Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife ... nor his ox. (Exodus 20:17)
April 26, 2016 5:13 PM Subscribe
Cattle rustling in Texas has risen five-fold in the past decade. Driving it? Drought and desperation: "Cattle rustling has returned, but it has also changed; if the essential act has not, its context has. Today’s rustler has no hope of parlaying a few stolen cattle into a business. Rustling is no longer an aspirational crime, but a stopgap, a stay against desperation. A single head of cattle is not the seed of an empire; it’s a payday loan, a child support payment, or cash for pills. Rustling is not, in this sense, an archaic crime at all, but a crime very much of its time and place, adapted to today’s America, in which social classes are established and the frontier, whatever it was once, has collapsed."
Among the most ancient and universal of crimes, cattle rustling appears in numerous religious texts and ancient epics, including the Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge, in which a teenaged Cú Chulainn protects Ulster's prize bull from the thieving Queen Medb; the Rig Veda story of Sarama and the Panis, in which the Panis are demons who steal cattle from the ancestors of men; the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which Hermes steals Apollo's cattle; and the Book of Samuel, in which David goes raiding Philistine cattle.
Cattle rustling isn't just a Texan problem; it exists and persists anywhere cattle are raised, including Israel; Kenya; Scotland; Argentina; Australia; and Nigeria, where Boko Haram engages in cattle rustling to fund and feed their terror campaign.
Tips to prevent cattle theft, and don't forget to check your fences! If, however, you're looking to take up cattle rustling (or raiding or duffing) yourself, keep in mind that driving a calf around metro LA in the backseat of your compact car might be a little suspicious.
Among the most ancient and universal of crimes, cattle rustling appears in numerous religious texts and ancient epics, including the Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge, in which a teenaged Cú Chulainn protects Ulster's prize bull from the thieving Queen Medb; the Rig Veda story of Sarama and the Panis, in which the Panis are demons who steal cattle from the ancestors of men; the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which Hermes steals Apollo's cattle; and the Book of Samuel, in which David goes raiding Philistine cattle.
Cattle rustling isn't just a Texan problem; it exists and persists anywhere cattle are raised, including Israel; Kenya; Scotland; Argentina; Australia; and Nigeria, where Boko Haram engages in cattle rustling to fund and feed their terror campaign.
Tips to prevent cattle theft, and don't forget to check your fences! If, however, you're looking to take up cattle rustling (or raiding or duffing) yourself, keep in mind that driving a calf around metro LA in the backseat of your compact car might be a little suspicious.
I met Goodman two years ago in the lobby restaurant of a hotel in Fort Worth. I was eating a Texas-shaped waffle when the ranger ambled in. Goodman is small and trim, fifty-six, with wire-rim glasses and short gray hair that’s usually hidden—when he’s not indoors or introducing himself to a lady—under a white cowboy hat. He wore full-quill ostrich boots and a pair of beautiful, floral-tooled leather belts, each held in place with two stainless-steel keepers inset with the initials “W” and “G,” leafed in gold. One belt held up his jeans and the other a holstered .45 Colt with glossy white-and-brown grips, hand-carved from the antler of a Sambar stag. (The grips, he told me later, were a birthday gift from his children.) His enormous belt buckle bore the same unusual insignia as the silver badge on his chest: a steer’s head mounted on a five-point star. Goodman walks slowly; he has been bull riding recreationally since his teens, and his gait, like his collar and cuffs, had some starch in it.This might be the most :texas: paragraph I've ever read. Amazing.
posted by CrystalDave at 5:33 PM on April 26, 2016 [29 favorites]
I don't live in Texas, but there is a lot of cattle raising around here. A lot of people with a few acres raise a couple of cows for meat, and then there are the larger operations that run hundreds or thousands of cattle on a mix of private and public land. Small scale rustling is common, and I've been told that it is usually for meat -- poaching a beef occupies pretty much the same space as poaching a deer or an elk, but at certain times of the year can be a lot easier to get away with. I haven't heard of any arrests but I'd guess that most incidents are handled informally.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:44 PM on April 26, 2016
posted by Dip Flash at 6:44 PM on April 26, 2016
and don't forget to check your fences!
