Rainbolt’s ranch foreman seemed to blame bad fences and wooded areas for short cow numbers during roundup.
time. I’ve always thought that the fi rst time you steal from your em- ployer is the hardest, but once you see you’ve gotten away with it, it builds from there,” Mast says. District Attorney Smith says, “I
run about 250 head of cattle myself and I didn’t totally understand a lot about cattle theft until this case and after working with Brent. He’s smart and diligent and he doesn’t mess around. That’s a dream come true for a prosecutor, especially in rural jurisdiction.”
Advice from experience “I had no idea about any of this,”
Rainbolt says. “I thought, ‘I can’t be that stupid.’ I have a degree in math and I think I have a lot of common sense. If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.” Rainbolt always brands his cows with AH connected and a year
tscra.org
brand on the hip — the year they were born. He also ear-notches all of his calves. Because of the ordeal, he has
added ear-tagging to all of the cows and calves. “Tags can be removed, but at least there will be a hole in the ear. The notches will also help identify my calves,” Rainbolt says. He’s keeping more detailed re-
cords and tracking what has hap- pened to them since the last round- up. “We palpate all of the cows so we know exactly how many calves to expect. When we pull a calf off of a cow, I’ve got her age, descrip- tion, and everything,” Rainbolt says. One thing that has made a dif-
ference is a feed buggy. In years past he put out a liquid feed that his cattle could eat as needed. New Ranch Foreman Michael Smith sug- gested they start calling the cattle up with a siren and feed cubes. It
would give him a chance to look at all of the cows, because they’ll settle down and start coming right to the cubes. “It’s made a difference in our ability to get an accurate count on a regular basis and lay our eyes on each cow,” Rainbolt explains. Mast advises absentee owners
to trust their employees but verify everything. “You need to stay on top of what they’re doing, because it’s too much of a temptation for a lot of people,” he says. Rainbolt’s advice? Be more pres-
ent at your place. “I wasn’t present enough here,” he says. “A lot of people rely on a local person to take care of their cattle. If I were a thief, that’s where I’d go. Everyone knows everyone, and word of mouth travels that you’re an absentee owner — among the good guys and the bad. Be a good boss and always count your cattle.”
June 2013 The Cattleman 95
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