Call it “C.S.I.: Moo York.”

A bovine DNA expert took the stand Monday in the trial of a Douglas County man charged with stealing three of his neighbor’s cattle in April 2004.

Prosecutors allege Wesley A. Hale, 61, stole Gary Blodgett’s 7-month-old steers – Meanie, Brownie, and Bawl Baby – tagged them, and took them to another property he owns in Osage County.

Blodgett knew Hale owned the property in Osage County, so he drove there and found the black Angus-Hereford-cross steers unharmed.

“I know he stole them, and he thought he could get away with it,” Blodgett said.

But before Hale was charged, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office took the extra step last year of ordering DNA tests to try to establish that the animals found on Hale’s property were Blodgett’s.

DNA expert Sree Kanthaswamy, of the University of California-Davis, told jurors Monday that DNA from one of the calves was consistent with a cow owned by the person from whom Blodgett bought them.

“I have concluded with a lot of certainty that the one cow … is the true biological mother of that calf,” Kanthaswamy said.

Hale’s defense attorney, Jim George, told jurors the evidence would show that Hale found the animals loose on his land, had them for less than 24 hours and was only trying to protect his property.

“You have three steers wandering around on your property, are you going to let them eat your crops?” he asked.

Blodgett had paid $1,580 for the three calves.

The punishment for felony theft in Kansas ranges from probation to 17 months in prison.

Testimony is expected to continue today.