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Rick Wilking / Reuters
Nancy Schleining of Schleining Genetics herds a 1,200-pound cow, which has just arrived from Montana, at her cattle feedlot in Ault, Colo., earlier this month. State livestock officials say the increase in cattle crimes was linked to the slumping economy, soaring beef prices and the advent of handheld global positioning systems.
SALMON, Idaho
Cattle rustlers, casting aside saddle and spurs for modern horsepower, are roaming the West with four-wheel drive and GPS technology in a resurgence of livestock thievery considered a hanging offense on the old frontier.
State livestock officials said the increase in cattle crimes was linked to the slumping economy, soaring beef prices and the advent of handheld global positioning systems that allow rustlers to more easily navigate the wide-open range.
They said contemporary thieves may find it more convenient and lucrative to pick off a couple cows, worth as much as $2,000 a head, than to rob a convenience store.
"When the market is extremely high, the bad guys come out," Idaho State Brand Inspector Larry Hayhurst said.
Hayhurst said the incidence of cattle gone missing under suspicious circumstances in Idaho during the past three months had already surpassed the 250 such reports he received for all of last year. That coincides with spikes in cattle thefts in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and elsewhere.
Rick Wilking / Reuters
Colorado State Brand Inspector Jim Easthouse looks over a sheet listing cattle headed for auction in Fort Collins, Colo.
Regionwide tallies for rustling are hard to come by because no uniform reporting system or central database exists.
However, Western state livestock agencies have put the value of cattle deemed lost, stolen, strayed or in questionable ownership in recent years in the tens of millions of dollars.
In Montana alone, investigators have recovered more than 7,300 stolen or missing cattle worth nearly $8 million during the past three years, numbers believed to account for just a fraction of the problem, officials said.
"What you see as far as figures from livestock departments is a drop in the bucket from what's been going on," said Kim Baker, president of the Montana Cattlemen's Association.
For ranchers in the open-range states of the West, the livestock brand -- a symbol of ownership imprinted on the animal's hide -- is considered a cow's only return address.
Brands provide vital clues for Western agricultural inspectors who are required to verify ownership of livestock when it is sold, shipped for slaughter or transported over certain distances.
But in a region where several hundred brand inspectors oversee millions of cows on rangelands stretching across some of the nation's most rugged and remote terrain, there are many ways to beat the system, said Rick Wahlert, veteran brand inspector with the Colorado Agriculture Department.
Today's rustlers bear little resemblance to the varmints of yore, whose crimes prompted the formation in the western United States of cattle associations that paid a bounty to bring cow thieves to justice.
For starters, rustlers are now equipped with trucks and trailers that allow them to easily haul cattle to distant slaughterhouses and auction barns where re-branded animals may draw less suspicion.
Western livestock owners who turn their cows out in the spring on sprawling grazing allotments they lease from the federal government expect to lose up to 3 percent of their stock to injuries, illnesses and predators.
But any such losses, or any missing animals suspected of having been stolen, typically go unnoticed until late fall, when ranchers gather in their herds and sort out which animals will be kept for breeding, put up for sale or go to slaughter.
Moreover, cattle can end up categorized as lost or missing, rather than stolen, even though evidence may suggest theft, said Terry Fankhauser, vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association.
"We're ruling out alien abduction," he said.
Theft costs ranchers dearly in an industry that generates billions of dollars in revenues a year in Western states.
The losses are not tallied in dollars alone. Producers build up their herds while selecting for preferred traits over the course of generations, said Wyatt Prescott, vice president of the Idaho Cattle Association.
"Cows are professional mothers," he said. "It's their job to get bred every year, calve successfully and bring that calf home in the fall. You go through a lot trying to replace that cow."
The recent comeback in cattle rustling has stockmen on edge across the region.
After 200 cattle went missing last year in a four-county area of western Idaho, Tom Blessinger, a rancher north of Boise, said he was writing down the license plate numbers of any unfamiliar vehicles he sees.
"That's a lot of meat," he said. "This isn't a case of the cowboy with the good horse and the dog. This is too many."
