{"id":9746,"date":"2024-12-12T12:20:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=9746"},"modified":"2024-12-12T12:20:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:20:48","slug":"western-colorado-ranchers-missing-nearly-200-head-of-cattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/12\/western-colorado-ranchers-missing-nearly-200-head-of-cattle\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Colorado Ranchers Missing Nearly 200 Head Of Cattle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As beef prices go higher, how many more head of cattle will go missing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/12\/12\/western-colorado-ranchers-missing-nearly-200-head-of-cattle\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
The Montrose County Sheriff\u2019s Office on Colorado’s Western Slope is investigating nearly 200 cattle missing from federal grazing land reported by ranchers. The cattle is worth an estimated $300,000 to $400,000.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Dale Killingbeck<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cattle
Cattle roam the Millikin Ranch near Glendo, Wyoming. The Wyoming rancher says he has no leads on his missing cattle. In Western Colorado, ranchers there are missing nearly 200 head. (Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several ranchers on Colorado\u2019s Western Slope are wondering what happened to cattle they had grazing on U.S. Forest Service land in Montrose County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two sections of federal forest leased by the ranchers for summer pasture total 75,000 acres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montrose County Sheriff\u2019s Office Sgt. Chuck Searcy said that so far, about 180 cattle, mostly branded calves, are considered \u201cmissing and stolen,\u201d and possibly more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are still counting and sorting now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searcy said the ranchers have permits for the federal land and typically take the cattle to national forest land on the Uncompahgre Plateau southwest of the city of Montrose to graze in June and July, then start bringing them down in October and November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranchers with cattle with several brands started talking with one another and learned that they were not alone in coming up short for the cattle they had deposited on the national forest land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searcy said he was not going to discuss any leads the department has in the investigation, but that ranchers did not find signs predators had taken the cattle, and there were no bodies of mutilated or dead cattle as has been reported in the West periodically over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime Scene Hard To Determine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Searcy said trying to pinpoint truck or trailer tracks in the area is nearly impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is all public lands,\u201d Searcy said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know where the crime scene is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searcy said the department is not releasing the brands that were on the missing cattle yet to better help with the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimated worth of the missing cattle is $300,000 to $400,000, Searcy said, adding the sheriff\u2019s office has never had to deal with a similar issue during his years at the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wyoming, Too<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Missing cattle seems to be an issue in Wyoming as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Glendo-area rancher offered a $5,000 reward last month for information about nine missing cattle<\/u><\/a> from his herd as he brought the cattle in from summer grazing. He also lost five last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A meeting of ranchers and local law enforcement officers was held Nov. 20. Organizer and rancher Tim Millikin said the meeting drew nearly 75 people, including 40 producers and ranchers, smaller scale 40-acre homeowners, as well as representatives from the Platte, Converse and Niobrara counties\u2019 sheriff\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs far as meetings go, it was a really good meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cThe takeaway was for us to let law enforcement know as soon as possible when we find cattle are missing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millikin said sometimes ranchers take time to look for missing cattle themselves or believe they will show up a few days later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said law enforcement told the gathering to give them a heads up quickly, and if they find the cattle a few days later just give them a call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millikin said he has worked with the Wyoming Livestock Board\u2019s investigator and the Platte County Sheriff\u2019s Office on his losses. To date, he has no lead on the missing cattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting everyone in the region \u201con the same page\u201d may help prevent future losses from any rustlers, Millikin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe it will get those guys nervous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rustling Does Happen<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wyoming Livestock Board Director Steve True told Cowboy State Daily in November that the board averages about 45 to 60 reports of missing cattle each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m certain that\u2019s not near all of them,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of them are not reported.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often those reports turn into found cattle, either by a brand inspector or by the ranchers themselves who locate them a few days after filing a report, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But rustling cattle does happen, and True said with prices high right now, it provides an opportunity for those whose \u201cincomes are depressed\u201d to resort to thievery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne piece of theft that I don\u2019t think gets broadcast enough is just butchering,\u201d True said. \u201cSomebody sees one on the side of the road, nobody\u2019s around, and they get themselves a hind quarter and take off. We find hides, feet and heads scattered around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As beef prices go higher, how many more head of cattle will go missing? https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/12\/12\/western-colorado-ranchers-missing-nearly-200-head-of-cattle\/ The Montrose County Sheriff\u2019s Office on Colorado’s Western Slope is investigating nearly 200 cattle missing from federal grazing land reported by ranchers. The cattle is worth an estimated $300,000 to $400,000. By Dale Killingbeck Several ranchers on Colorado\u2019s Western Slope are wondering what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9747,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746\/revisions\/9747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}