Cattle Rustling is decimating Western Slope ranchers

Cattle graze near Needle Rock in Delta County

The grass crunches underfoot and dust billows in dense clouds as a truck and trailer speed out of public lands in Montrose County. The trailer is full of calves lowing plaintively. The driver gives the Western salute, one or two fingers raised as a four-by-four rumbles past. The truck turns on to the highway, nose pointed east.

And without anyone the wiser, more calves have disappeared.

Cattle rustling is a tale at least as old as Colorado itself, when poverty and drought turned desperate people into thieves. And now, thanks to the high price of cattle and uneven enforcement of branding laws across the surrounding states, ranchers say rustling is back in a big way on the Western Slope.

“The Colorado Cattleman’s Association was formed in 1867 to deal with this exact issue,” says Erin Spaur, executive vice president of the CCA. “There was a large cattle rustling ring around Denver, where the gang would steal cattle then go across the border into Kansas and Oklahoma and sell the cattle. One hundred and fifty-eight years later, we are still dealing with the same issue.”

The number of stolen cattle has increased steadily in recent months, and this is in direct correlation to the price cattle fetch at auction, according to Spaur. “The cattle theft usually follows market prices, right now cattle prices are (at) record highs and, when that happens, that’s when we see an increase in cattle theft or disappearing,” Spaur says. “In low-price years, we always manage to have zero stolen or missing.”

The reason 19th-century cattle rustlers and their modern counterparts both cross state lines comes down to branding. Every single head of a rancher’s herd is branded with a specific owner’s brand, and every time cattle are sold or transported more than 75 miles from their home base, a brand inspection is performed. But Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas do not have the mandatory brand laws requiring that brands be checked, which makes tracking stolen Colorado cattle after they cross state lines incredibly hard to investigate.

Cattle rustling has hit Western Slope cattle ranchers extremely hard, due in great part, to the location of their summer pastures. Western Slope ranchers use public land for spring and summer grazing at a higher rate than their Front Range counterparts, and it’s much easier to steal cattle from public land versus private.

Sgt. Chuck Searcy of the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the theft of 180 cattle, mostly calves from public lands. The thefts were reported during November and December 2024, when cattle were brought down from summer grazing. Searcy says in a normal year, cattle ranchers expect an annual 2% to 6% depredation loss, but now nearly every cattle rancher in Montrose County is facing a 10% to 15% loss.

“With these high of numbers this is a huge loss economically,” Searcy says. “The majority of the stolen or missing cattle are calves and while price per head varies the estimated loss is $300,000 to $400,000.”  Searcy also points out that while 50% of the missing calves may be steers, which are sold and then butchered, it is heifers whose value goes far beyond their weight value. Heifers are vital to the long term health and growth of a herd, and breed, on average, from age 2 to 10. “These ranchers are just out the money, and they don’t have insurance to cover it,” Searcy says.

Spaur is hopeful that this investigation will be a turning point as the issue receives attention from Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The Brand Division under the Department of Agriculture is also in talks with counterparts in surrounding states to address the thefts.   Livestock theft is not a “thing of the past,” Polis said in his recent State of the State speech at the state Capitol.

“We are committed to holding cattle rustlers accountable,” he said. “With local sheriffs and the Brand Board leading the way, I directed our leaders at the Department of Agriculture and Department of Public Safety to coordinate and provide additional support and work closely with local law enforcement to use the full extent of the law to catch and convict wrongdoers.”

The Department of Agriculture’s brand commissioner, Todd Inglee, is thrilled by the cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the Brand Inspection Division and has even nicknamed it the “Cow Task Force.” “The laws we (Brand Division) are charged to enforce is narrow,” Inglee says. “These other state agencies can do more because their enforcement capabilities are much broader … This is giving us a great exercise in working together with local law enforcement. We’ll learn a lot through this investigation, and we will find out what happened and solve this case with everyone working together.”

This multi-agency, cross-state cooperation hasn’t always been the case in the past. Cattle rustling is notoriously difficult to investigate and prosecute.

“In the past, it’s been really easy to get away with it, because it’s so hard to determine if the cattle are stolen or missing, and who is responsible. There haven’t been successful convictions,” Spaur says. “But now, resources are being deployed at both the local and state level, and they are working together in a way they haven’t before.” This “easy crime,” as Spaur calls it, has left cattle ranchers at a complete loss on how to recoup costs and has threatened the livelihoods of many of Western Slope producers. Cattle ranchers invest years in their herds and breeding programs, and the thefts have disastrous consequences.

It comes at a time when Western Slope ranchers are already worried about depredations by wolf packs, which have been released in that part of the state. Some ranchers have told The Denver Gazette they believe wolf depredation will decimate the livestock industry in Colorado — not because of the killings per se, but because ranchers, particularly those on the Western Slope, will ultimately decide against keeping their trade.

“Colorado producers are facing a slew of hardships,” Spaur says. “This is just one more thing that they worry about — but could also possibly put them out of business.”

Although some cattle ranchers are investing in virtual fence collars, which allows ranchers to keep an eye on their animals via phone apps to deter further theft, Spaur and Inglee ask for the public’s help, especially those on the Western Slope that recreate on or use public lands regularly. “If you are recreating or enjoying public lands on the Western Slope and you see something suspicious, take photos and report it to law enforcement,” Spaur says.

The public can report suspicious activity or any leads about the theft of Colorado cattle to the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office at 970-252-4023 or the Colorado Cattleman Association’s Operation Livestock Thief Hotline at 303-431-6422.

“It’s cliche, but if you see something, say something,” Searcy says. “It if doesn’t seem right to you and you can safely take photos or video please do.”

By Rachael Wright – special to The Denver Gazette

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