Beef prices high, 150 cattle feared stolen

Livestock stand in a feedlot outside Caldwell, Idaho, in this fi le photo. Authorities suspect cattle rustlers in southeastern Idaho are responsible for about 150 missing cattle valued at about $350,000.
Livestock stand in a feedlot outside Caldwell, Idaho, in this fi le photo. Authorities suspect cattle rustlers in southeastern Idaho are responsible for about 150 missing cattle valued at about $350,000.

BOISE, Idaho -- More than 150 cattle valued at $350,000 have been reported missing in southeastern Idaho, and authorities suspect modern-day cattle rustling as beef prices have soared.

"Right now it's just insane what those things are worth -- it scares me to death," said Larry Hayhurst, Idaho's brand inspector. "Which means the incentive is there."

Three ranchers say roundup searches in recent weeks in the hills and gulches on the remote summer range where the cattle graze have come up empty in two counties.

The losses include a herd of 50 Black Angus -- 25 cows and 25 calves valued at $150,000. Another herd of 41 cow-calf pairs, meaning 82 animals total, plus 10 cow-calf pairs, or 20 animals, from another rancher also are reported missing. Those missing cattle are valued at $200,000.

Authorities say other ranchers in the region have reported smaller losses, but they note that typically one or two cow-calf pairs disappear almost every year. An entire herd disappearing is something else.

"At this point we don't have any suspects," said Sgt. Jeff Edwards of the Bonneville County sheriff's office, which is investigating the missing Black Angus.

He said an aircraft was used in that search, and so far no other rancher has reported accidentally rounding up the cattle, which happens sometimes.

The sheriff's office in nearby Bingham County, where the 102 cattle are missing, also is stumped.

"It is a very cold trail," Capt. Robert Sobieski said. "There's no way of knowing when they went missing. That's what makes it toughest."

But he also said that deputies aren't ready to confirm that the cattle have been stolen because they could have mingled with other herds in the area. But there have been no reports of that from other ranchers so far.

Authorities said taking that many cattle would likely involve semitrailers and at least several people on horseback or all-terrain vehicles to round them up.

"We've never seen cattle prices this high before in the history of the cattle market," said Brad Higgins, a rancher in northern Idaho near Cottonwood and board member of the Idaho Cattle Association. "I worry about [theft] a little bit out here."

U.S. cattle industry officials attribute record high beef prices to a combination of factors that include past droughts that caused cattle numbers to shrink and increased demand for beef on a global scale after the recession.

"More people entering the middle class want to eat up the food chain," said Kevin Good, a senior market analyst for CattleFax, a group that tracks the industry.

He said the size of the nation's cattle herd has shrunk in 15 of the past 17 years, while at the same time the human population has grown.

He also said some cattle producers are currently withholding cows and heifers from the market to increase herd sizes, another factor leading to less beef on supermarket shelves.

"It's supply driven," Good said. "At some point we'll expand the herd."

Good said the U.S. had a cattle population of 88 million in 2014, and that Americans will eat about 54 pounds of beef per person this year. That compares to a cattle population of about 103 million in 1996, when Americans consumed about 67 pounds of beef per person per year.

Hayhurst, the Idaho brand inspector, said that earlier this fall his office caught a man trying to sell 10 dairy cattle he'd stolen from a large dairy that didn't even realize they were gone.

He said that if the eastern Idaho cattle were stolen it would be difficult to sell them in one of mostly Western states that exchange information on brands. But he said someone with some planning could get past state ports of entry by using back roads and end up in a state without brand inspections.

"There are ways to get rid of them," Hayhurst said. "But it's hard with a branded animal to market them."

He also said the cattle could simply be used to start another herd, as likely the cows were pregnant.

Business on 12/11/2014

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