Thu, Feb-12-04, 13:02
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Senior Member
Posts: 2,018
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 320/220/195
BF:
Progress: 80%
Location: Pensacola, FL
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Experts say high beef prices motivate cattle thieves
http://www.wpmi.com/news/state/stor...DF-01EBB620FDF0
Quote:
DALTON, Ga. (AP) - Driving his pickup truck through an expansive piece of hilly north Georgia pasture, David Storey slowed down, leaned forward and pointed through the windshield to a fenced-in area next to a mobile home.
It's where he says nearly 300 head of his cattle were rounded up one night in October by 50-year-old Randall Evans and driven away. Evans has since been charged with felony theft and is out on bond awaiting trial. Meanwhile, Storey is still angry about the loss.
"The cattle were sold in Kansas, Texas and Tennessee within a couple of days," said Storey, a longtime north Georgia cattleman.
Although national statistics apparently are not tallied by any federal agency, around the country some investigators and industry observers say they have seen more cases of cattle theft, and they say at least part of the reason has been record-high beef prices.
Greg Doud, chief economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said that before the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, the beef industry had seen a bumper year in 2003.
In mid-December, cattle prices were about 25 percent higher than at the same time the year before and Doud believes there was a correlation between those prices and cattle theft.
"A breeding female could bring in between $900 and $1,200 per animal," he said. "These are very valuable animals."
Curt Lacy, an agricultural economist with the University of Georgia who works out of Tifton, said a 500- to 600-pound calf in Georgia has cost about 85 cents per pound on average during the last decade. But in early November, the same calf sold for about 92 cents per pound.
Lacy said beef prices went up the last two or three years but they "really took off back in the spring."
That's when the U.S. banned beef from Canada following an outbreak of mad cow disease there. The popularity of the Atkins diet, a high-protein weight loss plan, also helped boost the price of American beef.
That springtime jump in beef prices was a likely factor behind the apparent wave of cattle rustling in the United States last fall, including:
- In Des Moines, Iowa, where at least a dozen cases of cattle theft were reported, including a farmer who lost 16 head worth $14,000 in October and another who lost $20,000 worth of various livestock.
- In Lincoln, Neb., two brothers were arrested for stealing 15 head of cattle from a sales barn near Falls City. Officers are investigating the theft of five cattle stolen in October in a nearby county.
- In Oklahoma, cattle inspectors reported in November three thefts of livestock within a 30-day period, and two neighbors in the Holdenville area reported the theft of a total of 36 head of cattle.
- In West Virginia, the state reported that at least three livestock farms reported missing cattle in September and October.
"Cattle prices have reached record levels and that may be tempting some individuals to take cattle that doesn't belong to them," West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Gus Douglas said at the time.
The cattle rustlers can nab dozens or even hundreds of animals from large ranches or cattle farms. The thefts often involve several ranch hands or cowboys who know how to herd cattle.
But a typical cattle theft case involves fewer head, as when a thief sees an opportunity to steal three or four cattle by pulling his trailer behind a hill where he can't be seen, loading up his quarry and hauling it away.
When it was reported in late December that a cow in Washington tested positive for mad cow disease, U.S. beef prices plummeted 15 cents a pound in one week. However, those prices toppled from a historic high and are still higher than last January despite dire predictions of the effect of mad cow.
The price for feed lot-fattened cattle rose 34.3 cents a pound in 2003, reaching a peak of $1.09 on Oct. 17, according to Dave Weaber, a beef industry analyst at Cattle-Fax, a Denver-based agricultural research company.
Matt Brockman, executive vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said high beef prices are a contributing factor to cattle theft.
But his 31 investigators have seen the number of cattle thefts in Texas and Oklahoma stay at the same rate in recent years, he said.
Brockman said there was an increase in the value of livestock and related goods stolen from 2001 to 2002 - from about $4.3 million to a little over $5 million. But the actual number of head of cattle stolen was less in 2002.
In 2002 in Texas and Oklahoma, 2,872 cattle, 75 horses, 14 trailers and 18 saddles were stolen. While in 2001, 5,086 cattle, 66 horses, 19 trailers and 124 saddles were nabbed.
Beef prices "may be a factor that's enticing someone to steal an animal, but what's going to really entice them is the opportunity," Brockman said.
Brockman said cattle thieves usually stake out a ranch or farm until its owners leave town or are not paying attention to their livestock.
"These are situations where someone has been watching a farm or ranch for weeks on end," he said.
That may have been a factor in Storey's case.
Storey has about 10,000 head of cattle that at any one time may be grazing a several different locations, such as the 550-acre site where his cattle were stolen. He can't constantly guard each animal.
Storey said so far he has recovered 69 of the 300 cattle that were stolen - some of which were branded - from several different states.
But it's unclear whether he'll be able to track down more: "I just hope I'm able to get it back," he says.
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