Three heifers disappeared overnight from a Grimes County ranch. They were healthy, with years of calf-bearing ahead, and each was worth between $700 and $1,000. Their owners wanted them back....a question comes to mind. Why DON'T they put cattle rustlers to death anymore? It might not be as big of an industry as it used to be, but the fact is they're still stealing people's livelihoods and putting them that much closer to the poorhouse. I realize those thieves need to eat too, but I still have to agree with one of the commenters there:
Cattle rangers scoured the hard-packed pasture that December morning but found no forensic evidence — no footprints, no sign of the trailer that whisked the cows away. Then, a break, courtesy of the cows: the imprint of a tire tread in a mound of fresh manure.
Investigators say it’s the first time they’ve taken a plaster mold from a cow pie.
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For ranchers, in this economy, every cow counts. So the 6,400 cattle stolen last year, and the 2,400 stolen so far this year, each represent a devastating loss.
“There’s a close profit margin to begin with,” said Tom Haynie, a Navasota rancher. “With the cost of hay, the cost of feed, the drought — it could put you in the red.”
"If you can't respect your neighbors, you don't belong on this earth. That's not hypocritical, that's practical, and society would be better if more thought that way."
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