Washington launches investigation into 200,000 missing cows at center of bankruptcy, legal fight

The Washington Department of Agriculture has launched an investigation into how 200,000 cows at the center of a massive fraud allegation against a Pasco ranching operation may have slipped through its inspection process. The ghost herd is key to a legal fight between Tyson Foods Inc. and Easterday Ranches Inc., which on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Easterdays, one of the largest farming and ranching families in the state, claims in court filings it owes more than $236 million to its top 20 creditors. The Pasco-based ranching and feedlot operation is seeking to reorganize using Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy law amid allegations by Tyson Foods Inc. that the ranch illegally charged the food company for 200,000 cattle that never existed. Court records released Tuesday disclose that the family-run operation faces a mountain of debt that could have a major trickle-down economic impact on veterinarians, farmers, truckers and parts stores that support the Easterday operations. Connell-based attorney Toni Meacham, who also runs a ranching operation with her husband, said she’s known the Easterday family for years. She said she’s glad that Easterday Ranches filed for Chapter 11 for reorganization rather than for Chapter 7, which would have liquidated the family’s holdings. Easterday Ranches President Cody Easterday is “always who I’ve known to be the figurehead” of the operation, Meacham said. “Debby and Cody have been great for our community. This is a terrible blow for the Columbia Basin.”...MORE