WINNIPEG – It’s an agricultural whodunnit with no clues or motives.
The RCMP and cattle producers who run the Gunton Bull Test Station are puzzled about the mysterious disappearance – and return – of its high-gaining Limousin bull.
The producer-owned station is about 50 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Lee Wirgau, president of the station’s board of directors said the bull was weighed on March 21. The next day, when workers went to do a semen test of the top-indexing animals, the bull was nowhere to be found.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
Four or five different people counted the bulls, just to make sure. But each time, they came up one short. So they started to look for him.
After a five-day search using a plane, all-terrain vehicles and people on foot, no tracks were turned up in the snow around the station. The board of directors then decided to offer a $500 reward for information about the bull. The reward remains unclaimed.
While lining up bulls according to ear tag numbers during the station’s annual bull sale on April 6, Wirgau said workers discovered two bulls had the same number. One was the high-gainer. His ear tag had been changed.
So, they put him through the ring and he sold for $2,250. Normally, the bull would have been first through the ring and would have likely sold for more money.
Wirgau and Sgt. Dennis Hawkins of the RCMP’s Teulon detachment said none of the theories about the disappearance are supported by evidence, and none of them seem to make sense:
- The bull could have been there all along, or wandered away then returned. But there were no tracks, and his ear tag was changed.
- Someone may have stolen the bull, then got cold feet and returned him. However, Hawkins said the station’s manager lives beside the station and would have likely heard a truck drive up.
- Someone may have wanted to borrow the bull for semen. But the rustler would not have been able to register the bull’s calves. “It doesn’t fit because he doesn’t have papers,” Wirgau said, adding the thief seemed to known which bull to look for.
“It’s all speculation,” said Hawkins. “I can’t see someone removing it and bringing it back two weeks later, but you never know.”
Wirgau and the board have met with the original owner of the bull to discuss compensation. He said the owner requested that his name be kept from the media. But he said the owner has been quite understanding about the incident.
Some producers have been asking questions and making comments, but most seem to realize that a similar incident could happen on any farm, he said.
The board has met to talk about beefing up security at the station. However, Wirgau said it’s hard to know what to improve when you don’t know what exactly happened.
“It’s never happened before and hopefully never again.”
