Over 300 cattle vanish from Australian property

How do you lose approximately 360 head of cattle? They reportedly are fitted with tags and carry an earmark, surely someone saw a legion of cows heading somewhere -- even one stray cow from the lot would do, but nothing so far (and this evidently happened in June).

'Three hundred head of cattle is a large amount of cattle to move and you'd certainly draw attention to yourself if you moved 300 head holus bolus.'

However, police have received little information about the missing animals, despite The Land - a newspaper devoted to rural matters - running articles on their disappearance for three weeks, Senior Constable Barker said.

'I received very little feedback from the public and thought that was odd - someone has to know where they've gone,' he said.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Article: www.smh.com.au...

I'm not saying they were all beamed aboard a ship, but what exactly would you need to haul off 360 cows? How many trucks? How many people? Is this one of the biggest 'cow heists' in history?

Seriously, if you live in Australia, especially in NSW, you may want to check your backyard. I have, nothing yet - I'll let you know if I see anything.

[edit on 31/10/07 by Evasius]

He he he

Crikey, I knew that farmers were doing it tough here in Australia but to lose 360 head of sheep...???

Great post, I'll be very interested in hearing if any of them turn up, perhaps a neighbouring farmer has a few extra sheep on his land these days?

Interesting...

Dobbie

Found one!

www.brisbanetimes.com.au...

But I have no idea how it got to Washington state in the U.S. (and for that matter how it found itself falling 60 meters on to the hood of a passing car).

'It was just 'bam' - you just saw something come down and hit the hood,' driver Charles Everson told the Wenatchee World newspaper.

With a 60 meters fall, I'd expect more of a Kablooey! than 'bam.'

As far as I can ascertain, no cows have shown up yet, and it's been over a year since they disappeared.

Maybe they were taken by aliens...one motherload for the mothership I suppose.

...maybe there is an intergallactic McDs...the Golden Arches seem to be everywhere else on this planet...

But hussling away 360 head of cattle wouldn't be that difficult at all...a few b-trains would do it easily. Amazing what 'grows legs and walks' without people really taking notice...

Rustlers?

As expensive as meat is getting, I could see rustling being a "viable" alternative again. Besides, what slaughterhouse would think the meat was stolen?

The easiest answer is they were herded off by cowboys, but you think a quick search by helicopter would find them - how far can a herd of cows move in a few days?

Chances are it's near the coast, but I doubt they would have been herded onto a freighter and then slaughtered and sold to Asian markets - but it's possible.

How much are 360 head of cattle worth? It can't possibly be as profitable as selling drugs... just sayin'.

I live in Newcastle in NSW and I never heard anything regarding missing cattle ???? Did they find them or are they still missing......... ????

Seems to me there is a lot of strange stuff going on more than usual around the world....... hmmmm interesting

The NSW Government recommend about 70 cattle per truck however you can get up to 114 on a 2 deck B Double.



So on average it would take around 5 average trucks or 3 B Doubles.

Source: www.agric.nsw.gov.au...

So depending on how remote the property is that the cattle were taken from, it is still very hard to sneak around in such big trucks. That said, it’s not impossible either. So an interesting quandary and my guess is as good as anyone’s!