Cows On Neighborhood Watch

The new neighbors, who were actually here first, have started their own neighborhood watch. It makes sense, as we've had no less than ten home invasions in the past year in our own private little modern day ghost town.

I'm thinking they've been watching and wondering if this human disease will spread to their homes. Their history is rich with muted mooed warnings of "cattle rustlers" and predators evil enough to take down a cow or calf.

It's no secret to most Americans that many communities have formed "neighborhood watch programs." The new development that we live in has one. Apparently, we're not too effective, because nothing has stopped or solved the often-in-the-daylight home invasions plaguing our gated community.

However, what might come as news to most Americans, is that we also have Agriculture Watch programs spreading across the country. Our neighbors just joined this voluntary organization.

In many parts of the U.S. you may drive past, or come across a new kind of "no trespassing" sign. Along citrus groves, cattle pastures, private rural land, or other agricultural lands, you'll now see "Agricultural Watch" program signs, in lieu of old fashioned "no trespassing" signs.

Similar to Neighborhood Watch organizations, where people keep a watch out on their neighbors homes and property in an effort to keep intruders away -- agriculture land owners now have formed comparable groups to guard their valuable property.

Very often rural communities don't have the same benefits as more populated areas. However, it's a little different, in that most of these programs have agriculture deputies that are in charge of over-seeing this program. Agriculturists and land-owners make an application to the programs. They purchase metal signs to post on their property (the cost is generally under $15 per sign).

Usually, these signs are custom-made, to include the name of the property owners, such as XZY Cattle Ranch or ABC Growers. The signs also display a code number that is assigned, to provide instant access about the owner's information to a agriculture deputy -- giving them instant information about the owner when on patrols.

The agriculture deputies maintain and update a database that allows the deputies to look up information by searching the code number he sees on a sign. The database will also display the names, address, and phone numbers of the owners and caretakers of the properties.

Very often in rural settings, trespassers, who often are unthinking in terms of "someone owns this property," when simply having fun -- this particularly applies to kids and young adults. They don't see a fence -- they just see a place to play, go off-roading, riding dirt bikes, hike, or ride their ATVs.

Another problem is genuine trespassing for the purpose of a place to live, among the homeless. Here, in Central Florida it is not uncommon for large camps of homeless to congregate on privately owned agricultural property where they are less often safe from prying eyes.

Then, there is the problem of the private ag property owner, when it comes to trespassing for the purpose of illegal and unauthorized hunting. When we lived on our rural West Virginia farm, this was a nightmare every fall deer season. Total strangers showing up thinking they had every right to hunt on your land, guns loaded and not happy when they were asked to leave.

One of the worst problems that agricultural land owners face is the theft of valuable tractors and other farm equipment, that literally can disappear over night. Since much of this equipment can cost not just tens of thousands of dollars, but also hundreds of thousand of dollars -- in a struggling economy, such thefts are on the rise.

Don't think that in today's world, theft of entire crops don't occur. We know one citrus grove owner who found that several hundred acres had been picked, but not by him or his crew -- the thieves were never caught.

Additionally, very often Agriculture Watch deputies end up crawling brush or muck, just to rescue unwitting idiots who manage to get themselves injured or in trouble. Another problem that they encounter, is animal poaching (or rustling), or animal cruelty.

Last year at least $6.2 million were lost in livestock thefts, and that's just reported losses. Kansas, Florida, Missouri, California, and Texas are experiencing unprecedented escalations in livestock thefts -- mostly of cattle. On average just one cow has a value of about fourteen hundred dollars, a big incentive for those who think nothing of taking what doesn't belong to them.

These are bold thieves who think nothing of taking down fences, crashing metal gates, and taking entire herds of cattle. Particularly vulnerable are the small ranchers, who have more at stake to lose in terms of financial loss or ruin.