Owner unknown - what do you all think??

[Limomike]

Had a neighbor call me up two weekends ago to ask me if I lost one of my yearling heifers. Told him no, mine were all accounted for.
He told me he had one show up at his place and dont know who it belongs to. No brand, just a tag, with a number on it. Said he had exhausted all possibilities of where it came from, so he was gonna hang onto it and keep looking in the local paper for an add, or keep looking for a posted sign about a lost heifer.
Well, I ran into him again this weekend, said he still had the heifer, and was going to continue to hold it until someone claimed it. He asked what I thought about charging the owner (when he claims it) his costs of feed, hay, water, etc. IF and when the right owner does claim it. I told him I would charge the owner, because it is an extra cost to keep it.
Just wanted to know what any opinions you all might have??

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Had a neighbor call me up two weekends ago to ask me if I lost one of my yearling heifers. Told him no, mine were all accounted for.
He told me he had one show up at his place and dont know who it belongs to. No brand, just a tag, with a number on it. Said he had exhausted all possibilities of where it came from, so he was gonna hang onto it and keep looking in the local paper for an add, or keep looking for a posted sign about a lost heifer.
Well, I ran into him again this weekend, said he still had the heifer, and was going to continue to hold it until someone claimed it. He asked what I thought about charging the owner (when he claims it) his costs of feed, hay, water, etc. IF and when the right owner does claim it. I told him I would charge the owner, because it is an extra cost to keep it. Just wanted to know what any opinions you all might have??

well hopefully he'll be glad to pay it,,, if not he is still gonna..
:cowboy:

 

[backhoeboogie]

First and foremost is being a good neighbor. You have all heard the bull stories about neighboring bulls coming on to my place and wrecking fence. This results in my cows getting out and onto other's property.

The gas companies hire contractors who come down with semi-loads of equipment. They have turned around several times and taken out corner posts up at the road. They don't call anyone. Cars run in to fences and drive off.

I do my best. It is usually no fault of my own when the cows get out. I'd hate to punish someone else with a financial loss because some dirt contractor wrecked a fence and drove off.

It took me a week to find the owner of the two angus bulls earlier in the year. They crossed the river a couple of times and several fences to get to me. Turned out they belonged to an elderly widow. I'll never be hungry enough to steal from an elderly widow. That's just how it is.

 

[dun]

We had a similar situation last year. But this heifer tore up fences to get in with our cows then tore them up again to get out but she would stay right with them but on the opposite side of the fence and still on our property. I tried running her off into the woods so she would find her way home but that didn't work so I hauled her to the salebarn and just held onto the check. a couple of months later a guy form about 10 miles away dropped by because he had heard that we had a stray heifer. He described her to a tee so I gave him the check.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

First and foremost is being a good neighbor. You have all heard the bull stories about neighboring bulls coming on to my place and wrecking fence. This results in my cows getting out and onto other's property.

The gas companies hire contractors who come down with semi-loads of equipment. They have turned around several times and taken out corner posts up at the road. They don't call anyone. Cars run in to fences and drive off.

I do my best. It is usually no fault of my own when the cows get out. I'd hate to punish someone else with a financial loss because some dirt contractor wrecked a fence and drove off.

It took me a week to find the owner of the two angus bulls earlier in the year. They crossed the river a couple of times and several fences to get to me. Turned out they belonged to an elderly widow. I'll never be hungry enough to steal from an elderly widow. That's just how it is.

well there are over 10k members now,, surely someone aint heard about it... :cowboy:

 

[calfbuyer]

Yeah about all you can do is call all of your neighbors and have them come verify that the cattle are theirs or not. If none of the neighbors claim them them run an add in the news paper for a few weeks. If still no response then just keep them and hope someone shows up to claim them and when they do, they will owe a little money for keeping them. You could haul them to the sale barn and tell them that they are strays and they will sell them and hold the check for a while, then if still no one claims them then the county will get the money after you and the sale barn get yours of course. Make sure that you do " do diligence" on this because i would sure be pizzed if you didn't call me and hauled mine to the sale barn.

 

[cow pollinater]

You don't have brand inspectors in OK? Even if they aren't branded the best option here in CA is to haul them to the salesyard and say, "not mine" and let the brand inspector figure it out. They'll hold them for awhile and see what happens.
I'd be livid if I found out one just stayed in someone's pasture while they waited for me to guess that that's where she wound up.

 

[chippie]

Put an ad in the paper or Craigslist and have the caller describe the heifer to you.
Have you contacted your sheriff or livestock officer? If not, I would call them and let them know that she wandered onto your place so that should the owner see her, they won't accuse you of stealing her.

 

[MO_cows]

Dun - like the new avatar! That's a Model A isn't it? Tell us about it.

As far as the stray, I like your solution, too. My mother had a heifer wander in from nowhere, she showed up in the front yard so mom put her inside the fence to keep her out of the road and started calling neighbors. Nobody was missing one, so she called the sheriff and reported the heifer "found". There was plenty of grass so mom just left the heifer, she wasn't costing anything. Then she calved, had a heifer calf. Nobody ever did claim her, so mom gave them both to her brother-in-law when she sold that place and moved. My mother, unintentional cattle rustler.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Well, a few years back we had a Limousine heifer show up at our place. It took me 3 days to find out the owner. He didn't know she was missing. Apparently he'd moved his herd from one pasture (that sort-of joined one of ours) to another and this one got left behind. She went through 1 fence and jumped another to get with mine.

Long story short, she stayed here 2 weeks (it took almost a whole week for me to get her penned up), he offered to pay anything owed, I said nothing owed (summertime and plenty of grass at that time) he was happy I was happy.
Just neighbors working with neighbors.

I do agree that having to feed one is an extra cost. In my case I didn't feel right asking for anything because we were having a very good year with grass and there was plenty of it. And what little mineral she may have consumed wasn't going to break me. It was good enough (in my book) that he offered to pay for anything owed.

Katherine

 

[Jogeephus]

I had one show up early this year. I put out word to wherever I thought someone would claim it but no one ever did except for Beefy and I knew this heifer looked too good to belong to either of us. The thought of charging for board never crossed my mind. I just wish someone would have come forward. Now I have a pair and the sherriff's office told me just to consider it was mine.

 

[Ryder]

Not really enough information to answer the original question.
If the cost of feed and hay is significant to this man then he is entitled to compensation if possible.
If his operation is such that such costs are insignificant, then just let it go.
How much difference to him would water actually be?
Sometimes to just be a good neighbor or a good person is worth more than the money.

 

[gonzo]

I gotta agree with Ryder, had an amish neibors angus brood cow kept comin threw his fence and threw my back woods to my pasture , she never damaged fence just came to visit. I just go down get the kid n trailr her back . He tryed to pay me both times, I shrugged it off said no ,he's been a real good neighbor since. :cowboy:

 

[Limomike]

Thanks everyone. I called him and told him it might be a good idea to contact the local sheriff, just to be on the safe side. Dont know if he will or not, but at least I mentioned it.