STRICTLY BUSINESS: RUSTLING CATTLE $2 MILLION BUSINESS

Wild bands of lasso-twirling, shoot-em-up cowboys aren't exactly sweeping across Missouri livestock farms, stampeding and rustling cattle, but cattle rustling -- even in the 1990s -- remains a real problem in the state.

Today's rustlers are subtle and difficult to catch. They "bait" a pasture, back a cattle-transport trailer up to a fence, use a portable corral loading panel, and take 15 to 20 cattle at a time.

"Today's rustlers are harder to catch," says an official with the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

"They're not like the old movie and television western rustlers, where they `round 'em up and move 'em out,' in great droves," said Lee Weeks, an enforcement supervisor for the department's Division of Animal Health.

The cattle are easier to dispose of today. The rustler often takes them to weekly cattle sales, where they are purchased, sometimes by the same farmers who were victimized.

Cattle rustling has been a problem in Southeast Missouri counties in past years, but not lately, say sheriff's authorities in Cape Girardeau, Perry, Bollinger and Scott counties

But statewide, livestock producers lose an estimated $2 million a year to stolen livestock, which translates primarily into cattle rustling.

Problem areas of late have been in Southwest Missouri.

That's understandable. More than 1.5 million head of cattle are found in that area, including all 10 of the state's leading cattle-producing counties.

Only 90,000 head of cattle were reported in the Southeast Missouri area in 1996.

4.5 million cattle

Cattle production is big business, with an inventory of more than 2.2 million beef cattle in 62,000 operations. Another 185,000 cattle are included in about 4,500 dairy operations. Add another 2.1 million calves and the total cattle count in the state is more than 4.5 million, which account for more than a billion dollars to the state's economy.

Cattle rustling today is one of the hardest crimes to solve and one of the hardest to prosecute, said Weeks, who assists sheriff's departments in investigations of cattle rustling.

"A lot of people today just can't visualize that cattle rustling still happens. It's even harder to get some prosecutors to take a suspect to court because they just don't treat rustling as a serious crime," said Weeks.

Cattle are easier to dispose of today.

They can be taken to weekly livestock sales or can be sold to cattle feed lots operators.

And there have been instances where rustlers kept the cattle a short while and sold them back to the original owners, said Weeks.

"Cattle change, and change quickly," he said. "Without a brand, there is no way to recognize cattle after a few weeks."

Weeks recommends branding.

With a recent increase in livestock theft, Weeks and others in the Missouri Department of Agriculture stress branding and the need to register the brands.

Registered livestock brands are similar to tracking devices, or return addresses on an envelop, say officials. With such identifiable markings on an animal's shoulder, rib or hip, it is easier to find a stolen animal's owner.

"But the brand must be registered," said Weeks. An unregistered marking is much more difficult to track. And unregistered brands can not be entered into evidence at a trial.

Registered brands

State law actually requires livestock owners to register brands they plan to use on livestock.

Once a brand design is registered, it is included in the department's records and becomes the property of the person registering the cattle.

The cattle can then be sold, transferred or assigned through the permission of the registrant only. The registered brand serves as a legal proof of ownership in any dispute.

Registering is simple.

An application is available by calling (573)-751-5608. Applications and a pamphlet on branding are sent to the caller. The cost for a brand registration is $5, which is good for five years.

Branding is certainly a deterrent against rustling, said Weeks. "In a number of rustling incidents we have found branded livestock which had been turned loose once the bandits realized they were branded."

One rustler told his mode of operation, saying he "cased" an operation during the daytime and made the hit at night. If brands were noted during the "casing," those cattle were left alone.

"Normally cattle rustlers strike during the winter months," said Weeks. "But an unusually large number cattle rustling cases were reported during the past summer."

Convincing herd owners that branding is necessary isn't always easy. Although Missouri is second only to Texas in cow/calf numbers in the nation, the average size for a producer is 35 head of cattle. That means many producers don't make their entire earnings from cattle.

A lot of part-time livestock owners of 10 to 15 head don't want to devote the time or money to consider branding. "It's hard to convince some owners to pay $100 for a branding iron and everything else they need when livestock may not be a big source of their income."

Weeks estimates that about 5,000 brands have been registered, and between 3,500 to 4,000 producers brand on an annual basis.

Sign of the times?

In downtown Paducah, Ky., where empty storefronts outnumber occupied ones, the following realty sign was observed:

"Buy three (buildings) and get one free."

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.