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The owners of a stolen flock of sheep say the theft has had a "massive impact" on them emotionally and financially.
Police said 64 ewes and lambs were believed to have been taken from land near the Halloon Roundabout between St Columb and Indian Queens, in Cornwall, on Saturday.
Sheep farmer Michael Jefferies and his partner, Annie Taylor, were away celebrating a family member's 95th birthday when Jefferies' dad and brother, who were looking after the livestock, informed them the animals had gone missing.
"They sent us pictures that the gate had been cut into," Jefferies said. "It was just heartbreaking to think that you've worked so hard to try and rear the animals and look after them."
Jefferies said they farm more than 200 sheep, which included breeds such as Texel-cross-Roussin sheep, Poll Dorsets and North Country Mules.
He said he was "almost certain" he would never see the animals again, adding "but we would like to find out exactly what had actually happened".
"We think there was definitely people who knew what they were doing. They probably turned up with a good dog or a good couple dogs to have done it," he said.
"It is one of those that it could break us because we're a small-scale farm.
"We can only presume that they might have taken them away and cut the tags out because sheep are easy to swap the tags of and put them into a market somewhere else or gone to an illegal slaughterhouse where the tags don't really matter to them."
Taylor described the incident as "awful" and "devastating".
"All that work with lambs, spent a whole month lambing them, getting to know the sheep that we just bought and then to have it all taken away - just devastating," she said.
"I never thought it would ever happen really.
"We have padlocks on the gates and always have them, but just more to stop them getting out onto the main road really, rather than as a prevention of theft."
PC Lucy Wyatt, rural affairs officer for Devon and Cornwall Police, said it is believed the theft took place between 15:00 BST and 22:00.
She said there was "quite a high likelihood" somebody witnessed the crime and mistook the perpetrator for a farmer.
Police have urged anybody with information to get in contact.
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