Cattle rustling... Are you kidding me?
 

It's kind of a strange thing to have popped up on me, but not long ago I was encountered by some Feds. It's not what your thinking... I wasn't busted for some anti-government activity, or for sneaking into Canada at night, lol! Instead it involved a secret activity that had been going on to the North of me.

It has been several years now, since I sold the last of my cattle herd. However, I still had other people's lease cattle on my grass ever since. Turns out that for a currently unknown amount of time, cattle rustling has been going on at my place and the neighbors places. Since I had none of my own cattle during the years being investigated, I will not testify, or otherwise be involved in the case. However, the rancher whom I leased the grass to was a victim. At least three other neighbors that I know of, also fell victim. I hear they have at least 11 witnesses to the man charged with cattle theft and modifying brands. Obviously a name won't be mentioned by me, but he made front page in several news papers.

I ran 100 pair years ago, and with so few in the herd, I would have noticed just a single animal missing. However, all the neighbors have large herds and I can kinda see how they could miss several... to a point.

I admit, I rarely gave any thought about rustling while I ran stock out there. I mean, who would try and pull that type of activity this day and age? Years ago an outlaw could hide out, keep on the run, and maybe never get caught up to by the law. These days you'd be a fool to try with all the modern equipment and techniques they use against criminals! You can run, but can you run from your own DNA? ...or can you hide from a chopper in the sky? Very unlikely :rolleyes:

Not at all uncommon. They sometimes bring in semi's that are fitted out inside with mobile butcher shops. Leave with freezers full of cut, wrapped, labeled beef.

I assume there is a good black market for it,

We live on the Mexican border, cattle rustling is an ongoing problem. Neighbor had some calves killed and field dressed on his place, tracks indicated someone in Mexico was going to eat good.

Cattle rustling is common in Kentucky and as much as it's been on the news it seems to be on the rise.

Yup. It has happened here, too, in south central Texas. A local man who had a girlfriend besides the wife and needed cash. Took cattle belonging to his boss to the auction under his own name.

Here is a compilation of cattle rustling news bits from our neck of the woods. The most recent was the theft of calves from a sale barn where they used a tractor trailer rig to load them all (and they were caught on camera). Kind of shocking but its an on going problem.

http://articles.ky3.com/keyword/cattle

I spose with the high price of beef and the sunken economy, it would be way more common. I guess I just never hear about cattle theft around here, and it kind of surprised me that if I would have my animals out there instead of a lessor's, I'd be dealing with the situation.

I can definitely see the Texas border as being a disaster area for livestock thefts!

Nebraska is a brand inspection state (at least on this end). Colorado is a brand inspection state.
Kansas, on the other hand, is not.
Consequently, it's not uncommon for people to steal a few from either CO or NE, and run them across the border to a small sale barn and sell, no questions asked.

They'e just stealing the cows Americans don't want to steal ;)

In 1968 I was a witness against some folks who were multi-tasking in criminal activity and cattle rustling was one of their income raising projects.

I happened to pretty much accidentally watch them attempt to steal a safe from a business in the small OK town I was living in at the time.

I happened to be sitting out in the park just down from the business they almost robbed because it was so hot in my tiny little apt that I had to get some fresh air and was just sitting in the dark mostly watching the stars.

A pick-up truck backed up to the loading dock of a local store, two guys went in the back and came out rolling a safe across the dock. I didn't know if they worked there or owned the business or what. Didn't realize I was watching a robbery.

It was a huge old fashioned safe that had probably been in that store since right after the opening of the Cherokee Strip when that town was founded.

The p/u didn't meet the dock in height and when the guys tried to roll it off the dock into the p/u it went off the dock and right onto the ground. The guys got in their p/u and left.

This store had apts up above and when that safe hit the ground it made a horrible racket and lights started going on upstairs from the store.

When the police got there lots of folks were already standing around talking about it. I wasn't from that town, just going to school there and didn't really know anyone, so I just sat on the park bench and watched the buzz.

Then I saw something I couldn't believe...those same 2 guys came strolling down the alley and joined the crowd and asked "what happened? what's going on?" I kinda sided up to the officer and told him that he had the 2 guys right in front of him. They got arrested.

When the LE went to check their house for other stolen property they found 2 calves in the garage. Turned out those guys had been selling meat for $.29lb all over town for months. Coincided with how long local ranchers had been missing calves.

Oh...and the store owner showed up at the store that night of course - had to get a tow truck in there to get the safe back up on the dock - where the store owner showed that not only was the safe unlocked...it was empty.

Until now I've never known that Kansas was not a brand inspection state. That small OK town is just 26 mi S of the Kansas line. Wonder now how many trips to Kansas that p/u had made w a couple of head of cattle at a time.

Beef prices are so high these days, I guess an increase in stealing is bound to follow.

