 Much more difficult to track animals without a branch. Of course, always keep your property locked up. Chain your stuff. Lock it. Good locks, not cheap stuff. Lock up your working pins. Most criminals are going to use your own working pins to steal your cow. So lock up your working pins. Put chains on your squishes. Lock good chains. Chains on your gate. Make it hard for them and they'll go somewhere else. Check your property if you don't live on it.