Free Grazers, Water and Cattle Rustlin'

[jayste]

Ok, ok we don't have too much "rustlin'" but we do have our share of free grazing around here. Now, I'm not new to the country or ranching or the farming way of life but free grazing is something that gets under my skin a little. We've got a fellow who used to own quite a bit of land around our parts and has been doing this for years. He actually lives in town which is about 10 miles from here but he still runs a few head of livestock when he can. Right now he's got a couple of renegade horses who seem to find every hole and open water-gap in the country. Due to some bad dealings he and his brother lost all of what used to be his families place (over 200 acres) so now they're down to 40 acres of scrub brush and rock. Supposedly, they "lease" the 40 west of them but it's about the same kind of land. Seems like about every other day we find these two horses out on the county road or grazing up someones entry way to their house. We're the type who have a gate to our places at the county road so we don't usually have to deal with them too much. My neighbor, to the west, has had a belly full of it and has threatened to call the sheriff on him, which I think he did last weekend. We were heading to town and seen where a couple of county vehicles had him boxed in, in his entry way to the "lease" property. So we'll see what comes of it.
How about you guys? Got any free grazers or rustlers up your way?

 

[raasd]

Around here it is basically problems with people letting their cows get out which is basically the same thing. Depending on where you are there probably isn't anything the sheriff can do about it. There is still alot of "open range" territory where the fences are used to keep things out and not in. In this case it would be up to the property owners bordering his land to maintain good fences to keep the animals where they should be.

 

[om21braz]

How about you guys? Got any free grazers or rustlers up your way?

Those free grazers and rustlers of a different kind are quite plentiful around here.
Seriously, it seems every area that has much farmland owned by different groups has at least one sort person to deal with. A friend of mine has had one "neighbor" whose livestock is always getting out and grazing in somebody else's pasture because of the poor condition of his property and fence. He notes it has been going on for 20+ years. He kept a few cows in poor condition for almost a year getting them healthy again before the owner ever bothered to inquire about their whereabouts.

 

[powerpace]

I live in a relativly settled and fenced area, but you still see notices for lost or stolen horses and cattle.

Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management acreage is available here in Oregon. So many acres per head of cattle. Over in Eastern Oregon in the High Desert region they have open range where cattle roam over a wide area.

They still rustle cattle and horses in Oregon. Law enforcement has special investigative units assigned for that purpose.

Oregon also have Wild horses Mustangs and Kigers. They are managed but until the 70's the Kiger horse was not even known. Kiger horses are the last remnants of the Spanish horses brought to the Americas in the 17th century. Kigers are a beautiful animal.

The wild mustangs can be adopted easily by qualified people. No reason to rustle a Mustang. Problem is there are too many of them for the capacity of the range. Oregon also has a wild burro area also.

 

[powerpace]

One of my friends received a misdeamener ticket for allowing a horse to be "at large". This was out in the country. After the third complaint she got the ticket. She deserved it.

Some people should not keep animals or kids.

 

[jayste]

Another episode of this story is about another neighbor about a 1/2 mile to the south. He got tired of these horses grazing on him he called the sheriff as well. They asked him if he'd pen them up for a couple of weeks. He agreed and they told him they'd bring out some feed for the 2 week period. A day before the 2 weeks was up the owner of the horses shows up, comes onto the guys property, turns them loose and runs them back down the road toward home. They had a shouting match but nothing else was done. We'd considered penning them up and after a few weeks, hauling them to the local sale barn, collect the money (which wouldn't be much), deducting any feed costs and then send him what's left. Problem with that is that the sale barn wouldn't accept them without a negative coggins test. Heck, he'd probably have us arrested for horse rustling!....that is if he could figure out who did it!

Powerpace, we've got a few agency's around here that also have a division that investigates and fights against livestock rustling. Our Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association as well as the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

 

[creekbend]

In my area, if your livestock get loose and cause damage to property, the owner is responsible. The hard part is confirmation and proof that the livestock are owned by the neglectful owner. One example: If your livestock are running loose due to neglected fence maintenance, and they cause a vehicular accident, the owner is responsible. Garden damage or yard damage is another possibility.

 

[Jimbrown]

Out her in the wild west it is the norm. If you don't like it you gotta fence em out. If you can prove damage (really hard) then you can catch them and hold em for ransome (kinda dagerous depending on who they belong to).

Don't run over one or a $200 steer will sudenly become a prize bull.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Just my Brother in law. World biggest FREE grazer.

 

[dieselbeef]

shoot em on th side of the road,,just another nuisance animal...