Authorities in Montana and Nevada last month broke up a multi-state cattle-rustling ring in an investigation expected to bring criminal charges against suspects in Oregon, Nevada and Washington state, said Blaine Northrop, enforcement supervisor with the Nevada Department of Agriculture. The livestock bust has so far netted 61 head of cattle.
Officials said livestock thieves typically know how to handle animals and how to elude the industry's safeguards.
"Just anybody off the street can't walk in and steal a cow," Idaho's Prescott said.
Once snatched, cows are hard to get back. Recovery rates for stolen cattle can be as low as 10 percent.
Two years after the fact, authorities are still searching for rustlers who stole 21 cows and an equal number of calves from the Cross Ranch in northwestern Montana, and owner Mary Cross said her operation continues to suffer the effects of the thefts.
"It takes the profit right out," she said.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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Evidence of a recovering economy? Dream on fools!
Open range no brand fair game.
Perhaps you might read the article again, it says it is evidence of a slumping economy and high beef prices.
Now thats my question as a cattle producer....HIGH BEEF PRICES???? I am holding most of my 2 year olds over for next season because beef prices are so low right now. With the drought and fires across Texas and the west a lot of ranchers have sold off entire herds putting more beef in the market than usual driving prices down.
If your paying high beef prices at the stores you had better look for some marketing tricks in the retailer because the ranchers and beef growers are not getting high beef prices.
HonestBill, whether an economy is growing, stagnant, or shrinking, is actually determined by math, and not by any feelings you or anyone else might get from reading certain stories. The math never lies. But a growing economy doesn't mean all is well on the home-front either.
You are selling to the wrong bidder AZrancher. Cattle prices are the highest they have ever been. You should get a great price for your heffers. Definitely with the number of heard way down in this area. You should look into internet sales or ship them to a neighboring state for sale.
Bridget- Prices are high in Colorado and Nebraska, perhaps even in Wyoming and Montana I don't know on those, but down in Arizona, Texas, and surrounding areas prices for cattle are crashing due to the horrible drought they are experiencing and lack of/high price of hay in the south. Shipping to a neighboring state is often more than ranchers in these dire conditions can afford.
I know prices in TX and AZ crashed over the summer, but are they still crashing? I would have thought the prices would have risen again as the market would be left undersupplied after the initial sell off/slaughter of cattle that ranchers could no longer afford to feed during the summer drought.
"Nancy Schleining of Schleining Genetics herds a 1,200-pound cow"... and a pissed off one at that.
I've herded cattle, that one was herding her.
Great, maybe we will also see a "comeback of cattle rustler lynchings"...
We lost something of ourselves when the frontier closed and the "Old West" passed away. Now, however, we may be in position to get it back. Welcome to "The Oxbow Incident Redux".
Thanks oldefarte you just saved me from posting the exact same thing.
HANG UM HIGH!
In the "OxBow Incident" with Henry Fonda they where hanging what they thought were three murderers.
After they were hung the supposed victim came riding in and they discovered it was all a result of out of control gossip.
Thanks oldfarte and goloria. If I find out who rustled our cattle...
That's what I was thinking "string 'em up from the closest tree" like they did in the old days.
Hang the rustlers like they did 200 years ago. Problem solved!
But they'll blame wolves and go shoot them, blame wild horses and shoot them, blame anything else but their neighbors or carelessness. And on BLM land, that belongs to all of us, and put too many on for the land to sustain, and leave them without any supervision. Even marijuana growers on federal land keep a watch on it, why not the rancher?
I totally agree with Andie's comment. They are so quick to kill off any other species that competes for our public land. The BLM is as corrupt as any government office can be and once again it's the humans that are the problem.
you both are not in the ranching business are you?
You don't have to be a rancher to know that many ranchers are subsidized by taxpayers when they lease many federal allotments. That's not necessarily bad, but it is true.
Like he said......you folks dont know much about ranching business huh! To much television, happens all the time.
Subsidized when they lease federal allotments? In Nebraska the federal land is leased at lease auctions to the highest bidder. Not hardly subsidized. Actually the government is subsidized by the rancher. Then they adhere to strict rules dealing with grazing practices, access, timing etc. The federal lands I am familiar with are grazed to conserve their ecosystems as grasslands have been shaped by ruminants since the first sprig of grass rose out of the sand.
