Livestock problems

[jetridge]

We have farmed for most of our life and are now close to retirement and this spring have lost 27 cow calf pairs and hoped that we would be able to address the issue when he (our neighbour) brought animals back from summer pasture. This is a big lesson for other farmers that do not brand but in all fairness the animals would have been taken with or without brands. It is a tough situation when you owe money for equipment, a substantial portion of your product is missing and you know you can not possibly mount the fight to protect your animals and property. Would enjoy hearing any advice, for the most part most farmers operate in the dark and are unaware of how prevalent this problem is. Tks.

[perfecho]

DNA could be used to identify some calves if you still have the bull....sorry for your problems.....hope a resolution can be found......CCIA tags? Would be recorded under your name....

[grassfarmer]

Without knowing the details I think i'd be calling the cops if it was me.

[woodland]

I'll second what the others have said and if you have brand inspectors talk to them as well. They'd have some good advice as well. We've had thieves breaking into neighbors again after slowing up for a couple months but no cattle rustlers. They all deserve to hang off a tree for a while.

[jetridge]

it is interesting that my post has 177 views with 3 replies. For the individuals that took the time to reply, I appreciate your advice. I did a search on the internet to see if there were posts about other alberta cattle rustling. There was couple in southern alberta that had 10 purebred heifers stole, after 6 years of fighting via the court system(they had no brands) but they had DNA done, and proved that their neighbour had sold their animals, he was required to pay them back the $ he had received. In their case they were lucky to get something back but their animals were still lost to them. There was another case sited where 59 head were lost and the individual put up a reward of $25000 hoping to recover them. In hind site we should have reported them missing this spring, we can not change that decision now, now we will move forward. Again thank you for all your comments.

[SCS]

Check out theft at Shellbrook in your search, DNA was used I believe!

[theplowboy]

sorry to hear this is happening to you jet.
keep us posted, that is alot of your money being stolen.

[GDR]

That's awful in so many ways. Good luck and hope you get some level of recovery. Authorities for sure need to be involved, can't expose yourself for next year too. Even local auction house should know what's going on.