Rounding Up Rustlers

"I never thought when I was back in Chicago that I would be rustling cattle with a truck."- Code of the Cactus.

In the 1939 western "Code of the Cactus" cattle rustlers are using trucks to menace California ranchers. And when the sheriff tries to track down the rustlers, the first thing he does is check the paperwork on the cattle. Fast forward 70 years. Not far from the Oregon border, just like the sheriff did in Code of the Cactus, a cowboy hat wearing investigator is doing the exact same thing.

Pasture to pasture movement out of that county has to be inspected before they leave. Truck driver Jeff Giessner was delivering a load of cattle when he got stopped at a weigh-station checkpoint. He's not getting questioned by the long arm of the law. These cowboy hat wearing guys actually work for the California Department of Agriculture.

And today they're checking brands and paperwork on trailers of cattle. And Giessner's paperwork isn't quite in order. Now Jeff Giessner is NOT a cattle thief. But for not carrying the correct slip of paper the ranch he works for will pay a fine. So, why so strict?

Greg Lawley, chief of the Livestock ID Bureau says, "Cattle theft's alive and well in California and probably throughout the western United States, still today."

John Suther, investigator at the Livestock ID Bureau says, "We lose probably around 12, 1300 head of cattle every year due to theft, which equates out to about a million and a half dollars worth of cattle."

From sprawling ranches where beef cattle graze to dairy operations where cattle are lined up by the hundreds, bovine are a valuable commodity. And it's impossible to keep them under lock and key. So as long as people have been raising cattle, thieves have been rustling them.

Margo Souza at the Circle H Dairy Ranch estimates, "I'd say the cost was around 300 to 400,000 dollars." She knows all too well what kind of impact cattle theft can have on the bottom line. In 2006 nearly 200 dairy cows were stolen from her farm.

"My dear fellow, they're planning on raiding your lower pasture tonight. How do you know that we have cattle in our lower pasture?" – Code of the Cactus.

And just like in the movie the theft at the Circle H Dairy Ranch was an inside job. The herdsman responsible for overseeing the cattle…was actually stealing and selling them. Margo explains, "He was selling the cattle to people he knew. They were stealing cows and selling them, trading the animals. You know he'd have people in here making deals."

Margo's surprise at the betrayal was no surprise to John Suther. He explains, "95 percent of the time it's either and employee, a neighbor or a friend of an employee that's participating in the theft." It turns out it's not DNA testing, satellite tracking or infrared cameras that are the best way to combat cattle rustling. These days they do it the same way they've always done since folks were trading cattle, by branding.

Brands are the marks burned onto the side of cattle using a hot iron. Every ranch has a specific brand for identification. In fact there are 23-thousand brands recorded in California alone.

At the auction yard state inspectors take a close look at the cattle coming in for sale. When asked, if somebody came in with their truck and they had cattle that had a brand that wasn't theirs, wasn't their brand and they didn't have the right paperwork what do you do? Roger Mahon a brand inspector says, "Basically we impound the cattle. They are not going into the auction and they can't leave the sale yard until we figure out who actually owns them."

So it would seem like a sure thing that all cattle get branded, but surprisingly they don't. Greg explains, "I would say probably, only about 50 percent of the people that own livestock in California or cattle in California brand. They do it more so in beef cattle than in dairy cattle."

Because dairy cattle aren't left alone in vast pastures, often dairy owners believe branding isn't necessary. They are also betting that they won't end up as theft victims. But Margo Sousa's experience is a lesson for all cattle owners to keep close track of your animals.

Fortunately for Margo the thief was caught after John Suther's investigation. But brand inspectors continue to warn livestock owners, if your cattle get stolen and aren't branded, don't expect a happy Hollywood ending!