For as long as there have been cattle, people have been stealing them. But the problem is getting worse - eviltoast

An Alberta farmer recently lost $175,000 worth of purebred cows, calves and bulls

(Terry Reith / CBC News)

  • nyan@lemmy.cafe
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    1 year ago

    In which case, earless cows can just be presumed stolen wherever found, and confiscated. (Yeah, I know: “What if someone has a legit earless cow?” Then it should have a legit record at the vet’s office explaining why it doesn’t have an ear. And more than one or two of those on a given farm is pretty damned suspicious, barring an infestation of Martian Cow-Ear-Eating Bugs.)

    Or we could just tattoo them on something that’s not likely to get cut off without killing the cow. (They used to brand them for just this purpose, but that’s cruel.)

    • zappy@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      At that point why not just embed the gps tags in the ear tags that we already put on cows? Or why can’t we just spray paint their butts like sheep? (Which I’m saying as a person that really knows nothing about this but if it works for the sheep…)