We know what to do with rustlers

The New York Times has an article by Malcolm Gay about people rustling Brahmas in Missouri:

Crashing through a gate in the dead of night, thieves using trucks and trailers recently robbed a farmer here of 53 Brahman crossbreed cows valued at some $50,000. Known for a distinctive hump at the base of the neck, Brahman cattle are rare here and would be easily spotted at a local auction, leading investigators to think the rustlers already had a buyer— or a butcher— lined up.
“Those were full-grown cows,” Sheriff Joey Kyle of Christian County said. “Around 1,100 pounds apiece. That’s 53,000 pounds of beef on the hoof. Your normal stock trailer will handle a dozen to fifteen cows, so do the math.” It was the first cattle theft in the county in more than two years and the largest state officials could recall. It came amid a surge of such thefts here in southwestern Missouri. In January, rustlers hauled away forty cows in nearby Lawrence County. Investigators in Barry County report thirty head stolen in the last six months. In Greene County, Sheriff Jim Arnott said rustlers had struck ten times since October, stealing a total of 93 cows. “It’s a big spike,” Sheriff Arnott said. “Usually we’ll go a year or two with no thefts, but it’s really picked up. In these economic times people are taking desperate measures, whether it’s stealing, or whether they’re trying to come up with money through insurance fraud.” Earlier this month, rustlers in Watertown, South Dakota, used tractor-trailers to steal nearly two hundred cows from an auction market. State officials in Wyoming report that thieves stole 225 head of cattle in 2008, up from ninety in 2006.
In Montana, where sixty cattle were recently reported missing in a series of thefts, officials described an increase in rustling since the summer, and the International Livestock Identification Association reported swelling numbers of missing-animal claims this year among its twenty member states. Equally alarming, investigators say, is a spike in cattle-related fraud. Out-of-state buyers build a relationship with an auction market, only to disappear with livestock they used in-house credit to buy but never paid for. Investigators also say that people are now falsely claiming ownership of cattle as collateral for loans. “It’s across the board,” Lee Romsa, state brand commissioner for the Wyoming Livestock Board, said. “We’re not just seeing more thefts, we’re seeing more large thefts.”
Still, no state seems as hard hit by cattle rustling as Missouri. “They’ve just been plagued,” said Larry Gray, head of law enforcement for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Mr. Gray, who said that cattle theft was often tied to drug activity, added that Missouri farmers might be more vulnerable to rustlers because many farmers there were “absentee producers” with smaller operations. “Thieves like to prey on the smaller producers,” he said, because “it’s a lot easier for the thieves to get and load the cattle.”
Also, unlike many larger cattle-producing Western states, Missouri does not have a “brand law,” meaning that cattle producers are not required to register brands with the state. Not having to register saves many of the state’s 65,000 ranchers from paying fees, but it also means that cattle often carry no identifying marks. Auction markets and stockyards are not required to verify ownership of unbranded cattle, and that, the authorities say, allows thieves to unload stolen livestock quickly. “You could drive up to any sale barn, drop off your load of cattle, and, if they pass the agricultural inspection and are sold, you get a check in the mail,” Sgt. Jason Clark, a Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman, said.
Since 2004, after a surge in cattle thefts following a spike in beef prices, many of the roughly 130 auction markets in Missouri have begun asking for identification and proof of ownership from anyone trying to sell unbranded cattle. But the program is voluntary, and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association estimates that thieves have stolen more than $1.1 million in cattle and equipment in the past four years.
To counter the tide, sheriffs have stepped up their efforts, pulling over suspicious cattle trailers, educating farmers and ranchers about protecting their livestock, distributing fliers at feed stores, and notifying auction markets when a theft occurs.
A bill in the General Assembly would stiffen penalties for livestock theft, and the Missouri Farm Bureau and the state cattlemen’s association each offer rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of cattle thieves. But investigators say efforts to track down stolen cattle rarely bear fruit. There is no national identification database for cattle, and thieves often move quickly, shipping stolen animals to auction markets in other states that do not require brand inspection. “If they don’t have a chip or branding or a tattoo, you’re pretty much looking for a black cow,” said Sheriff Arnott, who said he had traced stolen cattle as far as Mississippi.
Bob Gammon, who owns a farm in southwestern Missouri, has branded his cattle since he began raising them in 1946. Still, Mr. Gammon has not been able to recover the eighteen head that were stolen in January. After crushing a gate, the thieves used one of Mr. Gammon’s trailers to haul away the livestock, which he valued at $15,000. “When I got there the next morning, there was a gate laying down and a few cattle out on the road,” said Mr. Gammon, who has put heavier chains on his gates and installed an alarm and lighting system in several farm buildings. “I thought I was doing everything right, but I haven’t heard from the cattle yet.”
Sheriff Kyle, who said a subpoena had recently been issued in the Brahman theft in Christian County, said officials were under pressure to find stolen cattle before the animals disappeared inside a slaughterhouse. “Down here, a sheriff lives or dies by whether he keeps the cattle thefts down,” he said. “But there are no serial numbers on hamburgers.”

Rico says there may be a movie in this, but it ain't a Western...