State police are investigating the theft of a 1,200-pound steer from a farm in New Haven.
Farm owner Watson Scott said he last saw the steer early on the morning before Thanksgiving. “He was laying down in the barn chewing his cud,” Scott said this week.
Scott said he wondered at first if his butcher had come for it. The organically raised grass-fed steer was destined for Green Pasture Meats, a butcher with stores in New Haven and Shelburne. Scott said he waited until he was able to reach Green Pasture’s owner before reporting the incident. Because of the holiday, he didn’t hear back until Monday.
The animal would have brought about $700, based on Green Pasture’s rates and the steer’s estimated weight.
According to Scott, there was no sign the steer — a bald faced Angus — had escaped. Scott toured the perimeter of the pasture, where there was a dusting of snow on the ground, and reported finding no tracks or manure. “It’s unlikely the steer escaped and got lost,” Scott said.
His grandson posted a notice on Facebook, but as of Tuesday afternoon no one had responded.
“Everybody around us knows the cow’s missing,” said Amber Whittemore, Scott’s tenant, who helps manage the farm with her husband. “Nobody’s turned up anything.”
Whittemore said her husband and several others had been hunting in the area and saw no sign of the animal. “It’s a mystery,” she said. “You’re not going to miss a 1,200-pound Hereford.”
Scott described the steer, which had no tags and hadn’t been photographed, as gentle, easy to handle and friendly toward people. He said it would have been relatively easy for someone to pull up to the pasture gate and lure the steer into a trailer.
Scott speculated that perhaps the animal had been auctioned off or butchered and frozen for eating. He noted there had just been an auction in the area.
Though he hasn’t done so in the past, Scott said he would tag and photograph his cattle next year.