LOL! Cattle having no supervision........ LOL! We hire people from the city to do that job.
Andie, you are correct. These ranchers pay just over $1.00 a month per cow to graze on public BLM lands. Then the BLM round up the mustangs so that the cattle can have all the land. The mustangs wind up in holding areas (40,000 being held currently) at a huge cost to taxpayers. The cattle ranchers get the price break with cheap grazing. However, the beef prices do not come down for the general public. The horses pay with their lives (many wind up for slaughter in Canada and Mexico). We pay through the nose and the horses die. The natural habitat is also destroyed by so many cattle. The cattle men get fat and rich. These people who say they are ranchers aren't. Cows are polluting the atmosphere even more than cars. No cattle would be rustled if we all followed a vegetarian, earth-friendly diet. And, no, I am not a city slicker - just a human being with a conscience.
That's a fact. Some people are truly truly ignorant. People don't realize ranchers PAY to graze their cattle on fed land, and this "subsidy" these buffoons are saying the ranchers get at the cost of the taxpayer is complete rubbish. Grazing fees are increasing 40% on this land. And Guess What. The rancher isn't going to "eat" that cost. It will be passed down to the consumer in higher beef prices. THAT is how the rancher is going to get subsidized. Each and every time you buy beef or leather goods.
idiots from the city.. dont understand anything about what its really like to try make a living farming and how hard it makes it when people steal your only source of income for the year
Cattle pollute worse than cars??? I was wondering where all this smog came from over my ranch while L.A. and Phoenix are so clear and blue.....HAHAHAHA
Never met a "rich" rancher or farmer either.....you must hang out with a different crowd. Rich cattlemen with smog emitting cows......thats a new one, thanks for the chuckle.....
Linda Brown, there are many flaws in your statements. Get your checkbook out sweetheart and start taking care of those lands you talk about and start feeding all those mustangs.
I bet Linda is a card carrying member of PETA. You read enough propaganda you eventually are not capable of processing reality. I even believed my Huskers would win the BIG 10 title! Brainwashed.
Why would anyone blame wild horses???
Linda Brown,
Thank you so much for the laugh. Your mindless comment was one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long time.
For your information dear, cattle do NOT pollute more than automobiles do. If what you said was really true, this planet would have been badly polluted thousands, if not millions of years ago from all the pollution caused by those herds of millions of buffalo and oxen and other bovine animals that cows ARE DESCENDED FROM!!!
And like others have already stated, I have rarely seen a "rich" cattleman. Yes, there are some...but they are a distinct minority. Most cattle ranchers barely get by and what money they make usually goes right back into their herds.
Obviously, I don't intend to change your view though. You'd have to have a level of intelligence higher than that plant life you seem so fond of. Please, do us all a favor and stay out of discussions that you obviously know nothing about.
Your blatant ignorance and mindless ideological views only prove you're totally clueless.
I say all farmers should raise enough to feed them and their familys and forget about the public for a year then we will see who is killing and eating the poor horse.
@Linda Brown: I think you're projecting a set of experiences to the entire US cattle industry. Your description might be accurate for what you see in your area, but it doesn't represent the vast majority that US ranchers and growers find themselves in - I certainly have never seen anything like what you describe.
As for the comments on bovine excrement causing more pollution than automobiles; as somebody raised with a clear understanding of the business end of a pitchfork, I'm going to have to call bs on that one .. sorry, couldn't help myself. Those calculations are based on (widely discredited) assumptions of all the animals being raised on a high-corn diet with corresponding figures for all agricultural petroleum use and chemicals (insecticides, fertilizer, medicine, etc.) added in. That makes sense, but not all cattle are raised throughout their lives like that and the studies are not taking into account the increasing industry efficiencies.
Cows pollute more than cars? Gee, that must explain why the Nebraska sandhills have some of the clearest skies, clear enough that you can see the milky way in all it's glory on a calm night. Surely wouldn't see something like that out in LA, would ya?
@LongFarms: I'm a student at UNL! GBR!
In my opinion, if you're not a rancher, you need to keep your mouth closed vice trying to instruct those here who are, how it "really is".
