My cousin has had 17 cows in his yard for last 3 days. This is a VERY rural area in Alabama. Have called everyone we know that might be the cows owner. No luck so far. Cousin and i are ready to drop one with 300 wsm and start butchering it . LOL! Question is = at what point does the cow become yours IF its on your property? County sheiff is out hear right now. Getting cows hearded off road.

Sounds like free beef to me! Start shooting and butchering and if anyone complains you're killing their cows, you know who to send the bill to for keeping after their herd. Their bill goes up every day!

Just kidding of course. I dont know anything about this, but the sheriff should be able to tell you the law or look it up. Any markings/branding/ear tags that could help identify the owner? Might try contacting a local co-op.

No luck with sheriff"s deputy. They just ran the cows off the edge of the rode and up into a 5 acre pea field. No ear tags or other marks. County offers no advice OR assisstance. Local co-op is 22 miles away. I am 6 miles from only post office 8 miles from only gas station 13 miles from a Wal-mart. So its rural out here. Now I have to get cows out of the Purple Hull pea patch . LOL!

I have kept small herds of horses that got loose and wandered to my place, making sure they get returned to their owners in safe condition.

It is like money in the bank for you-in thankful appreciation. The owner likely will offer to compensate you for babysitting them, or a standing deal on some good meat when they butcher.

At very least, you now have a neighbor who will look after your place and be of help in future , should you need a hand.

Win win.

We had a herd come wandering thru here years ago. Come to find out they was 25 mi. from home.
They usually end up in someone else's cows. That's when disputes really begin. Often people don't even know there own cows. Knew of some calves that were being weaned and ran off to the neighbors and got mixed with theirs. They was all angus and no one could tell then apart. They ended up letting the cows and calves deciding who belonged where.

A guy was following a truck taking pigs to market when one jumped over the top. A guy in a car behind saw what happened and stopped and put the pig in his car. By now the truck was long gone so the guy in the car was speeding trying to catch him. A cop stopped him for speeding, he explained he was trying to catch the truck. Cop said he had been setting there a long time and no truck came by there. The guy say's well what do I do with this pig. The cop says take him to the zoo. So off they went. A week later the cop met the car with the pig sitting on the passenger side. He stopped the guy and said, didn't I tell you to take that pig to the zoo? The guy said yes, but now he wants to go to Sea World!

Ran cows out of pea patch. AR-15 is use full tool to run cows off it you ever need too move them. My 300 BLK with 10 inch barrell is loud. Cows are now in a 200 acre cutover NOT in pea patch. LOL Cousin will post pics on FaceBook and put up a few flyers . I dont know what good it will do though. Anyone could come and claim cows. How will you EVER know who's cow they truly are?

Shows me you don't know where the cows should be or who has cows around you........I have cows and know my neighbors who have cows. When we see a cow out (it happens) we generally call around and let the other cattlemen know. Some areas like up north and out west put cows to pasture in spring and pick up in fall.

You will know whose cows they are when someone says they are missing 17 cows. Do you not know your neighbors? Generally people in rural areas know the folks around them......

I'm no expert by any means for down around you. But up here if we didn't know who they belonged to we would contact the local brand inspector, he would know what to do even if they didn't have any markings.

Here is what I could find about stray cattle in Alabama- https://www.animallaw.info/statute/...running-large-state-and-federal-aid#s352

Shows how little you know! i know everyone around us. Know everyone who has cows. I trap coyotes for EVERYONE of them . Cousin has made over 2 dz phone calls still no one knows who owns them. Last month . Someone ran over a horse. Tore the crap out of a Escalade . Still no one has claimed it. I KNOW who's horse's where out but they claim the horse that was hit wasnt one of them. I dont claim to know everyone thats 25 miles away, but know everyone with cows in MY community

Thanks . But thats to much to read and try to understand .

Looks like 15 to 20 thousand at the sale barn. Loading up. Lol

I know everyone's horses in every place Ive lived. Here, they will wander over and trim my grass just right for me, stand around to say hello and get a pat , then wander back to their owners , who know that they visit on occasion , lol. They never go far, and havent gone into the main road to get in trouble .

Cousin will be home from work this afternoon. We may try putting ad in paper. Let owner claim them . Will try to talk directly to sheriff. He lives less than 1 mile from where cow's are is the funny thing! LoL

Be careful. Remember, the Hatfield- McCoy fued was over a pig. Imagine if it had been a cow. Lol.

A lot of time people think one strand of electric fence wire is all they need, which can work for a long time until grass shorts or rain or a pack of hounds runs a deer thru it and then things start to happen. They get shot at a few times with #9 or worse then they are wild cows.

Its different when the same guy pastures your crop time after time but everybody with animals will have a problem sooner or later. Sometimes if a guy don't have a bull they might invite the neighbors bull over and even hold the gate for him. Its happened but then that's another story.

Usually somebody has a empty 40 acres fenced and if they have been made wild somebody with a horse can get them fastened up then worry about finding the owner. If they are used to four wheels that works but after they are wild who knows. Sometimes they will follow a feed bucket.

Must not have a brand inspector out there?!??

What in the world is that? LoL

Well be sure and lets know how far they came from, when all the dust settles.

Just to tell you true story, I had a friend that lived about a mile from me the way the crow flies. She goes to barn one morning to feed her horse and there was 11 60# pigs in her barn. She comes right over cause I had sows and pigs and she thought they were mine. I went and looked and I knew they weren't mine cause they was all red and had wattles. Well she was really upset and asked all the neighbors none but me even had hogs. So in a few days she was telling the road commissioner (who is my wife's cousin) about those wattles, and he said he new a guy with those kind. So she thinks case solved, went to his house and asked about them. He said he had 12 pigs and sold them to a guy 30 mi from there. So off she goes. The guy tells her someone stole them Sat nite, the neighbor saw them and paid no never mind, just that they was in a red 4x4 truck. Well I was driving a 4 wheel 1980 red pickup. Now we are closest of friends but I could see doubt in her face. She made me go in the house and swear on her bible, which I did that it wasn't me. So the guy got 11 of his pigs back. We figured they had a pig roast with the other. About 6 months go by and finally two guys was bragging about the pig raid. Did get called in, I think they paid for the pig. In the mean time my friend I thought had still doubted me up til then. Today her and her husband are no longer just friends but more like brother and sister and their kids are our God Children.

Hope the cattle deal ends well for everyone.

Backtracking them should be easy. They leave a distinctive pile. lol
just