Rustling

[dun]

Just heard on the news that 57 herd of Brahman cows got rusteled just SW of us. They had the balls to use the guys barn and loading facilitys to load a ground load pot trailer. To add insult to injury they left the lights turned on in the barn and the loading area.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Saw that on the news last night Dun. Cows were bucking stock.

 

[dun]

Saw that on the news last night Dun. Cows were bucking stock.

I'm sure by now they're eating stock

 

[Caustic Burno]

You can bet they had been watching him for a while and had his movements down.
Its hard to catch them when you are not home. My pens are in range of the front porch and ole Rube lets you know if anyone comes around. It does you absolutely no good if you are not at the house.

 

[dun]

You can bet they had been watching him for a while and had his movements down.
Its hard to catch them when you are not home. My pens are in range of the front porch and ole Rube lets you know if anyone comes around. It does you absolutely no good if you are not at the house.

This is one of those cases where he lived one place and had these cattle at another.

 

[tncattle]

What a shame, maybe he can change his operation to hopefully keep this from happening again.

 

[Caustic Burno]

You can bet they had been watching him for a while and had his movements down.
Its hard to catch them when you are not home. My pens are in range of the front porch and ole Rube lets you know if anyone comes around. It does you absolutely no good if you are not at the house.

This is one of those cases where he lived one place and had these cattle at another.

Easy Pickens.

 

[alacattleman]

Saw that on the news last night Dun. Cows were bucking stock.[/quote]

I'm sure by now they're eating stock

if that was the case, they were easy handlin' like catching butterflys

 

[dun]

You can bet they had been watching him for a while and had his movements down.
Its hard to catch them when you are not home. My pens are in range of the front porch and ole Rube lets you know if anyone comes around. It does you absolutely no good if you are not at the house.

This is one of those cases where he lived one place and had these cattle at another.

Easy Pickens.

That's the reason I've always had an aversion to keeping cows at other then the home place

 

[Limomike]

I agree; having your cattle at some other place than your own is just a problem waiting to happen. I know people who have done it, and still do it, but its best when they are right there around your place to check on em whenever you can. Like CB said, the thieves can figure out your moves, if you do the same things day-in and day-out. I never check on my cattle at the same time everyday or night, I do it at different times. Plus, having two real good watchdogs helps alot. They notify me when someone even pulls up into my drive, or even my neighbor's drive which is 1/4 mile away.

 

[Brandonm22]

According to the AL Cattleman's Mag they just have busted a very large ring of cattle and equipment thieves here in Alabama. The thieves were so bold they were even branding the cattle. The authorities were able to identify the registered cattle by their tattoes and the commercial cattle are awaiting DNA test results.

 

[Dave]

This is why I have always believed in the old saying, trust your neighbors but brand your cows. Of course if you are in a state that doesn't have brand inspection it doesn't help as much.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

having two real good watchdogs helps alot. They notify me when someone even pulls up into my drive, or even my neighbor's drive which is 1/4 mile away.

:nod: :nod: Certainly very helpful! Our Pyrenees does the same. We know when anyone has even pulled into the drive as well as the distant neighbor's. The black and brown dog that goes to work with me (both are pictured on the Coffe Shop post of member pics) he's an excellent watchdog here home and at work. He has come in very handy at work, a good partner.

It would be great if they caught the people who stole those cows.

Katherine

 

[spoon]

There was an article in the local paper today about a couple of guys rustling 11 head this week. They even stole the trailer from someone to haul them in. Another case of the owner not living on site. He runs about 400 head at two separate locations.

 

[Nesikep]

We had a young calf get stolen from our front yard, and our neighbor had a couple head stolen from his place, and he lived there as well.. of course we have our suspicions, but no evidence of anything

 

[cre10]

Saw in Missouri Farmer Today where 53 branded cows were taken from Christian County Missouri. Might be the same or different story?

 

[dun]

Saw in Missouri Farmer Today where 53 branded cows were taken from Christian County Missouri. Might be the same or different story?

Yup, that's the one

 

[Oldtimer]

Heres a little cattle involved Fraud scheme that took place in our area....Things like this makes getting money for the honest producer a little tougher....

