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L'il Schenectady O'Farva
Apr 3, 2009, 7:42:08 PM4/3/09
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Modern cattle rustlers update Wild West ways
Sophisticated thieves target ranchers in tough economic times
KFYR-TV
The return of cattle rustlers comes as the ranching industry is at a low
point, beset by widespread drought, rising feed and equipment prices,
and falling demand for beef, says Richard Tokach, who runs this family
ranch near Mandan, N.D.
By Alex Johnson
Reporter
msnbc.com
Otto Dwaine Hendricks is a character out of the Old West transplanted to
the 21st century, to hear the police tell it.
The Dade County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department says Hendricks is a
cattle thief, responsible for making off with tens of thousands of
dollars’ worth of hamburgers on the hoof. But deputies say his
tools don’t include lassoes or six-shooters.
He wields a checkbook, they say.
Hendricks, 50, bought dozens of head of cattle last November from the
Lockwood Livestock Market. By the time the bank flagged the $57,000
check as bad, Hendricks was gone, along with the cows, deputies said.
“He drove up and I walked up to the gate, where he comes down
there to me, and he says, ‘Boy! Them calves are A-1,
ain’t they?’ And I said I thought they were pretty
good,†said Lyle Beasley, whose farm sold Hendricks the cows
through the livestock market.
Beasley said he lost $21,000 worth of cattle in the deal, money that he
was supposed to be paid by the livestock market out of the $57,000
check. Jerry Study, the market’s owner, said he would make good
on Beasley’s part of the deal.
“I know I got ripped,†Study said.
‘Cattle theft is alive and well’
Hendricks is just one of many examples of what law enforcement
authorities and cattle industry representatives say is a modern revival
of that stock character from old black-and-white Westerns: the cattle
rustler.
“Cattle theft is alive and well,†said Hal Dumas, one of
more than 20 investigators working across Texas and Oklahoma for the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Thousands of head of cattle and millions of dollars’ worth of
related equipment were stolen last year in the big cattle states of the
Midwest and the Southwest, according to a report by the cattle raisers
association. More than 6,400 cattle were snatched in Texas and Oklahoma
alone, more than 2½ times the number in 2007.
Since the beginning of the year, numerous thefts of cattle have been
reported across the country.
Twenty-one heifers were stolen from a pasture in Marion County, Kan.
Twelve head of cattle were swiped from a farm in Squires, Mo., by
rustlers who simply tore down a fence. Nearly 100 head of cattle were
recovered in Alabama early last month in a 15-county undercover stolen
property sting.
Authorities have reported thefts of multiple cattle in such far-flung
locales as Ocala, Fla.; Tulpehocken Township, Pa.; and Tehama County,
Calif.
Shoot to kill in Missouri?
By all accounts, Missouri is ground zero. Ranchers in the state,
especially in the southwest corner, are attractive targets because of
several factors: The area boasts prime land for lucrative beef cattle,
it’s easy to slip the cattle across the border into Kansas or
Arkansas, and the state has no law requiring ranchers to brand their
herds, making tracking and recovery of stolen cattle much more
difficult.
In February, 53 cows valued at more than $50,000 disappeared from the
Poca Cala Ranch near Clever in southwest Missouri. According to
Christian County sheriff’s deputies:
The thieves knew exactly what they were looking for, targeting only
Brahma crossbreed cows that are bred to produce rodeo livestock. Not a
single bull was taken.
They were able to case the farm ahead of time while evading security
lights.
They managed to pry open at least five gates and spirit the cows away
undetected.
As the price of beef has risen since the late 1990s, hitting a retail
high of more than $4.50 a pound last August, so has the sophistication
of cattle thieves, the cattle raisers association said. Besides
exploiting modern surveillance techniques, today’s cattle
rustlers often anesthetize cattle with hypodermic darts, bring them down
with trained dogs or herd their quarry with helicopters.
That’s why some Missouri lawmakers are trying to revive another
artifact of the Old West, arguing that today’s ranchers need
more firepower to respond.
Acknowledging that they’re reacting to the recent wave of cattle
rustlings, 17 House members introduced the Missouri Right to Protection
Act in February, which would allow property owners to shoot to kill
anyone threatening them or their property. Current law allows such a
response only inside the home or an automobile but not out of doors
â€" where the cattle and the thieves are.
