Cow butchered by thieves in Sask. farmer's field

A Saskatchewan farmer woke up to a gruesome and unexpected sight Wednesday morning. 

During the night, someone had trespassed onto Roy Goodwin's farm, west of Weyburn, and gutted one of his pregnant cows.

All that was left of the animal when he ventured out was the carcass. The cow had been butchered and stripped of its meat.

Goodwin said the culprits had a plan. 

They came prepared.- Roy Goodwin

"They came prepared. They have done it before and they will do it again," said Goodwin."This crime did not happen in the middle of nowhere, there are five houses within a half mile of where the bred cow was slaughtered." 

Goodwin explained that he has heard of it happening before in the area, but this is the first time he has experienced it. 

According to William Brown, the Department Head of Bioresource Policy, Business and Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, crimes like this might be the cause of people trying to save money. 

Soaring beef prices 

"The reason for all of this is that the price of beef is quite high these days and so the cattle market is quite high, that's probably the reason people are looking to save money," said Brown. 

The branding system used by farmers has made it almost impossible to sell stolen cattle. 

But Brown said that there is an alternative. He thinks that there is a black market for cattle, and that it goes directly to individuals rather than licensed businesses.  

"Any of the grocery stores or any legitimate store in Saskatchewan would not normally be buying meat from these kinds of individuals.They would be buying it from registered suppliers."

He has also heard of incidents, like the one that took place on Goodwin's farm on Wednesday happening in Alberta in the past few months and in the U.S.. 

"Judging from the picture I saw, it looked like a fairly complete slaughter and dissecting and that would be very difficult to do with one person. In fact next to impossible on the ground and everything," said Brown.

"I would expect it was more than one person and probably they had some kind of machine where they could kill the animal and then hang it to cut the meat off and so on. "

This past summer, at least nine counties in Alberta declared states of agricultural disaster due to weather. 

...they had some kind of machine where they could kill the animal and then hang it to cut the meat off.- William Brown 

Although consumers may not yet be experiencing severe price jumps in supermarkets, it is expected that the cost of cattle will continue to rise throughout the year. 

The culprit(s) also left the gate open on the Goodwin farm, which led to several cattle being let out. 

Goodwin is offering a $1,000 cash reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the cow's killing.

The incident has been reported to the RCMP.