The Great Goat Heist of 2009

Goat thieving has reached a tipping point in Wisconsin. 

Sheriff's officials there are investigating a third instance of goat thefts in two of the state's central counties.

Dodge County sheriff's officials say six more goats were reported stolen last week from a town of Lowell farm. Sheriff's officials from Dodge and Green Lake Counties believe this theft is related to similar crimes this summer when more than 100 goats were apparently taken from different farms.

106 missing goats add up to one heck of a Gyro, and thousands of dollars of losses for the farmers.

The first goat theft occured at the beginning of July, and a second in early August. Each time the owners lost about $15,000 worth of livestock.

Dodge County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Blaine Lauersdorf says they don't have any leads on the goat thievery.

"Some time we'd relate that to someone stealing a goat for a type of religious ritual,"  Sheriff Todd Nehls told an NBC affiliate in Wisconsin. "[But] something of this magnitude is very new to us."

Sherriff Lauersdorf advises farmers to mark their goats for identification.

Sheriff Nehls said his first course of action will be to scour local markets and look for people selling large amounts of goat meat.