Customers come through for Kane Co. cattle-rustling victim

When Bob Burgin's bull calves were stolen last fall, the story came across as a kind of oddity. Cattle-rustling in Kane County? Why, the last time that happened was when Grandpap was knee-high to a grasshopper, back in ...

But it was no laughing matter to the Maple Park man, who raises eight to 10 head of cattle a year in a second job that helps him support his family. And it was no joke to his customers, fans of the grass-fed, organic beef.

They've decided to raise money to help Burgin make up for the loss with a party and raffle Jan. 31.

"We hope it brings attention to how much nurturing the independent farm community needs to be sustainable in Kane County," said Bronwyn Weaver, co-owner of Heritage Prairie Farm and Market in Elburn. The market sells Burgin's beef, pork and eggs.

Burgin's farm is on Route 38, about 2 miles west of Elburn. He buys bull calves when they are about a week old and raises them into steers, then has them slaughtered at a meat packing plant in Earlville. He sells the meat at the Sugar Grove Farmers Market, to Heritage Prairie Farm Market and directly to consumers.

By day, he is a full-time teacher at Roy DeShane Elementary School in Carol Stream. But Burgin, whose parents grew up on family farms before moving the family to Carol Stream, always wanted a farm of his own.

"It's something I liked, ever since I was a kid," he said. His farm is just down the road from one owned by his brother, Richard, who leases his land to farmers.

Bob Burgin has sold to Heritage Prairie Farm Market since it opened two years ago. The market sells the farm's produce, meat and poultry from several producers, organic products, specialty dairy products such as non-homogenized milk and more.

Burgin's farm also has a community-supported agriculture program, where people buy annual shares in exchange for weekly supplies of produce.

And Weaver is a beekeeper, bottling honey and making honey-related products.

It all promotes the idea that we should try to eat foods that are grown and prepared close to where we live, from small farmers instead of multinational conglomerates.

Burgin was initially reluctant when Weaver offered to do the fundraiser. He ended up agreeing.

"I know everybody there," Burgin said. "It is like a big family,"

The crime

Burgin discovered six of the calves missing Nov. 8, the rope holding the pen gate closed sliced. One of the calves was later found across Route 38, a few hundred yards away. But none of the others have been found.

He did buy a few replacement calves, something he does not like to do in the winter because of the frailty of newborn calves. The ones he lost were just about to be weaned off milk replacer.

And he has moved his calves into a barn across the road from his house, secured by a lock, not a rope.

Burgin believes it would have taken more than one person to remove the calves, and that if they were simply let out of the pen as a prank, they would have stuck relatively close to home and been found.

The calves weighed about 150 pounds, and at that size it takes both Burgin and his teenage son to handle them for such things as vaccinations. To get the one calf home, Burgin had to entice it with handfuls of grain until it came close enough to where he could put a lead rope on it.

"Everybody is on guard," he said, including a neighbor who raises Holstein cattle and his bull calf supplier up in Huntley.

"Why (the calves were taken) I have no idea. Who, I have no idea. It is still a mystery."

The festival

But the party Jan. 31 aims for a better ending to this story.

The event is from 1 to 5 p.m. at the farm, 2N308 Brundige Road, just south of Route 38. There will be music and food, and if the weather is cold enough, ice-skating on an outdoor rink.

Raffle tickets are $10 apiece, or three for $20. Details are available on its Web site, hpmfarm.com.

The grand prize is a gourmet dinner for 12 at the farm, which regularly hosts such dinners to promote the concept of eating local, organically produced food.

Second prize is dinner for two at Niche restaurant in Geneva, dinner for two at North Pond restaurant in Chicago and two farm dinners for two. (The chefs from Niche and North Pond are active in the local-foods movement.)

The third prize is a local-foods basket: Caveny Farms heritage turkey, a dozen eggs for a month, a leg of lamb from Mint Creek Farm, spices from Spice House of Chicago, and honey samples from the market.

"It takes a lot of support to make that (local, sustainable farming) happen. So the farming community is coming together to help him recover the best he can," Weaver said.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=249745">Kane County cops: Who let the cows out? <span class="date">[11/11/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>