(note the closest I come to being a rancher is I saw a cow once on a YouTube video)
Our politicians don't have enough supervision either but darn it they don't seem to disappear :-)
We still have plenty of ropes and trees out here...
I agree. We've had cattle stolen but never caught who did it......
Redneck peasants...
Some of those "redneck peasents" you speak of happen to millionaires. Did you not see "contemporary thieves may find it more convenient and lucrative to pick off a couple cows, worth as much as $2,000 a head". Whenever you drive through the country and see a mansion that looks like it belongs to a feudal lord it isn't some democratic voting, slick city fellar's country mansion. It belongs to a rancher.
Yup, that can buy a lot of meth!
@Jonathan- You're obviously forgetting all the cost that goes into raising cattle. Most are hugely in debt if they want a big operation due to prices of land, breeding stock, feed, medicine, and other supplies and the small ranchers that are debt free struggle to break even every year because of expenses. Those who are millionaires (or appear to be) are either hugely in debt, inherited it all, or have spent many many years and hard-earned dollars to get where they are.
I know several farmers and ranchers that are technical millionaires according to bank papers. Hell one combine from International Harvester goes for over one million today. With land holdings, livestock, equipment etc. they are paper millionaires and many dont have enough money (CASH$$$) to by a used pick up. There are those spoiled rich braats in hollywood who have daddies cash, but most business's have their monies tied up in the operation, not cash$.
Most people dont realize that those huge mansions are acctually owned by billionares from the east coast. They buy thousands of acres and put up multimillion dollar houses to use as a tax write off. Then they also capitalize on other loopholes that allow them other tax breakes from things like "Homesteading" in the country. All the while this just blocks out local farmers from using that land so they can try to scratch together a modest living.
Why not go after the slaughterhouses? These thieves don't butcher and package the meat themselves. Whoever buys them should verify their ownership.
If they keep the cows and calve them out then the calves are not traceable. Also east of the Missouri I don't believe there are brand inspectors to verify the brand.
LongFarms is right. Like here in minnesota you can pay a yearly fee for a registered brand, but it doesnt do any good because it isnt required like in west river, no one checks brands east of the river
Bring back the hangman, that'll solve the problem.
@ Eric-2172208 - Then eat rocks or dirt. Without the farmers and ranchers that's all you're going to have available. This is a SMALL reason for the recent increase in beef prices, a bigger reason is the increase in feed costs.
@AG99 - 12th paragraph of the story. They don't have the bodies to check every slaughterhouse and packaging plant.
I wasn't thinking of law enforcement per se, but more the slaughterhouses themselves taking on the responsibility. Don't they have enough legitimate cattle to process? It's not like these theives are taking in hundreds at a time; sounds more like a handful at best. Isn't it in the slaughterhouses' best interest to verify their meat? If they don't support the cattlemen, they lose their supply.
If you go back to hanging them when you catch them the stealing will drop off but we must sure we do not violate their constitutional right. When a Rustler is caught with stolen cattle or stealing cattle, you may put him on the back of a horse and the rope around his neck but no one should spook the horse until after he is found guilty. Then you can spook the horse and let him hang until his hide is dried out. By letting his hide dry out, he takes up less space in the grave thereby leaving additional space for future rustlers. This is a process called hanging them out to dry.
"hanging out to dry" comes from skinning game. You skin the hide from the carcass and stretch the wet hide out and tack it to a wall or board salt it down and let it dry scraping the inside until you have a nice dry piece of material to use for clothing etc. Wet hides just rot.
When you hang someone and let them remain hanging all of the bodily fluids travel to the lowest point of the body (called lividity) and will swell and popp, the weight can also pull the head from the neck decapitating the body and dropping it to the ground, it will not "dry" but only decompose and rot.
Plus contrary to most western TV shows, most cattle & horse thieves were sent to prison. Not as many were hung as the movies lead you to believe. Kind of like the hollywood face down fast draw shoot out. More fiction than fact.