Well if you have livestock and are not keeping a very regular check on fences you deserve to loose a few. And hope that it's just a "missing" heifer, one wanders out on the road and an idiot from the city in a stupid rush to nowhere gets hurt, you can loose quite literally everything.
Cow theft could probably be reduced by closer monitoring of small slaughter houses, taking apart a cow is kinda a big project.
posted by sammyo at 7:07 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well if you have livestock and are not keeping a very regular check on fences you deserve to loose a few. And hope that it's just a "missing" heifer, one wanders out on the road and an idiot from the city in a stupid rush to nowhere gets hurt, you can loose quite literally everything.
Cow theft could probably be reduced by closer monitoring of small slaughter houses, taking apart a cow is kinda a big project.
posted by sammyo at 7:07 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
one wanders out on the road and an idiot from the city in a stupid rush to nowhere gets hurt
My parents hit a loose cow one night while returning home.
They weren't speeding, and weren't idiots from the city in a stupid rush to get nowhere. They were just a couple who lived in the area driving home. It was dark, and the cow jumped out in front of their car.
Luckily, it wasn't a BLACK cow--as so many of them around here are. They saw it and were able to brake, and didn't hit it at full speed, which would have been around 50mph. They weren't hurt. The cow still exploded, though.
The farmer tried to get them to pay for the cow.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:16 PM on April 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
My parents hit a loose cow one night while returning home.
They weren't speeding, and weren't idiots from the city in a stupid rush to get nowhere. They were just a couple who lived in the area driving home. It was dark, and the cow jumped out in front of their car.
Luckily, it wasn't a BLACK cow--as so many of them around here are. They saw it and were able to brake, and didn't hit it at full speed, which would have been around 50mph. They weren't hurt. The cow still exploded, though.
The farmer tried to get them to pay for the cow.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:16 PM on April 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
And hope that it's just a "missing" heifer, one wanders out on the road and an idiot from the city in a stupid rush to nowhere gets hurt, you can loose quite literally everything.
Wow, it's almost like you might incur liability by placing a 2000 lb. obstacle in the middle of a public thoroughfare!
posted by Mitrovarr at 7:23 PM on April 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
Wow, it's almost like you might incur liability by placing a 2000 lb. obstacle in the middle of a public thoroughfare!
posted by Mitrovarr at 7:23 PM on April 26, 2016 [5 favorites]
Fences? Around here its open range. We deal.
This is Ford Country.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:40 PM on April 26, 2016 [4 favorites]
This is Ford Country.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:40 PM on April 26, 2016 [4 favorites]
I had a deranged childhood. My father was born on a kitchen table in West Texas. My mother was born into slightly better circumstances outside Abilene. Anyway, the postwar boom being what it was, both my parents went to land-grant Texas universities (UT for Mom, Texas Tech for Dad) and they achieved Middle Class.
Which meant that I was raised in Metropolitan NYC by first-generation middle-class parents who deeply remembered poverty ("First indoor toilet - I was in high school!") and eating pinto beans and cornbread, and taking that as leftovers to school for lunch.
My grandparents, still on the ranch in West Texas (between Childress and Tell, to be exact) realized I was pretty good with stock. So they had my parents send me out "to visit" nearly every summer. My grandparents made sure I could ride properly, fast and slow, even entered me in a few rodeos (I didn't mention those to my friends in New Jersey.) They taught me to use fencing pliers and shoot a .22 and they'd send me off for days at a time with my horse Snip (he was 3/4 Arabian and 1/4 Thoroughbred, small and fast and smart, he could spot a rattlesnake long before I could. I just learned to trust him, and pointed him vaguely in the right direction.) We cleared the fences of tumbleweeds because they'd build up on the windward side and the cows could just walk over the fences and then your cattle are their cattle.
