A true story of family, fraud, land and power in the American West. Ghost Herd is a joint production of KUOW and Northwest Public Broadcasting, both members of the NPR Network.
7 Available Episodes (7 Total)Average duration: 00:24:38
Feb 14, 2023
Part 6: The Reckonin'
00:32:28
Native Americans once owned these lands, and they still treat the Columbia Basin as their sacred home. We’ve all benefited from that taken land, but now corporations are the West’s new settlers. Meanwhile, Cody faces a federal judge and his tight-knit rural community. His sons start taking over what remains of the family’s vast operation and beat-up reputation.
Feb 07, 2023
Part 5: The Bidding War
00:28:42
The Easterday empire is being broken apart. Some of the most valuable farmland in America is up for sale, and the billionaires are coming to town. The bidding war over water-rich lands shows the shift in how America farms.
Jan 31, 2023
Part 4: The Crash
00:28:20
Cody's swindle comes crashing down, and it’s all thanks to Covid. When a giant meat operation discovers the truth about his ghost herd, they take aim at Cody.
Jan 24, 2023
Part 3: The Gamble
00:26:43
Why would someone create a ghost herd? Behind Cody Easterday’s swindle was an even-bigger gambling habit on the futures market. That vice may have changed the price of American beef slapping down on your kitchen table. We also look at how all farmin’ is a gamble.
Jan 17, 2023
Part 2: The Swindle
00:21:33
Cowboy Cody Easterday lies big, creating a “ghost herd” of 265,000 cattle that only exist on paper and bringing in hundreds of millions of investment dollars from companies including a meat-packing giant. It’s fraud on a massive scale. We examine how he carried it out.
Jan 10, 2023
Part 1: The Empire Builders
00:31:22
Meet the Easterdays – ranching royalty rooted in the Columbia Basin in southeast Washington state. But behind the well-known family name hides a dark secret, concealed in spreadsheets and bum invoices, that’s eating away at their vast empire.
Correction, 4:25 p.m., 2/27/2023: An earlier version of this story misstated when the Ice Age megafloods occurred. Most of the Missoula floods happened between 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, and some may have occurred as long as million years ago.
Nov 23, 2022
Introducing Ghost Herd, coming January 10
00:03:23
It started as an American success story. The Easterday family took a couple hundred acres of farmland in Eastern Washington and grew it into a farming and ranching empire worth millions. Then, it all came crashing down.
Feb 14 | 00:32:28
Part 6: The Reckonin'
Feb 07 | 00:28:42
Part 5: The Bidding War
Jan 31 | 00:28:20
Part 4: The Crash
Jan 24 | 00:26:43
Part 3: The Gamble
Jan 17 | 00:21:33
Part 2: The Swindle
Jan 10 | 00:31:22
Part 1: The Empire Builders
Nov 23 | 00:03:23
Introducing Ghost Herd, coming January 10
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