Cattle Rustling Part 3

Cattle Rustling Part 3. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The theft of cattle is on the rise in the western United States. Yes, cattle rustling is alive and well in the 21st century but according to Jack Field, the Executive Vice President of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association branding is a very easy way to help cut down on the theft even though it is possible to change a brand.

FIELD: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And again, one of the benefits we have with the relationship the producers have with their brand inspectors, the brand program has a fairly small number, I think there’s probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen, they’ve got a good understanding and know producers. They know the Martin ranch, well it’s right hip. Jack Field’s Lazy JF on the right rib. They know cattle that come in, they know where brands are. There’s a good relationship there and in some instances they’re able to say well wait a minute, that looks a lot like Greg’s brand.

In the past changing a brand using a running iron, a favorite tool of rustlers was as simple as adding a bar over or under a brand or making it a rocking brand, rafter or other simple changes. These brand managers have a pretty good idea of what the brands should look like.

FIELD: One of the things as an industry that we did here two years ago was eliminated the self inspection process because self inspection in a sense would enable and create a much easier way to get clearance on animals that could have been stolen, laundered, rebranded, the brand modified because through that self inspection process you simply would pay a $1.60 to the state plus a $1.50 for beef commission and you would have a paper that you yourself just filled out, it essentially gave a legal opportunity for legalized theft.

Field says it was important to have a third party involved to verify a transaction. Due to the price of beef and the fact that many cattle owners don’t see all of their herd until roundup time, more and more cattle have been disappearing due to rustling. And again this is where Field says those brand managers come into play.

FIELD: Boy at the end of the day we’ve got folks that understand and know the livestock industry. Trust me. They know the people they need to be looking at. we’ve got investigators, inspectors and people that are out everyday on our behalf that are looking out for our best interests that if something comes up we’ve got the ability to say boy I’m short 10 head on my fall gather, I’m going to call the brand inspector and just tell them I’m gathering, I’m out10 head, keep an eye open.

Tomorrow we will wrap up our visit with Jack Field on the topic of cattle rustling.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.