In all this, cattle rustling was never even suggested. I had no idea it was a thing again until recently. Your neighbors know your brand, and that's that. Until some dipshit comes in with a fifth wheel and grabs a bunch of your heifers, I guess.
posted by workerant at 7:59 PM on April 26, 2016 [24 favorites]
Which meant that I was raised in Metropolitan NYC by first-generation middle-class parents who deeply remembered poverty ("First indoor toilet - I was in high school!") and eating pinto beans and cornbread, and taking that as leftovers to school for lunch.
My grandparents, still on the ranch in West Texas (between Childress and Tell, to be exact) realized I was pretty good with stock. So they had my parents send me out "to visit" nearly every summer. My grandparents made sure I could ride properly, fast and slow, even entered me in a few rodeos (I didn't mention those to my friends in New Jersey.) They taught me to use fencing pliers and shoot a .22 and they'd send me off for days at a time with my horse Snip (he was 3/4 Arabian and 1/4 Thoroughbred, small and fast and smart, he could spot a rattlesnake long before I could. I just learned to trust him, and pointed him vaguely in the right direction.) We cleared the fences of tumbleweeds because they'd build up on the windward side and the cows could just walk over the fences and then your cattle are their cattle.
In all this, cattle rustling was never even suggested. I had no idea it was a thing again until recently. Your neighbors know your brand, and that's that. Until some dipshit comes in with a fifth wheel and grabs a bunch of your heifers, I guess.
posted by workerant at 7:59 PM on April 26, 2016 [24 favorites]
This might be the most :texas: paragraph I've ever read.
*Ctrl-f "brand inspector*. . .nothing
If I'm understanding this right, then the "cow police" is a state deputized member of a private organization ( the TSCRA)? Which is a very Texas thing to do. And so it seems that in its own way, parts of this could also be a Texas kind of problem?
I can only speak for the states near where I grew up, but in those states you had the brand inspector, hired by the state, whose job it was to ensure that sale of all stock came with the necessary legal paperwork. To quote Wyoming's: "The mission of Brand Inspection is to verify livestock ownership prior to any change of ownership or movement." Colorado's: "Inspect livestock and verify ownership before sale; transportation beyond 75 miles; transportation out of state; or before slaughter; . . . inspect all consignments before sale to verify ownership" Idaho: "A brand inspection is required when: Ownership changes in any manner."
The job of the brand inspector is to make it harder to sell rustled cattle and thus prevent cattle rustling.* I'm having a hard time time figuring out exactly when and how that is legally required by the state and enforced in Texas due to this weird arrangement via a private association, but it could explain how stock can be sold without the owner's permission: trying to figure it out led me to this article, in which a livestock group opposed a price increase in inspection fees because of the dual nature of the arrangement: "In announcing its opposition to the current rate hike, the marketing group says, 'if (the program) is a membership service, then TSCRA members should pay for it. If the program is part of state law enforcement efforts, then it should be paid for by the state.' "
I really don't want to investigate state by state around Texas to see how their stock transfer requirements work, but if Texas is more lenient or weird regarding brand inspections then it would also create a situation where a) other states in the area like OK might have similar policies due to Texan influence and b) it would also be easier to steal in one state and sell in another.
Wow, it's almost like you might incur liability by placing a 2000 lb. obstacle in the middle of a public thoroughfare!
Laws vary by state but in some states it's the obligation of the landowner to fence to keep stock out of property, not stock in. If you have land near a ranch and you don't keep up your fences and cattle get in, it's your fault. So the gov't is responsible for fencing in order to keep stock out gov't properties like roads. If they don't fence it, the entity will place open range signs, which means that livestock have the right of way, not cars, and thus it's the driver's fault. (The degree of fault also varies significantly by location.)
Although in some ways and in some places this seems (and is) pretty antiquated, in isolated places with little auto travel and land ownership on both sides of the road it is practical. That's not to say it always is, or that livestock owners don't take advantage of it. But it's something to be aware of.
