Cattle Rustling is alive and well

[Festus]

Here's a link to a story of cattle rustling as its practiced today, I thought some of you may like to read it.

http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?news_id=ap-d8v970480&

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

We still string 'em up around these parts. Horse thieves, too.

[JeanneTGC]

What got me was they said you'd drive your little Mazda up and get 4 calves into the back seat and trunk/back area. We bought our daughter a Mazda3 and I guess it could indeed take 3-4 calves, since it holds our three big dogs.

Thievery never seems to go out of style, more's the pity.

[Unique]

It's a shame people insist on taking that which does not belong to them -
but this gave me a chuckle:


But in rural dairy regions — where milk cows can nearly always fetch a high price and methamphetamine use is becoming as much a part of the landscape as grain silos and milking barns — the rustling reports seem to stay fairly constant.


I was imagining someone walking into a pawn shop with a calf under each arm. :tongue

Guess it doesn't work that way, though:

"The dealers tell dairy workers, 'You go out and you steal me five, 10, or 15 head of calves, we'll supply you with meth so you can either deal or use. They'll turn around and sell the calves to Joe Blow dairyman."


Makes you wonder though - Joe Blow dairyman doesn't realize the seller isn't another cattleman, but a dealer? Or maybe it's a cattleman with an addiction.

This was pretty wild:

The problem has gotten bad enough that Bill Stouder, a veterinarian and dairy producer, now brands even his stillborn calves to keep rustlers from picking them up before the rendering truck arrives and later swapping them for another rancher's live calves.


Swap the dead calves so the guy doesn't know his lives calves are missing. That's low.

Interesting article, Festus. Thankx for sharing.

[Cav Guy]

Horse theft is going up again, too. What with the closing of the last few horse slaughter houses in the US, there's a booming market for getting horses into either Mexico or Canada for foreign meat sales.

[Soccer Mom]

I have my horses and donkeys all "chipped". (micro-chips).

Brands can be altered and frankly hurt, I understand that if you had a large enough animal herd it would be the only way.