It's happened here too. Some are stealing for the food, others are selling and making lots of money at the livestock barn.
I think it all comes down to the fact that the prisons are overcrowded and they know they won't serve much time for stealing anymore, so I guess it's worth the risk if they make a lot of money.

When I was ranching, one of the guys who was supposed to be taking care of the place, furnished beef to all his friends and relatives on our dime. Of course, he also kept them all in feed and gas too. That is when he wasn't selling our feed by the truckload. Profits improved after he was canned.

It happens alot, and don't kid yourself 10 get away with it for every one that gets caught.

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Hmm, I can certainly see what your saying here. Such a thing probably isn't as complicated to pull off as I may have imagined.

As far as selling live cattle though, it would be quite difficult to pull off here in montana, as brands must be inspected. Yes, you can modify brands like the the fella did in my op, but you gotta be dang good to make a passable brand that way. Brand inspectors study them for a living!

I would think it would be easier theses days to rustle cattle. Round em up, trailer them, off to the butcher before any one even knows they are gone. Cattle trucks are so common I doubt they raise much suspicion.

Back in the old days they didnt have semis, or modern day butchers.

This completely depends on where you're at.
Some states even require brand inspection, by law, in order to be able to transfer or sell.

I've never known a ranch that didn't brand everything they owned.

It has been going on here but I feel safer that I have the only branded cattle so why would someone take mine when in the same herd there are non branded haulter trained cows? We also have a friend who had a calf taken a skinned one was left in it's place... We are branding at one month old and keep then right next to the house until then it's crazy

My experience is with Missouri. Very few brand there but may start doing it. Most of the theft there was not one or two cows for the freezer, it was a trailer load at a time.

If you don't let them walk too close together and keep them out of the wind it will keep the rustling to a minimum....:p

I was not aware that so many herds around the country never wear a brand??? I am apparently ignorant to all this, but I actually assumed that the majority of all the states in the union marked their cattle. Why would you not?

They really havent branded here since they got away from open ranges but there is talk in the cattleman's association of going back to branding even if your not selling out of state. We just have a small herd and we dont brand either and I dont think we will. In our neck of the woods a large ranch or farm is about a section and most are from 15 - 300 acres...lots of small barely scraping by family subsistence farms and increasingly they are owned by older people trying to hold on to the last. Not a crowd that is interested in changing their ways in most cases.

Around here, one of the brand inspectors was in on the deal..... cattle, horses...... The guy spend some time in prison, but the person who did most of the stealing never served any time at all... got off because he was "cooperating" and he's back working cows,"training horses" and managing ranches for unsuspecting people - he's just using a new name..... he goes to work for people that are new to ranching - mostly city folk that have no clue and think "playing cowboy" on the weekends is fun. And of course they don't listen to the warnings about this guy when the locals bring it up. He dissapeared for a while and since he's been back, the amount of livestock that comes up missing has gone up too...... A coinsidence??? Hmmmm .... don't think so.

Why not use the ID device used on pets, injected under the skin. Cow has a scar at the site (someone removed/replaced it with surgery) questions get asked.
Of course the core of the problem is WE CHANGED THE LAW.
jim

It pays to check every few hours here neighbors stick together, but the bad guys must be neighbors as this weekend one neighbors gates were opened and barn was opened, my gates were double chained one was unhooked the other was bound up and gates were pushed inward. Just north on our road they stole several cow/calf pairs, this was early Sunday AM.

Exactly right! We stopped hanging rustlers in public. May not be a deterrent but darn sure cuts down or recidivism.

http://www.mobeef.org/statistics.aspx

According to this site, Missouri is number two in the nation for beef cows but even at that, the average herd is only 36. That means the ranches are much smaller than the ones you are used to out west. There is no “range” here so in theory at least, your cows never co-mingle with anyone else’s. Typically the ranchers raise calves up to be sold at the local sale barn to be shipped off to feed lots in other states. The only ID they use is ear tags and that is for internal records (births, age, health, etc). Even at that, the tags are usually generic numbers with no farm name. You simply unload at the sale barn and do the paperwork to get your check and the vet gives them a once over and says all is well. I suppose that is why the cattle rustling started becoming a problem in MO. Anyone familiar with the system knew all you need is to show up at the sale with a load of cattle. There were even times that farmers suspected who got their cattle but they couldn’t prove where they were sold so unless you have a sale ticket in the thief’s name and some way to ID you cows, you hit a dead end. There has been some interest in branding again but that is added work, stress on the cattle, and expense and really doesn’t change anything unless the local sale barns are going to actually look at them and verify the owner. So for now, they are simply trying to set up camera systems and neighbor watch to keep each other’s cattle safe.

Branding is a much easier process by my way of thinking. :shrug: