25 rolls of sod stolen from Hokkaido farm

KUSHIRO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) Twenty-five rolls of sod, each weighing as much as 500 kg, were stolen from a grass farm in Bekkaicho, eastern Hokkaido, police said Wednesday.

Letting grass go?: Rolls of sod are seen on a farm in Bekkaicho, eastern Hokkaido. KYODO PHOTO

The rolls, each measuring 1.5 meters in diameter and 1.2 meters wide, had been wrapped with vinyl sheets and were to be used as cattle feed.

One roll of grass usually trades for ¥5,000.

The 48-year-old owner of the farm, who lives several kilometers away, had left them on the farm for fermentation.

"The weather this summer was really bad. A lot of grass didn't grow well and so we've got less. That may be the motive (for the theft)," said an official at a local agricultural cooperative.