Cattle Rustling

By Trey Gafnea

Times change and technology develops, and human behavior tends to trend alongside; but unfortunately many of the crimes that we experience today are not new creations, such as cattle theft or rustling.

As you can imagine, like many other crimes that occur, they have evolved with newly available technologies. Kind of like money theft has evolved from stealing currency, to stealing checks  to stealing electronic funds, cattle theft has evolved too. This isn’t just someone riding up on a horse with a rope, this is someone who is organized and advantageous. This unwelcome visitor arrives with a pickup and trailer, and sometimes even a semi-truck and trailer. They can even be equipped with a four-wheeler or dog to gather the cattle fast. To help funnel or capture the cattle they may even bring their own portable panels. Now this is where the advantageous part can also come into play. If you have easily accessible equipment, such as a livestock trailer, portable panels, load out ramp, four-wheeler, etc. the thief could steal your cattle using your own equipment to get the job done.

Now this is the part where the distant past hits the geographically near and present day. The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office has had several recent reports of cattle and stock trailers stolen. And a quick search of the internet, will glean multiple other instances of cattle theft in Georgia. This crime has been made more tempting by current cattle prices which have been on the rise. Thefts in general trend ten to trend with the holiday season as well.

To protect yourself and your cattle, there are several simple steps to keep in mind.

• Be observant. If you see a person or vehicle that catch you as being out of the norm, write down a description, get the license plate and make and model of the vehicle. If you observe grain in your pastures or corals, and you did not place it there, take note. Be observant, because in isolated areas, it may not be a single theft, but multiple occasions. Call your neighbor and see if they have seen anything. Do not feel guilty about calling the Sheriff’s Office and leaving a tip on their non-emergency line.
• Close and lock gates. Open and unlocked gates are an attractive opportunity for predators looking for weaknesses in your security.
• Keep equipment put up and away from roadways where it can be easily accessed. Keeping cows in pastures away from handling equipment, also decrease thieves ease of access.
• Monitoring often, but on a random timetable, deters thieves who are trying to pattern your routine.
• Permanent identification on the stock themselves. Eartags are good until they are cut out. Ear tattoos are great until the ears are cutoff. Branding tends to be one of the only tamper proof identification methods that you can place on your stock. A high tech approach would be placing microchips under their skin.
• Once the theft has taken place, all is not lost. Report the incident immediately and as accurately as possible: how many animals, relative age, identifying characteristics, peculiar observations, etc.

Just remember that a little vigilance on your part, can go a long way in preventing cattle theft. If the risk of failure or capture is too high at your place they will move on down the road to an easier target.

Source:uga.edu