'Rare' Cattle hit by Amtrak

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showing71

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The crime scene was horrific -- 24 dead -- and the sheriff's commander called out last Saturday to lead the investigation said that during his 18 years in the business he's never seen such carnage.

Now city folks -- people who like their beef neatly wrapped and packaged or served on a sizzling plate at an upscale restaurant -- may consider the victims to be "just cows."

But that's like coming upon a crash and calling a Ferrari "just a car."

What happened in an isolated area about 24 miles north of Klamath Falls last weekend offers a glimpse into the obscure world of high-end cattle ranching involving a special breed of cow called Salers, considered nature's first wild cow. Images of Salers have been discovered painted on cave walls dating back more than 7,000 years in France.

It's also the first round in what will be a battle between a stubborn, old-time cattle rancher who uses a battered hat to fight sunburn and the suit-and-tie crowd working in air-conditioned offices at Amtrak and the mighty Union Pacific Railroad.

An investigation into how the cattle got onto the track is underway. Rancher Bruce Topham believes the cows left their grazing area through a fence that fell over.
"This is a big loss," grumbled 69-year-old Bruce Topham. "Damn right."

More here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-north ... a_pay.html
 
saler cattle are not rare or special.i got several of them right here in ks.know another guy that has about 1,000 of them here n ks.i got a real nice saler bull for sale now.
 
Let us break this down into the different aspects of it:
1. The train kills a lot of cows, It is horrible. It is disgusting. And loosing all those brood cows must feel almost tragic.



2. The guy has a thousand of them left and does not seem dirt poor, and now he tells the world how utterly amazing his cows were, and how unique, and special, and impossible to replace, and so on. Someone must pay, and now they are worth ten times more than before the accident. He lost most of my sympathy somewere in the middle.
 
Being the top end of a registered herd will make them worth more. Being Salers doesn't make them extra special except in the eyes of a Saler breeder. However, I think they will find some real high selling Salers to compare them to in value. The main point is that it is open range in Oregon. If you hit one with your car you get to pay for the cow and you are on your own with the car and any injuries that you might have. So how would a train be any different? I am thinking the railroad is going to be buying some expensive cows.
 
Maybe they're rare because they were stupid enough to get on the railroad tracks. After all, we know what mental giants cattle are.
 
dun":2yozi3dd said:
Maybe they're rare because they were stupid enough to get on the railroad tracks. After all, we know what mental giants cattle are.
I can just see em standing there chewing their cud and thinking,,, now what the he#$ is that thing..................................... BAM!!!
 
In most cases it wasn't the home owner that invited the tracks through their property, so keeping the fences up fell on the railroad (last I heard). Way back when there was the same thing happened near here but with paint horses. They all of a sudden got to be real expensive paint horses.
 
I don't know Oregon law, but there are jokes about railroad lawyers facing off with farmers over the value of a cow. So, trains have always hit cows. At one time they defended themselves in court, vigorously. I don't know what current policy might be. I haven't seen a railroad in years, around here. Can't argue with a man making a case for the value of his loss, however. He probably knows he is pushing the value pretty good. And the RR is going to offer slaughter value.
 
john250":2rpzyru4 said:
I don't know Oregon law, but there are jokes about railroad lawyers facing off with farmers over the value of a cow. So, trains have always hit cows. At one time they defended themselves in court, vigorously. I don't know what current policy might be. I haven't seen a railroad in years, around here. Can't argue with a man making a case for the value of his loss, however. He probably knows he is pushing the value pretty good. And the RR is going to offer slaughter value.
In Iceland if you kill a sheep you have to pay for the slaughter value plus some number of years of wool production plus some number of offspring and their slaughter value and wool. Least ways that's how it was in the late 60s.
 
Aint it strange how opinions of love and value suddenly change when there's money to be divided :cry2:
I just went through a year of that with the BP oil spill...........I still hear the echos, "WHERE'S MY CHECK??????"
Never new crude could smell so good :D
 
It is open range. Open range means that if you hit them be it on a gravel county road, the interstate highway, or a train track you are responcable and have to pay for the cow. If it totals your car and kills three people the driver is responcable. Now this guy is trying to make his case for a high value in the press...... the mean old railroad killing his prized genetics that took years to develop. Personally, I am surprised that the train could hit them. Most of the Salers I have been around could out run a train.
 
Dave":39rv5der said:
It is open range. Open range means that if you hit them be it on a gravel county road, the interstate highway, or a train track you are responcable and have to pay for the cow. If it totals your car and kills three people the driver is responcable. Now this guy is trying to make his case for a high value in the press...... the mean old railroad killing his prized genetics that took years to develop. Personally, I am surprised that the train could hit them. Most of the Salers I have been around could out run a train.
He may have been behind them and the ran into the train trying to get away from him. Or maybe they just had an attitude and decided to take the train on!
 
You must know that-------- "it's not the money, it's just to keep it from happening to someone else" :cowboy: :hide:
 
Jim62":3ahn1ztd said:
You must know that-------- "it's not the money, it's just to keep it from happening to someone else" :cowboy: :hide:
What office are you running for?
 
cowman":1go7qh6a said:
Where is my check. I dont blame the old man, get all you can. Amtrack has plenty of it.
Sure they do and it's subsidized by us taxpapers!
 

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