Just found out this evening that a friend of our and his Dad had some cattle penned they were hauling one day over the weekend. When they got back from hauling one load some rustlers were getting ready to load some. Not sure if they caught them or not. Likely it would be best if I don't catch them trying to load ours. For some reason that riles me up more than anything. We have most of our gates locked and that is about all we can do. A few pastures are 20 miles away. We usually check them every 2-3 days. I know I get complacent until something like this happens and then I'm more aware of what I see along the road for a while. I'm not sure the old ways of dealing with them wasn't more of a deterrent.
Cattle Rustlers
- Thread starter elkwc
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wbvs58
Well-known member
Sounds like it could have been the scene for a bit of a shoot out.
Ken
Ken
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
Cattle are a whole lot of work for a very small profit margin. There is a whole lot of investment risk too. We should all be just as riled up as you get elk
TexasBred
Well-known member
Read in the paper where the arrested a guy around Hillsboro, Texas that had a pen full of stolen cattle. Even had brands which made it easier.
One of my friends has some pretty sketchy cattle. His comment is... if you man enough to pen them you can have them. :lol:
Its not a bad idea to keep a game cam over your working facilities. They have come a long way. The pics are amazing.
I see it more with people who hire out day help. Its usually not random.
Its not a bad idea to keep a game cam over your working facilities. They have come a long way. The pics are amazing.
I see it more with people who hire out day help. Its usually not random.
An update. I exchanged texts with the son this morning. It seems the first information you hear many times isn't 100% accurate. The location was around 3 miles from one of our pastures. The cattle were in the pasture and they got 16 head penned. The pens were just make shift so you open panels instead of gates, ect. They were trying to figure out how to open the panels to load them when a vehicle came down the road and they took off. The cattle investigator for OK was going to be there this morning. I understand they didn't have locks on the gates but do now. We have put them on ours being they are either on the road or close to it. As of this morning they hadn't caught them. The son teaches and coaches and farms and runs cattle on the side. Our cattle were checked this morning and they are fine.
littletom
Well-known member
Pretty sure several around here would be scared for their life and have to defend themselves
MtnCows93
Well-known member
it blows my mind there are people still rustling cattle, the thief takes his truck and trailer which is worth a good amount of money, drives in on someone elses land for everyone to see, and takes the time to corral another mans cattle in a pen hes never used and procede to load and haul them to a sale where everybody knows everybody. i cant imagine the state of mind of someone like that its just insanely risky and crazy. if i was a criminal id rob a police station before id steal cattle
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
That's the dope heads rustle cattle. I read where rustlers get dropped off at night with a couple of dogs and push the cows into a fence corner by the highway. When the cows are held in the corner someone makes a call, and a trailer is backed up to the fence corner, the fence gets cut, cattle loaded and the rustlers are out of there.MtnCows93":15rgx2dw said:
Dave
Well-known member
Smart thieves (and thankfully there are a lot of those) would have no problem. Only take unbranded cattle. Move them well away, preferably out of state. Brand with their own brand and wait a while before selling. Be someone who buys and sells regularly at a particular sale. Who will notice selling a few extras. I know for a fact there are people who get few cows with someone else's brand who just keep the cow raising calves for them. They just run the cow until it dies.
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
Dave we're so ignorant in the south that most cattle aren't branded. From the sales I sit through at the sale barn less than 4% of the cattle have a brand. All back to the farm cattle will have a metal bangs tag in the ear.Dave":1asnscrw said:
ALACOWMAN
Well-known member
Mine get branded.and it's a good thing,as most every cow in the country is black hided..outside of that the only description you could give is, hey that's my cow..
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
This is not a Robin Hood type thing where you're stealing from rich folks. Most cattle people are marginal and earning a few extra nickels. It ticks me off to think of someone taking that. I don't think your average dope head has enough know how, trailer, or facilities to hold stolen cows. These rustlers are just a bad lot. Put me on the jury please!
Dave
Well-known member
When I lived in Western Washington only about 10=15% of the cattle were branded. Over here in Eastern Oregon it is over 90%. Rustling still occurs but when it happens it is on a much bigger scale. I have a friend who between him and a neighbor lost a semi load a few years ago. 100% of these cows and calves were branded. The cattle were out in steep country that would take some cowboys horseback with good dogs to gather. But the cows disappeared without a trace. That isn't meth heads. That is someone who knows how to cowboy and has a place to take them. Same general area one bull a year for four years disappeared. At least 2 of those bulls had been seen the day before. They figure those bulls ended up in a taco wagon down in the valley. They were all branded but a brand isn't much good if someone peels the hide off.
