MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

With soaring beef prices cattle rustling is an industry in the Canadian prairies

Cows can fetch up to 1.600 dollars

A rope and a good sturdy branch are no longer an option, or an effective deterrent for the lowlife curs stealing cows in the Canadian province of Alberta. Cattle rustling still occur in the not-so-wild west, with more than 6.000 head stolen annually by thieves prowling the prairies for heifers to heist and sell.

According to a report from Meat Trading Daily, with beef prices soaring, the number of animals vanishing is on the rise -- and with the noose outlawed, cold hard cash is seen as the best weapon against modern-day rustlers.

“If you do the math, I've lost pretty close to half a million bucks, when you figure cows that would have calves and so on and so forth,” said Aaron Brower, a rancher and victim of repeated rustlings.

“Since 2004, when we first started noticing it, there have been 25 calves here, 30 bred cows there -- I'm at 164 losses so far, with 44 head this year alone.”

Stories like Brower's are the reason Canada’s Western Stock Growers' Association announced last Sunday the reward for nabbing Alberta cattle thieves will immediately increase by up to 5,000%.

The old reward of 1.000 C dollars for information leading to the arrest of cattle crooks wasn't cutting it -- and so the association is establishing the new reward, which will be doled out through the RCMP and Crime Stoppers.

Brower, a director with the stock growers, says he suspects Alberta's rustlers are well organized, snatching up breeding cows and calves for sale out of province. But modern agriculture crime still relies on old-fashioned methods -- and Brower says it would take some traditional thieving tactics to round up cattle on his remote ranch, south of Medicine Hat.

“It's pretty rough terrain out here, only one road in and out and I'm pretty sure they're not using it,” said Brower. “They're probably going in on horses -- probably horse and dog, I would assume.”

If saddle-bound villains stealing cattle seems a crime from another century, the cash to be made is very much 21st century.

Cows can fetch up to 1.600 dollars, and with a trailer holding up to a dozen animals easily filled by experienced cattle herders, it's a lucrative and relatively easy business.

Ask Alberta ranchers and they'll blame the province two doors to the east, saying Manitoba doesn't have a recognition system capable of identifying stolen cattle by brand.

From Alberta, it's an overnight drive to Manitoba, and easy profit on the agriculture market where the stolen beasts are sold for meat or breeding.

Phil Rowland, president of the Western Stock Growers' Association, says the price of beef -- which hit a ten-year high in 2011 -- has encouraged cattle criminals to grow even more active. “It's actually pretty bad,” said Rowland.

A thriving black market for beef is behind the rustling resurgence, and Rowland says it's hoped the promise of large reward will get someone talking and help police.

“We're just looking to give one more tool to our RCMP officers,” said Rowland.