If passed, the bill would “make it more difficult for someone to
come here and very quickly load cattle,†said Sally Angell, a
member of the Missouri Beef Industry Council.
Ranchers already under pressure
Ranchers say times are tough enough already.
The Agriculture Department estimated the U.S. beef cow herd at 31.7
million head in January, down by 2.4 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer demand for beef fell by 4 percent in 2008,
according to researchers at Kansas State University, who reported that
retail beef prices in February fell by about 15 cents a pound over the
previous six months.
The researchers, led by James Mintert, an agricultural economist with
the university’s extension service, cited bad publicity over the
rise of beef recalls for safety reasons in 2008 â€" when 38 recalls
more than doubled the number in 2007 â€" in addition to more than 20
years of reports linking consumption of red meat to health problems.
But ranchers are hurting for other reasons, too. Drought conditions
reigned over many cattle-raising areas of the Southwest last year, just
two years after another summer-long drought crippled many smaller
operations. In Texas alone, cattle ranchers’ losses from last
summer’s drought neared $1 billion, state agriculture officials
said.
“Unfortunately, you can’t make [water], and we
don’t have groundwater for irrigation, so you just pray on
Mother Nature and hope she’s kind to you this time,â€
said Doug Satree, a fourth-generation cattle rancher in Montague, Texas.
Meanwhile, fertilizer, machinery and grain prices have risen sharply for
more than a year, while fuel prices have fluctuated unpredictably.
And now the recession, in its 16th month, is expected to drive down
demand for beef even further this year.
“If the economy is affected, then [consumers are] buying
hamburger instead of steak,†said Bob Moorhouse, general manager
of a ranching company with locations in Texas and Kansas. “And
the ones that were buying hamburger are buying chicken now.â€
So the return of the rustlers is coming just as ranchers are scraping to
get by, leaving them particularly vulnerable.
“As the economy has worsened, the number of cattle and property
thefts has gone up tremendously as unscrupulous people try to make a
quick buck off the backs of hard-working citizens,†said Alabama
Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, who oversaw last month’s
sting in that state. “So many farmers and business owners have
been hurt by these thieves.â€
Sophisticated thieves target ranchers in tough economic times
KFYR-TV
The return of cattle rustlers comes as the ranching industry is at a low
point, beset by widespread drought, rising feed and equipment prices,
and falling demand for beef, says Richard Tokach, who runs this family
ranch near Mandan, N.D.
By Alex Johnson
Reporter
msnbc.com
Otto Dwaine Hendricks is a character out of the Old West transplanted to
the 21st century, to hear the police tell it.
The Dade County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department says Hendricks is a
cattle thief, responsible for making off with tens of thousands of
dollars’ worth of hamburgers on the hoof. But deputies say his
tools don’t include lassoes or six-shooters.
He wields a checkbook, they say.
Hendricks, 50, bought dozens of head of cattle last November from the
Lockwood Livestock Market. By the time the bank flagged the $57,000
check as bad, Hendricks was gone, along with the cows, deputies said.
“He drove up and I walked up to the gate, where he comes down
there to me, and he says, ‘Boy! Them calves are A-1,
ain’t they?’ And I said I thought they were pretty
good,†said Lyle Beasley, whose farm sold Hendricks the cows
through the livestock market.
Beasley said he lost $21,000 worth of cattle in the deal, money that he
was supposed to be paid by the livestock market out of the $57,000
check. Jerry Study, the market’s owner, said he would make good
on Beasley’s part of the deal.
“I know I got ripped,†Study said.
‘Cattle theft is alive and well’
Hendricks is just one of many examples of what law enforcement
authorities and cattle industry representatives say is a modern revival
of that stock character from old black-and-white Westerns: the cattle
rustler.
“Cattle theft is alive and well,†said Hal Dumas, one of
more than 20 investigators working across Texas and Oklahoma for the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Thousands of head of cattle and millions of dollars’ worth of
related equipment were stolen last year in the big cattle states of the
Midwest and the Southwest, according to a report by the cattle raisers
association. More than 6,400 cattle were snatched in Texas and Oklahoma
alone, more than 2½ times the number in 2007.