Hell, back when horse slaughterhouses were open here the number of stolen and butchered horses,ending up in France or Japan was incalculable. Ditto cattle. The slaughterhouse isn't deeply concerned, they pay for the animal, butcher it and who can tell what brand was on a carcass. Often they butcher as soon as they can to avoid any questions. The operations are huge, I forget how many animals can be 'processed' in a hour but it is in the hundreds/
The majority of the issue could be solved by the States on the highways, and at the sale yard. I agree that catching a cattle rustler in the act is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Yet, verification of the legal transport, sale, and purchase of livestock is the responsibility of state. Each animal is required by law to have a state issued brand inspection, which the livestock owner pays money to obtain. Even livestock that do not have a brand require a brand inspection (so what are we paying them to inspect exactly?) The slaughter houses DO verify that the cattle are being sold by their rightful owner via the state issued brand ispection. Without one the cattle can not be transported or sold legally, and if state brand inspectors are letting cows cross state lines or go through sale yards with fresh brands on them and are not requiring a brand inspection that shows the sale of that animal from the owner of the old brand, nor background checking the older brand on the animal then they are not doing their jobs. We had a slick (non branded calf) stolen right out of our driveway by our neighbor. By luck my husband discovered the calf in a sale yard about 3 months later with the neighbor's brand on it. Knowing that the state brand inspector (Idaho) would do nothing about it, he bought the calf back, and had it DNA tested by the vet (we still had the cow). The results indicated to a 99.9% certainty that the calf belongs to the cow (which belongs to us). The neighbor can not show any proof of purchase nor a brand inspection on the animal, yet the brand inspector and the county refuse to prosecute. Not only are they not doing their jobs in the sale yards, but they are not even doing their jobs when the rancher is doing it for them.
Unfortunately that is true for other crimes too. You can bring evidence but the police don't want to bother with it. It is sorry that you neighbor (with 99.9% certainty) stole your calf. I thought you looked out for each other out there.
our illegals need are too!,Si
Hay gobierno? Soy contra!
native6325,
Have you brought the matter before the county prosecuting attorney's office? Or the attorney general's office for the state? Or any other law enforcement agency for that matter?
If you have documented proof that proves the calf came from your cow (namely the DNA testing) and you have documented proof that you purchased your calf from your neighbor (a receipt of sale or whatever), then you should be taking to either a state or federal agency.
If the county is failing to enforce the laws, take it to the state level.
Has anyone out there seen "Rancho Deluxe"? Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterston were rustlers,funny flick.
Another aspect of rustling is the intentional destruction of animals. Our family ranch, as well as several others near us, have seen a recent spike in intentional slaughtering of cattle without harvesting the meat. We lost at least 9 animals this year-execution style, left for dead. Bringing the guilty to justice is difficult, as we cannot "babysit" our herd that grazes on 40K + acres. I ask myself constantly WHY? As if ranching isn't hard enough as it is.
There's definitely no shortage of mental illness everywhere nowadays.
@Idaho Rancher-That makes me sick what some #$!@ did to your cattle. It hurts you financially and as someone who has deep roots in ranching, I know that you value your animals not just for the money but for what they represent.
That's just disgusting. What the hell is wrong with people? The older I get, the more I despair for the world.
@IdahoRancher: I am really sorry to hear that cattle in your area are being shot for sport only & sure hope you folks have strong law enforcement to find & prosecute those who are doing it.
This is old news here in the West but new news to the East-coast-centric media. They don't have much of a clue as to what goes on west of the Mississippi.
Can't hang thieves they can't catch. Cattle trucks are very hard to see in that dark cattle country, especially at 'new' moon times. There are some large ranches that still hire cowboys to check fences & cattle that are spread out. Regardless, cattle are useless unless slaughtered; so, they have to find who is buying stolen cattle & who is slaughtering them to catch cattle thieves.
Computerized chipping of cattle is a business opportunity, especially if chips can send signals. Old fashioned branding was useful for sorting cattle on open ranges, but branding is hard, heavy work that obviously does nothing to either deter or catch cattle thieves.
All the talk about slaughter houses having a hand in this is just not correct if you are referring to the large packing plants. Most fat cattle are bought by a buyer that travels to the producers place to inspect and bid on the cattle. Most cows and calves are bought at sale barns and the brands are inspected at the barn prior to sale. If a calf that is not branded is stolen there is no way to track it. If it is a rancher that steals the cows they can keep them on their place for years, selling the calves that they produce. Often times people are caught trying to alter a brand or brand over an existing one. This brings up the point that if cattle are getting swiped in any large number it is probably a crooked rancher from another state. If one turns up missing occasionally it either died, got in with the neighbors (who usually return them when discovered), or was processed by the thief for their own consumption.
