Cattle rustling with a twist suspected at local ranches

September 9, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko

The Wellington

 

Three Wellington (Colorado) area ranchers have found dead calves and others missing, leading them to suspect thieves are taking and butchering the young animals for personal use.

They reported eight calves either missing or dead from June through August in an area north of Owl Canyon Road between County Roads 9 and 11.

“We want to warn people that they should be on the lookout,” said rancher Willie Altenburg. “And we want whoever’s doing it to know we know.”

Ben Lohmann, herdsman for Leachman Cattle Co., said he first noticed four calves were missing when the ranch gathered cattle at the end of August. He also found one dead calf a few steps from a fence.

“I was beating myself up because I lost four calves,” he said, but then he started comparing notes with his neighbors.

Altenburg had one dead calf and one missing. Tom Herring reported one missing calf. Herring said he spent two days looking for the calf and couldn’t find it.

“We started talking to each other and it hit home how many we were losing,” he said.

It’s unlikely the unweaned calves would have wandered. Altenburg added that selling an unweaned calf at auction would make a brand inspector suspicious, which caused the ranchers to suspect a local operation for personal consumption.

“Calves are big this year,” Herring noted. “They (thieves) would need a way to lift them into a van or truck.”

The ranchers at first thought the dead calves were struck by lightning but now surmise they were likely shot and left by thieves who couldn’t get them out of the pastures. At this age, the calves would weigh 300 to 500 pounds each.

“How big a waste is that?” Altenburg asked. “We may not act mad, but we’re mad.”

A value of the loss is difficult to estimate, the ranchers noted. Altenburg and Lohmann have registered cattle, and a grown animal could be worth several thousand dollars.

“If you put the value together, this is no small incident,” Altenburg said. “They’re taking money out of our pockets, and it’s serious.”

Any area residents who have lost cattle or noticed suspicious activity are asked to call the Leachman Cattle Co. office at 568-3983 or Altenburg at 481-2570.

“It’s the old cattle rustling with a new twist,” Altenburg said. “They’re killing them in pastures at night.”