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6A Daily News – Saturday, June 11, 2011 Agriculture & farm Farm Bureau golf tournament The Tehama County Farm Bureau’s 4th Annual Pre- Father’s Day Family & Fun Golf Tournament is sched- uled for noon Monday, June 13 at Wilcox Oaks Golf Club in Red Bluff , with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. The cost is $80 per person, which includes 18 holes of scramble golf, cart and a barbecue dinner. There will be four people per team. Prizes will be awarded to the 1st through 3rd place teams. Proceeds support the Ag Education Fund and objec- tives of the Tehama County Farm Bureau. This tournament is designed so that anyone and everyone may participate; even non-golfers are wel- come. It will be a day of great food, great prizes and of course fun. For more information or to register, call Kari Dodd at 527-7882. We had the Lilac Rain when the lilacs were in bloom at Round-Up time, and we had the Buckeye Rain the last three weeks while the Buckeye has been in bloom. During May, I measured 2.2 inches of rain between the 15th and 26th. Now the farm- ers are busy with cutting hay, and weed control in the orchards. A follow up on my story about decorating graves with fresh flowers on Memorial Day was from a friend who said she had placed roses on a grave. When she went by a while later that day, the roses were gone. Some- one had thrown her fresh roses in a trash container and put some plastic flowers in their place. *** On the front page of the June 6 edition of The New York Times is an article about cattle rustling, “Texas Still Has Its Rustlers, and Men in White Hats Chasing Them,” by Dan Barry, Groesbeck, Tex. It was also on Lucianne.Com. “Whoever was steal- ing cattle had to have some cowboy in him, the theory went. You could tell by the seamless way he could lure more than a dozen animals at a time out of their pens, onto his trailer and into the endless Texas night, like some Pied Piper of bovines. “This was not the handi- work of some crack addict, risking a kick to ranch Cattle rustline a national problem Courtesy photo Loading cattle in a gooseneck trailer with an (unseen) good dog at the Tehama County Cattlemen's Field Day. wander off to take in the night air. On May 6, Hal Dumas, a special ranger for the unique Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association — part industry advocate, part law enforcement agency — joined the Milam County sheriff in sending out a be-on-the- lookout alert, telling ranching com- munities every- where of the rustler among them: Jean Barton the addled head for the low yield of a heifer or two. This was a cow whisperer, cattle people told themselves. One of us. “The reports starting piling up across South and East Texas. On March 15, for example, 26 calves vanished from a sale barn in the Hous- ton County town of Crockett — the same night a livestock trailer was stolen in neighbor- ing Walker County. On May 3, 18 head of cattle disappeared from a sale barn in Milam County. Two nights later and 160 miles away, 28 head went missing from a sale barn in Nacogdoches County. “Enough was enough; these cattle didn‚t just “Locations are being hit in the early morn- ing hours. Sus- pects will proba- bly be hauling a long goose-neck trailer between midnight and 3:30 a.m. The stolen cattle are generally calves weighing between 350 and 500 pounds. “Though the vigilante, string-em-up response to cattle rustling has faded into the sepia-toned past, livestock theft still car- ries the whiff of the low- down cur. In the last decade, special rangers for the cattle raisers association investigated more than 11,000 cases of livestock related thefts, and recovered or accounted for more than 37,500 head of cattle. “Stealing a cow is like stealing a factory, ranch- ers say, given that a healthy, breeding cow can return dividends for years. Some ranchers even grow fond of the animals they raise, no matter how abruptly these relationships may end at the stockyard gate. Check Us Out We have all your Summer Essentials plus • Great Annual Color LIC #808524 Call For Free Information Toll-Free (800) 464-1403 or (530) 365-1403 6183 MEISTER WAY ANDERSON, CA 96007 (530) 365-1403 • (800) 464-1403 • House Plants • Gifts for any Gardener Garden Center Red Bluff 766 Antelope Blvd. (Next to the Fairground) 527-0886 “Most of all, livestock are living bonds of com- munal trust — precious things of value, grazing close to the road. And when ranchers are ready to sell, they often unload their cattle into the easily accessible pens of sale barns a day or two before auction. The barn might have a security camera or a night watchman; then again, it might not. “Still, you can trust your mother, but cut the cards. That is why the 15,000 member cattle raisers association, founded in 1877 by a band of rustler-weary ranchers, has 29 special rangers, including Mr. Dumas, all with the power of arrest, all wear- ing guns and white hats. Using sophisticated data bases (including a file of more than 100,000 regis- tered brands) and plain common sense (checking cow pies for tire tracks), these rangers investigate thefts of livestock and property and inspect mil- lions of cattle a year. “The rangers have the respect of cattle rustlers; they know this because a rustler said so. A few years ago, they helped pen Jerome Heath Novak, a clever, clean-cut cattle rustler from a proud ranching family in Brazo- ria County who was so audacious in his nighttime thefts that he even stole livestock from Nolan Ryan, the baseball legend and Texas icon. He was caught only after taking to auction a stolen calf a dis- tinctive barbed-wire scar, which someone noticed. “And how is this behavior viewed by those who work and live cattle? Cody de Cordova, 30, whose family owns a sale barn in nearby Buffalo, spat into the dirt, said that hanging was proper pun- ishment and gave no facial indication that he might be kidding. “Last month, four days after Mr. Dumas sent out the cattle-rustler alert, the Brazoria County Sheriff‚s Department received a report of a portable corral containing three dozen calves in a field where they did not belong. A respond- ing deputy pulled up just as a cowboy was loading the calves onto a trailer. “The cowboy did not have any paperwork attesting to his ownership of the calves. Chris DuBois, an investigator for the Sheriff’s Depart- ment, said that “none of his answers were making any sense — other than, perhaps, his name: Jerome Heath Novak. “Mr. Novak, now 32, was indicted last week on charges of once again breaking the communal bond, in a case that once again has investigators asking why.” Someone from Texas had written in the com- ments section: “Dead cat- tle rustlers and criminals are not repeat offenders. It maybe harsh, but taking a person’s cattle is just like stealing his bank account.” *** As of the first of June, 18 first calf heifers have turned up five to 10 miles from their pasture without their calves. They had been nursing calves since their udders were full. Here in Tehama Coun- ty there is a reward of $12,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons respon- sible for the theft of the Owens cattle. Tip line: 1- 800-671-4327, or 530- 520-9399 or 530-527- 6332. Jean Barton can be reached at jbarton@theskybeam.co m. COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES Smog Check starting at $ (most cars and pick-ups) 2595 ★ + cert. Pass or FREE retest 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. ★ ★ 530.527.6160 915 Madison St., Red Bluff 64 Mulberry Ave., Red Bluff • 527-1755 • Fully Fenced • Onsite Manager • Well Lit Property website: www.americanselfstorage.biz • RV & Vehicle parking now available June Special 8x10 & 10x24 1/2 OFF the first 3 months *Some restrictions apply. Good through 6/30/11 CALL NOW FOR RATES AMERICAN SELF-STORAGE ✪ WE WILL PAY UP TO ✪ Windshield Replacement on deductible *Some restrictions apply starting at$ ✪ FREE Estimates $500* 200