Since the beginning of the year, numerous thefts of cattle have been
reported across the country.
Twenty-one heifers were stolen from a pasture in Marion County, Kan.
Twelve head of cattle were swiped from a farm in Squires, Mo., by
rustlers who simply tore down a fence. Nearly 100 head of cattle were
recovered in Alabama early last month in a 15-county undercover stolen
property sting.
Authorities have reported thefts of multiple cattle in such far-flung
locales as Ocala, Fla.; Tulpehocken Township, Pa.; and Tehama County,
Calif.
Shoot to kill in Missouri?
By all accounts, Missouri is ground zero. Ranchers in the state,
especially in the southwest corner, are attractive targets because of
several factors: The area boasts prime land for lucrative beef cattle,
it’s easy to slip the cattle across the border into Kansas or
Arkansas, and the state has no law requiring ranchers to brand their
herds, making tracking and recovery of stolen cattle much more
difficult.
In February, 53 cows valued at more than $50,000 disappeared from the
Poca Cala Ranch near Clever in southwest Missouri. According to
Christian County sheriff’s deputies:
The thieves knew exactly what they were looking for, targeting only
Brahma crossbreed cows that are bred to produce rodeo livestock. Not a
single bull was taken.
They were able to case the farm ahead of time while evading security
lights.
They managed to pry open at least five gates and spirit the cows away
undetected.
As the price of beef has risen since the late 1990s, hitting a retail
high of more than $4.50 a pound last August, so has the sophistication
of cattle thieves, the cattle raisers association said. Besides
exploiting modern surveillance techniques, today’s cattle
rustlers often anesthetize cattle with hypodermic darts, bring them down
with trained dogs or herd their quarry with helicopters.
That’s why some Missouri lawmakers are trying to revive another
artifact of the Old West, arguing that today’s ranchers need
more firepower to respond.
Acknowledging that they’re reacting to the recent wave of cattle
rustlings, 17 House members introduced the Missouri Right to Protection
Act in February, which would allow property owners to shoot to kill
anyone threatening them or their property. Current law allows such a
response only inside the home or an automobile but not out of doors
â€" where the cattle and the thieves are.
If passed, the bill would “make it more difficult for someone to
come here and very quickly load cattle,†said Sally Angell, a
member of the Missouri Beef Industry Council.
Ranchers already under pressure
Ranchers say times are tough enough already.
The Agriculture Department estimated the U.S. beef cow herd at 31.7
million head in January, down by 2.4 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer demand for beef fell by 4 percent in 2008,
according to researchers at Kansas State University, who reported that
retail beef prices in February fell by about 15 cents a pound over the
previous six months.
The researchers, led by James Mintert, an agricultural economist with
the university’s extension service, cited bad publicity over the
rise of beef recalls for safety reasons in 2008 â€" when 38 recalls
more than doubled the number in 2007 â€" in addition to more than 20
years of reports linking consumption of red meat to health problems.
But ranchers are hurting for other reasons, too. Drought conditions
reigned over many cattle-raising areas of the Southwest last year, just
two years after another summer-long drought crippled many smaller
operations. In Texas alone, cattle ranchers’ losses from last
summer’s drought neared $1 billion, state agriculture officials
said.
“Unfortunately, you can’t make [water], and we
don’t have groundwater for irrigation, so you just pray on
Mother Nature and hope she’s kind to you this time,â€
said Doug Satree, a fourth-generation cattle rancher in Montague, Texas.
Meanwhile, fertilizer, machinery and grain prices have risen sharply for
more than a year, while fuel prices have fluctuated unpredictably.
And now the recession, in its 16th month, is expected to drive down
demand for beef even further this year.
“If the economy is affected, then [consumers are] buying
hamburger instead of steak,†said Bob Moorhouse, general manager
of a ranching company with locations in Texas and Kansas. “And
the ones that were buying hamburger are buying chicken now.â€
So the return of the rustlers is coming just as ranchers are scraping to
get by, leaving them particularly vulnerable.
“As the economy has worsened, the number of cattle and property
thefts has gone up tremendously as unscrupulous people try to make a
quick buck off the backs of hard-working citizens,†said Alabama
Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, who oversaw last month’s
sting in that state. “So many farmers and business owners have
been hurt by these thieves.â€
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