Cattle thieves were strung up by their necks once upon a time.
“Yes, they were,” Sarah Noble-Moag acknowledged softly with a smile.
Nowadays the law investigates the matter and hopefully justice is found, maybe even the livestock.
That's the hope of Noble-Moag and others at Noblehurst Farms, Inc., after thieves made off with three female Holstein calves, valued at about $500 each. Because they will become profitable milk cows, they are more valuable than bull calves.
Their pens along York Road in the Town of Pavilion were found empty mid-morning Monday. Genesee County Sheriff Deputy J.L. Baiocco is investigating the larceny.
“They'll be looking at the livestock market (auction), the one outside Pavilion toward Pearl Creek,” Noble-Moag said. “(The calves) are tagged in their ears, and the tags would probably be removed (by the thieves), but you'd still be able to tell they'd been tagged.”
Noblehurst Farms, whose corporate headquarters is in Linwood, also had several calves stolen three years ago. Genesee County sheriffs solved that case, Noble-Moag said.
The black and white female calves taken this week were among 615 cows at the farm. The calves raised to be milk cows are initially kept in individual pens to prevent the spread of disease. Once their immune systems are strong, they are put into small groups until they are two years old and ready for milking.
The individual pens are about the size of a large dog house and the calves are about the size of a large dog, 100 pounds. The calves are collared to a lead that hooks on top of the structure. The pens are only a few feet from the roadway.
What about security?
“We have a light out there at night,” Noble-Moag said.
PHOTO: Used for file photo purposes. It is not a photo of one of the stolen calves. Copyright Ian Hayhurst.
Is there a possibility that
Is there a possibility that these calves can be sold or used for veal ? I dont know much but I have seen calves raised for that purpose and maybe the theives were looking not to raise or sell as milkers but to sell as veal. If I was a farmer I may want to hang em high, but now a days I know that it is not uncommon for farmers to use salt shot in guns to keep predators away.