Dozens of cows presumed stolen in Northern Colorado, costing ranchers hundreds of thousands of dollars

Dozens of cows from Northern Colorado ranches have gone missing and are presumed to be stolen. The cattle have largely gone missing from ranches in Weld County, around the Greeley area.

Three cattleman in Northern Colorado confirmed to CBS News Colorado that they are among the many who have noticed their herd has missing cows of late. Now, law enforcement at the local and state levels are investigating.

Chad Sanger, owner of Turnkey Cattle Company, invited CBS News Colorado to his property where he spoke about how he noticed something was wrong.

"The first week of October we always precondition our calves," Sanger said, explaining that his calves needed immunizations.

He said all of his herd was accounted for when he administered the first dose of immunizations. However, there is a need for a booster shot. When he returned weeks later to administer the booster shots he noticed that he was missing several cows.

"When we went back 30 days later that is when we started noticing," Sanger said. "I've brought a lot home from the ranch, thinking maybe I have numbers mixed up. But, they are just gone."

Sanger lets his herd graze on thousands of acres of property, making it difficult to keep an eye on all of the cattle at one time.

He said he scoured the property looking for the missing cows, saying he even considered that they may have been killed by lightning or predators. However, he never found any trace of the missing calves.

That is when he turned to searching the edges of the property to see if there were any holes in the fence or other ways for the cows to escape.

"But there was nothing left open, or fence down, where they could have gotten out," Sanger said. "I was hoping to find carcasses or something, but it never crossed my mind that someone was taking them."

Sanger said he ended up asking a neighboring ranch if there was any chance his cows had somehow joined their herd. That is when he learned he was not the only one missing property.

"When they did their full gather, none of mine were with theirs. In fact, they were missing some of their own," Sanger said. "It hit me at that point, we got something going on here."

As word spread around about the missing cows, so too did the concern from ranchers. More people started reporting that they were also missing cows.

Sanger noted that all of his missing cows are either cows or heifers, none are steers or bulls. He said that lead him to believe these animals were being taken to breed and not to process for food.

"With the cost of cattle right now, it is not surprising," Sanger said. "There is money to be made to take them. Those are worth anywhere from $3,000 to $4,200 (each)."

Sanger said the American herd is down more than 38% at the moment, leading not only to spikes in price for beef but also a greater demand for ranchers to increase the size of their herd.

The Weld County Sheriff's Office is investigating and seeking information as to what happened to the missing cows.

Sanger said he speculates that they were transported out of state to other states like Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

In Colorado it is illegal to transfer, sell or process a cow without certification from the brand inspector. However, Sanger said that states like Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas do not have as strict of supervision, making it easy for people to steal cows and sell them to other ranchers looking to expand their herd.

"It is kind of silly that ranching has changed this much. That you go back 200 years and have to worry about wrestlers again," Sanger said.

Sanger is among the many ranchers who have recently invested in video surveillance systems which operate off of cellular networks, allowing them to monitor their herd.