Wyoming ranchers have their share of headaches, but having stolen vehicles rammed through their fences and setting their cattle loose typically isn’t one of them.
In parts of Texas near the border with Mexico, such antics have gotten so bad, that state’s Legislature recently designated a compensation fund for ranchers.
It’s dedicated to reimbursing ranchers for the losses from damages caused by illegal immigrants passing through their property. Or, from high-speed chases though ranches with rangers or Border Patrol agents in hot pursuit of smugglers and other bandits.
Amid the human chaos, some Texas cattle might wander away and become feral. Or, at the very least, ranchers must chase down any liberated longhorns that flee through massive holes in the fences.
‘Domino Effect’
Joe Aguilar, a special ranger with the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said he’s seen vehicles driven by suspects blow through ranchers’ fences.
“We’re not talking about 5 feet of fence,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Wire from those fences will hook onto the underside of a vehicle, or some other part of the vehicle, and they’ll take out yards and yards of fence.”
He even recalls once seeing a suspect’s vehicle ram through a section of fence, loop back through a field and then blow back through the fence again, taking out at total of perhaps 100 yards or more.
When the fences go down, the cows get loose. And when the cows get loose, they become a traffic hazard on nearby roads, Aguilar said.
Loose cattle wandering around on roadways are frequently hit by unsuspecting drivers, he said. That puts people in danger, racks up massive expenses in vehicle damages and leaves ranchers eating the costs of cattle that are maimed or killed.
“It’s a chain reaction type of thing. It’s a domino effect,” he said.
Infrastructure Damage
There are rumors that some of the cows that escape in the aftermath of fence-crashing end up going feral.
It’s said that they spend their days wandering the fields, swimming in the Rio Grande River and otherwise living their best cow lives.
But apparently that’s not a huge problem, said Paige Holbrooks, director of policy and communications for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
“I don’t know about the scale or the validity of the feral cattle issue,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I think the issue we hear about more, time and time again, is damaged infrastructure.”
Pickups being stolen and being driven through crop fields and rammed through fences is a common complaint, she said.
There are also numerous reports of gates being left open, likely by people who’ve sneaked across the U.S.-Mexico border, which is another way the cattle get out, she said.
“Those ranches on the border are pretty large ranches, in terms of acreage,” Holbrooks said. “And they might have only one ranch manager there. I’m sure there’s trespassing that goes on regularly, and maybe illegal immigrants cutting fences.”
Fences don’t even need to be cut to be rendered ineffective, Aguilar said.
If a steady stream of people near illegal border crossing sites are climbing over a rancher’s fence, the fence will eventually start to wear out and sag, he said.
“It will get to the point where the animals can just hop on over it,” he said.
Repairing or replacing fences is expensive once all the costs for materials and labor are factored in, Aguliar said.
‘Once An Event Concludes, We All Leave’
Aguilar said he hopes that the special compensation fund helps ranchers near to border make up some of their losses.
When agents and illegals are playing high-speed tag across ranch property, it’s all too easy to forget about the cattle.
But that’s something that law enforcement should be mindful of, he said.
“Once an event concludes, what will sometimes happen is that we’ll all just leave,” he said. “And I’ve been guilty of doing that too.”
That’s not fair to ranchers, who are left chasing cattle or trying to sort animals out when their cows mix with neighbors’ herds, he said.
“There’s an urgency there, because once the law enforcement event has concluded, now you have livestock – these 1,000-to-2,000-pound animals,” he said. “And they’ll look and see that the fence is down and they’re like, ‘Oh, look, freedom. Let’s go!’”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
