Sask. Rancher Finds His Stolen Cattle through DNA Test

Feb 07, 2013

Sask. Cattle Farmer Finds 10 Cattle That Were Missing Since 2009

It’s a story that you would likely watch in a case out of CSI, a rancher from Saskatchewan going through great lengths to find his 10 missing heifer cattle and discovering that a DNA test was just the trick.

Glenn Strube is a cattle breeder near Shellbrook, Saskatchewan and in Oct. 2009 he noticed that 10 of his heifers were missing from the herd.

His hired hand suspected that a neighbour who lived nearby may have stolen them, but there was nothing that Strube could prove that he was the culprit.

Going with his gut instinct, Strube made a few phone calls and discovered that his neighbour was marketing cattle at Saskatoon livestock sales. Strube then gave his detailed cattle records to the sale barns brand inspector, but it was a long shot because his animals weren’t branded and their tags likely had been removed.

Luckily enough for Strube, the brand inspector found some cattle in a feedlot near Duck Lake that matched the description that Strube had given him. After seeing the cattle, Strube came up with the idea to take a DNA sample from the cattle and compared them with related cattle and they matched.

In the end, Strube never did get his cattle back as they were about to calve. Strube’s neighbour was found guilty of theft and has been ordered to pay $7,200. Strube is also in the midst of filing a civil lawsuit for the increase in cattle prices and the lost income of offspring calves. The accused is attempting to appeal the case.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.