This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three rural Utah counties have teamed up to offer a reward for the capture of whoever has been stealing calves.
Every winter and spring, ranchers expect to lose calves to weather, disease and predators. But after such a mild winter and favorable spring, ranchers in Carbon, Emery and Grand counties expected to see more calves than usual survive. Instead, they found fewer, said Carbon County Sheriff's Detective Wally Hendricks.
The sheriff's offices from the three counties aren't saying how many calves are gone, except that it's "dramatically" more than the handful that a normal year would claim. And that tells investigators that someone has been stealing the calves, Hendricks said.
"Our ranchers provide a much needed resource for all of us, and rely on hard work, trust and respect to operate their business," a Carbon County Sheriff's Office news release reads. "Someone is violating this trust by stealing cattle from our neighbors."
A 45 to 55-day-old calf, right now, goes for about $1,000, according to the Western Slope Cattleman's Livestock Auction in Loma, Colo., where most of the counties' ranchers sell their cattle, Hendricks said. If a calf is fed and sold later in the year, it can go for $1,500 to $2,000.
"It's instant cash," Hendricks said.
And anyone with information about the thefts can make instant cash, as well. If someone has a tip, Hendricks is offering to pay someone for the gas they spend driving to the sheriff's office to deliver it. If that tip turns into an arrest, then the tipster will receive a much larger reward, Hendricks said.
Anyone with information can visit in any one of the three sheriff's offices, or can call 435-472-TIPS. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Investigators are not saying which ranches are missing calves, so as not to expose any vulnerability.
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