*This meant in times of hardship and drought we didn't have problems with cattle thieves, but oh man: hay theft. Big time. So we had. . . hay rustling.
posted by barchan at 8:12 PM on April 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
*Ctrl-f "brand inspector*. . .nothing
If I'm understanding this right, then the "cow police" is a state deputized member of a private organization ( the TSCRA)? Which is a very Texas thing to do. And so it seems that in its own way, parts of this could also be a Texas kind of problem?
I can only speak for the states near where I grew up, but in those states you had the brand inspector, hired by the state, whose job it was to ensure that sale of all stock came with the necessary legal paperwork. To quote Wyoming's: "The mission of Brand Inspection is to verify livestock ownership prior to any change of ownership or movement." Colorado's: "Inspect livestock and verify ownership before sale; transportation beyond 75 miles; transportation out of state; or before slaughter; . . . inspect all consignments before sale to verify ownership" Idaho: "A brand inspection is required when: Ownership changes in any manner."
The job of the brand inspector is to make it harder to sell rustled cattle and thus prevent cattle rustling.* I'm having a hard time time figuring out exactly when and how that is legally required by the state and enforced in Texas due to this weird arrangement via a private association, but it could explain how stock can be sold without the owner's permission: trying to figure it out led me to this article, in which a livestock group opposed a price increase in inspection fees because of the dual nature of the arrangement: "In announcing its opposition to the current rate hike, the marketing group says, 'if (the program) is a membership service, then TSCRA members should pay for it. If the program is part of state law enforcement efforts, then it should be paid for by the state.' "
I really don't want to investigate state by state around Texas to see how their stock transfer requirements work, but if Texas is more lenient or weird regarding brand inspections then it would also create a situation where a) other states in the area like OK might have similar policies due to Texan influence and b) it would also be easier to steal in one state and sell in another.
Wow, it's almost like you might incur liability by placing a 2000 lb. obstacle in the middle of a public thoroughfare!
Laws vary by state but in some states it's the obligation of the landowner to fence to keep stock out of property, not stock in. If you have land near a ranch and you don't keep up your fences and cattle get in, it's your fault. So the gov't is responsible for fencing in order to keep stock out gov't properties like roads. If they don't fence it, the entity will place open range signs, which means that livestock have the right of way, not cars, and thus it's the driver's fault. (The degree of fault also varies significantly by location.)
Although in some ways and in some places this seems (and is) pretty antiquated, in isolated places with little auto travel and land ownership on both sides of the road it is practical. That's not to say it always is, or that livestock owners don't take advantage of it. But it's something to be aware of.
*This meant in times of hardship and drought we didn't have problems with cattle thieves, but oh man: hay theft. Big time. So we had. . . hay rustling.
posted by barchan at 8:12 PM on April 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
See Irons in the Fire, by John McPhee. In Nevada, brand inspectors are sworn law enforcement officers. I don't remember if he says anything about Texas.
posted by Bruce H. at 8:31 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Bruce H. at 8:31 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
In Florida there is a huge horse rustling problem and the state recently busted a series of illegal slaughterhouses where the stolen horses were butchered. Now people are just butchering them on the owners property. Recently a half million dollar show jumper was taken out of its stall and butchered on a commercial horse property while the owners slept nearby.
Texas auctions are required to inspect for brands and chips but there's a decent chance the animals aren't exactly going to a USDA approved facility.
posted by fshgrl at 8:50 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Texas auctions are required to inspect for brands and chips but there's a decent chance the animals aren't exactly going to a USDA approved facility.
posted by fshgrl at 8:50 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Recently a half million dollar show jumper was taken out of its stall and butchered on a commercial horse property while the owners slept nearby.
Holy crap, what a nightmare.
So the horses are being sold for food? To whom?
posted by suelac at 8:57 PM on April 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
Holy crap, what a nightmare.
