A man from the Martensville, Sask., area has pleaded not guilty to the charge of possessing $25,000 worth of cattle reported stolen from central Alberta.
In February 2023, the Alberta RCMP Livestock Investigations Unit was contacted after 20 cattle were reported missing from a herd in Thorhild, about 80 kilometres north of Edmonton.
The cattle were traced through an auction mart in Lloydminster to a property near Martensville, just north of Saskatoon. Alvin Hamm was eventually charged with possessing stolen property.
The trial for the 48-year-old began Wednesday before Judge Inez Cardinal in Saskatoon provincial court.
Under questioning by prosecutor Paul Scott, auction mart owner Len Hrehorets described how he bought out the feeder contract from Hamm’s partner in Alberta. Feeder associations will lend money to cattle producers so they can buy animals to fatten and eventually sell, paying back the association at a set date.
Hrehorets said that when he went to check on the 46 cattle, there were only 26 in the herd.
“He (Hamm) claimed that half had died and were in the manure pile,” he said.
Hrehorets contacted RCMP Cpl. Lindsey Anderson with the livestock investigation unit, who tracked the cattle to Saskatchewan.
They were identified by their Alberta livestock brands.
Investigators recovered 10 cattle from a pasture near Martensville. The other missing animals were not found.
Defence lawyer Logan Marchand questioned whether buying a feeder contract is actually the same as buying cattle. He said it’s unclear whether Hrehorets actually owned the cattle that went missing.