Tragedy in Ada County

Tragedy in Ada County

(Ellsworth) “The record high we saw this summer, $200 plus per ton of hay, corn prices were so high, a lot of stress on the cattle industry. People had to cull herds making sure they wouldn’t have to purchase hay for the winter. Fuel prices were so high that freight went up, it cost more to get your cattle delivered. It’s just taking the profitability out of it. I think everybody’s just cut back and trying to get through these high feed prices and a slow economy.”

 Those words from Carl Ellsworth of the Idaho Cattleman’s Association were an eerie forecast for an unspeakable tragedy that occurred late in January in Ada County. At 5:00 PM January 28th, state investigators and veterinarians, armed with a search warrant, found 43 dead cows many of which had been pushed into a big pile. The investigators also determined that some 250 live beef cattle had to be removed from the property due to starvation conditions. The ranch was in disrepair and given that estimates suggest that feeding almost 300 cattle would be over $16,000 per month, it was assumed that feed costs were a major reason behind the mistreatment.
 A potentially contributing circumstance, over the past 18 years of operating his ranch, the 73 year old owner has been cited with misdemeanor violations involving allowing animals to go without care and to run loose.

 

 

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