So the horses are being sold for food? To whom?
posted by suelac at 8:57 PM on April 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
If they don't fence it, the entity will place open range signs, which means that livestock have the right of way, not cars, and thus it's the driver's fault.
I thought it was a wild aurochs left behind by a time traveller and that I had right of way, officer, I swear!
posted by XMLicious at 12:35 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
"So the horses are being sold for food? To whom?"Almost exclusively the European Union, and within that largely Belgium. At my local Sunday market in Heverlee there is a very friendly horse meat dude who is still incredibly amused at my Americaness, even after years of my stopping by his stall, who always explains where the horse I'm eating is from. Its generally Texas, but sometimes Canada, and is usually slaughtered in Mexico.
Horse meat is delicious, environmentally friendly, and cheap here. Its a shame we don't eat it locally, horse brisket done right with a dry rub is heaven on a plate.
posted by Blasdelb at 12:49 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
In the western Ozarks, a local salebarn organized a reward fund for info on rustlers, I said I'd donate as long as they didn't call it the Tom Horn Fund. Hay rustling got so bad some guys were putting GPS trackers in some of their bales. One rustler had also stolen several $200K combines. He was probably lucky to have gotten caught by a deputy instead of a cattleman or farmer, temperatures get pretty hot when someone is messing with people's means of production.
posted by ridgerunner at 2:23 AM on April 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ridgerunner at 2:23 AM on April 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
"I can only speak for the states near where I grew up, but in those states you had the brand inspector, hired by the state, whose job it was to ensure that sale of all stock came with the necessary legal paperwork."
It sounded like many of the bigger "thefts" were guys who bought the cows but didn't deliver payment, or bounced their checks. The smaller actual take-a-cow thefts mentioned were more drug-driven and so probably not real well thought out. (In some of the other countries linked, there are butchers who act as fences who just ignore brands and tags, slaughter fast, and sell the meat.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:17 AM on April 27, 2016
It sounded like many of the bigger "thefts" were guys who bought the cows but didn't deliver payment, or bounced their checks. The smaller actual take-a-cow thefts mentioned were more drug-driven and so probably not real well thought out. (In some of the other countries linked, there are butchers who act as fences who just ignore brands and tags, slaughter fast, and sell the meat.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:17 AM on April 27, 2016
Its generally Texas, but sometimes Canada, and is usually slaughtered in Mexico.
The Canadian stuff is 100% +/- from Quebec. Some is eaten at home (and you can get it some supermarkets), but most goes to export, Europe and Asia.
posted by bonehead at 7:55 AM on April 27, 2016
The Canadian stuff is 100% +/- from Quebec. Some is eaten at home (and you can get it some supermarkets), but most goes to export, Europe and Asia.
posted by bonehead at 7:55 AM on April 27, 2016
Via Gastropod (great podcast, listen to it!), The Big Cow Con, about Rocky Pipkin, agricultural detective.
posted by jeather at 7:56 AM on April 27, 2016
posted by jeather at 7:56 AM on April 27, 2016
Almost exclusively the European Union, and within that largely Belgium.
Huh...there's a Belgian restaurant in Toronto that serves horse tartare, but I didn't realize that horse was a Belgian thing. I thought they were coming at it from the beer angle. Incidentally, the horse meat itself tastes fine, but it's marinated in beer, so it has an unpleasant (if you don't like beer) beer flavour on top of it.
Stan Rogers's take on the subject.
What's always troubled me about this song is that he shoots them rather than taking their picture. I meant he police say they know who but there's no proof. All you need is a picture for the proof. There's no need to shoot anyone.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:01 AM on April 27, 2016
Huh...there's a Belgian restaurant in Toronto that serves horse tartare, but I didn't realize that horse was a Belgian thing. I thought they were coming at it from the beer angle. Incidentally, the horse meat itself tastes fine, but it's marinated in beer, so it has an unpleasant (if you don't like beer) beer flavour on top of it.
Stan Rogers's take on the subject.
