harveys have lost $400,000 worth of sheep from several of their properties around Ivanhoe.

Mounting pressure from farmers spurred the NSW Government into action on rural crime earlier this year.

It launched a review into trespass, illegal hunting and poaching led by retired police assistant commissioner Stephen Bradshaw.

He spent more than 40 years in the force and was instrumental in reinstating the stock squad in 2000.

"One of the biggest things that did come up, apart from the theft of livestock, was illegal hunting and illegal trespassing that's caused by people hunting with pig dogs," Mr Bradshaw said.

"In the far west, the central west and central tablelands, hunters were trespassing on properties at night time or other properties where there was absentee owners.

"Cutting fences, boxing livestock, interfering with cows calving, lambs that had just been born.

"Generally causing a lot of havoc and stealing diesel."

Mr Bradshaw said many of the culprits were from Melbourne, Sydney and major regional centres in NSW, including Orange and Wagga Wagga.

His review also examined the police response to incidents of rural crime and if penalties imposed were sufficient.

"I'm not against the police, but they can do a lot better job than they have been doing," said farmer Ross Harvey.

"Unfortunately outback people are left to their own devices and we have an untrained police force that do not know how to deal with the outback and stock theft."

So what is driving this spike in criminal activity in the bush?

Detective Senior Constable Scott Blanchard is one of 34 rural crime investigators in NSW. ( ABC News: Laurissa Smith )

Victoria police report 20pc increase in stealing on rural properties

Dr Alistair Harkness is a lecturer in criminal justice at Federation University in Victoria.

He has been exploring the trends in rural crime and the reluctance by farmer to report incidents.

"Some of the thefts we're noticing more recently is the theft of firearms by organised criminal networks who will steal those firearms, saw them down and they'll have them on a black market, in some cases, within hours," Dr Harkness said.

"Places that were a bit too far flung, with double-laned freeways, are easier to get to and get away from.

"Police have indicated that there are certain locations where there are interstate highways, perhaps Horsham [and] Mildura where major highways are crisscrossing from one state to another.

"It gives ease of escape for those who have stolen," he said.

In Victoria, police have reported a 20 per cent increase in stealing offences on rural properties.

Recent studies show less than 50 per cent of rural crimes are reported to police.

"This is a serious concern and as the NSW Police Force sponsor for rural crime, I am deeply concerned with this statistic," said NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Geoff McKechnie.

"We need to work together to stop these criminals from seeing farmers as 'soft' targets."

'Not all the laws are sufficient'

Riverina farmer David Fife preparing to mark a lamb with his property's identification. ( ABC News: Laurissa Smith )

Farmer David Fife thought he had taken all the right precautions when 170 lambs went missing from a paddock on his farm near Junee in southern NSW in July 2014.

A padlocked gate was no obstacle to the two local thieves who were convicted of stealing hundreds of sheep in the area, including those owned by Mr Fife.

The men convicted were fined $1,000 each and served 12 months home detention.

Mr Fife was appalled at the punishments for rural crime like major stock theft.

"It's shocking that you've got two main tools, 14 years jail and $400 per tag for cutting the tags off, and neither of them were used in this case," he said.

Mr Bradshaw's report on the rural crime review is with the NSW Justice Department.

He agreed changes needed to be made to how penalties were imposed.

"Not all the laws are sufficient. Certainly the offence of cattle stealing carries 14 years, that's certainly sufficient," he said.

"It's actually getting someone to give any form of jail time or substantial fine for cattle stealing, that's the problem."

NSW Police has recorded an increase in the number of reported incidents, including the theft of lambs. ( ABC News: Laurissa Smith )

See the story on Landline on Sunday at noon.