North Dakota cattle buyer convicted in $7.8M scheme



By CLAIR JOHNSON

Of The Gazette Staff

The Billings Gazette - Montana

2/13/2009



A North Dakota cattle buyer who drove bankers around Eastern Montana showing them cattle he falsely claimed were his was convicted Thursday in a $7.8 million scheme to defraud banks.



The jury deliberated about an hour and a half in the four-day trial before finding Todd Kenneth Horob, 40, of Williston, guilty of all seven counts in an indictment. The charges included false statements to a bank, bank and wire fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy scheme to defraud and aggravated identity theft.



Testifying in his own defense, Horob claimed that other witnesses were wrong and denied providing false brand inspection certificates and other false documents to hide the fraud.



Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Archer said Horob had built a "house of cards" through deceit and money laundering. The business world, especially the cattle industry, is based on trust and handshakes, Archer said, and "Mr. Horob abused that trust on many levels."



Horob's scheme collapsed into bankruptcy, where he continued lying on his petition and in a deposition, Archer said.



The investigation by the FBI found that Horob spent money loaned to buy cattle on other things and that he lost more than $2 million in the cattle futures market.



Wells Fargo Bank, which loaned Horob $5.8 million, caught on and sent bankers searching for cattle Horob claimed to have purchased with the money, Archer said. "They didn't find cows," he said.



There were only the 60 cows that Horob listed in his bankruptcy petition, not the 6,800 cows he told Wells Fargo he had a few weeks earlier, he said. Horob filed for bankruptcy March 2006 in Billings.



Horob was president of Horob Livestock Inc., a North Dakota company with big debt and lines of credit with Wells Fargo in Minot, N.D. From March 2003 until September 2005, Horob borrowed $5.8 million from the bank to finance his cattle-buying business.



Horob also formed H&J Livestock LLC with his partner and ranch hand, James Johnson, and borrowed more than $2 million from Dakota West Credit Union, based in Watford City, N.D. Horob used Johnson's personal checking account with the Wolf Point Federal Credit Union to launder money, Archer said.



In one instance, Horob used Johnson's account to redirect a Wells Fargo loan of $950,000 to buy 775 stock cows to pay off a loan of $858,543 that H&J had at Dakota West. No cows were purchased, Archer said.



In another loan, Horob got $950,000 from Dakota West to buy 1,276 steers and provided the credit union with a fake buyer's bill for the purchase. Horob used most of the money for purchases unrelated to livestock, Archer said.



Johnson, of the Wolf Point area, testified that he let Horob use his checking account but didn't understand at the time what Horob meant about the account looking better to the banks. Johnson said he gave Horob a book of signed blank checks and that Horob filled in the rest. He didn't know what the money was for or where it went, Johnson said.



Horob also asked him to find "a big bunch of cows" to show bankers, Johnson said. He complied even though he knew the cows didn't belong to Horob, he said. Johnson and Horob drove bankers to pastures to see cattle belonging to other ranchers in the Brockway area.



Both men have pleaded guilty to state felony charges in McCone County for the bogus cattle tours. Johnson was sentenced last year to a three-year deferred term for deceptive practices by accountability. Horob is to be sentenced March 5 for deceptive practices.



Two feedlot owners in Montana and Nebraska also testified they lied for Horob when they showed bankers cattle purportedly owned by Horob.



Steve Lunderby, who owns a feedlot in Sidney, said that in March 2006, he let Horob show bankers about 390 head of cattle he claimed were his. In fact, Horob had no cows at the lot, Lunderby said. When the bankers returned to repossess the cattle, Lunderby said he lied and told them Horob had shipped out the cattle. Lunderby called his actions stupid and said he had trusted Horob.



Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull set sentencing for May 14 and continued Horob's release. Horob faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on most of the fraud counts plus a mandatory consecutive two years on the identity theft count.



billingsgazette.net

 

[TheBullLady]

Unfortunately that's not a new practice.. I've heard of that happening locally as well. Knew someone a few years back that was asked by a friend to drive his banker out to show him the other people's cows. And wonder why the economy / moral values, etc are in such shambles.