What's always troubled me about this song is that he shoots them rather than taking their picture. I meant he police say they know who but there's no proof. All you need is a picture for the proof. There's no need to shoot anyone.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:01 AM on April 27, 2016
What if my neighbor has a really nice ass? Asking for a friend.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:31 AM on April 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 10:31 AM on April 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
What's always troubled me about this song is that he shoots them rather than taking their picture. I meant he police say they know who but there's no proof. All you need is a picture for the proof. There's no need to shoot anyone.
For no particularly defensible reason, I always imagined he was shooting out their tires so they'd be stranded on his land, providing the necessary proof.
posted by jon1270 at 2:32 PM on April 27, 2016
For no particularly defensible reason, I always imagined he was shooting out their tires so they'd be stranded on his land, providing the necessary proof.
posted by jon1270 at 2:32 PM on April 27, 2016
But on some versions of the song the last verse goes from "spends his time pulling night guard.." to "doing time pulling night guard" so I assume he went to jail. So that poor woman who waited for him all those years while he was in the rodeo and his kid that they finally had are now trying to run a ranch by themselves (or who knows what) because he was too dumb to just take a picture.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:09 PM on April 27, 2016
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:09 PM on April 27, 2016
Not to beat the topic into the ground, but I'm not seeing how "doing time pulling night guard" means prison. Also, taking a picture good enough to be useful in court, from a distance great enough to remain undetected, at night, in a rural place with no artificial lighting, in the era before ubiquitous excellent digital cameras, is a very tall order.
posted by jon1270 at 8:02 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jon1270 at 8:02 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yes, I'm familiar. It's just that prisoners aren't usually on guard duty.
posted by jon1270 at 9:25 AM on April 29, 2016
posted by jon1270 at 9:25 AM on April 29, 2016
I interpreted as being on guard against prison violence.
But anyway, I realized last night (and when I made the last comment remembered that I had thought of something that supported your idea but couldn't remember what)..so here it is...I realized last night that he waits until they get into the cab of the truck before doing whatever he does. That makes more sense for shooting out the tires than for shooting the actual people, since it would surely be easier to shoot the people before they got in the car.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:03 AM on April 29, 2016
But anyway, I realized last night (and when I made the last comment remembered that I had thought of something that supported your idea but couldn't remember what)..so here it is...I realized last night that he waits until they get into the cab of the truck before doing whatever he does. That makes more sense for shooting out the tires than for shooting the actual people, since it would surely be easier to shoot the people before they got in the car.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:03 AM on April 29, 2016
Almost exclusively the European Union, and within that largely Belgium. At my local Sunday market in Heverlee there is a very friendly horse meat dude who is still incredibly amused at my Americaness, even after years of my stopping by his stall, who always explains where the horse I'm eating is from. Its generally Texas, but sometimes Canada, and is usually slaughtered in Mexico.
Horse meat is delicious, environmentally friendly, and cheap here. Its a shame we don't eat it locally, horse brisket done right with a dry rub is heaven on a plate.
No it's sold locally to "cultures that consider horse meat a delicacy" which is reportedly Cubans but I don't know for sure.
And while I have nothing against humane slaughter of horses at all, you don't want to eat US horse meat, there is zero control on things like drugs in the meat. I ride and I love horses but humane, well regulated slaughter is fine with me. It doesn't exist in the US unfortunately.
posted by fshgrl at 10:54 PM on April 29, 2016
Horse meat is delicious, environmentally friendly, and cheap here. Its a shame we don't eat it locally, horse brisket done right with a dry rub is heaven on a plate.
No it's sold locally to "cultures that consider horse meat a delicacy" which is reportedly Cubans but I don't know for sure.
And while I have nothing against humane slaughter of horses at all, you don't want to eat US horse meat, there is zero control on things like drugs in the meat. I ride and I love horses but humane, well regulated slaughter is fine with me. It doesn't exist in the US unfortunately.
posted by fshgrl at 10:54 PM on April 29, 2016
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