Iillegals have been stealing cows and horses down here in Alabama for quite a while. They slaughter them and leave the carcass near where they stole them
In Florida too - butchering in C-9 Basin. They bash the animals in the head with a hammer and butcher them while still alive. Lots of Cubans involved.
Even bad guys like a good cigar, I have not had a good cuban in years.
It was enforced less than 200 years. Kansas still had it on the books in 1950's. I know a few old boys that would have no problem teaching you how to do the Mexican hat dance with their guns if you tried to rustle their cattle. Really isn't a very smart thing to do.
Writing from Wyoming, I have to say when ranchers have these sorts of " problems" with losing cattle , they almost always try to blame it on wolves. Never mind that rustling is, in fact, a modern sport of commerce. All the other causes of lost cattle like disease, birthing issues, lightning , all manner of accidents, and the plain fact we have successfully bred the smarts out of cattle , contribute to a false economic model of modern public lands ranching. It would simply be better for all if we kicked the cows off public lands and made ranchers responsible for their valuable 4-legged property on a 24/7/365 basis. If Americans knew how much they were paying to subsidize these losses and public lands ranching across the board , there would be outrage.
But as we say in Wyoming , " We have quite a few sacred cows, and some of them are actually cattle "
You are probably one of those people that wants "grass fed" beef. It probably makes more sense to you to hire someone to mow that grass and feed it on a "free range" in form of bales. You also probably have no idea what happens to 2 foot dry grass on 20K acres and it gets hit by lightening............. Just saying........
All wolves need to be shot. They kill not only many many cattle, but HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ELK every year. Everyone says "oh the poor poor helpless wolves, we need to help the cute little things". This is rediculous, think of the poor cow elk is that chased so ragged she cant even keep herself healthy enough to become pregnant for next years elk crop. Wolves have been killing so many elk that hunting guides that rely on their talents for a living are now losing their jobs because the WOLVES are KILLING all the elk.
Dewdle must be from Jackson . . . I mean, Dewdle must be from California or New York, and is just vacationing in WY
Cattle theft has always been in existence. It has been combated by a majority of auction houses and packing plants coming in line with laws endorsed by state cattlemans associations in which a cattle grower or seller must register with the livestock association and have a registered brand/mark. When cattle are sold the sellers ID is verified and recorded along with the cattle marks and run through the livestock associations. This is where many of the cattle are caught and special investigators can ID and arrest the thieves before the are paid and the cattle returned to the owner or the pay sent to him instead.
Most packing plants and cattle auctions will not allow you to do business if you are not a verified member of the association. Plus thanks to internet/cell & I phone lost stock, horses and even saddles and trailers are put out in the network a lot faster so the alerts often arrive across state before the thieves do.
If someone swipes a stock trailer full of livestock you either have to have a large place of your own to hold them or a place to sell them fast. Many thefts are recovered but the difficult ones are breeder stock (cows & heifers) that someone may hold and use to breed themselves selling the calves legally. But even in this the investigators have a pre determined consent to go onto property and check livestock. If a member of the association refuses this they loose their membership and can no longer sell cattle in that area with association members or recepients.
@AZRancher: Thank you for a detailed explanation about the sale of cattle, which should have been part of this article to educate those who are not in the business.
Rasing a few head of cattle myself, I have to and always will empathize with ranchers. But, also being a retail grocery manager by trade, I know that theft is part of the business. Do all you can but still..........
I've been through armed robbery, employee theft, embezzlement, shop lifting, break-ins, bad checks and on and on and on. Part of the business. We all have that.
Stores do their fair share of prevention with security devices implanted in the products so they set off alarms if somebody tries to walk out the door without paying for it.
This could eventually lead to micro chipping the cattle.
@Dewdle: "We have quite a few sacred cows, and some of them are actually cattle." LOL!! That quote was recently applied to football when Penn State's "sacred cow" scandal erupted.